World News: 17 April 2023

Melbourne overtakes Sydney as Australia's biggest city
Sydney has held this prestigious title for many years, but in an ongoing tussle for which Australian city is the best Melbourne seems to have come out on top due to a "technicality". The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2021 included the area of Melton, in the city's north-west fringe, to Melbourne's population. It boosted the total number of people in the Melbourne Significant Urban Area to 4,875,400 in June, which is 18,700 more residents than the Harbour City.

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Musk's SpaceX set to fly biggest rocket ever
The vehicle, known as Starship, has been built by the American entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company. It stands almost 120m (400ft) high and is designed to have almost double the thrust of any rocket in history. SpaceX will try to get Starship airborne in an uncrewed demonstration from Boca Chica, Texas at 08:20 local time (13:20 GMT; 14:20 BST). The aim is to send the upper-stage of the vehicle eastward, to complete almost one circuit of the globe.

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Deepfake porn could be a growing problem amid AI race
Deepfakes are videos and images that have been digitally created or altered with artificial intelligence or machine learning. Porn created using the technology first began spreading across the internet several years ago when a Reddit user shared clips that placed the faces of female celebrities on the shoulders of porn actors.

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UK national park changes name and logo in response to climate crisis
Bannau Brycheiniog, formerly the Brecon Beacons, is a national park and conservation area in south and mid-Wales. The 1,350-square-kilometre park encompasses rolling valleys, forests, lakes, waterfalls and caves, as well as prehistoric and Roman archaeological sites. It includes the town of Blaenavon - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - and a large part of the park is designated as a European and Global Geopark.

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Airbus, Air France face verdict over 2009 Rio-Paris crash
The ruling follows a historic public trial over the disappearance of AF447 in an equatorial storm on June 1, 2009, with families for the 228 victims demanding justice but Paris prosecutors acknowledging that formal blame could not be proved. The verdict followed France's first ever trial for corporate involuntary manslaughter, for which the maximum fine is 225,000 euros.

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Morocco not invited to Jeddah Summit to discuss Syria's return to Arab League
It is likely that the exclusion of Morocco in Friday's meeting is due to Rabat's leaning towards Washington's policy in the current circumstances, while the Gulf states want to adopt a policy that silently opposes American decisions towards the Middle East. Morocco also does not share the Gulf states' current rapprochement with Iran, having cut ties with Tehran in 2018 after accusing it of supporting the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara.

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