Cardinal George Pell cut a dishevelled figure as he stepped into Melbourne?€?s supreme court and took his seat in the dock, flanked by two police officers. His hair had grown long, a large bald patch showing through, and he wore all black, a pop of white showing from his clerical collar. Prison has taken its toll.
He had hoped to walk free from the building on Wednesday morning. Three appellant judges swiftly shattered that hope as their decision was delivered as to whether 12 jurors were unreasonable in convicting him for sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996 when he was the archbishop of Melbourne.
?€?Various contacts?€? made, says embattled president, amid reports he is negotiating a way to stand down
Nicolás Maduro has confirmed top Venezuelan officials have been talking to members of Donald Trump?€?s White House, after reports his second-in-command had been negotiating his downfall with the United States.
?€?I confirm that for months there have been contacts between senior officials from Donald Trump?€?s government and from the Bolivarian government over which I preside - with my express and direct permission,?€? Venezuela?€?s authoritarian leader said in a televised address on Tuesday night.
President says he is postponing meeting with Mette Frederiksen because she was not interested in discussing transaction
Donald Trump has cancelled his trip to Denmark and postponed his meeting with the Danish prime minister after she said that Greenland was not for sale.
Speaking on Sunday during a trip to Greenland, Mette Frederiksen called purchasing the island, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, ?€?an absurd discussion?€?.
In a tweet on Tuesday evening, the US president said that since the prime minster had ?€?no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland?€?, he had decided to postpone their meeting.
Displaced families selected for repatriation say they will not go back, with lack of citizenship a sticking point
Muslim Rohingyas housed in sprawling refugee camps in Bangladesh are refusing to return to Myanmar, United Nations and local officials have said.
Bangladesh?€?s refugee commissioner, Abul Kalam, said on Tuesday that only 21 families out of 1,056 selected for repatriation were willing to be interviewed by officials about whether they wish to return.
Upcoming review out of Tokyo will reportedly say missile programme poses ?€?serious and imminent threat?€?
Japan?€?s government will reportedly state that North Korea is capable of miniaturising nuclear warheads in a forthcoming defence report, it has emerged.
Tokyo will upgrade its estimate of the regime?€?s nuclear capability, having said last year only that the technical feat was a possibility, the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said on Wednesday, without citing sources.
Giuseppe Conte has resigned as Italy?€?s prime minister after blasting Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League, as an ?€?opportunist?€? for triggering a government crisis that could have ?€?serious consequences?€? for Italy.
Conte said he would formally resign his mandate to the president, Sergio Mattarella, after the close of the debate in the Senate on Tuesday.
Texas lawsuit says school personnel drew on the student?€?s scalp after it was deemed his haircut violated the dress code
Parents of a black teenager in Texas are suing their Houston-area school district after three white middle school personnel used a marker to blot out a design on their son?€?s scalp.
The federal civil rights lawsuit was filed Sunday against the Pearland independent school district (ISD) and the three staff members of Berry Miller junior high who used the marker to color the student?€?s scalp.
Up to one in 12 soldiers report symptoms, yet struggle for official recognition and access to help
Israeli soldiers have accused the government of abandoning them with little support for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by their military service, according to local mental health groups and several former conscripts.
As many as one in 12 Israeli soldiers who experience high intensity combat report PTSD symptoms, one study found,yet the lack of recognition for mental health problems caused by combat has left many former service personnel without treatment after they leave the army.
Man says crew of Delta connecting partner SkyWest did not allow his brother, who has nonverbal autism, to sit with a family member
Delta and their connection partner airline, SkyWest, are the latest airlines to come under fire for discrimination, over an incident involving a passenger with autism.
Ayo Isola said he was traveling from Detroit back home to Houston with his mother, sister and brother, Tayo, who has nonverbal autism and often experiences sensory overload. Upon boarding their flight, Isola realized his family was not seated together.
The president?€?s daughter shared photos of a vacation in Wyoming, causing blowback over her father?€?s poor environmental record
Ivanka Trump shared a series of pictures on social media over the weekend of herself, husband Jared Kushner and their children availing themselves of the natural wonders of Wyoming.
?€?Love. Wonder. Wander. Repeat,?€? the president?€?s daughter and adviser captioned in one photo, in front of a painterly backdrop.
From power cuts to infrastructure failure, the impact of climate change on US cities will be huge - but many are already innovating to adapt
Between record heat and rain, this summer?€?s weather patterns have indicated, once again, that the climate is changing.
US cities, where more than 80% of the nation?€?s population lives, are disproportionately hit by these changes, not only because of their huge populations but because of their existing - often inadequate - infrastructure.
In the Netherlands, where there are more bikes than people, serious money is being spent encouraging even more people to get on their bikes
In a nation with more bikes than people, finding a space to park can be a problem. The Dutch city of Utrecht is unveiling an answer at its railway station on Monday morning: the world?€?s largest multistorey parking area for bicycles.
