Australian Music prize: 80-year-old Kankawa Nagarra wins over Nick Cave and Amyl and the Sniffers

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Walmatjarri elder and blues musician wins $50,000 prize for Wirlmarni, saying she hopes it will bring pride to her community in Wangkatjungka

The Walmatjarri elder and blues musician Kankawa Nagarra has won the $50,000 Australian Music prize (AMP) for her debut album Wirlmarni, seeing off competition from Nick Cave, the Dirty Three and Amyl and the Sniffers.

Inspired by the UK’s Mercury prize, the AMP focuses “entirely on artistic merit” and aims to “financially reward and increase exposure” for Australian musicians who release the best album in a calendar year.

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Late Night Razzes Trump Over His Upcoming Visit to Notre-Dame – The New York Times

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  1. Late Night Razzes Trump Over His Upcoming Visit to Notre-Dame  The New York Times
  2. Inside the Dramatic Race to Restore Notre Dame Cathedral  The Wall Street Journal
  3. What caused the Notre Dame fire? The latest as the cathedral reopens.  The Washington Post
  4. Meet the American Artisans Who Helped Resurrect Notre Dame Cathedral  ELLE Decor
  5. Archaeologists Discovered More than 1,000 Artifacts Beneath Notre Dame Cathedral  ARTnews
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How Ukraine has faced its worst month on the battlefield in two years – visualised

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November was Ukraine’s worst month since September 2022 for territory lost to Russian forces. These charts and maps show the latest developments in the war

Ukraine lost an area equivalent to the size of New York City to Russian forces in November – the worst monthly figure for Ukrainian defenders since September 2022.

After the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia gained ground quickly before being pushed back in a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Last year, with the conflict mostly at a stalemate, Institute for the Study of War (ISW) data shows that Russian forces took 2,233 sq km (862 sq miles) of territory. Already in 2024 they have taken about 2,656 sq km.

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California Democrat Adam Gray unseats Republican as last House race decided

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Adam Gray wins by fewer than 200 votes, leaving Democrats with 215 House seats and Republicans 220 this election cycle

Democrat Adam Gray captured California’s 13th congressional district on Tuesday, unseating Republican John Duarte in the final US House contest to be decided in the 2024 elections.

Gray’s win in the farm belt seat that cuts through five counties means Republicans won 220 House seats this election cycle, with Democrats holding 215 seats.

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Donna Nelson, who claims she was love scam victim, jailed for smuggling drugs into Japan

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Donna Nelson sentenced to six years in prison after court finds her guilty of bringing methamphetamine into country

The jailing of an Australian woman in Japan is “really distressing” for her family, the federal government has acknowledged as it committed to doing all it could to help her.

The Australian federal health minister, Mark Butler, made the promise a day after Donna Nelson was sentenced to six years for smuggling methamphetamine into Tokyo in January 2023, despite her claims she had been the victim of an online romance scam.

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Cathay Pacific apologises over inflight Family Guy episode with Tiananmen Square scene

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Hong Kong carrier removes episode from entertainment system after social media complaint that it might breach national security laws

Hong Kong’s flagship airline, Cathay Pacific, has apologised over the inclusion of a Family Guy episode in its inflight entertainment system that features a scene depicting Tiananmen Square.

The airline told the South China Morning Post it had apologised to customers after a complaint was raised on social media that the episode might breach Hong Kong’s national security laws.

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Labor declines to review three coal proposals for potential climate impact – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

More on the new Malaysia-based maritime institute:

The government is contributing $1.78m over four years to support the institute, which will train regional government officials on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, broader maritime law and ocean governance, awareness of maritime domains and environmental protection.

We don’t want to see any unilateral changes to the status quo across the Taiwan straits, and our focus is on doing everything we can in terms of exercising our international voice around promoting stability and peace in and around the Taiwan straits, in and around Taiwan.

Rules and norms are vital for our shared maritime region and the countries of our region make an ongoing contribution to maintaining and promoting them.

