General news

• WATCH: Rope tornado spotted near McLean, Texas

  17-05-2017 05:56 via abcnews.go.com
  
  Video shows rope-like funnel cloud appear to touch down near McLean, Texas, before dissipating into the sky.
  
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• New Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin promises party unity after messy battle

  28-12-2024 06:35 via theguardian.com
  New opposition leader puts focus on crime crackdown – and not on all-male leadership teamGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Victorian Liberal leader, Brad Battin, has praised John Pesutto – the man he toppled for the top job – as he seeks to unite the fractured party.“John is an important part of our team,” Battin told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...
  
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• Tidy! Ruth Jones to read Shipping Forecast as Nessa to mark centenary

  28-12-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Gavin and Stacey actor among celebrities including Ellen MacArthur and Damon Albarn who will join celebrationsWhat’s occurring with the Shipping Forecast? The Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones is to read the seafarers’ bulletin to celebrate a centenary of the shipping news on the BBC.It will be Jones’s last performance in her Gavin and Stacey role as no-nonsense Nessa after the sitcom’s triumphant Christmas finale. Gavin and Stacey won the festive TV ratings war with 12.3
  
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• English wildlife ‘could be disappearing in the dark’ due to lack of scrutiny

  28-12-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists issue warning as figures show three-quarters of SSSI sites have had no recent assessments Conservationists have said wildlife could be “disappearing in the dark” after figures showed that three-quarters of England’s most precious habitats, wildlife and natural features have had no recent assessment of their condition.The warning follows the publication of figures covering assessments of protected natural sites known as sites of special scientific interest (SSSI
  
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• Mild weekend weather brings relief to firefighters after homes lost in Grampians bushfire

  28-12-2024 04:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Victorian temperatures to rise from Monday, with fire warnings also in place in NSW and Western AustraliaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMilder conditions across the weekend will bring temporary relief to firefighters who continue to battle an out-of-control bushfire in Victoria’s Grampians.But the forecast rain was not expected to extinguish the fires and hot weather was expected to ramp up again from Monday.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news e
  
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• Indonesia receives official request from France to transfer death row prisoner Serge Atlaoui

  28-12-2024 04:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Minister says request regarding welder arrested in 2005 on drugs charges will be discussed in January amid spate of transfer of high-profile detaineesIndonesia has received an official request from France to transfer a French death row inmate imprisoned on drugs charges since 2005, a senior Indonesian minister said on Saturday.“We have received a formal letter requesting the transfer of Serge Atlaoui on 19 December 2024. The letter was sent on behalf of the French minister of justice,&rdqu
  
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• Search for man missing off NSW north coast amid string of drownings across holiday period

  28-12-2024 04:30 via theguardian.com
  
  21-year-old Taewoo Kim last seen going for a swim at Moonee beach, near Coffs Harbour, on Boxing Day; police say another man’s body found in sea south of WollongongGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA multi-agency search is under way for a man presumed missing in the ocean since Boxing Day, off the north coast of NSW, as another man’s body has been pulled from the water further south.Taewoo Kim, 21, was last seen around 1pm on Thursday, police said in a statem
  
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• A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says

  28-12-2024 03:22 via abcnews.go.com
  
  A top White House official says a ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of A...
  
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• Driver behind China car ramming attack that killed 35 is sentenced to death

  28-12-2024 02:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Fan Weiqiu, angry at his divorce settlement, caused ‘great social harm’ when he drove into people as they exercised in the city of Zhuhai, court saysA court in China has sentenced a man to death for killing 35 people last month by driving into a crowd, in an attack that raised national concern about mass killings.Fan Weiqiu was venting his anger because he was unhappy with his divorce settlement, the court in the southern city of Zhuhai said in handing down the sentence on Friday. Th
  
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• 'Shocking' footage shows handcuffed inmate who died after prison guards beat him

  28-12-2024 02:19 via abcnews.go.com
  
  New York correctional officers are under investigation after "shocking" footage shows handcuffed inmate who died after prison guards beat him
  
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• Man dies after Sydney arrest for allegedly attempting to enter vehicles armed with knife

