Javier Bardem fell 15 feet while suspended 40 feet in the air while filming swimming scenes for 'The Little Mermaid'

Reuters
Born into war, Ukraine toddlers adjust as conflict nears 1,000 days
On her way to hospital to give birth to her fourth child nearly three years ago, Ukrainian Liudmyla Rodchenko said she saw the bodies of civilians strewn along the street covered by blankets. A day after Yevhen Stepanenko was born, a Russian tank was parked outside the clinic - kept running at the time by a diesel generator and water supplied from two fire trucks parked nearby. Rodchenko, 42, soon wrapped her newborn son in a blanket and fled with him and her other children to the relative safety of the central Poltava region as invading Russian forces took over her home town of Bucha, just outside the capital Kyiv.
AFP
Landslide win for Sri Lanka president's leftist coalition in snap polls
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake thanked voters Friday for delivering his leftist coalition a landslide victory in snap parliamentary elections that repudiated establishment parties blamed for triggering an economic crisis.He stormed to the presidency after successfully distancing himself from successive leaders blamed for steering the country to its 2022 economic crisis.
AFP
Markets struggle at end of tough week
Asian markets stuttered Friday as data showing a pick-up in Chinese consumption was offset by concerns about US interest rates after Fed boss Jerome Powell indicated a slower pace of cuts.The reading came after the US Federal Reserve boss dampened rate cut hopes.
CNN
What we know about the deadly factory explosion in Louisville, Kentucky
A massive explosion this week at a food dye factory in Louisville, Kentucky, left two people dead and a dozen others injured as smoke billowed out of torn metal structures and rubble.
Reuters
Exclusive-Fragile countries make $20 billion climate finance push at COP29, letter says
A group of conflict-affected countries is pushing at COP29 to double financial aid to more than $20 billion a year to combat the natural disaster and security crises facing their populations, a letter seen by Reuters showed. The group is one of several pitching at the climate talks in Azerbaijan this week for funds to better prepare for the impacts of extreme weather as countries seek to agree a new annual target on financing. Island nations, for example, argue climate change threatens their very existence as seas rise, while rainforest nations say they need more money to protect their vast carbon sinks.
Reuters
Japan marks modern-day adventurer's final stop on 46,000 km trek across Asia
Japan is seeing a record boom in tourism, but one recent visitor travelled more than the circumference of the earth to get there, using boats, trains, camels, and even hitchhiking. Modern-day adventurer Omar Nok became a social media celebrity, attracting more than 750,000 Instagram followers, as he documented his circuitous 46,239 kilometre (28,732 miles) route from Egypt across a dozen countries without once boarding a plane. "From when I was a little kid, before realising what travel is, I already wanted to come to Japan," Cairo native Nok, 30, said in an interview in Tokyo.
AFP
China tests building Moon base with lunar soil bricks
China is expected to push forward in its quest to build the first lunar base on Friday, launching an in-space experiment to test whether the station's bricks could be made from the Moon's own soil."The experiments have a good chance of success, and the results will pave the way to building moonbases," he told AFP. - Lego bricks - Beijing is far from alone in looking to build the first lunar base.
CNN
US returns looted antiquities worth $10 million to India
Manhattan’s District Attorney has sent back more than 1,400 looted artifacts as part of an ongoing initiative to repatriate stolen art from countries across South and Southeast Asia.
CNN
Taiwan is fast becoming a top destination for outdoor adventure and wellness fans. It’s easy to see why
With more than 260 peaks over 3,000 meters, hiking trails through remarkable forests and epic surf churned up by waves that roll unimpeded across the Pacific, Taiwan is a nature lover’s dream destination.
