UNESCO has recognised Italian food is more than pizza, pasta and gelato, adding the range and ritual of the famed cuisine to its list of intangible cultural heritage.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose hard-right government has championed “Made in Italy” products as part of her nationalist agenda, hailed the recognition that she said “honours who we are and our identity”.
“Because for us Italians, cuisine is not just food or a collection of recipes. It is much more: it is culture, tradition, work, wealth,” she said in a statement.
Nunzia, prepares homemade orecchiette pasta in the street at Bari Vecchia, Apulia, on 11 June, 2024.
AFP / Piero Cruciatti
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The measles virus, the US CDC says measles is very contagious and can be serious, and anyone who is not protected against the virus is at risk.Supplied/ US CDC
A New Zealand-based Tongan immunologist says vigilance around measles spread is particularly important as families prepare to travel over the Christmas period – both within the countries they live and across the region to visit loved ones.
Dr Chris Puli’uvea said, unlike Fiji, New Zealand’s vaccination rate for children is 82 percent. For Pacific children aged one to five, the vaccination rate sits around 80 percent.
Health NZ has recorded 30 cases of measles in New Zealand in recent weeks, including 11 in Auckland and eight in Wellington.
With local health authorities working to increase the rate to the herd-immunity level of 95 percent, Puli’uivea, a senior lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology, is encouraging open conversations around vaccinations and disease protection.
“It’s important for our different layers of communities to be able to have these conversations, reach out and talk to someone who’s had it before and what their experiences were like,” he said.
“I’m sure you could [also] find out experiences of those who haven’t had the MMR vaccine and some of the troubles that they’ve had to face as well.”
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A fire that broke out in a residential building in southern China killed 12 people, state media reported Wednesday.
The blaze at the four-storey building in Shantou, Guangdong province, erupted around 9.20pm local time on Tuesday, and was extinguished just after 10pm, the local fire department said in a statement.
It comes after a huge blaze last month engulfed several high-rise residential towers in Hong Kong, neighbouring Guangdong, killing 160 people.
“The building on fire was a four-storey self-built reinforced concrete structure,” the Chaonan District Fire and Rescue Team said, adding that the blaze had affected an area of 150 square metres.
“Investigations into the cause of the fire and aftermath handling work are being conducted in an orderly manner,” it said.
Initial reports on Wednesday morning had said eight were killed, with four injured taken to hospital.
State media outlet Xinhua later said a total of 12 people had been killed.
The deaths come after China launched a campaign against fire hazards in high-rise buildings following the Hong Kong blaze last month.
– AFP
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Bird Category Winner: These guillemots in Norway were nesting on a small rocky cliff ledge where space was at a premium. The nests all crammed in close together which isn’t a good recipe for being good neighbours, as guillemots are fiercely territorial.Warren Price
Fish & Other Aquatic Animals Category Winner: Whilst on a scuba dive in the Philippines, this little fish kept popping its head out of its home, a hole in the patterned coral. I took a few photos and I loved its cheeky face smiling back at me.Jenny Stock: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Reptile, Amphibian & Insect Category Winner: This photo taken in Maine USA shows green frogs establishing territory in the pond.Grayson Bell: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Nikon Young Photographer Category Winner: Red foxes at play in the Netherlands by Paula Rustemeier.Nico Dreier
Portfolio Category Winner: A young female chimpanzee picking her nose and eating it!Maggie Hoffman: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Highly commended: Now which direction is my nest? A gannet in eastern England is shortsighted while collecting nesting grass.Alison Tuck: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Highly Commended: Landing Gear Down. A red-throated Loon in Finland.Erkko Badermann: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Highly Commended: Bad Hair Day! A mother grey squirrel relocating her babies to a new nest in Victoria, BC.Christy Grinton: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Highly Commended: Monkey Circus. Baboons at play in Zimbabwe.Kalin Botev: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Highly Commended: Gorilla’s in RwandaMark Meth-Cohn
Highly Commended: “If you don’t lick your fingers, you’re only half enjoying it.” A lemure in Madagascar.Liliana Luca: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Highly commended: The choir by Meline Ellwanger shows three lions yawning in sync.Meline Ellwanger
Highly Commended: Smile – you’re being photographed.Valtteri Mulkahainen
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(alt text)CNN/US District Court for the Southern District of New York
This undated trial evidence image obtained 8 December 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein.
