U.S. Capitol Police officers clashed with Pro-Palestine protesters Wednesday night in front of the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Several people were arrested and at least six officers were injured. 

Washington

Police, pro-Palestine protesters clash outside DNC building

back here at home. In the meantime, the motions high on the hill. U. S. Capitol police clashing with anti war protesters last night right in front of DNC headquarters. Several people were arrested and at least six officers were injured in all that chaos. Let's get right to our Melanie on Wake. She is live this morning outside DNC headquarters in southeast with the very latest. Good morning, Mel. Good morning. So they've cleaned up all the debris here out in front of the National Committee headquarters. But you can see there's bicycle racks still behind those front doors. Now, the reason the group came here is because the Congressional Campaign Committee was hosting a fundraiser for potential candidates, and they wanted those people to hear their voices. Now, California Democrat Brad Sherman was inside, and he said that they were evacuated when the protesters tried to break in through the front doors. But organizers of what they're calling a vigil had a different take on the night's events. Now they brought 11,000 candles to represent the lives lost in the war. So far, remnants of the gathering show that the situation escalated into a street melee, and some are prepared for the possibility of pepper spray or tear gas. You see milk there because milk is often used to soothe the stinging eyes from those sprays. About 150 anti war protesters gathered on streets and steps calling for the United States to do more to end the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Some people wearing black shirts with the words ceasefire now blocked the building's front doors and side alley. U. S. Capitol Police said the group was acting illegally and violently. Now, the group's if not now and Jewish voice for peace organized the vigil in protest. Jessica Anderson says this event did begin as a vigil. We did not come here tonight just for Palestinian lives. We came here because we believe that Israeli lives matter, and it's 1200 people who were lost. We honored them tonight as well in our candlelight. Now, D. C. Police officers here running to help as the situation escalated around 8 30 p.m. Video posted by the group, if not now, showed some protesters and police and shoving matches, pepper spray deployed and people trying to grab metal barricades as officers moved in. If not now posted on social media that they were linking arms, threatening no one and that police were the ones being violent. In a statement this morning, Jewish voice for peace claimed police rushed the group without warning, saying they brought a message of peace to party leadership who responded by unleashing an incredibly violent police attack on them. Now, two different sides here. A Capitol Hill staffer says he was out here last night and initially things like a seemed like a pretty normal protest, but they quickly turned. He claims that as he was trying to walk away, a group of protesters aggressively went up to him with cell phone cameras and struck him as he was trying to leave and get out of the situation. Now, organizers say 90 protesters were injured. Capitol police say six of their officers were injured from minor cuts, some being struck, some with the effects of pepper spray. And to our knowledge at this point, we can only confirm that one protester was arrested for assaulting a police officer. But we are still reaching out to police this morning, trying to get a final number on everything that went down last night. All right, Mel. Thanks very much, Mel. Standing where it happened last night. It's 805 now.

Hong Kong's first district elections saw a turnout of 27.5 percent, the government said Monday, a record low for a race that had shut out all opposition candidates. China has barred pro-democracy candidates from entering the race this year, reserving the ballot for "patriots."

Sha Tin

Hong Kong elections witness record low turnout

Elon Musk has reinstated far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the social media platform X, a year after vowing never to let him return. Jones, who claimed that a December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six educators was a hoax, was banned from the platform in 2018 for violating its "abusive behavior policy."

Mountain View

Elon Musk lifts X ban on far-right conspiracist Alex Jones

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is warning the escalation in hostilities along the Israeli border could widen. The Israeli army has carried out multiple air strikes on frontline villages in some of the fiercest bombardment yet. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah is also stepping up attacks against Israeli military outposts. 

Beirut

Israel-Gaza War

Violence escalates between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah

The Federal Government has announced its new migration strategy, which plans to reduce migrant intake by raising requirements for international students and some workers to get a visa, including minimum English language requirements.

Canberra

Government announces crackdown on migration

As Israeli troops move closer to the centre of Khan Younis, Gaza, and residents attempt to find safety, the UN warns that half of Gaza’s population is starving.



Sderot

More people flee Gaza as UN warns of mass starvation

In the final days of COP28, finding greener ways to produce clean drinking water is a big topic of conversation, but the pressure is on for an official statement about fossil fuels.

