Hundreds of thousands of people packed into a stadium in Beirut and nearby streets on Sunday for the funeral of Hezbollah's former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
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Stars take to the red carpet at this year’s SAG Awards
The 31st Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards are here, and the stars of this year's biggest films and TV shows have taken to the red carpet decked out in designers.
Bruce Lehrmann accused of stealing four-wheel drive
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann, who was found by a Federal Court to have raped one-time colleague Brittany Higgins, has been accused of stealing a car.
Lehrmann appeared by phone in Hobart Magistrates Court this morning, with the matter adjourned without plea.
It is alleged the 29-year-old stole a Toyota Prado from Mountain River, a rural area south-west of Hobart, on November 20.
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Lehrmann's lawyer Zali Burrows, who also appeared by phone, requested an adjournment so she could make representations on the charge.
Lehrmann, who the court was unable to initially contact by phone, will re-appear on June 19.
According to court documents, the charge of motor vehicle stealing was brought against Lehrmann by Gail Denise Oates.
READ MORE: Pope Francis in critical condition with early kidney failure
Lehrmann's trial for allegedly raping Higgins in 2019 Canberra's parliament house was abandoned in October 2022 because of juror misconduct.
A retrial did not occurred because of concerns for Higgins' mental health.
Lehrmann, who has maintained his innocence, sued media outlets for defamation in civil action in the Federal Court, which ultimately found he had raped Higgins.
He is appealing the Federal Court decision.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
‘Inconsolable’: Ray Hadley’s granddaughter Lola given devastating diagnosis
Former 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley has given an emotional update after his three-year-old granddaughter Lola was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Hadley, 70, officially hung up his microphone after 43 years in the business in December to spend more time with his loved ones. Within days, Lola was given a devastating diagnosis.
Speaking on 2GB's Ben Fordham Live, the talkback king said the past seven weeks have been a living nightmare.
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"On January 6, I got a call from the Gold Coast saying she hadn't been well… she hadn't been well since Christmas Day, Laura was concerned," Hadley told Fordham from Las Vegas, where he is visiting for the opening NRL match.
"By midday on Monday, she'd been diagnosed with leukaemia. I drove back hurriedly, went straight to the hospital.
"Brad and Laura were inconsolable, as most people would be in that situation."
Hadley said Lola immediately began aggressive treatment for the blood cancer.
READ MORE: Pope Francis in critical condition with early kidney failure
Despite the tough battle ahead of her, he said his toddler granddaughter still lights up every room.
"The poor little thing, she's a beautiful kid… always happy and always smiling," Hadley said.
"She bounces back, she's smiling. She tricks me… she says, 'Poppy, there's a spider in your hair, Poppy. She laughs and rolls around and thinks she's tricked me again."
He added: "That brings joy to everyone."
Lola's parents Brad and Laura are now bouncing between home and the hospital on the Gold Coast as treatment continues.
Hadley said the diagnosis has utterly rocked his family.
"Their lives are just in disarray and on hold," he said.
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"We're not special, we're just battling through it. It's a real battle. Thank you to everyone, I've been inundated with support."
The retired broadcaster plans to shave his head once Lola loses her hair from chemotherapy.
Hadley said he went public with Lola's diagnosis to let other families know they're not alone.
"We need to confront this and tell people the truth and what's happening," he said.
"Laura said there are hundreds of families just like us across the country."
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What happens to Catholic Church leadership when a pope becomes sick?
While the Vatican has detailed laws and rituals to ensure the transfer of power when a pope dies or resigns, they do not apply if he is sick or even unconscious.
And there are no specific norms outlining what happens to the leadership of the Catholic Church if a pope becomes totally incapacitated.
As a result, even though Pope Francis remains hospitalised in critical condition with a complex lung infection, he is still pope and very much in charge.
READ MORE: Pope Francis in critical condition with early kidney failure
Still, Francis' hospital stay is raising obvious questions about what happens if he loses consciousness for a prolonged period, or whether he might follow in Pope Benedict XVI's footsteps and resign if he becomes unable to lead.
On Monday, Francis' hospital stay will hit the 10-day mark, equalling the length of his 2021 hospital stay for surgery to remove 33 centimetres of his colon.
His age and prolonged illness has revived interest about how papal power is exercised in the Holy See, how it is transferred and under what circumstances. And it points to the legislative loophole that currently exists in what to do if a pope gets so sick that he can't govern.
The Vatican Curia
Francis may be in charge, but he already delegates the day-to-day running of the Vatican and church to a team of officials who operate whether he is in the Apostolic Palace or not, and whether he is conscious or not.
