World

A German neo-Nazi was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for murdering pro-migration politician Walter Luebcke, a killing that shocked the country and highlighted the growing threat of right-wing extremism.

Stephan Ernst, 47, was found guilty of shooting dead the lawmaker from Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party on June 1, 2019, in what is believed to be Germany's first far-right political assassination since World War II.

A man pried a crocodile's jaws from his head to survive an attack in northern Australia on Thursday, afterwards insisting he will soon return to the swimming spot, according to paramedics.

Local officials said the 44-year-old was swimming at Lake Placid, near the tourist hotspot of Cairns, when he was bitten by the reptile.

A portrait by Italian renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli sold for $92 million at an online Sotheby's auction Thursday, smashing the record price for the artist.

"Young Man Holding a Roundel," believed to have been painted in the 1470s or 1480s, is considered one of Botticelli's finest portraits and is the highlight of Sotheby's Masters Week sale in New York.

Brazil's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been ranked the world's worst, while New Zealand topped the class, according to research published by a leading Australian think tank on Thursday.

Sydney's Lowy Institute assessed almost 100 countries on six criteria, including confirmed cases, deaths and testing metrics.

On Wednesday, the Russian Parliament voted to extend the New START Treaty for five years — handing an early diplomatic win to President Joe Biden.

Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to an extension of the treaty in a state phone call earlier this week.

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that the world must prepare for the next pandemic as it would for war, including the investment of tens of billions of dollars each year, in a letter released Wednesday.

"We can't afford to be caught flat-footed again," wrote the Microsoft co-founder and his wife Melinda in an annual missive.

President Joe Biden reaffirmed Wednesday the United States' commitment to defend Japan in his first phone call with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, striking a note of reassurance after the Trump era.

During Donald Trump's administration, America's Asian allies often questioned whether Washington would uphold long-standing promises to defend them in the event of attack.

The Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, which had partially reopened after months of coronavirus closures, will shut again for two weeks amid a deadly second pandemic wave in Peru, the government said.

A decree published in the official gazette said all archaeological sites in 17 regions of Peru "will receive zero visits" from January 31 to February 14.

A controversial Polish court ruling that imposes a near-total ban on abortion will come into force on Wednesday, the country's right-wing government said, in an announcement that triggered protests.

The move means that all abortions in Poland will now be banned except in cases of rape and incest and when the mother's life or health are considered to be at risk.

The more than 200,000 children killed by Nazi Germany at Auschwitz were honoured on Wednesday in online ceremonies marking the liberation of the camp which has come to symbolise the Holocaust.

Survivors sounded the alarm over the modern-day dangers posed by the resurgence of racism, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial at a 76th anniversary event.

Russian police raided the Moscow offices of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's group on Wednesday and came to search several other properties, including a flat where his wife was, as the country's media watchdog said it would fine social media platforms for spreading protest calls.

The police searches come after tens of thousands of Navalny's supporters took to the streets on Saturday to call on the Kremlin to release him from jail where he is serving a 30-day stint for alleged parole violations that he denies.