The institute will deliver training to officials from across the region on complex maritime legal and policy topics. It will nurture leaders and help further our collective contribution to a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

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South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, facing impeachment after martial law shock

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Opposition parties submit motion to impeach Yoon after his shock bid to put South Korea under martial law for first time in over four decades

South Korean opposition parties have formally submitted a motion to impeach the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, over his short-lived declaration of martial law.

Early on Thursday, lawmakers presented to parliament an impeachment motion alleging that Yoon “gravely and extensively violated the constitution and the law” and accuses him of imposing martial law “with the unconstitutional and illegal intent to evade imminent investigations... into alleged illegal acts involving himself and his family”.

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‘We’ve seen this before’: residents of rebel-held Aleppo fear regime onslaught

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Syria’s second largest city braces for possibility of president Bashar al-Assad revisiting brutal tactics used in civil war

A billboard of the Syrian president that once overlooked a central square in Aleppo has been burned almost beyond recognition, but the influence of Bashar al-Assad is still felt in the now rebel-held city as residents live in fear of bombardment by his regime.

“The biggest fear, one shared by all the people of Aleppo right now, is the airstrikes,” said Mahmoud, a 50-year-old man who declined to share his family name, concerned that Assad could regain control of the city and punish accused critics as he did eight years ago.

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China bans exports of key microchip elements to US as trade tensions escalate

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Semiconductor restrictions on China announced by Washington a day earlier prompt retaliation involving critical minerals including gallium and germanium

The Chinese government has said it will ban exports to the US of some key components in making semiconductors, escalating trade tensions a day after Washington announced curbs targeting China’s ability to make advanced chips.

Among the materials banned from export were the metals gallium, antimony and germanium, China’s commerce ministry said in a statement that cited “national security” concerns.

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Urgent Plastics Treaty Talks Miss Mark as Deadline Looms! – Kawsachun News –

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  1. Urgent Plastics Treaty Talks Miss Mark as Deadline Looms!  Kawsachun News -
  2. Saudi Arabia Leads Pushback Against Global Plastic Treaty  The New York Times
  3. Divided over whether to stop making plastic, U.N. treaty talks collapse  The Washington Post
  4. Plastics Failure Is a Canary in the Climate Coalmine  Bloomberg
  5. Countries fail to reach agreement in UN plastic talks  Reuters
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Missing woman looking for cat may have fallen into sinkhole, police fear

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Family of Elizabeth Pollard, 64, of Marguerite, Pennsylvania, say she has not been seen since Monday

Authorities fear a grandmother who disappeared while looking for her cat may have been swallowed up by a sinkhole that recently opened up in a western Pennsylvania village.

Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole in Marguerite on Tuesday morning but detected nothing. A second camera lowered into the hole showed what could have been a shoe.

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Australia splits with US to back UN resolution demanding end to Israel occupation of Palestinian territories

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Vote marks a change to the nation’s official stance held for more than two decades

Australia has split with the US and voted with 156 other countries at the UN to demand the end of Israel’s “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible”.

The vote marks Australia’s return to the position for the first time in more than two decades.

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Three climbers from the US and Canada missing on New Zealand’s highest mountain

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Several climbing-related items which police believe belonged to the trio found, as bad weather will likely delay search efforts until Thursday

Rescue teams looking for three climbers who went missing on New Zealand’s highest mountain have expressed “grave concerns” over the party’s welfare in the rugged terrain, as bad weather hampers search efforts for the second day in a row.

US nationals Kurt Blair, 56, and Carlos Romero, 50, and a Canadian man flew by helicopter on Saturday to a camp on Aoraki Mount Cook with plans to summit the 3,724 metre (12,218 ft) mountain.

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Syrian rebel forces push toward Hama, intensifying pressure on Assad and his allies – The Times of Israel

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  1. Syrian rebel forces push toward Hama, intensifying pressure on Assad and his allies  The Times of Israel
  2. Syrian government says fighting back against rebel advance  Yahoo! Voices
  3. Syrian military and rebels battle around Hama  Reuters
  4. Syria gov’t forces battle opposition fighters near city of Hama  Al Jazeera English
  5. Syrian Forces Battle Rebels Outside Government Stronghold  The New York Times
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