- Friday, 5 September 2025
CNN
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Julian Assange returns home as free man to Australia, after plea deal with US
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has landed back home in Australia, a free man for the first time in 12 years after a US judge signed off on his unexpected plea deal on Wednesday morning.
Julian Assange walks free after guilty plea
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walked free for the first time in 12 years after a US judge signed off on his unexpected plea deal on Wednesday morning. Assange walked out of the courtroom as a free man into the bright Saipan sunshine, raising one hand to a gaggle of the world’s press before departing by car for the airport where he caught a flight to the Australian capital Canberra.
Scientists identify new Antarctic ice sheet ‘tipping point’
The Antarctic ice sheet is melting in a new, worrying way that scientific models used to project future sea level rise have not taken into account, suggesting current projections could be significantly underestimating the problem, according to a new study.
Nearly 2 million people stranded as floods hits Bangladesh
Extensive flooding has stranded about 1.8 million people in northeast Bangladesh, following weeks of heavy rains that have submerged homes and devastated farmland, according to state media and humanitarian agencies. Video shows large swathes of Sylhet city and the nearby town of Sunamganj underwater in the second wave of flooding to hit the region in less than a month, as reported by state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).
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More than 1,000 feared dead in Hajj pilgrimage heat wave
The official death toll from this year’s Hajj pilgrimage has soared to almost 500 and the true toll could be more than double that as reports emerged that as many as 600 Egyptian worshipers perished on the route to Mecca amid extreme heat. At least 14 Malaysians, 165 Indonesians, 75 Jordanians, 35 Pakistanis, 49 Tunisians, 11 Iranians and 98 Indians have died, according to authorities in each country. A further 27 Jordanians are hospitalized and around 14 are still missing, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said.
World's most expensive cities for expats in 2024
Uprooting your life and moving to a completely different city for work isn’t always an easy decision. There are many factors to consider, with cost undoubtedly high on the list. But which international city is the most expensive in the world for expats to move to?
Massive solar storm hits Mars, revealing a risk for future astronauts
When the sun unleashed an extreme solar storm and hit Mars in May, it engulfed the red planet with auroras and an influx of charged particles and radiation, according to NASA. The sun has been showcasing more activity over the past year as it nears the peak of its 11-year cycle, called solar maximum, which is predicted to occur later this year.
Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders who took iconic ‘Earthrise’ photo dies in plane crash
William Anders, a NASA astronaut who was part of the 1968 Apollo 8 crew who were the first three people to orbit the moon, has died in a plane crash in Washington state, according to his son, Gregory Anders. He was 90 years old. My “dad passed in an aircraft incident in the San Juan Islands,” Anders told CNN Friday evening. “The family is devastated and grieving the loss of a great pilot,” he added.
World’s best restaurants for 2024
The awards – considered the Oscars of global fine dining – were handed out at a ceremony at the Wynn in Las Vegas on Wednesday evening, with Barcelona’s Disfrutar walking away with the top prize. Ranked number two last year, it’s owned and run by chefs Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casanas. The fact that this trio met while working at the legendary El Bulli should provide a few clues as to what diners can expect – imaginative and playful dishes executed with technical mastery, such as the caviar-filled Panchino doughnut, the frozen gazpacho sandwich and squab with kombu spaghetti, almond and grape.
Plastics industry claims this technology could help banish pollution
A squat, light-coloured building in Tigard, Oregon, was supposed to be part of a game-changing new solution for the global plastics industry. Called Regenyx, this recycling facility took in polystyrene — a hard-to-recycle plastic used for products like coffee cups, egg cartons and meat trays — and melted it right down to its building blocks, ready to be made into new products.
World’s best airline for 2024
When planning a trip, you can’t guarantee your flight won’t be delayed, your bag won’t go missing, or you won’t have a nightmare neighbour. But you can lighten your unease when things go wrong by choosing an airline brand you trust. Journeys on Qatar Airways don’t always go as hoped – 12 people were injured after a flight from Doha to Dublin was hit with turbulence on Sunday – but the Qatari flag carrier consistently places highly on global airline rankings.
No showers, no privacy, no regrets: Welcome to life in Antarctica
A five-month-long slumber party. A college dorm. An introvert’s hell. Those are just some of the words residents of Antarctica use to describe life in the world’s coldest, most mysterious continent.
As many as 2,000 people feared buried under Papua New Guinea landslide
As many as 2,000 people are feared to have been buried by last week’s massive landslide in Papua New Guinea, according to the country’s National Disaster Centre, as rescuers scramble to find any survivors in the remote region.
World’s best countries for tourism
The United States has just won a significant honour – being named the world’s best country for travel and tourism in 2024 by the World Economic Forum. The rankings are determined by a broad range of criteria, including infrastructure, natural resources, sustainability, labour availability and – since this is the World Economic Fund we’re talking about – competitive pricing.
Scientists say they’ve found where the sun’s magnetic field originates
The sun has a powerful magnetic field that creates sunspots on the star’s surface and unleashes solar storms such as the one that bathed much of the planet in beautiful auroras this month. But exactly how that magnetic field is generated inside the sun is a puzzle that has vexed astronomers for centuries, going back to the time of Italian astronomer Galileo, who made the first observations of sunspots in the early 1600s, and noticed how they varied over time.
