SOCIETY

CANBERRA, Australia — Services Australia is urging almost one million Australians to log into their myGov accounts and update their bank details, warning that $272 million in Medicare rebates remains unclaimed due to outdated or missing payment information.

SYDNEY — Australia has fallen to 15th place in the 2026 World Happiness Report, marking its second consecutive year outside the top 10 and the lowest ranking in the survey's history for the country once a consistent high performer.

DALLAS — A 32-year-old Dallas-based American Airlines flight attendant who vanished during a layover in Medellín, Colombia, was found dead Friday, March 27, 2026, authorities said, bringing a grim end to a weeklong search that drew international attention and concern from his family, colleagues and U.S. officials.

Australian families welcoming a new child from July 1, 2026, will gain access to 26 weeks of government-funded Paid Parental Leave, an increase from the current 24 weeks, as the Albanese government completes a phased expansion aimed at boosting early childhood bonding, workforce participation and gender equality in caregiving.

TUCSON, Ariz. — The search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, stretched into its 55th day Friday with authorities reporting no significant breakthroughs and her whereabouts remaining unknown more than seven weeks after she vanished from her home in the Catalina Foothills suburb of Tucson.

HANALEI, Hawaii — Three people died Thursday when a helicopter crashed on a remote beach along Kauai's dramatic Na Pali Coast, authorities said, the latest fatal incident involving an air tour aircraft on the popular Hawaiian island.

SYDNEY — Thousands of homes and businesses across Sydney and parts of New South Wales continued to experience power outages Friday following a severe thunderstorm that swept through the region late Thursday, downing trees and damaging electricity lines, according to distributors Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy.

SYDNEY — Thousands of homes and businesses in the Sydney region remained without power Friday after a severe thunderstorm hammered parts of New South Wales on Thursday night, bringing strong winds, hail and heavy rain that downed trees and damaged electricity infrastructure.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Nearly two months after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her home in the Catalina Foothills suburb of Tucson, authorities continue to investigate what they believe was a targeted abduction, with no arrests and her whereabouts unknown as of late March 2026.

Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk and current CEO and chairwoman of Turning Point USA, has sent a fresh cease-and-desist letter accusing an online activist of defamation, escalating a public feud over baseless claims linking her to her husband's assassination and sex trafficking allegations tied to Jeffrey Epstein.

Travelers at Salt Lake City International Airport encountered virtually no delays at security checkpoints Thursday, with official estimates showing wait times of less than one minute across main screening areas despite ongoing national discussions about TSA staffing shortages tied to the partial government shutdown.

TUCSON, Ariz. — The search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, entered its eighth week Thursday with no arrests or confirmed sightings

Western Power crews worked Thursday to restore electricity to more than 25,000 customers across Western Australia's Great Southern region after a widespread outage plunged homes, businesses and communities into darkness along nearly 300 kilometers of the south coast.

Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of NBC's "Today" show, fought back tears Tuesday as she gave her first public interview since her 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, was abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, home nearly two months ago, describing nightly nightmares of her mother's terror and the family's desperate hope for her safe return.

The New York Times Wordle puzzle for Wednesday, March 25, 2026 — game No. 1,740 — offered players a relatively gentle challenge with the answer "WISER," an adjective that rewarded common starting words and logical deduction while keeping the daily streak alive for many solvers.

More than seven weeks after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her home in an affluent Catalina Foothills neighborhood north of Tucson, authorities say they believe she was abducted in the middle of the night, but the high-profile investigation has yielded no arrests, no confirmed suspect in custody and no definitive trace of the mother of NBC "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.

SYDNEY — Alice Springs in the Northern Territory remains Australia's city with the highest crime rate in 2026, recording dramatically elevated offence levels per capita that far exceed national averages and place it among the more dangerous urban areas globally according to perception-based indexes.

SYDNEY — Australians and New Zealanders will pause on Saturday, April 25, 2026, to observe Anzac Day, the solemn national day of remembrance marking the 111th anniversary of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landings at Gallipoli during World War I.

PORT ARTHUR, Texas — A powerful explosion rocked one of the nation's largest oil refineries Monday evening, sending towering flames and a thick plume of black smoke into the sky over the Texas Gulf Coast and prompting a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents.

SYDNEY — Keli Lane, the former water polo player convicted of murdering her newborn daughter Tegan in one of Australia's most notorious "no body, no parole" cases, was granted supervised day release Tuesday from a maximum-security women's prison to attend court proceedings supporting her long-term boyfriend's unfair dismissal claim.

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait International Airport did not open a major new terminal Tuesday despite circulating social media speculation, with officials confirming the landmark Terminal 2 remains on track for completion by November 2026 as part of a massive modernization drive aimed at transforming the Gulf nation into a regional aviation hub.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC News journalist and "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, remained missing Monday, more than seven weeks after authorities say she was abducted from her bed in the middle of the night at her home in Catalina Foothills, a quiet suburb north of Tucson.

Kuwait International Airport (KWI), the country's primary aviation hub, stays fully closed to regular commercial passenger traffic as of March 24, 2026, with no arrivals or departures listed on official flight status pages and no confirmed reopening timeline amid the escalating U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran that has disrupted Gulf airspace and inflicted direct damage on the facility.

NEW YORK — Two pilots died late Sunday when an Air Canada Express regional jet collided with a Port Authority fire truck on a runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport, injuring dozens of people and forcing the busy hub to close for most of Monday as federal investigators examined the cause.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Zayed International Airport (AUH), the primary gateway to Abu Dhabi and a major hub for Etihad Airways, remains fully open and operational on March 23, 2026, with hundreds of scheduled arrivals and departures proceeding amid gradual normalization following intermittent regional airspace restrictions earlier in the month.

New York — LaGuardia Airport stayed shut early Monday, March 23, 2026, following a late-night collision between an Air Canada Express regional jet and a Port Authority fire truck on a runway, an incident that killed two pilots and injured at least four others, authorities and sources confirmed.

CANBERRA, Australia — Petrol thefts, commonly known as "drive-offs," are surging across Australia as fuel prices climb toward A$3 per litre, fueled by global oil supply disruptions from the ongoing Middle East conflict.

Bill Appleby, chief executive officer of Albury Wodonga Health, has resigned from the hospital's board following months of mounting staff unrest, multiple votes of no confidence and growing concerns over patient safety, workplace culture and leadership decisions at the cross-border health service.

Security wait times at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the world's busiest by passenger volume, continue to vary dramatically on March 22, 2026, as the partial U.S. government shutdown drags into its second month, leaving Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers unpaid and contributing to staffing shortages, absenteeism and unpredictable lines.