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Secret organ-harvesting ring uncovered in Nigeria after surveillance
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An extensive organ-harvesting ring has been uncovered in Nigeria after weeks of covert surveillance, local officials have said.
In a statement shared on X, the Imo State Police Command said their investigation was launched after reports of a worrying spate of kidnappings near a hotel and mortuary in Ngor Okpala.
According to police, intelligence-led investigations went on to identify a man called High Chief Stanley Oparaugo, also known as “Morocco,” as the suspected leader of the criminal network and who is now on the run and wanted, per reports.
52 CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NIGERIA KIDNAPPED BY GUNMEN IN LATEST ATTACK: REPORT
A man described as High Chief Stanley Oparaugo from the Jessy Best Hotel is now wanted.
Oparaugo is alleged to own Jessy Best Hotel in Ihitte Okwe and the nearby mortuary known as Ugwudi.
Police said victims were said to have been lured into the hotel before being robbed and abducted, with families also forced to pay ransom.
Authorities said some people who paid never saw their loved ones again.
The Command said abducted victims were then taken from the hotel to the mortuary, where they were allegedly killed and their organs harvested for sale.
GUNMEN ATTACK CHURCH IN NIGERIA, KILLING TWO AND KIDNAPPING OTHERS
Local Nigerian officials said a suspected secret organ-harvesting ring has been uncovered in Nigera following weeks of covert surveillance. (Imo State Command.)
When officers raided the Jessy Best Hotel, it was abandoned, but at the mortuary they found decomposed and mutilated corpses.
Police spokesperson Henry Okoye said more than 100 bodies had been found.
“A hotel and a private mortuary owned by the suspect, allegedly used by kidnappers and violent criminals, were inspected,” he said in a statement.
TRUMP ADMIN TARGETS ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE WITH NEW VISA CRACKDOWN POLICY FOLLOWING NIGERIA ATTACKS
Victims were allegedly lured to hotel before being killed at nearby mortuary for organ sales.
“At the mortuary, decomposed and mutilated corpses were discovered in unhygienic conditions, raising suspicions of illegal organ-harvesting activities.”
He added that the suspect’s residence was also searched and “crucial exhibits” were recovered, with forensic teams documenting evidence for the ongoing investigation.
“Maximum security has been deployed along the Owerri–Aba Expressway. The Command assures travelers during the holidays of its commitment to their safety,” he added.
Nigeria has seen a rising amount of crime with kidnappings and abductions.
As reported by Fox News Digital, the government of Nigeria also secured the release of the 100 schoolchildren who were abducted, according to local media.
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Those children were taken from St. Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger state, on Nov. 21.
The news came as Christians face ongoing persecution in Nigeria, leading President Donald Trump to declare the West African nation a “country of particular concern.”
Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.
Archaeologists wrote in the journal Nature this week that they have unearthed the oldest-known evidence of deliberate fire-making by prehistoric humans in the English county of Suffolk.
The hearth was discovered in Barnham in the UK, near a buried site that was once a pond where Neanderthals are thought to have lived roughly 415,000 years ago.
The authors wrote that the site seems to provide “unequivocal evidence of deliberate fire-making” that “has remained elusive” because of the difficulties in distinguishing between naturally occurring fires being used by prehistoric humans and controlled fires being created on demand.
Early humans are thought to have first started making opportunistic use of naturally occurring fires, for instance from lightning strikes or forest fires, as much as a million years ago.
The excavations of an ancient Neanderthal site in Suffolk suggest the inhabitants intentionally brought fire-lighting materials to the areaImage: Jordan Mansfield/Pathways to Ancient Britain Project/AP Photo/picture alliance
Heated clay, heat-shattered handaxes, and imported iron pyrite to light permanent campfire
At an old clay pit for making bricks near the village of Barnham, the researchers found a patch of heated clay, some heat-shattered handaxes and two pieces of iron pyrite.
This material creates sparks when struck against flint to ignite tinder, and is also not readily available in the vicinity, suggesting the Neanderthals brought it to the watering hole specifically for the purpose.
