Former United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged he misled Parliament about rule-breaking government parties during the coronavirus pandemic — but insisted he never intentionally lied. Johnson said it never occurred to him that the gatherings — which variously included cake, wine, cheese and a “secret Santa” festive gift exchange — broke the restrictions his own government had imposed on the country. Britain’s boisterous…

A Russian soldier who allegedly shot a civilian in an extraordinary attack caught on camera by a Ukrainian drone is being accused of war crimes in absentia by the Ukrainian police. The dossier of evidence against him includes phone calls between the soldier and his wife and friend intercepted during a months-long investigation into the Russian attack near the city of Izium last June. The…

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has in Moscow on a three-day visit that shows off Beijing’s new diplomatic swagger and offers a strong political boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin as fighting in Ukraine grinds on. China and Russia have described Xi’s trip as part of efforts to further deepen their “no-limits friendship”. China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its…

Humanity still has a chance, close to the last one, to prevent the worst of climate change‘s future harms, a top United Nations panel of scientists says. But doing so requires quickly slashing carbon pollution and fossil fuel use by nearly two-thirds by 2035, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. The United Nations chief said it more bluntly, calling for an end to new…

Mexican authorities arrested five more people on Friday in connection to the kidnappings of four Americans in Matamoros, Mexico, as the bodies of the two Americans killed were returned to US diplomats and questions continued to swirl around last week’s violent abduction. Six people have been arrested in total, including one on Tuesday, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said Friday. “The Tamaulipas Attorney General’s…

One or more people opened fire in a church in the northern German city of Hamburg authorities said, and local media reported that several people were killed. The Hamburg city government said the shooting took place in the Gross Borstel district. Police previously said on Twitter that a large operation was underway in the next-door Alsterdorf district. READ MORE: Japanese police arrest three for taking…

Australia is expected to buy up to five US Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines in the 2030s under the AUKUS defence pact between Washington, Canberra and London. Earlier reports by US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, are expected to be confirmed by Australia tonight. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is yet to speak publicly about the supposed $100 billion deal, but will meet with other world…

A report claiming Australia faced a potential war with China within three years has been branded as “scaremongering” by an expert on international relations. James Curran, a professor of modern history at Sydney University and a former federal government adviser, spoke with 9news.com.au after The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers published a special report under the headline “Red Alert: War risk exposed”. READ…

Germany’s defence minister has voiced caution over media reports that a pro-Ukraine group was involved in blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last year. German daily newspaper Die Zeit and public broadcasters ARD and SWR reported on Tuesday that investigators were able to largely reconstruct how the pipelines from Russia to Germany were sabotaged on the night of September 26,…

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has warned Beijing and Washington are headed for “conflict and confrontation” if the United States doesn’t change course, striking a combative tone at a moment when relations between the rivals are at a historic low. In his first news conference since taking office late last year, Qin’s harsh language appeared to defy predictions that China might abandon its aggressive “wolf…

Wayne Couzens, the former London police officer who abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in 2021, has been sentenced to 19 further months in prison for indecent exposure incidents that took place while he was serving in the force. Couzens, 50, was already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the killing of 33-year-old Everard, which sparked outrage towards the Metropolitan Police…

China has set an official economic growth target of “around 5 per cent” for 2023, as it seeks to revive the world’s second-largest economy after a year of tepid growth because of pandemic measures. It will also expand its defence budget 7.2 per cent, marking a slight increase over growth the previous year. Both figures for the coming year were released at the opening of…

China is racing ahead of Western democracies in the race for future technological dominance, a new report has found. Researchers from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said their findings, which handed China a lead over the US in all but a handful of areas likely to be key for future growth, innovation and military power, should be a “wake-up call for democratic nations”. ASPI’s Critical…

Greek Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis has resigned after a passenger train and a freight train crashed head-on in central Greece overnight, killing at least 36 people and injuring scores. Rescuers on Wednesday delved through flattened, burned-out carriages for survivors and bodies as the minister said he felt it was his “duty” to step down “as a basic indication of respect for the memory of the…

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for Australia to reopen its embassy in Kyiv. In a press convention on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of his country, Zelenskyy was requested by SBS reporter Ben Lewis if he wished to see the embassy reopened. “It’s so nice to hear a question that you can say yes to,” Zelensky replied in Ukrainian. READ MORE: China calls for…

“The day broke our lives … destroyed our plans and dreams.” Ukrainian refugee Antonina Tkachuck was amongst thousands and thousands of people from her country plunged right into a determined fight for survival and compelled to rebuild her life when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. She and her daughter Iryna later discovered sanctuary in Australia, and now live in Sydney. READ MORE: Biden…

