Author: Grace Thompson

MELBOURNE, Australia — A self-described Nazi became the first person in Australia to be sentenced to prison for performing an outlawed salute when he was ordered by a magistrate on Friday to spend one month behind bars. Jacob Hersant, 25, is also the first person in the state of Victoria to be convicted of performing the Nazi salute. The gesture has been outlawed nationwide since he committed the offense. He was convicted in the Melbourne Magistrates Court last month of performing the salute before news cameras outside the Victoria County Court on Oct. 27, 2023. Hersant had just avoided a prison sentence on a conviction for causing violent disorder. Performing a Nazi salute had been outlawed by the state parliament days earlier. Magistrate Brett Sonnet allowed Hersant to re...

Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 40 people around the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, according to the country’s health ministry, and at dusk more strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war but fighting has escalated since late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing of Lebanon’s south and east and making ground incursions into border villages. Israeli strikes on Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley killed 40 people and wounded 53, the health ministry said. The Israeli military did not comment. Israel has repeatedly battered strongholds of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut. The Israeli military ordered residents...

A robot that has spent months inside the ruins of a nuclear reactor at Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant delivered a tiny sample of melted nuclear fuel on Thursday, in what plant officials said was a step toward beginning the cleanup of hundreds of tons of melted fuel debris. The sample, the size of a grain of rice, was placed into a secure container, marking the end of the mission, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings , which manages the plant. It is being transported to a glove box for size and weight measurements before being sent to outside laboratories for detailed analyses over the coming months. Plant chief Akira Ono has said it will provide key data to plan a decommissioning strategy, develop necessary technology and robots and lea...

President-elect Donald Trump has carried Nevada over Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race, NBC News projects. Trump lost the state’s six electoral votes in both of his previous runs for the White House. But those defeats against Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden were both by less than 2.5 percentage points, and Trump and the Republican Party have made significant strides with Latino voters and other voting blocs key to the state since then. While Nevada elected a Republican governor in 2022 — Trump-endorsed Joe Lombardo — Democrats managed to hold on in other close races up and down the ballot, a recurring theme in recent years. But Trump’s victory is a breakthrough for the GOP in a state that Democrats have mostly dominated of late. Republicans hadn’t won the presidenti...

Weeks after sticky black balls washed up on the famed beaches of Sydney, scientists say they have partly solved the mystery behind the “disgusting” blobs. Initially thought to be tar balls, the golf-ball-size debris turned out to be something much different — a combination of decomposed cooking oils, hair and food waste, the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority said Wednesday. The investigation, carried out by the Australian government and scientists from the University of New South Wales, revealed that the black balls “likely originated from a source that releases mixed waste,” the EPA said in a statement . “Authorities have considered several possible causes, such as a shipping spill or wastewater outflow,” it said. The exact origin is yet to ...

Germany’s government coalition has collapsed in dramatic fashion after Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the pro-business Free Democrats in a late-night move following a marathon of crisis meetings. The three remaining ministers of the Free Democrats resigned in response, leading to the downfall of the government coalition. Scholz is expected to lead the country with a minority government, but the opposition is calling for an immediate no-confidence vote. But early Thursday, Transport Minister Volker Wissing from the Free Democrats unexpectedly took back last night’s resignation and told reporters that after talking to Scholz, he had decided to stay on as minister and leave the party instead. Lindner will receive his certificate of dismissal fro...

The Baltimore Ravens won a divisional thriller to kick off Week 10 on Thursday, beating the Cincinnati Bengals 35-34. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson threw for four touchdowns in the victory. His last pass of the night was a five-yard pitch to Reshod Bateman for the go-ahead score with one minute and 49 seconds remaining. Joe Burrow led the Bengals down the field for a touchdown in the final minute, but he couldn’t complete a go-ahead pass on a two-point conversion attempt. Ja’Marr Chase was sensational in defeat, catching 11 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns. This was the second high scoring duel between the teams, as Baltimore won a 41-38 game in overtime in Cincinnati in Week 5. The first half of Thursday’s game was relatively quiet, as the teams combined for only 2...

After she helped engineer Donald Trump’s improbable and sweeping victory in the presidential race, Susie Wiles, the president-elect’s unassuming co-campaign chief, is seen as the front-runner to become his White House chief of staff, according to six sources familiar with discussions inside the campaign. In a world riven by rivalries, advisers credit Wiles’ ability to gain Trump’s respect and corral big personalities. If she is chosen, Wiles would become the first female White House chief of staff in history. “She has commanded a ton of respect amongst the staff, as well as loyalty. She doesn’t play games. And she means what she says: On the campaign, she said we are checking egos at the door and held everyone to it,” said a campaign official, who, like others in this article, wa...