“We think humans brought pyrite to the site with the intention of making fire,” said archaeologist Nick Ashton, curator of Palaeolithic Collections at the British Museum in London and the leader of the research. “This has huge implications pushing back the earliest fire-making.”
Researchers first found fragments of iron pyrite, ideal for sparking fires and not naturally available in the local area around Barnham, at the site in 2017Image: Jordan Mansfield/Pathways to Ancient Britain Project/AP Photo/picture alliance
The earliest-known evidence of deliberate fire-making to date had been unearthed in northern France and dated to roughly 50,000 years ago. It was also attributed to Neanderthals.
Although human remains were not found at the site, paleoanthropologist and study co-author Chris Stringer said that pieces of human skull from a similar period, characteristic of early Neanderthals, were located in the mid-20th century less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the south at a town called Swanscombe and at a site in Sima de los Huesos near Burgos in Spain.
“Thus the Barnham fire-makers were very likely to have been early Neanderthals, like Swanscombe and the Sima people,” Stringer said.
Neanderthals are thought to have gone extinct roughly 39,000 years ago as homo sapiens started to settle throughout Europe. But genetic remnants of the early hominid cousins to modern humans persist in many of our genes as a result of interbreeding and assimilation.
Neanderthals and their relationship to the human species
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Fire expands and improves diet; hearth feeds community, language, storytelling
Controlled use of fire was a landmark in human evolution for multiple reasons.
Cooking enabled vastly improved diets and easier and safer digestion of meat and other ingredients, freeing up energy from digestion for use by the fast-expanding brains of early hominins.
It also provided warmth, enabling hunter-gatherers to survive and thrive in colder environments, like Britain, study co-author Rob Davis, an archaeologist at the British Museum, said.
Fires are also thought to have contributed crucially to social evolution, allowing humans to feed and gather in larger groups in comparative safety and comfort at night, socializing and perhaps engaging in the earliest forms of storytelling and language development and exchange.
“The campfire becomes a social hub,” Davis said. “We’re a species who have used fire to really shape the world around us.”
Ancient Greek myth designated fire and its theft from the gods as the key step in Prometheus’ creation of humans; not for nothing was the Greek goddess of the hearth, Hestia, also the patron of the home and of family Image: Hendrik Goltzius/Heritage Art/Heritage Images/picture alliance
Edited by Sean Sinico
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Wednesday that Moscow will retaliate if European governments deploy troops to Ukraine or seize frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv, according to Reuters.
Lavrov delivered the remarks before the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, outlining Moscow’s stance on the war and its clash with the West. Reuters reported that Lavrov insisted Russia does not seek war with Europe but is prepared to act if it views Western countries as escalating the conflict.
“We will respond to any hostile steps, including the deployment of European military contingents in Ukraine and the expropriation of Russian assets. And we are already prepared for this response,” Lavrov said, according to Reuters.
Lavrov also praised President Donald Trump’s approach to a potential settlement, calling him the “only Western leader” who understands what he described as the reasons the war was “inevitable.” He said Moscow appreciates Trump’s interest in dialogue but noted Trump is “not only in no hurry to lift, but is actually increasing” sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported.
EUROPEAN TALKS RESHAPE UKRAINE’S PEACE PLAN AS ZELENSKYY REFUSES TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “We will respond to any hostile steps, including the deployment of European military contingents in Ukraine,” he said earlier today. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service telegram channel via AP)
Trump, speaking later on Monday at the White House, said he held calls with European leaders about the war. “The leaders of France, we spoke to and Germany and U.K., … we discussed Ukraine in pretty strong words, and we’ll see what happens. And we’re waiting to hear answers before we progress. You know, we’re not spending any money in Ukraine.”
Asked by a reporter for clarification, the president said: “I think we had some little disputes about people… They would like us to go to a meeting over the weekend in Europe, and we’ll make a determination depending on what they come back with. We don’t want to be wasting time… Sometimes you have to let people fight it out, and sometimes you don’t… you’re losing thousands of people a week, and it’s ridiculous.”