A federal judge in New York has granted the Justice Department’s request to unseal records from the investigation and criminal prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell.
The ruling from Judge Paul Engelmayer on Tuesday US time opens the door for the department to publicly release evidence it had gathered against Maxwell, an associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The trove of documents, which will be redacted to protect victims’ identities and other identifiable information, includes grand jury transcripts, financial records, travel documents, and notes from victim interviews obtained during the investigations.
It is not yet clear when the department plans to make the documents public or how much of the material will be new. Some of the evidence in the case came out during Maxwell’s trial and Congress has released a trove of records in recent weeks.
“Contrary to DOJ’s depiction, the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence,” Engelmayer wrote.
Engelmayer is the second judge to order investigative files be made public since the Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law last month. A judge in Florida made a similar ruling last week.
This undated trial evidence image obtained December 8, 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Federal judge in Florida orders unsealing of grand jury transcripts and records in Epstein probe
The Justice Department has also filed a request to unseal records to a third judge who oversaw Epstein’s short-lived prosecution in New York. That judge has not yet issued a ruling.
– CNN
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This morning, the Golden Globes nominations were unveiled. Were there big surprises? The snub of Wicked: For Good in the best picture category, for one. There was also a very gratifying nomination of Amy Madigan for her turn as the villain in Weapons. Overall, most of the nominations closely tracked awards predictions.
Also, all the popular TV shows got nominated.
As is the case every year, the Globes awards categories suffer from the insistence to categorise movies and television shows as either drama or as “musical or comedy.” (There are also always a good couple questions each year about who’s a “supporting” actor and who’s just acting.)
US actress Amy Madigan attends the world premiere of Warner Bros’ “Weapons” at the United Theatre on Broadway in Los Angeles on July 31, 2025.
AFP / Valerie Macon
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The Bulahdelah fire has burnt through 3,400 hectares of the Myall Lakes National Park.ABC News: Ross McLoughlin
A firefighter from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has died after being crushed by a tree during bushfire prevention work north of Newcastle.
The Bulahdelah fire, which has destroyed four homes and is burning on both sides of the Pacific Highway between Crawford River and Nerong, has scorched more than 3,400 hectares of the Myall Lakes National Park.
Emergency service crews were called to a property on Little Nugra Road at Nerong, about 90 kilometres north of Newcastle, at about 10:45pm on Sunday after reports a man had been struck by a tree.
NSW Ambulance paramedics treated him, but he died at the scene.
NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed the man who died was a NPWS firefighter.
Authorities have established a crime scene and WorkSafe has been notified.
– ABC
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I was recently watching a scene from the 2025 film Weapons for a monograph I’m writing and noticed a familiar sound: a low, unsettling drone as a character walks down a hallway.
It’s the same kind of sound used in recent horror films such as Together. You can also hear it throughout the trailer forShelby Oaks (2025), where sound throbs like an invisible threat.
We never see what’s making this sound or where it comes from within the film’s world, which only makes it more disturbing.
In the 1959 film Ben-Hur, when Judah (Charlton Heston) declares to his friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), “I am against you,” a sharp orchestral shock of brass and strings announces their discord.
YouTube screenshot
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Papua New Guinea conjoined twins.Audrey Taula / Life Flight and NEST retrieval team
Rare conjoined twins from Papua New Guinea had a seven-hour operation in Australia to surgically separate them on Sunday, but only one of the boys survived.
Tom and Sawong were rushed into emergency surgery at Sydney Children’s Hospital after Tom began to rapidly deteriorate.
