Fears of a U.S. government shutdown are easing after President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck an ‘agreement in principle’ to raise the country’s legal debt ceiling. Both sides made compromises that may prove difficult to sell to their respective parties before the projected June 5 deadline to sign off on the deal.

Washington

'Catastrophic' U.S default off the table after deal

Are you confident this deal will get to your desk? Yes. A confident Joe Biden says the debt ceiling deal will pass. The details include lifting the borrowing limit until after the 2024 election and rolling back some IRS funding and unspent COVID money. It takes the threat of catastrophic default off the table. Protects our hard-earned and historic economic recovery. Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy says it's a step in the right direction. America believes that we've spent too much so this spends less. But the deal comes with criticism from both sides. Some conservatives say it will add trillions of dollars of debt with minimal spending restrictions. While some Democrats worry about a detail that limits access to some government aid like food stamps by expanding work requirements. We've seen reams of data that show that when you put these work requirements in they're really just administrative red tape that prevent the people who need help from getting help. But the deal had to get done and some say it's a win for all Americans. For American people they're gonna be like, eh, I don't understand half of the things that are going on in this debate. However, I do know if we default the stock market is gonna go down. Things are gonna get more difficult for my pocketbook. I'm gonna see my investments plummet. Lawmakers in the House and the Senate have a few days to look over the details before it goes to a vote. Democratic and Republican leadership seem confident it will go through so Biden can sign the bill and put an end to the debt ceiling crisis. Magda Ghebreyesus, Alaska CBC News, Washington.

Rudy Giuliani, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, is among 18 people charged in Arizona with illegally seeking to claim the state's 2020 electoral votes for the then-U.S. president.

Phoenix

U.S. Presidential Election

Giuliani indicted in election vote-rigging case

Dozens of whales have died after 160 became beached during a mass stranding event in WA's south-west. Community members turned out this morning to the mouth of Toby Inlet at Geographe Bay near Dunsborough, where dozens of pilot whales were stuck in shallow water.

Geographe

Mass whale stranding in southwest WA

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has completed a two-day trek of the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea, alongside PNG Prime Minister James Marape in commemoration of ANZAC Day

Kokoda

Australian Prime Minister's Kokoda pilgrimage

Five teenagers have appeared in court, after being arrested in connection with the stabbing of the Bishop in the Wakely church stabbing. Counter-terrorism police are continuing searches in south-west Sydney and Goulburn.

Wakeley

Teenagers face court over terrorism offences

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to sign a law that sets a January 2025 deadline for Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its U.S. operation. Lawmakers behind the ban have warned of national security risks from the popular social video app.

Biden to sign law that could ban TikTok in U.S.

Morning rush hour in central London turned chaotic Wednesday as five escaped military horses galloped at full speed through busy city streets, injuring at least four people. All five horses were rounded up and given veterinary care.

London

Runaway horses cause peak-hour chaos in London

The United Nations is calling for an inquiry after bodies were found beneath Gaza's Nasser Hospital, in the city of Khan Younis. The hospital was recently abandoned by Israeli troops who said they’d finished searching it for Hamas fighters.

Sderot

Israel-Gaza War

UN calls for inquiry after unmarked graves found in Gaza

People living in Athens have seen the sky turn orange. It was caused by clouds of dust from the Sahara desert, which blew in from Northern Africa blanketing much of Greece.

Athens

'Apocalyptic' orange haze descends on Athens

Thousands have lined the streets of Sydney's CBD to honour veterans and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the annual Anzac Day march.

Council of the City of Sydney

Thousands of veterans take part in ANZAC Day marches

President Joe Biden has signed a bill into law that provides billions of dollars of new U.S. aid to Ukraine for its war with Russia. The legislation also includes $26 billion for Israel, as well as $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Biden also signed a separate bill tied to the aid package that bans TikTok in the U.S. if its owner fails to divest the video app.

Ukraine Invasion

Biden signs Ukraine, Israel aid, TikTok ban package

A North Korean delegation led by a cabinet minister for international trade is visiting Iran, according to state media. The rare public visit signals increased cooperation between the two countries, which are believed to have secret military ties.