As Lavrov accused Europe of obstructing peace efforts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced what he called the first formal meeting with senior Trump administration officials on Ukraine’s reconstruction.
EX-CIA STATION CHIEF WARNS PUTIN USING TALKS TO GAIN LEVERAGE AS UKRAINE DELEGATION MEETS TOP TRUMP OFFICIALS
In a post on X on Wednesday, Zelenskyy wrote: “Together with our team, I held a productive discussion with the American side… In fact, this could be considered the first meeting of the group that will work on a document concerning the reconstruction and economic recovery of Ukraine.”
A resident walks among the debris near a damaged house, a day after a Russian strike on a suburb of Odesa, southern Ukraine on March 7, 2025. (Oleksandr Gimanova/AFP via Getty Images)
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He said they discussed “key elements for recovery, various mechanisms, and visions for reconstruction” and reviewed updates to the “20 points of the framework document for ending the war.” Zelenskyy added that “overall security… will determine economic security and underpin a safe business environment.”
The Ukrainian president said both sides agreed to continue talks, adding: “As always, there will be no delays on our side. We are working to deliver results.” He closed by thanking Trump, writing: “I thank President Trump and his team for their substantive work and support.”
Later on Monday, Zelenskyy again posted on X where he said, “The 20 points for ending the war form a fundamental document. We are actively working on the key steps – they must be doable. From this fundamental document, we are developing at least two additional ones. The first is on security – regarding security guarantees with the United States. The second is on the economy, covering reconstruction and joint investment.”
Reuters contributed to this article.
Efrat Lachter is an investigative reporter and war correspondent. Her work has taken her to 40 countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the 2024 Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalism. Lachter can be followed on X @efratlachter.
WORLD NEWS
MAGA reporter Brian Glenn is ditching White House gig to follow girlfriend MTG back to Georgia
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It looks like Donald Trump’s favorite reporter is going to Marjorie Taylor Greene in the increasingly bitter MAGA divorce.
In a lengthy profile in the Washington Post on the “weird month” he’s had amid the nasty public breakup between the president and Greene, who had been one of Trump’s fiercest allies and defenders on Capitol Hill, Brian Glenn revealed that his loyalties ultimately lie with his girlfriend.
Glenn, the chief White House correspondent for pro-Trump cable network Real America’s Voice, has been placed in a highly awkward position since the president lashed out at Greene and labeled her a “traitor” after the MAGA lawmaker split with Trump on several issues – namely the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and extending health care subsidies.
However, as Glenn told the Post, now that his partner has decided to leave Congress next month, he has decided to follow her to Georgia and give up his mantle as Trump’s go-to White House reporter.
“I’m not doing this fly-back-and-forth thing — not doing it, it’s not worth it,” he told the paper.
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Brian Glenn is leaving DC and his spot as Trump’s favorite reporter after his girlfriend Marjorie Taylor Greene resigns from Congress. (Getty Images)
Additionally, he claimed that Real America’s Voice is building him a studio near his and Green’s home in Georgia, though he left it up in the air what role he would play at the MAGA channel going forward.
“I’ll do whatever content from there — either contribute to the network or do something else as well, another show or something,” he stated.
Elsewhere in his sitdown with the Washington Post, Glenn – who has drawn headlines for his over-the-top pro-Trump questions – appeared unapologetic about his role as a cheerleader for the president while ostensibly serving as a member of the White House press corps.
“I’m so much more base than they are,” he boasted, referencing other members of the conservative media ecosystem. “And the administration knows that, too.”
Things began to change for Glenn, though, when Greene began speaking out against the administration and GOP leadership amid the government shutdown and the growing affordability concerns that propelled Democrats to sweeping victories in November’s off-year elections.
Eventually, beginning in mid-November, Trump began unleashing a series of social media rants in which he blasted Greene as “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown,” because “Green turns to Brown where there is ROT involved,” all while withdrawing his endorsement of her for next year’s midterms. That prompted Glenn to lie low for a while, which included him avoiding White House press briefings and presidential events.
“I didn’t want to make any awkward spaces,” Glenn told me, “so I said, ‘You know what? Let me just stay back this week.’”
