A truck driver has been charged after seven children were hospitalized with serious injuries when he rear-ended a school bus on the outskirts of Melbourne in southeastern Australia

Todd Hudson claims the area was ill-prepared for a large-scale catastrophe and hopes the experience will at least shake things up

Savannah Chrisley, daughter of Todd and Julie Chrisley, recently shared intriguing insights into her parents' various prison activities

It took Poland’s national broadcaster almost 24 hours to suggest that the opposition might form a government after

An 83-year-old former pastor has been charged with the kidnapping and murder of a neighboring pastor's daughter in 1975, Pennsylvania officials announced Monday.

Clashes between police and supporters of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko left nine people dead, the government said Friday, with authorities issuing a blanket ban on the use of several social media platforms in the aftermath of the violence. The deaths occurred mainly in the capital, Dakar, and Ziguinchor in the south, where Sonko is mayor, Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome said in a statement. Some social media sites used by demonstrators to incite violence, such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter have been suspended, he said. “The state of Senegal has taken every measure to guarantee the safety of people and property. We are going to reinforce security everywhere in the country,” Diome said. Sonko was convicted Thursday of corrupting youth but acquitted on charges of raping a woman who worked at a massage parlor and making death threats against her. The court sentenced Sonko to two years in prison. He didn't attend his trial in Dakar, and was judged in absentia. His lawyer said a warrant hadn't been issued yet for the politician’s arrest. Sonko came in third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is popular with the country’s youth. His supporters maintain his legal troubles are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. Sonko is considered President Macky Sall’s main competition and has urged Sall to state publicly that he won't seek a third term in office. Corrupting young people, which includes using one’s position of power to have sex with people under the age of 21, is a criminal offense in Senegal that is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to more than $6,000. Under Senegalese law, his conviction would bar Sonko from running in next year’s election, said Bamba Cisse, another defense lawyer. “The conviction for corruption of youth hinders his eligibility, because he was sentenced in absentia, so we can’t appeal,” Cisse said. However, the government said that Sonko can ask for a retrial once he is imprisoned. It was unclear when he would be taken into custody. Shortly after the verdict was announced Thursday, clashes erupted throughout the country with Sonko’s PASTEF party calling for people to take to the streets. In Dakar, protesters threw rocks, burned vehicles and in some places erected barricades while police fired tear gas. Plumes of black smoke and the sound of tear gas being fired were seen and heard throughout the city. Those who weren't protesting stayed indoors, leaving much of Dakar a ghost town with boarded-up shops and empty streets as people feared the violence would escalate. “The verdict cements the criticism that Sall’s government is weaponizing the judiciary to eliminate prominent rivals that could shake his rule,” said Mucahid Durmaz, senior analyst at global risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. “Despite being presented as a beacon (of) democracy, the Sonko cases demonstrate the structural issues Senegal grapples with. The court decision and the prospect of Sall’s bid for a third term in the election next year will fuel fierce criticism around erosion of judicial independence and democratic backsliding,” Dumaz said. Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana said that the damage caused by months of demonstrations has cost the country millions of dollars. “These calls (to protest), it’s a bit like the anti-republican nature of all these movements that hide behind social networks and don’t believe in the foundations of democracy, which are elections, freedom of expression, but also the resources that our (legal) system offers,” Fofana said. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide US reopens embassy in Seychelles after 27-year absence US expands slots for asylum app at land crossings as demand overwhelms supply Restoration lags for Syria's famed Roman ruins at Palmyra and other war-battered historic sites

Calls to implement tougher ethics standards on Supreme Court justices are likely to be stirred again following the publication of a new report about Clarence Thomas' lifestyle, though sources in both parties say there's no chance that Congress will pass new legislation.

