United States: The man who snatched an AR-15 rifle away from a gunman at a Nashville restaurant told Tennessee lawmakers today he faced "the true test of a man," drawing a standing ovation during his brief address. As the House hailed him as a hero, James Shaw said he acted to save his own life at a Waffle House, and saved others in the process. "I never thought I'd be in a room with all the eyes on me, but you know, I'm very grateful to be here," Shaw told House members. The 29-year-old said he has since gone to see some of the shooting victims in the hospital and they all remembered him. He apologised to the people whose loved ones died in the attack. The Senate also honoured Shaw.
Britain: Joanna Lumley says she is "terrified that all men are seen as bad" in the wake of the sexual misconduct scandal which engulfed Hollywood. The Ab Fab star, 71, recently hosted the film Baftas, which was dominated by the Time's Up and MeToo movements. She's told Good Housekeeping: "This year I do feel the spirit of the suffragettes is with us and we're speaking out about women being treated badly around the world. That said, I am terrified that all men are seen as bad." She added: "I love and respect men. I am married to one, I work with some wonderful men and I have a son. We mustn't deride all men, as only the few are bad and we need to remember that too."
Australia: A 13-year-old girl is in hospital after being shot in the leg in a possible targeted attack at a home in Sydney's west. The teenager was sitting with a group of a people in an open door garage on Constance Street in Guildford when a number of shots were fired on Tuesday night. Emergency services rushed to the scene and found she had been struck in the thigh. Police believe the shooting was "not random".
United States: A Northern California city has agreed to pay US$2.65 million to the family of a mentally ill Gulf War veteran fatally shot by police in 2014 after his family called emergency services. The Sacramento Bee reports that the agreement between the city of Lodi and the family of Parminder Singh Shergill settles a federal lawsuit the family filed accusing the officers of excessive force. Officers fatally shot Shergill as he walked through his neighbourhood after they said he charged at them with a knife. Shergill's family disputes that account.
Germany: The head of Germany's leading Jewish organisation warned people to avoid wearing skullcaps following a series of anti-Semitic attacks. Josef Schuster, of the Central Council of Jews, said: "I have to advise people to avoid showing themselves with a kippah in a big city setting in Germany and to wear a baseball cap or something else to cover their head instead." The warning follows an attack on two men wearing kippahs in Berlin. They were whipped with a belt by three men who shouted "Yahudi", Arabic for Jew.
Australia: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed that US Admiral Harry Harris won't be coming to Canberra as the new US Ambassador to Australia. She was notified of the decision to instead send Admiral Harris to South Korea by Acting US Secretary of State John Sullivan. "We understand this sort of thing happens and we also understand the challenges the United States has on the Korean Peninsula," she told reporters. Bishop said Sullivan made it clear a new appointment would be a priority for the next secretary of state.
Britain: The British power grid has seen a new record of more than three days without coal, smashing the previous record just days after it was set. In the past few days Britain has seen more than 72 hours without any coal-fired power generation on the system for the first time since the 19th century. Only last week, the British grid saw its first two-day period without using any power from the polluting fossil fuel, which the Government has committed to phasing out by 2025. In April last year, Britain went for its first full day without coal since the 19th century, and it accounted for less than 7 per cent of the power mix in 2017, official figures show.
Iran: A building worker in Tehran may have found the mummified body of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Iranian ruler whose son was overthrown in 1979. Builders working at a Shia shrine in Iran's capital found the body in a pile of rubble. Pahlavi was buried in a mausoleum nearby after his death in 1944, but his tomb was blown up by revolutionaries attempting to erase all traces of the previous regime. His body has been missing for nearly 40 years. Hassan Khalilabadi, the head of Tehran's heritage committee, said it was "a possibility" that the body may be that of Pahlavi. Pahlavi overthrew the ruling Persian dynasty in 1921, paving the way for him to seize power. Ousted during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941, he was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Mohammad Rezi Pahlavi, who in turn was deposed during the Islamic revolution in 1979.
United States: Fired FBI Director James Comey's memoir A Higher Loyalty that details his private meetings with US President Donald Trump has sold some 600,000 copies in all formats in its first week, its publisher says, the latest in a series of best-selling political books.
Nicaragua: Authorities released some student protesters arrested during anti-government demonstrations over the past week as President Daniel Ortega sought to lower tensions. With freshly shaved heads and some bearing bruises they said were inflicted by police during their captivity, students were dropped along a highway on the outskirts of the capital, Managua.
- agencies