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Sydney and Melbourne hosted rallies on Saturday to protest the attacks in Gaza. Thousands gathered to protest, with the death toll rising on the Gaza Strip. Protesters outside Sydney's Town Hall carried Palestinian flags and placards demanding 'Free Palestine' and 'block weapons to Israel'. Protestors in both capital cities were well behaved, with no reported arrests.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

A 17-year-old from Ivory Coast has shared her incredible story of being rescued after spending three weeks adrift at sea. Out of 59 passengers, Aicha is one of only three to survive - recovering after 10 days in hospital. It's the biggest known tragedy involving migrant boats in the Canary Islands. Aicha left her hometown in November and travelled to Mauritania, where she got the boat. Only her older sister knew of her plans to make the perilous journey. She was rescued by a Spanish Air Force crew member, who she has now been reunited with.

Source: bbc.com

Iran’s foreign minister has called off a planned visit to his Austrian counterpart in Vienna. The decision came after Austria’s chancellery and foreign ministry flew the Israeli flag as a signal of solidarity in Israel’s conflict with the militant Hamas group.

Source: apnews.com

The military style jacket that Janet Jackson wore during her 1990 Rhythm Nation tour sold for $81,250 at a Beverly Hills auction on Friday, more than 20 times its pre-sale estimate. The Rhythm Nation cropped black jacket with metal hardware was one of the highlights of a three-day sale of stage costumes and other memorabilia amassed over four decades by the singer. The tour was her first as a headline solo artist. Julien's Auctions said the jacket had been expected to sell for $4,000-$6,000. The buyer was not disclosed.

Source: reuters.com

An Andy Warhol canvas found years ago in the garage of rocker Alice Cooper could become the highest selling artwork ever in Arizona. The music legend, who has a home in metro Phoenix, announced Thursday that he would auction off “Little Electric Chair.” It will be up for bidding on Oct. 23 at an auction organized by the Larsen Gallery in Scottsdale. The gallery estimates it could fetch anywhere from $2.5 million to $4.5 million. The red acrylic and silkscreen on canvas was part of Warhol’s “Death and Disaster” series between 1964 and 1965.

Source: apnews.com

The former speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani, registered on Saturday to run in next month’s presidential election, hoping to secure backing from moderates and hardliners. The registration of Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was broadcast live on state television. Saturday is the last day for candidates to sign up to run in the June 18 election, in a process that began on Tuesday.

Source: reuters.com

A Chicago cat used up at least one of its nine lives on Thursday when it leaped from the fifth story of a burning building, bounced off the ground and casually walked away. Fire crews were attending a small blaze in the city's Englewood neighborhood and were filming the building's exterior when the feline made its great escape. The video showed a black cat launch itself out of the building, and picked up its remarkably smooth landing.

Source: cnn.com

Marvel superhero Black Panther went on display at Madame Tussauds in London on Friday, the latest addition at the wax figure museum ahead of its re-opening next week.

Source: reuters.com

An unmanned Chinese spacecraft has successfully landed on the surface of Mars, Chinese state news agency Xinhua has reported, making China the second space-faring nation after the US to land on the red planet. China’s Tianwen-1 probe, consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, was launched from southern China’s island province of Hainan in July, around the same time as a US mission.

Source: theguardian.com

A gold seal that belonged to John Oxley has been stolen from an exhibition case. The seal was stolen on Thursday from Old Government House in Parramatta (Sydney). It bears Mr Oxley's family crest and is engraved with: 'Patientia et Fortitudine'. John Oxley was the Surveyor-General of New South Wales from 1812 . The thief is described as having dark complexion, 175cm tall with medium build.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

‘I’m not buying into all of the other stories because I know him,’ rocker says.  The 73-year-old, who performs with Depp in the rock band Hollywood Vampires, made the comments during a new interview.

Source: independent.co.uk

Pope Francis said on Friday the cost of raising children was too high and that parents needed more help if countries such as Italy were to overcome the low birth rates that were undermining their future. Speaking at a conference on Italy's dearth of babies, Francis said polls showed most young people wanted to have children, but were worried about the expense. Speaking at the same event, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Italy had just 404,000 births last year, the lowest since records began and down 30% on 12 years ago, while deaths totalled 746,000, lifted in part by the COVID pandemic.

Source: reuters.com

A major US fuel pipeline has reportedly paid cyber-criminal gang DarkSide nearly $5m (£3.6m) in ransom, following a cyber-attack. Colonial Pipeline suffered a ransomware cyber-attack over the weekend and took its service down for five days, causing supplies to tighten across the US. Colonial said on Thursday that it would not comment on the issue.

Source: bbc.com

A video promoting tourism in Turkey amid the pandemic has caused an uproar on social media for showing tourism employees wearing masks that read “Enjoy, I’m vaccinated.” The video was published on the social media accounts of official travel guide Go Turkiye Thursday and was taken down later that day. It aimed to promote travel to Turkey as a “safe haven” for foreigners and showed unmasked tourists being served in hotels on the Turkish coast. Opposition parties and critics on social media said the promotional video was an insult to Turks. A hashtag calling for the tourism minister to resign was trending on Twitter Friday.

Source: apnews.com

At least four people were killed and 20 more were wounded in an explosion inside a mosque in Shakar Dara district north of Kabul on Friday afternoon, police said in a statement. The blast happened at Haji Bakhshi Mosque in Qala-e-Murad Bek area in Shakardara district of Kabul during Friday prayer, police said. A security official from the district who wished not to be named said that the imam of the mosque has been wounded in the explosion. The officials said the bomb was placed inside the mosque.

Source: tolonews.com

A herd of 18 wild elephants have been found dead in Nagaon, in the north-east Indian state of Assam. State officials say that the elephants were killed when lightning struck the Kandoli protected forest reserve. Villagers nearby alerted the authorities after finding the carcasses of the animals in the forest.

Source: bbc.com

Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte is switching from France to Spain ahead of the European Championship. FIFA said Friday it approved the switch of eligibility after the French soccer federation consented to the Spanish federation’s request. Now 26, Laporte is a former France under-21 international but has never played for the senior national team. The Spanish government said on Tuesday it had given Laporte citizenship.

Source: apnews.com

Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL), United Airlines (UAL), Lufthansa (DLAKF) and British Airways have all canceled flights following days of Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket attacks. Delta canceled at least six flights between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Tel Aviv on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for the airline. American Airlines has canceled flights between JFK and Tel Aviv through Saturday, a spokesperson said. United Airlines has also canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv through Saturday. British Airways said it had canceled its flight between London and Tel Aviv scheduled for Thursday.

Source: cnn.com