Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reveals she is "a survivor of sexual assault".
US Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has opened up about being a sexual assault survivor during a video detailing her experience in the Capitol Hill riot.
Explaining she feared for her life during the riot, which was incited by President Donald Trump and some fellow Republicans, Ocasio-Cortez accused members of the GOP of using "the tactics of abusers" by "encouraging" rioters.
"The reason I'm getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on, that it's not a big deal, that we should forget what's happened, or even telling us to apologise, these are the same tactics of abusers," she said.
"I'm a survivor of sexual assault," the 31-year-old revealed, holding back tears. "And I haven't told many people that in my life. But when we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other."
On January 6, the day of the riot, Ocasio-Cortez said she hid behind a toilet door in her office, when she heard one of the rioters yell, "Where is she? Where is she?"
"This was the moment where I thought everything was over," she reflected. "I thought I was going to die."
Trump's alleged encouragement of the rioters led to his second impeachment as US President.
UK's Captain Tom Moore has died from coronavirus at the age of 100.
Captain Tom Moore, the British World War II veteran who raised millions of pounds for health service workers on the frontline of the battle against COVID-19, has died aged 100, his family says.
"It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dear father, Captain Sir Tom Moore," his daughters said in a statement.
Moore died on Tuesday morning at Bedford Hospital. He had tested positive for COVID-19 on January 22 and was fighting pneumonia.
Moore's fundraising efforts raised more than 32 million pounds ($A58 million) for the National Health Service, walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday during England's first lockdown in April.
Captain Tom, as he became known in newspaper headlines and TV interviews, set out to raise 1000 pounds for the NHS by walking 100 laps but his quest went viral and caught the imagination of millions stuck at home during the first wave of the pandemic.
Donations poured in from across the UK and as far away as the US and Japan.
"Please always remember, tomorrow will be a good day," Moore said in an interview during his walk, uttering the words that became his trademark.
Battle to contain destructive WA bushfire.
At least 59 homes have been lost in a bushfire burning out of control in Perth's northeastern suburbs, with more property losses expected.
The massive fire doubled in size on Monday evening and approached the city's coastal plain from the hills town of Wooroloo, as firefighters desperately tried to save lives and homes.
Western Australia's Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said the number of homes lost is likely to climb.
"Tragically, 59 properties have been lost in this fire, and that number may increase as we continue to assess the extent of the damage," he said late on Tuesday.
He said crews had faced "a difficult and incredibly fast-moving" blaze that was spotting 3.5 kilometres ahead of the fire front at its peak on Monday night.
Weather conditions were expected to worsen overnight, with the possibility of wind gusts up to 75km/h.
Some 2000 residents and businesses were left without power on Tuesday afternoon. Around 150 poles and 100 transformers were down in the fire scar area, Western Power said.
Restrictions to remain beyond WA lockdown.
Western Australia is likely to remain subject to COVID-19 restrictions beyond the five-day lockdown despite highly-encouraging test results.
After two days of intensive testing, WA is yet to detect any new cases linked to a hotel quarantine security guard who roamed the streets of Perth while infectious.
Metropolitan Perth, the Peel region and South West are set to exit lockdown on schedule at 6pm on Friday if no further cases are detected.
Premier Mark McGowan expects schools which were due to resume this week will return next Monday unless the situation deteriorates.
The government is yet to reveal what restrictions might remain in place beyond the lockdown.
"There might be a range of measures we still have to have in place, just to make sure, over coming weeks," Mr McGowan said.
"If we get zero cases between now and Friday, my expectation is on Friday night we come out of the severe form of lockdown we're currently in. But again as we know, this is a very uncertain environment ... things change quickly."
Government pressured over MP's virus posts.
Liberal MP Craig Kelly is digging in against calls for him to stop spreading coronavirus misinformation that critics warn is undermining Australia's vaccination efforts.
The controversial backbencher continues to cause headaches for the government with rampant posts about unproven virus treatments on his Facebook page, which has more than 90,000 followers.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his senior cabinet colleagues have refused to condemn Mr Kelly directly despite Labor's demands he be pulled into line.
Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler attempted to censure Mr Kelly in the opening minutes of parliament for the year but the government shut him down.
Despite growing pressure, Mr Kelly used Tuesday's coalition joint partyroom meeting to defend his right to post about treatment options.
Mr Butler also took aim at Mr Kelly for appearing on conspiracy theorist chef Pete Evans' podcast.
"This really has reached peak stupid," the Labor frontbencher said.
The prime minister says Mr Kelly is not his doctor but believes he is doing a great job as a local member.
Elderly cleared for Pfizer coronavirus jab.
Elderly Australians have been given the medical regulator's okay to get the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine after concerns raised from overseas were allayed.
About 30 elderly people from more than 40,000 died after receiving the jab in Norway, with the Therapeutic Goods Administration saying no causal link could be established between vaccination and deaths.