  28-12-2024 01:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Critical incident team from Bankstown Police Area Command to investigate circumstances surrounding 33-year-old’s deathGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA man has died after he was arrested while allegedly attempting to enter vehicles armed with a knife in the middle of Sydney traffic.Police declared a critical incident after officers responded to reports of a man trying to stop traffic and enter vehicles on Remembrance Driveway at Tahmoor in Sydney’s south-we
  
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• Janet Yellen issues warning to Congress as US nears debt limit

  28-12-2024 01:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Treasury secretary says ‘extraordinary measures’ needed to avoid default, and urges lawmakers to raise borrowing limit Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, said her agency will need to start taking “extraordinary measures”, or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling, as early as 14 January, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon.“Treasury expects to hit the statutory debt ceiling between January
  
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• Trump asks US supreme court to pause ban-or-divest law for TikTok

  28-12-2024 01:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Court will hear arguments in case that could see app banned in US if not sold to American firm by 19 JanuaryPresident-elect Donald Trump has urged the US supreme court to pause implementation of a law that would ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale, arguing he should have time after taking office to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue.The court is set to hear arguments in the case on 10 January. Continue reading...
  
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• Assaults in prisons in England and Wales rise to average of 74 a day

  28-12-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Research for Lib Dems shows nearly 27,000 assaults were recorded last year, with about 3,200 deemed seriousAssaults in prisons have been rising with an average of 74 a day recorded in England and Wales last year, including 25 assaults a day inflicted on staff, House of Commons library research has shown.The figures, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, show that of the 26,912 assaults that took place over the course of the year, about 3,200 were deemed to be serious – an average of eight
  
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• Almost one in five children live in conflict zones, says Unicef

  28-12-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  UN humanitarian body warns that dramatic increase in harm to children should not become the ‘new normal’Nearly one in five of the world’s children live in areas affected by conflicts, with more than 473 million children suffering from the worst levels of violence since the second world war, according to figures published by the UN.The UN humanitarian aid organisation for children, Unicef, said on Saturday that the percentage of children living in conflict zones around the world
  
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• Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok sale deadline

  28-12-2024 00:30 via abcnews.go.com
  
  Two weeks before the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments over TikTok's future, President-elect Donald Trump has asked the justices to delay a Jan. 19 deadline.
  
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• Last major health facility in north Gaza ‘out of service’ after Israeli attack

  28-12-2024 00:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Staff arrested, injured and killed as Israeli forces burn and destroy key Kamal Adwan hospital departments, says WHOThe last major health facility in northern Gaza has been put out of service, the World Health Organization has said, after an Israeli military operation targeting sites near the Kamal Adwan hospital.“Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X. Continue reading...
  
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• Azerbaijan Airlines crew member who survived plane crash speaks out from hospital

  27-12-2024 23:28 via abcnews.go.com
  
  The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed near Kazakhstan's Aktau Airport on Wednesday morning, killing 38 of the 67 people on board, Kazakh officials said.
  
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• WATCH: "Santa" helps save Christmas at 2 a.m. after mom is missing keyboard

  27-12-2024 23:14 via abcnews.go.com
  
  Marisa Shumaker went to assemble her daughter's keyboard as a gift only to realize it was just a stand. With only a few hours left until Christmas morning, Shumaker needed a miracle — and she got one.
  
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• Sydney to Hobart yacht race: LawConnect wins back-to-back line honours in event marred by two deaths

  27-12-2024 22:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Third time LawConnect has claimed line honours, after initial success in 2016 as Perpetual LoyalCould take days for overall handicap winner to be decidedA “sombre” LawConnect has delayed celebrations after claiming back-to-back line honour wins in a Sydney to Hobart race marred by the death of two sailors.The Christian Beck-skippered supermaxi was first across the River Derwent finish line at 2.35am on Saturday in a time of one day, 13 hours, 35 minutes and 13 seconds.Sign up for Gua
  
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• ‘Heart of cruelty’: Trump border chief condemned over migrant policy

  27-12-2024 22:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Former housing secretary Julián Castro says Tom Homan embodies ‘dark heart’ of incoming administrationJulián Castro, the former US housing secretary, has accused Donald Trump’s incoming border enforcement chief of ushering in “cruelty part two” towards migrants arriving in America under the president-elect’s planned border policies.Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Castro sharply criticised Tom Homan, Trump’s newly appointed “bor
  
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• Man charged with two counts of murder after deaths of Milton Keynes women

  27-12-2024 22:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Jazwell Brown, 49, is also charged with two counts of attempted murder following Christmas Day incidentA man has been charged with two counts of murder following the deaths of two women on Christmas Day in Milton Keynes.Jazwell Brown, 49, has also been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count each of possession of a knife blade/sharp pointed article in a public place and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. Continue reading...
  
