SpaceX successfully got its massive Starship rocket off the ground Thursday, but it exploded minutes into its test flight.The company, run by billionaire Elon Musk, described the explosion as a "rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation." No people or satellites were on the rocket, which was nearly 400 feet tall.

Kopernik Shores

SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch

It is launch time. The spaceship that Elon Musk hopes one day will take us to Mars taking off right now. Let's check this out. Two plus 43 seconds into the test flight of the inaugural Starship vehicle. The first stage engines not on. What a sight when the grand cameras are starting. We're flying at twice the thrust of a Saturn V heading to space. We're throttled down and throttled back up. Going through the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure. Apparently, the water is coming up off the right now. We're throttled down and throttled back up. Right through the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure. As the velocity increases, the density of the atmosphere is decreasing, lessening stress on the vehicle. The callout next to now. Continuing to watch the first stage as we head downrange. 100 seconds into flight. Our next major activity is going to be shutdown of the first stage. Houston tracking station now acquiring the vehicle. With shutdown we will get separation of Starship from Super Heavy and ignition of the Starship engines. When Starship separates, we light up six engines in a staggered sequence. If all goes well, those six engines will burn for almost six and a half minutes. Onboard view from Starship. You are watching something incredible right now. That Starship that we've been talking about all week long, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever made. It's a part of SpaceX's mission. This is just a test flight sending them. This is the first stage rocket booster going to send that thing up into space. The first launch attempt on Monday was actually scrubbed due to an issue they had. They got the launch off today without a hitch. This 400-foot Starship spacecraft is going to take one lap around Earth. It's going to take about 90 minutes. They are just into this thing. We're going to watch this thing as it completes its mission. The rocket is not manned. There's nobody on board this thing. The company's hope is that the spacecraft will one day bring American astronauts to Mars, to the red planet. NASA has already reserved the spacecraft for its next manned moon mission. Quite a scene there for SpaceX.

The U.S. Supreme Court is confronting a major test of the power of the presidency in arguments over Donald Trump's bid for immunity from prosecution for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

Washington

Supreme Court weighs Trump's bid for immunity from prosecution

After weeks of delays, Haiti is due to swear in a presidential transition council. Gang violence has devastated the economy and social services are on the brink of collapse. Gang leaders say talks over Haiti's political future must include them.

Port-au-Prince

Haiti interim transition council to be sworn in

Israeli forces are carrying out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said without specifying whether ground troops had crossed the border. He also claimed that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in months of violence.

Beirut

Israel-Gaza War

Israel says forces carrying out 'offensive action' in south Lebanon

In a deal facilitated by Qatar, Russia and Ukraine will exchange nearly 50 displaced children due to Moscow's invasion, announced Maria Lvova-Belova, the Kremlin's children's rights commissioner, in Doha.

Doha

Ukraine Invasion

Russia and Ukraine to exchange dozens of displaced children

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

U.N. 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.

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.