Pyongyang

North Korea delegation visits Iran in rare public trip

The German government plans to resume cooperation with the United Nations agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza. The announcement comes after a new report concluded that Israel had not provided enough evidence to back up its claims that hundreds of UNRWA staff are military operatives in so-called terrorist groups in Gaza.

Berlin

Germany to resume funding UNRWA Palestinian agency

The United States Justice Department has agreed to pay almost $139 million to victims of sex abuser Larry Nassar, for its bungled investigation into the former USA Gymnastics team doctor. For nearly two decades, Nassar subjected hundreds of people to abuse under the guise of performing medical treatment.

Justice Dept. to pay $139 million to USA Gymnastics abuse victims

The United Nations called for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” of mass graves uncovered at two major hospitals in war-torn Gaza that were raided by Israeli troops. Credible investigators must have access to the sites, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

U.N. calls for investigation into Gaza mass graves

A bishop whose stabbing was live streamed while delivering a church service wants his video to remain online, supporting X founder Elon Musk's stance. The technology company is currently in a legal fight with Australia’s e-Safety commissioner over the graphic video.

Stabbed Sydney bishop supports Musk stance

Seven juveniles have been arrested and a further five are being interviewed by police, after a series of raids by counterterrorism police in the south-west Sydney suburb of Greenacre. The arrests follow the stabbing a bishop.

Teenagers arrested in ongoing Sydney anti-terror raids

The US Senate has passed a 95 Billion dollar aid package providing aid to Ukraine and Israel, humanitarian relief for Gaza, as well as 8 Billion dollars for security in Taiwan. Part of that package is a provision that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok.

U.S. Senate approves $95b aid package for Israel and Ukraine

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is heading to Shanghai and Beijing for three days of talks with senior Chinese officials as US-China ties are at a critical point. His visit also comes amid rising concern in Europe over Chinese espionage with several suspected spies detained in Germany and the UK.

Beijing

Blinken heads to China amid rising concern in Europe

After a tribal welcome to the mountains of Papua New Guinea, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spent the night camping on the Kokoda Track in an Anzac Day trek aimed at drawing the two countries closer.

Prime Minister walking the Kokoda Track

Residents in New Delhi complained of breathing problems after a massive fire broke out at a Ghazipur landfill the day before. Large plumes of smoke continued to rise from the burning landfill in the city’s eastern district, where excavators were seen removing piles of garbage to deescalate the fire.

New Delhi

Landfill fire envelops New Delhi in smoke

Protests in support of Palestine continue at university campuses across the United States, despite a crackdown by police. Hundreds of students and teachers have been arrested over the past week.

New York

Protests rage at U.S. universities over Israel’s war on Gaza

An aide to a German far-right member of the European Parliament has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, German prosecutors said, deepening concerns about foreign interference ahead of June's European elections.

Aide to far-right German MEP arrested for spying for China

Five people, including a child, have died in an attempt to cross the English Channel from France, hours after Britain passed a bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to try to deter the dangerous crossings.

Wimereux

Migrants drown in Channel hours after U.K. passes Rwanda bill

Police arrested dozens of people at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan on Monday, as the war in Gaza continued to reverberate through U.S. university campuses.

Dozens arrested at U.S. universities as Gaza protests grow

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on April 22 threatened possible legal action against claims that it may have covered up the issue of Chinese swimmers testing positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, as global sports groups piled pressure on the regulator and demanded an investigation into the case.

Tokyo

Chinese Olympic swim team doping scandal heats up

Court documents have revealed Bruce Lehrmann refused an offer to settle with Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson before his failed defamation case had begun hearings.

Bruce Lehrmann refused settlement before court case

The lawyer representing a former NSW Police officer charged with murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies says his client's defence may involve mental health elements.

Man accused of murdering Sydney couple faces court

A western New South Wales man charged with murdering a young woman was on bail for several violent charges against the same victim.

Forbes

Man faces court over murder of young Forbes woman

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks as the upper house of parliament finally passed required legislation, delayed for weeks by attempts to alter the plan.

U.K. parliament passes Rwanda asylum law

New York prosecutors said on the first day of Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial that the former president broke the law and corrupted the 2016 election by trying to cover up sexual encounters with a porn star and a Playboy model, while his defense lawyer said he committed no crime.