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Mourners gathered to pay tribute to the six killed in a stabbing at an Australian shopping mall.

New South Wales Police identified the man behind the attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction on 13 April as Joel Cauchi, 40.

He was shot and killed by an officer after fatally stabbing six people – five women and one man – and injuring several others, including a nine-month-old baby.

Eight days after the attack, hundreds gathered for a candlelight vigil on Bondi Beach in Sydney, where Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese paid respects to those killed.

Anthony Albanese addresses a candlelight vigil at Sydney's Bondi Beach. Pic: AP
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.Pic: AP

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Mr Albanese said the gathering was “to grieve for all that has been stolen from us”.

“All that has been stolen from us, all the possibility and potential, all the kindness and humanity, all the love and laughter of the six lives snatched away,” the prime minister added.

“To honour all they were and respect all they meant, all the years of joy they should have known, all the memories they should have a chance to make.”

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Mourners hold candles at a vigil for victims of the Bondi shopping mall stabbing. Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

After Mr Albanese’s speech, the crowd took part in a minute’s silence before New South Wales (NSW) premier Chris Minns said “this week we saw a single bouquet left on Oxford Street grow into a sea of flowers”.

He also said the vigil would be an opportunity to “stand by those that have lost loved ones and remember those that have been killed.”

Amy Scott, the NSW police officer who killed Cauchi, was in attendance in the vigil.

Amy Scott, who shot and killed the Sydney stabbing attacker, at the vigil. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Amy Scott at the Community Candlelight Vigil with other police officers. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Five of the six killed were women, and authorities previously said they are looking into the possibility that Cauchi targeted women in the attack.

NSW officials named the victims as Ashlee Good, 38, Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, Cheng Yixuan, 25 and on-duty Westfield security guard Faraz Tahir, 30.

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(Clockwise) Yixuan Cheng, Dawn Singleton, Ashlee Good, Faraz Tahir, Pikria Darchia and  Jade Young
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(Clockwise) Yixuan Cheng, Dawn Singleton, Ashlee Good, Faraz Tahir, Pikria Darchia and Jade Young

Ms Good tried to save her nine-month-old baby Harriet when she was attacked by the 40-year-old – who suffered from schizophrenia.

She was said to have passed her baby to two men after she was badly injured.

It comes after NSW health minister Ryan Park shared on Sunday evening that the baby has been released from hospital.

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“I can confirm the child who has been receiving care at Sydney Children’s Hospital following last weekend’s tragic events at Bondi Junction has been discharged home,” he said in a statement.

“She continues to receive care from the expert clinicians at Sydney Children’s Hospital.”

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Vietnam: Nearly 200 people dead in aftermath of Typhoon Yagi

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Vietnam: Nearly 200 people dead in aftermath of Typhoon Yagi

Almost 200 people have died and more than 125 are missing in Vietnam in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi, according to local media.

Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country in decades, making landfall on Saturday with winds of up to 92mph (149kph) and causing flash floods and landslides.

Some 197 people have died and 128 are still missing, while more than 800 have been injured, according to Vietnam’s VNExpress newspaper.

Fatalities peaked earlier this week as a flash flood swept away the entire hamlet of Lang Nu in northern Vietnam’s Lao Cai province on Tuesday.

A family works to clean the mud in Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam. Pic: reuters
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A family works to clean the mud in Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam. Pic: reuters

Hundreds of rescue workers mounted a search for survivors but 53 villagers remained missing on Thursday morning, VNExpress reported.

Seven more bodies were found, bringing the total number of deaths there to 42.

The flooding in the capital, Hanoi, has been reportedly the worst in two decades, and has led to widespread evacuations.

Flood waters from the Red River have receded slightly but many areas are still inundated.

People waded through muddy brown water above their knees to make their way along one street, with some still wearing their bicycle and motorcycle helmets after abandoning their vehicles along the way.

A drone view shows a flooded area following the impact of Typhoon Yagi, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, September 12, 2024. REUTERS/Anupong Intawong
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A flooded area in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand. Pic: Reuters

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Others paddled along the road in small boats as rubbish drifted by, while one man pushed his motorbike toward drier ground in an aluminium craft.

Yagi weakened on Sunday but downpours continued and rivers remain dangerously high.

Floods and landslides have caused most of the deaths, many of which have come in the northwestern Lao Cai province, bordering China, home to the popular trekking destination of Sapa, where Lang Nu is located.

On Monday, a steel bridge collapsed in Phu Tho province over the engorged Red River, sending 10 cars and trucks along with two motorbikes into the water.

A bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province.

Meanwhile in Thailand, at least two people were killed and hundreds stranded after heavy rains swept through two northern provinces, swelling rivers, inundating settlements and triggering mudslides, authorities said on Wednesday.

Experts say storms like Typhoon Yagi are getting stronger due to climate change, as warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel them, leading to higher winds and heavier rainfall.

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Former model and Miss Switzerland finalist Kristina Joksimovic ‘pureed’ in blender by husband – reports

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Former model and Miss Switzerland finalist Kristina Joksimovic 'pureed' in blender by husband - reports

A former model who was a finalist in the Miss Switzerland contest was allegedly murdered and “pureed” in a blender by her husband, officials in Switzerland are reported to have said.

Kristina Joksimovic, 38, was found dead in her home in Binningen, near Basel, Switzerland, in February this year.

According to local news outlet BZ Basel, a man named Thomas, 41, had an appeal for release from custody denied by the Federal Court in Lausanne on Wednesday after he reportedly confessed to killing his wife, with whom he had two children.

The outlet said he had admitted to the killing during a crime reconstruction in March, and claimed it was in self-defence after she attacked him with a knife.

BZ Basel said the ruling from the court held Ms Joksimovic was strangled to death. An autopsy report included in the ruling said Ms Joksimovic’s body was then dismembered in a laundry room with a jigsaw, knife and garden shears.

It added body parts were then chopped up with a hand blender, “pureed” and dissolved in a chemical solution.

BZ Basel also said Thomas was arrested the day after Ms Joksimovic’s body was found, and initially told investigators he had found her dead and dismembered her body in their laundry room in panic.

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Thomas, who is a Swiss national, was reportedly arrested a day after her remains were found by a “third party”, according to German language outlet Blick.

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According to local outlet 20 Minuten, Ms Joksimovic was crowned Miss Northwest Switzerland pageant and in 2007 was a finalist for Miss Switzerland.

She later ran her own business as a catwalk coach, and mentored model Dominique Rinderknecht for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013.

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UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA says six workers killed in two airstrikes in Gaza

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UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA says six workers killed in two airstrikes in Gaza

Six aid workers have been killed in Gaza after two airstrikes in Nuseirat, according to reports.

In a post on X, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine in the Near East (UNRWA) said: “Six colleagues killed today when two airstrikes hit a school and its surroundings in the middle areas.

“This is the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident.

“Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people.

“Sincere condolences to their families and loved ones. This school has been hit five times since the war began.

“It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children. No one is safe in Gaza No one is spared.

“Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target.

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“We call on all parties to the conflict to never use schools or the areas around them for military or fighting purposes.”

Palestine’s health minister on Wednesday said at least 41,084 Palestinians have been killed during the war and 95,029 have been wounded.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

They abducted another 250 and are still holding about 100, with a third believed to be dead.

There have been 340 Israeli soldiers killed since the ground operation began in Gaza in late October, at least 50 of whom have been killed in accidents within Gaza – not as a result of combat with Palestinian militants, according to the military.

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