Chief among them is the secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Other Vatican functions are proceeding normally, including the Vatican's 2025 Holy Year celebrations.
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What happens when a pope gets sick?
Canon law does have provisions for when a bishop gets sick and can’t run his diocese, but none for a pope.
Canon 412 says a diocese can be declared “impeded” if its bishop — due to “captivity, banishment, exile, or incapacity” — cannot fulfil his pastoral functions. In such cases, the day-to-day running of the diocese shifts to an auxiliary bishop, a vicar general or someone else.
Even though Francis is the bishop of Rome, no explicit provision exists for the pope if he similarly becomes “impeded.”
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Canon 335 declares simply that when the Holy See is “vacant or entirely impeded,” nothing can be altered in the governance of the church. But it doesn’t say what it means for the Holy See to be “entirely impeded” or what provisions might come into play if it ever were.
In 2021, a team of canon lawyers set out to propose norms to fill that legislative gap.
They created a canonical crowd-sourcing initiative to craft a new church law regulating the office of a retired pope as well as norms to apply when a pope is unable to govern, either temporarily or permanently.
The proposed norms explain that, with medical advancements, it’s entirely likely that at some point a pope will be alive but unable to govern.
READ MORE: How new cyclone Alfred will affect Queensland in coming days
It argues that the church must provide for the declaration of a “totally impeded see” and the transfer of power for the sake of its own unity.
Under the proposed norms, the governance of the universal church would pass to the College of Cardinals.
In the case of a temporary impediment, they would name a commission to govern, with periodical medical checks every six months to determine the status of the pope.
“At first, the promoting group was accused of imprudently choosing topics that were too sensitive and controversial,” said one of the coordinators, canon lawyer Geraldina Boni.
But then, "a widespread consensus formed," she told The Associated Press.
Even Francis' own canon lawyer, Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, acknowledged some sort of norms were necessary if the pope “incurably, then irreversibly, lost consciousness or otherwise the ability to perform human acts.”
“The problem is, who declares that the pope is in a situation where he cannot govern?” he told Italian daily Il Giornale in 2022.
Ghirlanda largely backed the crowd-sourcing initiative's idea, proposing a committee of medical experts to determine if the pope's condition is irreversible. If they confirm it is, the Rome-based cardinals would be summoned to declare the pope cannot govern, triggering a conclave.
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What about the letters?
Francis confirmed in 2022 that shortly after he was elected pope he wrote a letter of resignation, to be invoked if he became medically incapacitated. He said he gave it to the then-secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and said he assumed Bertone had delivered it to Parolin's office when he retired.
The text is not public, and the conditions Francis contemplated for a resignation are unknown. It is also not known if such a letter would be canonically valid.
Canon law requires a papal resignation to be “freely and properly manifested” — as was the case when Benedict announced his resignation in 2013.
In 1965, Pope Paul VI wrote letters to the dean of the College of Cardinals hypothesising that if he were to become seriously ill, the dean and other cardinals should accept his resignation. The letter was never invoked, since Paul lived another 13 years and died on the job.
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What happens when a pope dies or resigns?
The only time papal power changes hands is when a pope dies or resigns. At that time, a whole series of rites and rituals comes into play governing the “interregnum” — the period between the end of one pontificate and the election of a new pope.
During that period, known as the “sede vacante,” or “empty See,” the camerlengo, or chamberlain, runs the administration and finances of the Holy See.
He certifies the pope’s death, seals the papal apartments and prepares for the pope’s burial before a conclave to elect a new pope. The position is currently held by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the head of the Vatican’s laity office.
The camerlengo has no role or duties if the pope is merely sick or otherwise incapacitated.
Likewise, the dean of the College of Cardinals, who would preside at a papal funeral and organise the conclave, has no additional role if the pope is merely sick. That position is currently held by Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91.
Earlier this month, Francis decided to keep Re on the job even after his five-year term expired, rather than make way for someone new. He also extended the term of the vice-dean, Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 81.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred forms over Coral Sea off Queensland coast
Tropical Cyclone Alfred has formed off Queensland, placing meteorologists on alert to track and predict the chances of it turning back towards the coast.
The category 1 storm formed about 4pm (5pm AEDT) today over the Coral Sea roughly 840 kilometres east-north-east of Cairns after swirling around as a tropical low across the weekend.
The cyclone had been set to be called "Anthony" but the weather bureau changed the name to avoid any confusion with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as a federal election looms.
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"When a name matches a prominent person of the time, we reorder to the next name starting with that same letter to avoid any confusion," a bureau spokesperson said on Friday.
Alfred was expected to strengthen to category 3 by Tuesday morning while heading away from the coast.