While he has since returned to attending the briefings and Trump pressers, Glenn was still left with a decision to make now that his girlfriend – and possible future wife – would be leaving town in the next few weeks.
“I’m like the little divorced kid in the middle!” Glenn exclaimed to the Post after the Georgia firebrand announced her resignation, noting that he “really, really doesn’t want to have to choose sides.”
open image in gallery
Brian Glenn has become Donald Trump’s go-to White House reporter due to the Real America’s Voice correspondent’s tendency to ask over-the-top pro-MAGA questions. (Getty Images)
Still, when the president first began publicly bashing Greene from the White House, Glenn talked about the emotional impact that had on him. “I’m not going to lie to you, it hurt,” he said, noting that he began receiving texts from friends about it as he wasn’t in Washington that day.
“I never could have imagined how a nuclear bomb could go off over someone’s head the way it did that Friday,” Glenn added about Trump’s Truth Social tirade in which the president labeled Greene a traitor and pulled his endorsement.
“Speaking of loyalty — what about the man in the middle? Who would get Glenn in the divorce?” the Post wondered, prompting Glenn to respond: “Well, I gotta go with ‘Mom’ here.”
In the end, while Glenn said that wedding bells are definitely “in the future for sure,” he also wanted Trump to know that he will always have Trump’s back. “I will continue to support the president — I want to make sure that’s in the piece,” he told the Post.
A week after speaking to the paper, Glenn was on hand for an Oval Office event with automakers that saw the president go on a rambling monologue about how affordability was a Democratic “con job.”
When Trump began taking questions, he called on Glenn first, who was ready to tee up the president with a predictably pro-MAGA softball, only for the president to interject and declare: “We love you, Brian.”
Glenn replied: “Oh, I love you too, Mr. President!”
NEED TO KNOW
- Glenn Close appeared recently on Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ podcast, Wiser Than Me
- Close once went to “a very romantic restaurant” for dinner with Robert Redford, which she apparently didn’t realize was a date
- “I was too clueless and unknowing and unsure to even consider that I might have dated him,” the Wake Up Dead Man star recalled
Glenn Close once had a romantic dinner with Robert Redford — if only she had realized it was a date!
Speaking with Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the fourth season premiere of her podcast, Wiser Than Me from Lemonada Media, Close, 78, recalled that she “didn’t get it” when the late Redford once invited her out.
In 1984 after they costarred in The Natural, Close said, the actor-director “invited me to a very romantic restaurant where we had dinner together. And I was too clueless and unknowing and unsure to even consider that I might have dated him.”
Louis-Dreyfus, 64, gasped, responding, “Oh. My. God.”
Glenn Close and Robert Redford in ‘The Natural’.
Everett
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“I didn’t know,” said Close with a sigh, noting that Redford later “found” Sibylle Szaggars, who he married in 2009.
“But lucky you, you got to work with him,” said the Veep Emmy winner. “You lucky duck.”
“Yeah,” agreed Close. “But how dorky was that?”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ ‘Wiser Than Me’.
Ryan Pfluger and August Image
The eight-time Oscar nominee also called herself “such a dork” at age 21 when Louis-Dreyfus asked what she would tell her younger self. “Pull yourself together,” joked Close, would be her advice to herself. “Get an education!”
Redford, who died on Sept. 16 at age 89, starred with Close, Robert Duvall, Kim Basinger and more in baseball drama The Natural. This January on Watch What Happens Live, Close named Redford as her “best onscreen kiss” during the show’s “Plead the Fifth” segment with Andy Cohen.
“I only got to kiss him once… maybe we did two takes,” she recalled. “But I ended up with him.”
Close’s Wiser Than Me interview with Louis-Dreyfus also covered many of her most iconic screen roles, the guest house she’s built to spend her final days, and becoming a grandmother with the arrival of daughter Annie Starke’s son Rory.
Close stars in Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (in select theaters now and streaming on Netflix Dec. 12) and Ryan Murphy’s Hulu drama All’s Fair, now airing its first season. Among her upcoming projects is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (in theaters Nov. 20, 2026).
