Former Australian politician jailed for more than five years for sex crimes
A former Australian politician convicted of sexually abusing two young men he met through work has been sentenced to five years and nine months in jail, BBC reported.
Gareth Ward, 44, has been in prison since July after a jury found him guilty of raping one man and indecently assaulting another, in separate incidents in 2013 and 2015.
Ward represented the coastal town of Kiama in the New South Wales (NSW) parliament from 2011. He resigned as a Liberal Party minister when the claims emerged in 2021 but refused to quit parliament and was re-elected in 2023, according to BBC.
Judge Kara Shead SC considered Ward's disability of legal blindness in her sentence and found "no other penalty other than imprisonment is appropriate".
Andrew stripped of 'prince' title and will move out of Royal Lodge
Prince Andrew is to lose his 'prince' title and leave his Windsor mansion, Royal Lodge, following weeks of intense scrutiny over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, BBC reported.
In a statement on Thursday night, Buckingham Palace said the King's brother will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
Andrew gave up his other royal titles earlier this month, including the Duke of York, after facing more questions about his private life, according to BBC.
In a posthumous memoir published earlier this month, Virginia Giuffre repeated allegations that, as a teenager, she had sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions. Andrew has always denied the claims.
Trump directs nuclear weapons testing to resume for first time in over 30 years
President Donald Trump called on US military leaders to resume testing US nuclear weapons in order to keep pace with other countries such as Russia and China, BBC reported.
"Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis," he wrote on social media just before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
The US has more nuclear weapons than any other country, Trump said, with Russia second and China a "distant third". It has not conducted nuclear weapons testing since 1992, according to BBC.
Trump cuts China tariffs to 47% after 'amazing' Xi meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had agreed to reduce tariffs on China to 47% in exchange for Beijing resuming U.S. soybean purchases, keeping rare earths exports flowing and cracking down on the illicit trade of fentanyl, Reuters reported.
His remarks after face-to-face talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the South Korean city of Busan, their first since 2019, marked the finale of Trump's whirlwind Asia trip on which he also touted trade breakthroughs with South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian nations.
"I thought it was an amazing meeting," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after he departed Busan, adding that tariffs imposed on Chinese imports would be cut to 47% from 57%, according to Reuters.