The concrete-and-glass structure holds three floors of gleaming double-decker racks with space for 12,500 bikes, from cargo bikes that hold a family to public transport bikes for rent.
To protect itself from destructive flooding, the city has built a park designed to store and recycle rainwater
In Alicante it never rains but it pours. The city in southeast Spain goes without rain for months on end, but when it comes it?€?s torrential, bringing destructive and sometimes fatal flooding.
Or at least, it used to. In San Juan, a low-lying area of the city, authorities have built a new park with a twist. Called La Marjal, it serves as a typical recreation area and a nature reserve - but its primary purpose is to store, and then recycle, rainwater.
The 25th outing for the superspy is called No Time to Die, which brings up a number of different theories
It has been a long road to get to the title of Bond 25. For a while the film was variously rumoured to be Eclipse (too generic), A Reason to Die (too much like low-hanging fruit for bored critics) and Shatterhand (too much like a worryingly graphic description of someone trying to manually catch their own diarrhoea). But now, finally, the truth is out. The next James Bond film will officially be called No Time to Die.
Dossier by Cage attacks ?€?suspicionless stops?€? under anti-terror laws and highlights minuscule rate of convictions
Muslims are being detained at ports and airports for up to six hours by law enforcement using controversial counter-terrorism powers so disproportionately that the practice has become Islamophobic, according to human rights group Cage.
The organisation added there is growing anecdotal evidence that Muslim women are being forced to remove their headscarves when stopped, even though the rate that such stops lead to a conviction is 0.007%, according to Cage?€?s analysis of 420,000 incidences.
Scientists believe dinosaur dates back to 168m years ago during the middle Jurassic period
A new species of one of the most recognisable types of dinosaur is also the oldest of its kind ever discovered, British scientists believe.
Remains of a stegosaurus, an armoured dinosaur instantly recognisable by the plate-like bones protruding from its spine and spikes on its tails, were studied by a team from the Natural History Museum and belong to a new genus that walked the earth around 168m years ago.
In online posts and in their alleged planned massacres, the suspects in these recent cases targeted LGBTQ people, Jewish people, black Americans, Latinos and Muslims, according to law enforcement and media reports. Four of the suspects were white men in their 20s, and all but one of them were believed to be armed, some with extensive weaponry, my colleague Sam Levin reports. Read more:
Shocking act in Tepexco is just one example of wider malady blighting countries from Bolivia to Brazil
Socorro Muñoz fled indoors as the laurel-lined square outside her shop became a public execution ground one sunny afternoon in early August.
?€?I didn?€?t want to see,?€? the 62-year-old storekeeper explained as she relived the moment a tide of Latin American lynchings swept into Tepexco?€?s picturesque Plaza de la Constitución, leaving seven alleged kidnappers dead.
The 78-year-old?€?s legal team say they are considering taking appeal to high court after the supreme court dismissed the appeal of his child sexual assault conviction by a majority of two to one
The Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, has released a statement very different in tone from the ones we?€?ve seen from Victoria and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
Fisher opens by saying Pell ?€?has strenuously maintained his innocence?€? from the outset and ?€?continues to do so notwithstanding today?€?s decision?€?. He predicts the Vatican ?€?may well wait until the appeal process has been exhausted?€?.
Reasonable people have taken different views when presented with the same evidence and I urge everyone to maintain calm and civility.
As the Cardinal may yet decide to appeal the judgment to the High Court of Australia, I am limited in my ability to comment on today?€?s outcome.
Further to Scott Morrison?€?s comments earlier, the governor general has just released a statement indicating that a decision on whether to strip Pell of his Order of Australia medal won?€?t be made until ?€?all legal proceedings have run their course?€?.
That is, the governor general, David Hurley, will wait and see whether there is a high court appeal.
The Governor General has clarified that cancellation of George Pell's Order of Australia would come "once all legal proceedings have run their course" - ie would wait for High Court appeal... #auspol#auslaw#Pell#GeorgePellpic.twitter.com/NEy1CnGsl4
Climate emergency and population growth blamed for deteriorating water quality, with ?€?cocktail of chemicals?€? changing as countries become richer
The planet is facing a mounting and ?€?invisible?€? water pollution crisis, according to a hard-hitting World Bank report, which claims the issue is responsible for a one-third reduction in potential economic growth in the most heavily affected areas.
The study, which assembled the world?€?s largest database of water pollution, assesses how a combination of bacteria, sewage, chemicals and plastics suck oxygen from water supplies and transform water into poison for people and ecosystems.
US-Taliban agreement will not be successful without involvement of government and citizens, say Afghan women?€?s rights groups
Afghanistan could ?€?return to chaos?€? with the wrong peace deal, say women?€?s rights groups in the country. A poorly negotiated agreement without proper representation of Afghan citizens and a clear counterterrorism strategy would place the democratic gains of the past 18 years at risk, says Suraya Pakzad, founder of the Voice of Women Organisation.