WORLD NEWS
Pete Hegseth sent shockwaves through Washington with his Pentagon press shakeup… here’s what really changed behind the scenes
Pete Hegseth sent shockwaves through Washington with his Pentagon press shakeup… the Daily Mail’s US Senior Political Reporter Elina Shirazi explains what’s really changed behind the scenes.
Shirazi has spoken out against the Pentagon and the Department of War’s new media policy, aimed at restricting journalists’ access and requiring all outlets to sign contracts.
The Pentagon’s new media contract requires journalists to have their articles approved by officials before public release, sparking backlash from reporters.
Click above to watch the full video.
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Pete Hegseth sent shockwaves through Washington with his Pentagon press shakeup… here’s what really changed behind the scenes
Thug Steffan Pattie, 28, has been jailed for 24 months – this is a breaking story
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US forces have intercepted and seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, according to reports.
The White House are yet to comment on the reported seizure of the unnamed vessel.
Two officials told the Reuters news agency that the operation was led by the US Coast Guard. They did not name the tanker nor say specifically where the incident took place.
It would mark the latest escalation from the Trump administration, which has in recent weeks ramped up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The US accuses Mr Maduro of presiding over a narcotrafficking operation, which he denies.
Throughout the year, the Pentagon has conducted more than 20 strikes against purported drug-trafficking vessels in waters near Venezuela and Colombia, killing more than 80 suspects.
It also comes as US President Donald Trump suggested numerous times that the US could strike Venezuela on land.
Speaking to Politico on Tuesday, he declined to comment on whether US troops would enter the country, but said that Mr Maduro’s “days are numbered”.
According to US news outlet Bloomberg, the Maduro government describes US actions as a grab for Venezuela’s oil reserves – among the biggest in the world.
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Humans may have made fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, scientists say.
Published On 10 Dec 2025
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Scientists have uncovered the oldest-known evidence of deliberate fire-making by prehistoric humans in Suffolk, Britain – revealing it happened some 350,000 years earlier than experts previously believed.
The site, a former clay pit near the village of Barnham, contains a hearth made by Neanderthals about 415,000 years ago.
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Until now, the earliest known evidence of humans making fire dated to around 50,000 years ago at a site in northern France, also linked to Neanderthals.
Researchers identified the remains of a repeatedly used campfire, including heated clay, flint tools shattered by intense heat and two pieces of iron pyrite – a mineral that sparks when struck against flint to ignite tinder.
“We think humans brought pyrite to the site with the intention of making fire. And this has huge implications, pushing back the earliest fire-making,” said archaeologist Nick Ashton, curator of Palaeolithic Collections at the British Museum in London.
While there are even older signs of humans using naturally occurring wildfires in Africa, this is the earliest proof that people knew how to start their own fires.
Fire was a crucial turning point in human evolution. Controlled flames allowed ancient hunter-gatherers to live in colder environments, cook food, and protect themselves from predators. Cooking also helped our ancestors get more energy from meat, roots and tubers, fuelling the growth of larger brains and enabling communities to support more people.
Scientists say fire likely transformed social life as well. It brought people together at night to share warmth, food and conversation, possibly encouraging storytelling, language and cultural beliefs.
“The campfire becomes a social hub,” British Museum archaeologist and study co-author Rob Davis said. “We’re a species who have used fire to really shape the world around us – and now we know this is something Neanderthals were doing far earlier than we thought, just like us.”
The evidence at Barnham suggests repeated fire use at temperatures above 700 degrees Celsius (1,292 degrees Fahrenheit), pointing to deliberate fire-starting rather than reliance on natural flames. The team spent four years testing the materials to confirm the hearth’s age and human origin.
The finding supports the view that Neanderthals, and possibly their close relatives such as the Denisovans, were far more innovative than once assumed, sharing key survival skills long before the emergence of modern-day humans.
WORLD NEWS
Australia news live: Victorian students await VCE results and Atar scores; Treasury optimistic on business forecast | Australia news
Victorian students receive VCE results and Atar scores
Adeshola Ore
Ethan Bundle-Bell is among more than 65,000 Victorian students who will graduate with their Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) today.