The TGA says very frail patients had died, including some who were only expected to live for weeks or months.
Medical regulators in North America, the UK and Europe have made similar conclusions.
"Elderly patients can receive this vaccine and there is no cap on the upper age limit," the TGA said in a statement on Tuesday.
For frail patients over the age of 85, the TGA says the benefits of the vaccine should be weighed against the potential risk of even mild reactions.
The Pfizer vaccine was given approval last month and the rollout is expected to begin later this month.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the program remains on track, despite ongoing supply issues across Europe.
Dragons target Folau for NRL return.
The door is open for Israel Folau to make a return to the NRL after league chief Andrew Abdo confirmed he would consider a formal application as part of due process.
Folau's controversial past will form part of the considerations should St George Illawarra submit a formal application for him to join the club on a two-year deal.
It's understood Dragons chief executive Ryan Webb and Abdo have had private conversations over several weeks about bringing Folau back to the game in Australia, although no formal application has been submitted.
The NRL has previously indicated the door was shut for the 31-year-old former Queensland and Australia star to make a return.
Folau has been playing rugby league for Catalans in the Super League and signed a one-year extension with them in July last year.
However, the controversial former rugby union star has been in Australia over the summer for family reasons.
It's believed St George Illawarra would follow the same process as the Catalans if they were to draft a contract, which would see Folau bound by strict social media clauses.
Rap star Silento arrested for the alleged murder of his cousin.
Rap star Silento, made famous for his track 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)' has been arrested over the murder of his cousin.
Silento, whose real name is Ricky Hawk, is accused of shooting dead his cousin Frederick Rooks on January 21.
Police responded to shots fired at 3:30am in the morning and arrived to find Rooks dead at the scene. Eight bullet casings were found.
The rapper, age 23, has been arrested multiple times in recent months in connection to domestic violence, weapons and speeding charges.
Navalny sent to three and half years jail.
A Russian court has sentenced Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to three and a half years in jail after ruling he had violated the terms of his parole but says his prison term would be shortened for time he had served earlier under house arrest.
Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics, was arrested at the Russian border on January 17 after returning from Germany where he had been recovering from being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent.
Navalny's allies called on their supporters to immediately protest against the ruling in central Moscow.
Navalny's lawyer said the opposition politician would appeal against the ruling.
Trump lawyers, Dems spar over impeachment.
Lawyers for former president Donald Trump say the US Senate has no authority to try him as a private citizen on an impeachment charge that he incited an insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 while the Democratic lawmakers who will serve as prosecutors urged his conviction.
Both sides filed briefs with the Senate on Tuesday, a week before the impeachment trial is due to begin.
Nine House of Representatives lawmakers said Trump pointed a mob "like a loaded cannon" at Congress and said he should be convicted and barred from holding public office in the future.
Trump's defence team said that not only does the Senate lack the authority to put Trump on trial as a private citizen but that the chamber also lacks the jurisdiction to prevent Trump from holding office again.
"President Trump's conduct offends everything that the Constitution stands for," the Democratic impeachment managers wrote in an 80-page brief noting that Trump had begun voicing his intention to contest an election loss months before the November 3 election was held.
'People banging pans' in Myanmar coup protest.
The sound of vehicle horns and pans being struck have been heard around Myanmar's biggest city Yangon in protest at a military coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government, Reuters witnesses say.
Social media users posted footage and livestreams of the public show of discontent at Monday's takeover.
Suu Kyi's party called on Tuesday for her immediate release and for the military junta that seized power a day earlier to recognise her victory in an election in November.
Her whereabouts remained unknown more than 24 hours after her arrest in a military takeover that derailed Myanmar's tentative progress towards full democracy.
A senior official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) said on Tuesday he had learned she was in good health and was not being moved from the location where she was being held after the coup against her government.
The coup followed a landslide win for Suu Kyi's NLD in an election on November 8 in a result that the military, claiming fraud, has refused to accept.
The army handed power to its commander, General Min Aung Hlaing, and imposed a state of emergency for a year.
Min Aung Hlaing told the first meeting of his new government on Tuesday that it was inevitable the army would have to take power after its protests over alleged election fraud last year.
Around the world.
- Marilyn Manson says allegations of horrific abuse made by Evan Rachel Wood and four other women are "horrible distortions of reality," as he is dropped by his record label over the women's stories.
- Australia's Test tour of South Africa has been postponed due to health concerns over the mutant strain of COVID in the country.
- Johnny Depp is attempting to appeal a UK court ruling that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard.
- Japan's COVID-19 state of emergency for Tokyo and several other regions has been extended by a further month.
- World No.1 Ash Barty has made a successful return to competitive tennis, beating Romania's Ana Bogdan in straights sets after 11-months out of action.
- With AAP
Feature image: Getty/AAP/Lukas Coch.
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