Associated Press
California man to be sentenced for hate crime in the killing of a gay college student
A California man convicted of stabbing to death a gay University of Pennsylvania student in an act of hate is expected to be sentenced Friday to life in prison. Samuel Woodward, who is now 27, is scheduled to be sentenced in a Southern California courtroom for the murder of Blaze Bernstein nearly seven years ago. There is no question about the sentence Woodward will receive because the jury’s verdict carries a life sentence without parole, said Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
USA TODAY
'My favorite president': Donald Trump and the art of rekindling world leader bromances
Young males helped propel Donald Trump to the presidency. Older ones who run countries overseas may look to him for their populist agendas.
Reuters
Chinese defence firms to attend Vietnam arms fair as ties deepen
Chinese defence firms will participate in an arms fair in Vietnam next month, a Vietnamese defence official said on Friday, a possible sign of deepening military ties between the two neighbours. Vietnam will hold an international defence exposition in Hanoi from Dec. 19-22, two years after it organised its first-ever military fair. Chinese firms will be among the roughly 140 companies exhibiting equipment at the expo, defence ministry official Le Ngoc Than told a press conference.
Associated Press
UK Treasury chief says she's not satisfied by paltry third-quarter economic growth
Britain's Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said Friday that she is “not satisfied” by official figures showing the British economy's rebound from recession slowed down sharply in the third quarter of the year, with most sectors stagnating. The Office for National Statistics said growth during the July to September period was just 0.1%.
AFP
Oil execs work COP29 as NGOs slam lobbyist presence
Oil executives descended on the COP29 talks in Baku for "energy day" on Friday as environmental groups denounced the presence of fossil fuel industry lobbyists at the UN climate talks."It's like tobacco lobbyists at a conference on lung cancer," David Tong from campaign group Oil Change International told AFP. The presence of oil, gas and coal interests at the climate talks has long been a source of controversy.
Reuters
Irish PM's party holds six-point lead in first campaign poll
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris' Fine Gael party holds a six-point lead over both its main coalition partner Fianna Fail and the main opposition party Sinn Fein, the first opinion poll of the general election campaign showed on Friday. Fine Gael led the Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll on 25%, two points lower that the last Irish Times poll in September while fellow centre-right Fianna Fail remained on 19% alongside left wing Sinn Fein, whose support fell by one point.
CNN
North Korea to mass produce self-detonating explosive drones, state media reports
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his country to quickly start mass producing self-detonating explosive drones, calling their development an “essential requirement,” after overseeing a test of the deadly aerial weapon, state media reported Friday.
AFP
Gore says climate progress 'won't slow much' because of Trump
Former US vice president Al Gore believes a second Donald Trump term in the White House may have little impact on the "momentum" of the world's fight against climate change."There is so much more momentum that even a new Trump administration is not going to be able to slow it down much.
Associated Press
The world's most polluting cities are revealed at COP29 as frustration grows at fossil fuel presence
Cities in Asia and the United States emit the most heat-trapping gas that feeds climate change, with Shanghai the most polluting, according to new data that combines observations and artificial intelligence. Nations at U.N. climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan are trying to set new targets to cut such emissions and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task. The data comes as climate officials and activists alike are growing increasingly frustrated with what they see as the talks' — and the world's — inability to clamp down on planet-warming fossil fuels and the countries and companies that promote them.
Associated Press
South Korean opposition leader gets a suspended jail term for violating election law
South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was convicted of violating election law and sentenced to a suspended prison term Friday by a court that ruled he made false statements while denying corruption allegations during a presidential campaign. Lee told reporters that he plans to appeal Friday’s verdict by the Seoul Central District Court, which gave him a sentence of one year in prison, suspended for two years. Under South Korean law, Lee would lose his legislative seat and be barred from running in elections for five years if he receives either a penalty exceeding a 1 million won ($715) fine for election law violations or any prison sentence for other crimes.
AFP
'Megaquake' warning hits Japan's growth
Japan's growth slowed in the third quarter after warnings of a major earthquake hit activity, official data showed Friday, as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba seeks to jumpstart the world's fourth-largest economy.The government is expecting a "gradual recovery" of the economy -- beset for decades by stagnation and harmful deflation -- chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday.

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