At the same time, Victorian students will become the first in the country to receive their Australian Tertiary Admission Rankings (Atar) scores, with the remaining states and territories to follow next week.
Bundle-Bell, a Gunditjmara and Butchulla man, is the first in his family to complete year 12 after he undertook the vocational major program at Braybrook Secondary College in Melbourne’s west. The program is a practical and alternative pathway for students to secure a high school certificate.
While the cohort does not receive an Atar score, they do receive their VCE and a statement of results.
They account for 9,777 of the record 65,586 students graduating with their VCEs this year, according to the state government.
You can read more about Bundle-Bell’s alternative pathway to VCE here:
More than 15,300 students received at least one study score of 40 or higher, while 664 students have received at least one maximum study score of 50.
Additionally, more than 1,150 students received the Victorian Pathways Certificate, which prepared students for future studies or entry into the workforce.
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Updated at 20.44 CET
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Aukus meetings begin in Washington
Pete Hegseth has kicked off a series of meetings with British and Australian defence counterparts in Washington that are aimed at moving forward with the large nuclear submarine building and technology sharing pact between the three nations known as known as Aukus.
“Fantastic to be meeting today with Secretary Hegseth and with John Healey,” deputy PM and defence minister Richard Marles told reporters.
Our focus was very much on delivery. We’ve now seen reviews in each of our three countries, as our governments have come into power. They have been done and the absolute focus in respect of all of our three countries, was to harness our systems to deliver Aukus pillar one to make sure that we’re doing everything at full speed ahead, – full steam ahead, as President Donald Trump has given us this motto – in terms of delivering on submarines.
On pillar 2, we spoke about how we can make sure we have all the momentum that we need to see that co-operation around advanced technology. So, a really important meeting today. There’s a lot of energy and momentum around the delivery of Aukus but a very significant meeting, particularly in the context of it being Secretary Hegseth’s first.
The deal was originally inked in 2021. The Pentagon recently determined that the agreement was in the US national security interest.
It includes the sale of three US-built nuclear-powered submarines to Australia starting in 2032.
Read Ben Doherty’s analysis of where the agreement currently stands:
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Treasury’s optimistic forecast on business investment
Patrick Commins
The Treasury believes business investment in this financial year will grow twice as quickly as previously estimated, according to extracts from next week’s midyear budget.
National accounts figures showed a surge in companies’ spending in the three months to September, which the Australia Bureau of Statistics attributed to “major datacentre investment across NSW and Victoria”.
The updated Treasury forecasts show business investment is expected to grow by 3% in 2025-26, against the pre-election forecast of 1.5%, before returning to the anticipated pace of 1.5% in the next financial year.
“Construction of datacentres has accelerated and the accompanying fit-out with equipment has increased six-fold in the past five years,” the documents will say.
Non-mining investment growth has also been substantially upgraded, from a forecast 1% in this financial year to 4% in the latest estimates.
Jim Chalmers said the midyear economic and fiscal outlook would “show that the private sector recovery that we’ve been planning for and preparing for is really taking shape”.
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Updated at 21.01 CET
Sarah Malick has also written about the anniversary of the riots. She was a young journalism student when she watched news footage of hundreds of young white men storming the beach.
Geographically, the Arab lads of Bankstown and Shire boys of Cronulla were neighbours, but culturally the consequences of infringing West Side Story-beach lines were clear. The 2005 beach riots made international headlines. Southern Cross-tattooed patriots marked their territory, scrawling “100% Aussie pride” in the sand and popularising the slogan: “You flew here, we grew here.”
For a young feminist Muslim woman from western Sydney who had just adopted hijab after moving out of home, it highlighted every political nerve I balanced on like a high-wire artist.
The myth of the riots, that the beach was not for people like her, is one she’s pushing back on. Read her reflections here:
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Today, 11 December, marks 20 years since the Cronulla riots. Daisy Dumas recently looked at whether attitudes have changed in the decades since.