For Russia, it has been a year of daring charges and bombardments, humiliating retreats and grinding sieges. Ukraine has countered with fierce resistance, stunning counteroffensives and surprising hit-and-run strikes. Now, on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion that has killed tens of 1000’s and reduced cities to ruins, either side are making ready for a probably even more disastrous section that lies forward. Russia just lately…

Two Australians have been confirmed dead after a light plane crash in a remote area in the Philippines. Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam, each from Adelaide, had been on board the Cessna 340 when it crashed into a volcano on Saturday. Chipperfield, Santhanam, a pilot and a crew member had been all confirmed dead, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said. READ MORE: How rich Aussies are…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has railed against the West in his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address, a speech anticipated set the tone for the year forward and make clear how the Kremlin sees its bogged-down war in Ukraine. Putin has ceaselessly justified his invasion of Ukraine by accusing Western international locations of threatening Russia. They say nothing could possibly be further from the reality, saying that Moscow’s…

A second man has been charged over the 1999 shooting of a Queensland police officer as investigators proceed to enchantment to the general public for more information. Senior Constable Neil Scutts was shot in the groin when two males robbed a financial institution in Browns Plains, south of Brisbane, in March 1999. Scutts needed to bear emergency surgical procedure after the bullet handed by way…

The body of missing British mother Nicola Bulley was identified by UK police on Monday, weeks after she disappeared whereas strolling her canine in northern England in January. Lancashire Police confirmed in a information convention on Monday {that a} body recovered from the River Wyre on Sunday, near the place 45-year-old Bulley was last seen, is hers. The announcement caps off a turbulent and emotional…

US President Joe Biden has made an announced visit to Kyiv, for the first time since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine virtually a year in the past. It demonstrates in dramatic private vogue his dedication to the country and its battle because the struggle enters an unsure new section. While in Kyiv, Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in addition to first…

Former US President Donald Trump missed his likelihood to use his DNA to strive to show he did not rape a longtime journal recommendation columnist, a federal judge said Wednesday, clearing away a possible roadblock to an April trial. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected the Eleventh-hour offer by Trump’s legal team to provide a DNA sample to rebut claims E. Jean Carroll first made publicly…

The captain of the Thai boys’ football team that was trapped in a cave for 2 weeks in 2018 has reportedly died. The BBC is reporting Duangpetch Promthep died in the UK, after enrolling at Brooke House College Football Academy in Leicester last year. The plight of the 12 trapped boys and their coach captured the world’s consideration as rescuers spent days planning an operation…

A boy living in Australia has died in a Fiji resort in what police are treating as a potential electrocution. Local police confirmed the boy was discovered immobile close to a backyard mattress at Club Wyndham Resort in Fiji on Thursday. The eight-year-old was on vacation along with his family on Denarau Island when police consider he was electrocuted. READ MORE: Portugal church sex abuse…

Rescue groups in Turkey on Saturday pulled to security a family of five who survived inside their collapsed home for five days following the most important earthquake in a sprawling border area of Turkey and Syria. The demise toll is now approaching 25,000, with an Australian girl, who has not been named, confirmed to be the third Aussie killed in the tragedy. Teams first extricated…

China has decried the Australian government’s removal of Chinese-made cameras from its buildings. In a press convention in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning gave a strongly worded criticism of the choice. “We oppose erroneous practices of over-stretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to discriminate against and suppress Chinese companies,” she said. READ MORE: How big was the Chinese ‘spy balloon’?…

Rescuers pulled a number of people alive from the shattered remnants of buildings on Friday, some who survived more than 100 hours trapped under crushed concrete in the bitter chilly after a catastrophic earthquake slammed Turkey and Syria, killing more than 22,000. The survivors included six kin who huddled in a small pocket under the rubble, a teen who drank his own urine to slake…

Within hours of an Air Force F-22 downing a giant Chinese balloon that had crossed the United States, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reached out to his Chinese counterpart via a special disaster line, aiming for a fast general-to-general speak that would explain issues and ease tensions. But Austin’s effort on Saturday fell flat, when Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe declined to get on the road,…

Melbourne mum and hairdresser Gillian Jenkins was in the salon reducing a shopper’s hair when she instantly felt her hand go numb. “I walked over to the basin and I was thinking, ‘This isn’t normal’,” the 34-year-old said. “Then my arm went numb, and my leg and my face. I started freaking out.” READ MORE: Woman loses $37k to catfish posing as Aussie actor But,…