TRANSCRIPT
- Tragedy in Switzerland as fire rips through a resort bar ...
- A safety warning for beachgoers after a spate of drownings ...
- Usman Khawaja announces his retirement from international cricket.
Investigators in Switzerland are working to determine the cause of a ski resort fire which killed some 40 people, and injured about 115 others.
The blaze broke out in a Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana less than two hours after midnight, causing panic inside.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed an Australian is among the injured and receiving treatment in hospital.
Forensic experts have not yet been able to safely enter the bar's interior, and investigators say the cause of the blaze has not been confirmed, with several scenarios still under consideration.
Several witnesses, like this survivor Axel, have described a nightclub performance involving fireworks.
“It's the show, you could say. When you order a table with bottles, there's a show that starts, and actually, the show was this: a woman climbed onto another woman's shoulders with two bottles and the birthday fireworks were going off, and she waved them too high, so they hit the ceiling and suddenly caught fire.”
Beachgoers are being warned to take care after water accidents claimed the lives of four people and left two missing over the New Year period.
There are grave fears for a 25 year old man who went missing while swimming at Sydney's Coogee beach on Thursday morning.
On the same day, a 25-year-old woman, believed to be a Chinese national, died after being swept off rocks at nearby Maroubra Beach.
Meanwhile, on the state’s mid-north coast, a 45-year-old woman was pulled from the water at Dunbogan Beach but could not be revived.
Another man drowned and a 14 year old boy is still missing after their dinghy capsized at Sydney's Palm Beach on New Year's Eve.
Brent Manieri, from Surf Life Saving New South Wales, has told the Nine Network surf conditions are still dangerous.
"We've had a significant swell along the coastline the last 2448 hours. That swell is still around today. So we're expecting a number of beaches to be closed along the New South Wales coastline again, and there will be beaches open, and so for people looking to fence down to the coastline, we really are pleading with the community to find a patrolled location."
In Queensland, a 35-year-old Irish national was found dead in the water at Whitehaven Beach on New Year's Eve.
Australian business leaders and public figures are calling for a Commonwealth royal commission into the Bondi Beach terror attack.
More than 120 signatories have backed an open letter, including former Reserve Bank governors Philip Lowe and Glenn Stevens, billionaire James Packer, and senior figures from sport, politics and universities.
The letter says practical solutions are needed to restore social cohesion and protect the safety of all Australians.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has so far resisted calls for a national royal commission from victims’ families and Jewish groups.
Instead, the Labor government has launched a review into intelligence and law enforcement responses, flagged reforms to hate-speech laws, and announced a national gun buyback scheme.
Pope Leo XIV has begun 2026 with a plea for peace as he delivered a prayer to pilgrims and tourists in St Peter's Square on New Year's Day.
The prayer, delivered from the window of his studio in the Apostolic Palace, followed a New Year's Day Mass inside St Peter's Basilica.
“On this day, let us all pray together for peace - first, among nations bloodied by conflict and suffering, but also within our homes, in families wounded by violence or pain.”
The Pope's next official engagement is to celebrate the church’s Epiphany holiday on the 6th of January.
And in sport,
Veteran Australian batsman Usman Khawaja has announced his retirement from international cricket after this week's fifth Ashes test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The 39-year-old made his test debut at the same ground in the final match of the 2011 Ashes series.
Since then, he has scored more than 6,000 runs with an average of 43 runs in 87 matches, including 16 centuries.
The Pakistan-born batter says he hopes his career inspires others.
"Seeing is believing. And I'm here to tell you that you can do whatever you want, you've just got to keep trying. Never let anyone convince you that you can't, because if they do convince you, then you never will. I'm a proud Muslim coloured boy from Pakistan who was told that he would never play for the Australian cricket team. Look at me now. And you can do the same."