Some say Australia still has not tackled racism, and fear social media is a more powerful tool than text messages and talkback radio that stirred up Sydney rioters in 2005. Read more here:
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Victorian students receive VCE results and Atar scores
Adeshola Ore
Ethan Bundle-Bell is among more than 65,000 Victorian students who will graduate with their Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) today.
At the same time, Victorian students will become the first in the country to receive their Australian Tertiary Admission Rankings (Atar) scores, with the remaining states and territories to follow next week.
Bundle-Bell, a Gunditjmara and Butchulla man, is the first in his family to complete year 12 after he undertook the vocational major program at Braybrook Secondary College in Melbourne’s west. The program is a practical and alternative pathway for students to secure a high school certificate.
While the cohort does not receive an Atar score, they do receive their VCE and a statement of results.
They account for 9,777 of the record 65,586 students graduating with their VCEs this year, according to the state government.
You can read more about Bundle-Bell’s alternative pathway to VCE here:
More than 15,300 students received at least one study score of 40 or higher, while 664 students have received at least one maximum study score of 50.
Additionally, more than 1,150 students received the Victorian Pathways Certificate, which prepared students for future studies or entry into the workforce.
Share
Updated at 20.44 CET
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
Victorian students’ Atar and study scores will be available online from 7am, marking the end of more than 13 years of schooling. They will be the first to receive their scores, with the remaining states and territories to follow next week.
Police in Melbourne have uncovered suspected human remains as they investigate the disappearance of a toddler more than a decade ago. We’ll have more details in a moment and will bring any updates as we have them.
And the Treasury believes business investment in this financial year will grow twice as quickly as previously estimated, according to extracts from next week’s midyear budget.
We have more details, and there’s more economic news at 11.30am with the latest unemployment figures.
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Italian cooking has been awarded special cultural heritage status by the United Nations’ cultural agency Unesco.
National favourites including pizza are already on Unesco’s list of “intangible cultural heritage”, but now Italian cooking traditions and the way they are practiced and transmitted have been awarded.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has been pushing for her country’s cuisine to be recognised since her election, said: “For us Italians, cuisine is not just food or a collection of recipes. It is so much more: it is culture, tradition, work, wealth.”
For millions of fans the news confirms what they already believed – from Sicilian Cannoli to Calabrian ‘Nduja – Italian is the best.
The announcement was made during a Unesco assembly meeting in the Indian capital Delhi on Wednesday.
The cultural agency described Italian cuisine as a “means of connecting with family and the community, whether at home, in schools, or through festivals, ceremonies and social gatherings”.
Koshary, the spicy dish of lentils, rice, and pasta available at countless Egyptian food stalls, was also added to the list of intangible cultural heritage.
Other countries have had their “practices, skills, traditions and social practices related to foodways” recognised by Unesco, a spokesperson from the agency told the BBC.
Previous examples include “Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year, Breakfast culture in Malaysia: dining experience in a multi-ethnic society, or the Gastronomic meal of the French,” the spokesperson added.
Speaking to La Repubblica, the Rome-based daily newspaper, chef Michelangelo Mammoliti said the news filled him with a great sense of pride both personally as an Italian, as well as professionally as a chef.
“Italy is one of the nations where regional cuisine has a very big impact on culture and traditions,” said the chef, whose restaurant La Rei Natura in Piedmont is the only new three-star restaurant in the 2026 Michelin Guide.
Italy’s industry leaders and government ministers will be hoping that the move further boosts tourism to the country, which already welcomes 80 million international visitors annually.
Luigi Scordamaglia, CEO of Filiera Italia, which represents all the food and wine companies in the production chain, told Ansa news agency that the move from Unesco marked a success “for the entire Made in Italy supply chain”.
Mr Scordamaglia also spoke about the role of the Mediterranean diet in promoting good health.
He added: “When we talk about the Mediterranean diet, we’re talking about our wonderful Italian cuisine, which shares its principles, first and foremost those of balance and variety.”
Swimming pool culture in Iceland; the practice of Cuban Son music and dance; and the art of playing, singing and making the lahuta from Albania also entered Unesco’s list of intangible cultural heritage.