Talks between the US and the Taliban are running alongside campaigning for twice-postponed presidential elections, now due to take place on 28 September.
A reintegration programme has helped 360 girls leave armed groups in Yambio county but for many the trauma of sexual violence persists
Late one night in April 2015, 13-year-old Patricia* and her sister, who was 11, were kidnapped from their beds by rebel forces fighting the government in South Sudan.
The girls were taken from their home in a raid on their village by the South Sudan National Liberation Movement in Yambio county, not far from the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
?€?Resounding victory for rights of women?€? after retrial overturns conviction of Evelyn Beatriz Hernández
A young rape survivor accused of deliberately inducing an abortion in El Salvador after delivering a stillborn baby in a toilet has been cleared of murder during a retrial.
Evelyn Beatríz Hernández Cruz, 21, was acquitted on Monday after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict.
METAdrasi provides translators, transport and helps find homes for unaccompanied minors
An NGO helping migrant and refugee children in Greece has won the world?€?s biggest annual humanitarian award.
METAdrasi - Action for Migration and Development received the $2m (£1.6m) Hilton humanitarian prize for its ?€?innovative approach to welcoming refugees and protecting unaccompanied minors?€?, the Conrad N Hilton Foundation said.
President could call snap election, seek new coalition or install caretaker government
?€?This government ends here,?€? said Giuseppe Conte, as he announced his resignation as Italy?€?s prime minister on Tuesday. After almost two weeks of twists and turns, what happens next is far from clear.
The president, Sergio Mattarella, is now calling the shots in a crisis triggered when Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on the League?€?s tenuous relationship with the Five Star Movement (M5S) in an attempt to capitalise on his popularity and become PM.
Scott Morrison should bring strong climate commitments to next year?€?s forum to avoid a repeat of this year?€?s summit
Last week at the close of the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu I described the leaders?€? discussions as frank and fierce. It is now well-known that the leaders debated the text of the Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now for many hours. I do not want to comment on the tone of the debate, as many others have done that already.
Instead, as incoming Pacific Islands Forum chair, Vanuatu has a message for Australia: we ask that Australia prepares well ahead of the next forum meeting in 2020 and comes to the table ready to make real, tangible commitments on climate change.
The heads of counter-terrorism policing and MI5 have warned far-right criminality is growing
In his paper on how the far right became part of the mainstream, the academic Joe Mulhall said far-right demonstrations had grown to sizes not seen since the 1930s.
As the US and Taliban negotiate peace, Isis sees a chance to sow fresh chaos in Afghanistan
Even by the bloody standards of Afghanistan, it was a brutal attack: a suicide bomber at a wedding celebration, detonating his device as children danced and the happy couple completed their marriage rituals. In an instant more than 60 of the 1,000 guests were dead, hundreds injured.
US president criticizes Jewish Americans who support the Democratic party and also defended Israel?€?s decision to bar representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country
Dozens of inflatable mattresses cartwheeled across a park in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday as strong winds whipped through the neighbourhood. Robb Manes, who filmed the bizarre spectacle, described it as the ?€?great mattress migration of 2019?€?. According to local reports, the mattresses had been set out for an open-air film screening called the Bed Cinema later that day
Conte has told Italy's senate he is stepping down because of a decision by the far-right League, which is led by the interior minister, Matteo Salvini, to pull the plug on its populist alliance with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. Conte says he will officially inform the country's president, Sergio Mattarella, of his decision later on Tuesday.
A young woman who was suspected of having an abortion and charged with homicide after having a stillborn child has been acquitted by a judge at a retrial in a case that drew international attention to El Salvador?€?s strict abortion laws. Evelyn Beatriz Hernández, now 21, had served 33 months of a 30-year prison sentence when her conviction was overturned in February for lack of evidence
US representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib call on their colleagues to visit Israel in an emotional press conference on Monday, following the country?€?s decision last week to deny them entry after pressure from Donald Trump. Omar said it was important that Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, should not 'succeed in hiding the cruel reality of the occupation from us'
The Democratic presidential candidate offered a public apology on Monday to Native Americans over her past claim to tribal heritage, directly tackling an area that has proved to be her biggest political liability. 'Like anyone who has been honest with themselves, I know I have made mistakes,' the Massachusetts senator said at the start of her appearance at the forum in this pivotal early voting state
Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he was considering an attempt to buy Greenland. His interest in the largely autonomous Danish territory was met with indignation in both Greenland and Denmark, with the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, echoing the words of her Greenlandic counterpart, Kim Kielsen: 'Greenland will not be sold.'
Large number of US citizens demonstrated against the war in Iraq (and the possible war in Iran) during this October weekend. Massive turnout in Boston and San Fransisco, and also in Chicago, LA and DC people took to the streets. The message was: NO more war in Iraq! NO to a war with Iran!