The U.S. Supreme Court shot down a controversial legal theory that could have changed the way elections are run across the country, but left the door open to more limited challenges that could increase its role in deciding voting disputes during the 2024 presidential election

By Andrew Chung (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a request by President Joe Biden's administration to reinstate

Allies of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have launched a new super PAC to support his expected candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination

The home of a Paris mayor has been raided and set alight while his wife and children were inside sleeping as the city continues to be rocked by riots. Vincent Jeanbrun, who is in charge of the area of L’Hay-les-Roses in the southern suburbs, said rockets were also thrown as they fled from the burning house in what he’s calling an “assassination attempt”. Mr Jeanbrun said his wife and one of his two children, who are both aged under eight, were injured as they fled the building in the early hours of Sunday. “Last night, a milestone was reached in horror and ignominy,” he wrote on Twitter. “My home was attacked and my family was the victim of an assassination attempt.” The mayor was not at home at the time but was instead working at his office. Mr Jeanbrun also said the attack was “a murder attempt of unspeakable cowardice”. “A line has been crossed,” he said. “If my priority today is to take care of my family, my determination to protect and serve the Republic is greater than before.” A car was used to ram through the gates of the family’s home before the vehicle was set on fire in an effort for flames to spread to the house, Mr Jeanbrun said in a statement. His wife, Melanie Nowak, suffered a broken leg when she attempted to flee through rocket fire. An attempted murder investigation has already been opened, according to France’s minister of the interior Gerald Darmanin. “The perpetrators will answer for their heinous acts,” he said. The street outside of the Jeanbrun’s family home in L’Hay-les-Roses was closed off by police officers who declined to speak to the media on Sunday evening about what had occurred. However, residents of the affluent and quiet suburb said they were “deeply frightened” by the incident and said it was “unimaginable” in their neighbourhood. “By chance we spoke to the mayor just yesterday and he said there was a problem but we never imagined this. It’s very scary and unexpected,” said Dominique, 61, who lives 100m away and is a neighbour of the Jeanburns. He said the mayor’s wife was still being treated for her injuries in hospital. “They came at 1am and set fire to a car, rammed the house with it while the children were inside,” his wife Veronique added, visibly shaken. “In all the 20 years we have lived here we have never experienced anything like it. It’s terrifying,” she added. Both said the area had been quiet despite the unrest rocking the rest of country but the mayor had been concerned in recent days as he had come out publicly supporting the need to police the streets. “There is no justification for this act – people have looted shops, burned cars and now done this, attacking a family while children are inside,” Veronique added. Another resident of the area – Michel, 30, a lawyer – said the attack only shored up the belief in these neighbourhoods that a greater police presence was needed. “Nobody is safe at the moment and so we live day by day. This area is usually calm –but people are jumping on this moment, opportunists to destabilise everything,” he added. The attack took place about 30km (19 miles) away from where a 17-year-old boy was killed, allegedly by a police officer, during a traffic stop on Tuesday in the suburb of Nanterre. Nahel Merzouk’s death has triggered widespread riots in France, which resulted in tens of thousands of police officers being deployed to the streets. His grandmother, Nadia, urged people not to join in the chaos in a desperate plea on Saturday. “I want it to stop everywhere,” she told TV channel BFM TV. “I tell the people who are rioting this: do not smash windows, attack schools or buses. Stop! It’s the mums who are taking the bus, it’s the mums who walk outside.” Nadia went on to detail just how the tragedy has undone her family. “It’s over, my daughter no longer has a life,” she said. Anger and unrest quickly spread from the capital’s suburbs to other parts of France including Marseille after almost a week since the shooting. Curfews have been enforced in some places and thousands of police deployed to the streets in a bid to stop the chaos, which has included looting and bins being set on fire. Riots continued for a fifth night on Saturday, with 45,000 police deployed and 719 people arrested across the country by early on Sunday. Mourners paid tribute at the teenager’s funeral in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre on Saturday, near where he died. Nahel’s mother, who was identified as Mounia, told French television station France 5 this week about the tragedy’s impact on her. “(The police officer) saw a little Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,” she said. “A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children’s lives.” The teenager was of Algerian and Moroccan descent and lived in a suburb in the Vieux-Pont neighbourhood of Nanterre, about 15km from the centre of Paris. Nadia did not attend the “marche blanche”, which was organised by her daughter on Thursday night as she didn’t want to leave the spot where her grandson died. French president Emmanuel Macron met with ministers on Sunday evening in a desperate effort to review the situation. Read More Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening? France riots - live: Mayor claims protesters ‘try to assassinate his family’ in fifth night of violence Paris protests: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening?

LISBON More than 1,100 firefighters and 14 water-carrying aircraft battled a wildfire in central Portugal's Castelo Branco area