Dubai

Climate Crisis

Drinking water, fossil fuels lead COP28 agenda in final days

Residents as far south as Mackay are being warned to brace for damaging winds as Cyclone Jasper continues to track toward the coast. It's expected to cross as a Category Two on Wednesday.

Mackay

North Queensland residents prepare for Cyclone Jasper landfall

The competition to follow Annastacia Palaszczuk as Queensland Premier is heating up after her announcement that she's retiring from politics at the end of this week. 

Brisbane

Race to replace Queensland Premier heats up

Israeli tanks battled their way to the centre of Khan Younis in a major new push into the heart of the main city in the southern Gaza Strip which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians who fled other parts of the enclave. 

Israeli tanks reach center of Khan Younis

Three Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been arrested, just before voting began in a "patriots only" district election that has marginalised formerly popular opposition figures in the city amid a national security clampdown.

Shenzhen

Hong Kong activists arrested in city's 'birdcage' election

Foreign investors who leave their homes vacant will be slugged with a six-fold increase to penalties as the Federal Government seeks to free up more housing stock.

Foreign investors to be penalised for leaving homes vacant

The Federal Government is set to unveil a major new migration strategy tomorrow that aims to dramatically cut Australia's intake.

Government plans to 'drastically cut' migration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease, making one of them the first treatment in the United States based on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene editing technology.

Maryland

US approves two gene therapies for sickle cell disease

Israel bombing of the Gaza Strip has intensified in an expanded phase of its war against Hamas. This is after the United States wielded its U.N. Security Council veto to shield its ally from a global demand for a ceasefire.

Jerusalem

Intensified fighting in Gaza as U.S. vetoes ceasefire

EU lawmakers and policymakers have reached a deal on rules regulating the use of artificial intelligence, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on the X social platform.

Brussels

Rise of AI

EU reaches landmark deal to regulate AI threat

The U.S. has vetoed an emergency resolution at the UN security council — triggered by the secretary-general with a rarely-used power to force a vote — for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to allow more aid into the area.

New York

United States vetoes UN vote on immediate Gaza ceasefire

Israel's military says it has struck 450 targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, roughly double the figure it's typically reported since the end of the truce with Hamas. It marks a new expansion of the war.

Israel ramps up airstrikes on Gaza targets amid new phase

Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris 2024 Olympics can take part as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems at the event next year, the International Olympic Committee has ruled.

Paris

IOC rules Russian athletes can compete at Paris Olympics

Cyclone preparations are underway in north Queensland. Communities in North Queensland are bracing for Category Four Jasper to approach mainland Queensland by mid-next week.

Townsville City

North Queensland braces for Category Four cyclone

The Hamas-run health ministry reported 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City on Friday, and dozens more in Jabalia and the main southern city of Khan Yunis. So far, the fighting in the Palestinian enclave has left 17,487 people dead, according to the ministry's latest published figures. 

Hamas health ministry says over 17,000 dead in Gaza

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday told soldiers who had fought in Ukraine that he would run for the top job again in the 2024 election - a move that will allow the former KGB spy to stay in power until at least 2030. 

Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

Russia's Putin tells soldiers he will run for president again

Ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said there was a gap between the government's declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.

U.S criticizes Israel over Gaza civilian toll

2023 has been declared the hottest year in recorded history a month earlier than scientists would usually confirm the evidence. Temperatures are now nudging one and a half degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, giving the UN climate talks in Dubai a heightened sense of priority.

Council of the City of Sydney

Scientists confirm 2023 is the hottest year on record

The Department of Justice filed new criminal charges against U.S. President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, indicting him for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle. 

Delaware

Hunter Biden hit with new charges for tax evasion

Two months since the initial Hamas attack on southern Israel, doctors in Gaza are treating many times the number of patients they are equipped to handle, and a UN official says there is no safe place for humanitarian operations to continue.

Israel pushes deeper south as war with Hamas passes 2 months

Emergency authorities are on alert as severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper intensifies in the Coral Sea. The category four system is continuing its gradual march towards the North Queensland coast, but its exact path remains uncertain.

Tropical Cyclone Jasper strengthens off Queensland coast

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited Greece and met with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday. The two leaders agreed to reboot their relations, establishing a roadmap designed to usher in a new era of closer ties between the two NATO allies but historical foes. 