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• Warren Upton, oldest survivor of Pearl Harbor attack, dies aged 105

  27-12-2024 22:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Last surviving member of USS Utah, moored at the harbor when the attack took place, died after a bout of pneumoniaWarren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah, has died. He was 105.Upton died on Wednesday at a hospital in Los Gatos, California, after suffering a bout of pneumonia, said Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. Continue reading...
  
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• Injured North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine has died, says South Korea

  27-12-2024 21:32 via theguardian.com
  
  First of Kim Jong-un’s soldiers to be taken was detained in Kursk region of Russia, according to Ukrainian reports‘I thought it was fake news’: secrecy around North Koreans fighting in KurskSouth Korea’s intelligence agency has reported that a North Korean soldier believed to have been the first to be captured while supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine has died after being taken alive by Ukrainian forces.Seoul’s spy agency earlier on Friday confirmed Ukrainian r
  
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• US Senate report finds CIA mishandled employee cases of Havana syndrome

  27-12-2024 21:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Workers who reported symptoms of the illness often faced delayed or denied care and struggled to access benefitsA newly declassified US Senate report found that the CIA’s handling of mysterious health incidents known as Havana syndrome has been flawed and marred by inconsistent medical care, delayed compensation and communication failures – all while foreign adversaries remain “very unlikely” to be responsible.Many cases of the syndrome have been reported, mostly among US
  
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• Many believe US healthcare industry was to blame in CEO killing, poll reveals

  27-12-2024 21:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Americans point to coverage denials and steep profits from insurance industry after Brian Thompson’s killingIn a new poll, more than two-thirds of respondents said they believed denials of coverage and profits in the health insurance industry were partially responsible for the killing of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, in early December.Thompson was shot dead on the streets of Manhattan. His killer fled, sparking a nationwide manhunt, which ended when Luigi Mangione was arrested
  
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• US saw dramatic rise in homelessness at start of 2024, housing agency says

  27-12-2024 20:47 via theguardian.com
  
  US Department of Housing and Urban Development reports largest increase among families with childrenThe US saw a dramatic rise in homelessness at the start of 2024, counting 18% more unhoused people during its annual tally in January than the year before, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud) reported on Friday.Cities reported counting a total of 771,480 unhoused people in January, a number that is larger than the population of Seattle. Representing 23 out of every 10,000 Amer
  
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• WATCH: Drone owner helps save dog from frozen lake

  27-12-2024 19:27 via abcnews.go.com
  
  Kishan Patel stepped into action, helping police in Parsippany, New Jersey, rescue a 20-month-old sheepadoodle from a snow-covered frozen lake.
  
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• Italian journalist arrested and held in solitary confinement in Iran

  27-12-2024 18:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Il Foglio war correspondent Cecilia Sala taken in by police while reporting in Tehran, says Italy’s foreign ministryAn Italian journalist has been arrested while reporting in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and held in solitary confinement for a week, according to Italy’s foreign ministry.Cecilia Sala, 29, a war correspondent and reporter who works for the newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media, was detained on 19 December, the ministry said, but her arrest was only mad
  
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• Biden administration pledges additional military aid to Ukraine amid Russia war

  27-12-2024 18:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Security assistance package in works as North Korean troops are deployed in Kursk after Putin-Kim agreementThe Biden administration is pledging to approve fresh military aid to Ukraine in the coming days, including crucial air defense systems, as North Korean forces face mounting casualties in their first major deployment to a European conflict.John Kirby, the US national security communications adviser, told reporters on Friday that in just the last week North Korean troops had suffered more th
  
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