However, the Bureau of Meteorology stresses the forecast is uncertain and expects the cyclone to turn towards the south on Wednesday.
"By this point, it's likely to be the best part of 1000 kilometres off of the Queensland coast, but it will be impacting coastal locations," bureau meteorologist Angus Hines said in a video update published this afternoon.
"Notice the strong gusty winds blowing up from Brisbane all the way up to areas north of Cairns. "And it will be a windy week along the Queensland coast. We also anticipate showers for most coastal locations, and an increase in the size of the waves, making for some hazardous conditions over Queensland waters."
No confident forecasts of its possible path have been made beyond Wednesday.
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"Considerable uncertainty exists in the track the system will take beyond that, but there is a risk it will move closer to the central Queensland coast later in the week," the bureau said, in an update.
Hines said the system could drift closer or further away from the Queensland coast than expected, either increasing or decreasing the severity of the state's weather.
"There are a few paths that this tropical cyclone could take through Thursday, Friday, Saturday at the end of the week, including the risk that it veers back towards the central or southern Queensland coast late in the week," he said.
"If it does so, that would greatly increase the risk of severe weather for parts of eastern Queensland.
"It is too early to say which parts of the coast are most at risk, and it's too early to say how strong the winds could be and how much rain could be anticipated."
Hines urged Queenslanders to keep monitoring forecasts, particularly the cyclone track map, which will be updated with more confident predictions throughout the week.
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Man dead, another in custody after dramatic police standoff
A man is under police guard after falling off the roof of a Tamworth home during a tense standoff with police.
Peter Nielsen, 55, is accused of stabbing another man to death inside the home before climbing on top of the house.
Tiles were thrown at officers who deployed a Taser during the standoff yesterday afternoon.
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Meanwhile, inside the home, 47-year-old Richard Garland was bleeding to death after he was allegedly stabbed in the head.
Tactical police swarmed Garland's Goonoo Goonoo Road property around 4.30pm yesterday.
Police said after locking himself inside a bedroom Nielsen emerged through the roof, wielding a knife.
When officers fired bean bag rounds, feathers exploded from his puffer jacket but the 55-year-old didn't seem fazed.
Moving onto the roof, negotiators tried to reason with him but when they got too close, he fled.
READ MORE: Pope in critical condition
After eventually falling from the roof, he was disarmed, arrested and taken to John Hunter Hospital, where he remains under police guard.
No charges have been laid.
The street remained shut down today as forensic and homicide detectives took over the investigation, and floral tributes were laid for Garland.
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Average single Sydney wage earner locked out of housing market
New research has provided a new sign of just how hard the Sydney housing market is for singles.
Comparison site Compare the Market discovered solo wage earners were being locked out of the city's property market.
It found of Sydney's 635 metropolitan suburbs, not one was affordable for a single person earning a median weekly income of $1416.
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On that income, a solo property owner would have to spend more than 30 per cent of their wages servicing a loan, putting them in mortgage stress.
"This includes putting down that 20 per cent deposit, and for many that is out of reach already," Compare the Market's Chris Ford said.
"But then you've got to include not just those mortgage repayments but insurances, rates, ongoing maintenance that might be required as well … and an already stretched budget is really pushed to its limit."
READ MORE: Pope Francis is in a 'critical condition', Vatican says
It's a little easier for couples but the analysis found only 126 suburbs were affordable on a two-person income.
This includes the likes of Cabramatta, Liverpool, Mt Druitt, Berkley Vale and Carramar.
Corelogic data shows the median house price did fall slightly in the past quarter, but it still stands at almost $1.5 million ($1,474,032.)
Unit prices also dipped sljghtly, however the median price remains at almost $860,000 ($857,969).
Most property commentators believe house prices will rise if interest rates continue to fall.
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Watch: Auckland policeman, Vincent Kahui, makes a splash in Z Manu World Champs
Constable Vincent Kahui joined in after much encouragement from the crowd.
Vatican issues Pope update after health crisis leaves him critical
Pope Francis has rested during a peaceful night following a respiratory crisis and blood transfusions, the Vatican says.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni's one-line statement on Sunday morning (Sunday evening AEDT) didn't mention if Francis was up or eating breakfast.
The brief update came after doctors said the 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was in critical condition.
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On Saturday morning, he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection.
The pope received "high flows" of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT) update.
The Saturday statement also said that the pontiff "continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in more pain than yesterday".
Doctors said the prognosis was "reserved".
Doctors have said Francis' condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease, and that the main threat facing him is if the infection enters the bloodstream, a serious condition known as sepsis.
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