The two-month-olds were medivacced from Port Moresby to Sydney on Thursday following medical advice that they undergo surgery as soon as possible.
A spokesperson for the family, Jurgen Ruh, said Sawong was in a stable condition and the parents were grieving the loss of his brother Tom.
“One body with two souls went into the operating theatre, and after seven hours of procedures we had two bodies and two souls,” Ruh said.
“Sadly we lost Tom but are happy to report that we still have two souls and Sawong has survived the operation.”
“They have accepted that they will lose Tom (the weaker twin) and there’s been many tears shed along the way,” he said previously.
The twins were fused at the lower abdomen but have their own limbs and genitals, however they share a single liver, bladder and parts of their gastrointestinal tract.
They also had spina bifida – a neural tube defect that affects the development of a newborn’s spine and spinal cord.
Tom had a congenital heart defect, only one kidney and malformed lungs.
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By Max Saltman, Jennifer Hansler and Billy Stockwell, CNN
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a joint press conference with Turkey’s President following their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on November 19, 2025AFP
Talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators over a proposed peace deal with Russia ended in Miami this weekend, with few new developments and lingering questions over security guarantees and territorial issues, according to Ukrainian officials.
As the talks concluded, the Kremlin welcomed US President Donald Trump’s new security strategy, saying it dropped the language of past US administrations describing Russia as a threat.
The marathon Miami meeting began on Thursday between US special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian officials Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov.
After three days of talks, “difficult issues remain,” Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Olga Stefanishyna said Saturday, “but both sides continue working to shape realistic and acceptable solutions.”
“The main challenges at this stage concern questions of territory and guarantees, and we are actively seeking optimal formats for addressing them,” Stefanishyna said. “More details will be provided once all information is compiled.”
Territory and security guarantees are long-standing sticking points for any possible deal. Ukraine maintains that a just end to the war would include reliable security guarantees and would not force it to surrender more territory to Russia.
As the meetings kicked off earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters in India that his country intends to seize Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region by any means.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev and aide Yuri Ushakov, meets with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on December 2, 2025AFP
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev and aide Yuri Ushakov, meets with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on December 2, 2025
The Miami talks had been preceded by a visit to Moscow by Kushner and Witkoff. Trump said Wednesday the US delegation had a “very good meeting” with Putin, and that they believed the Russian president “would like to see the war ended” – though the talks failed to yield a breakthrough.
In a social media post on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had a “long” and “constructive” phone conversation with Witkoff and Kushner, as well as his Ukrainian delegation in Miami.
“We covered many aspects and went through key points that could ensure an end to the bloodshed and eliminate the threat of a new Russian full-scale invasion,” Zelensky said. “We agreed on the next steps and formats for talks with the United States.”
Also discussed on the call was “the risk of Russia failing to honour its promises, as has happened repeatedly in the past,” he said.
Zelensky said that Hnatov and Umerov are expected to deliver him a “detailed in person report” on the negotiations.
“Not everything can be discussed over the phone,” Zelensky said. “So we need to work closely with our teams on ideas and proposals.”
Peace and its conditions will also be the subject of a meeting on Monday between Zelensky and French, British and German leaders in London.
The discussion will cover “the situation and the ongoing negotiations within the framework of the American mediation,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday.
Kremlin welcomes removal of ‘threat’ label
Separately, the Kremlin has welcomed the new US national security strategy, released on Friday, which sets out the Trump administration’s realignment of US foreign policy and takes an an unprecedentedly confrontational posture toward Europe.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Trump administration’s document has dropped language describing Russia as a threat, state-owned news agency TASS reported.
“We considered this a positive step,” Peskov told the news agency.
“Overall, these messages are certainly in contrast with approaches of previous administrations.”
The strategy document says European nations regard Russia as “an existential threat,” but paints the US as having a significant role in diplomacy to re-establish “conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia.”
A 2022 Biden-era national security strategy said Russia posed “an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown.”
The Trump administration’s new document also reiterates its push for “ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.”
-CNN
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