The first funeral for one of the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting has taken place in Sydney, with thousands gathering to mourn Rabbi Eli Schlanger.

He was among 15 people killed when two gunmen, alleged to have been motivated by Islamic State ideology, opened fire on a festival marking the first day of Hanukkah.

Rabbi Schlanger, who was known as the "Bondi Rabbi" and had helped organise Sunday's event, was born in the UK. His wife gave birth to their fifth child just two months ago.

Rabbi Levi Wolff, who opened the service, said his death as an "unspeakable loss" for the community, the Chabad of Bondi and "the entire Jewish nation".

"Eli was ripped away from us, doing what he loved best," he said.

"Spreading love and joy and caring for his people with endless self-sacrifice in his life and in his death, he towered above as one of the highest and holiest souls."

He was mourned by his father-in-law as a person beloved by the community. The 41-year-old was "my son, my friend, my confidant," Rabbi Yehoram Ulman told the congregation at the Chabad of Bondi.

"My biggest regret was, apart from the obvious, to tell Eli more often how much we love him, how much I love him, how much we appreciate everything that he does and how proud we are of him," Rabbi Ulman said.

"I hope he knew that but I think it should have been said more often."

Ulman also urged Jewish people not to hide in the aftermath of the attack and said that on Sunday night - the final night of Hanukkah - they would continue a 31-year-old tradition, and light the final candle on Bondi Beach.

"All the rabbis together, under the banner of our Chabat house of Bondi, to which Eli dedicated his life, we are going to gather in Bondi Beach," he said.

The funeral of Rabbi Yaakov Levitan is also expected to take place on Wednesday afternoon, while the funeral of 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim, is to take place on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Bondi on Wednesday, Matilda's father praised lifesavers, bystanders and police officers who came to their assistance as they struggled to save their daughter's life, and a woman who helped their younger daughter, Summer.

"I must say the biggest thank you to the lady that saved Summer," he said. "I don't know who she was but she literally hugged her for the whole ten minutes of shooting."

Opposition leader Sussan Ley, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, former prime minister Scott Morrison and Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon were among those attending Schlanger's funeral.

Anthony Albanese was not present. Asked on ABC NewsRadio about his absence, the prime minister said, "I would attend anything that I'm invited to. These are funerals that are taking place to farewell people's loved ones."

The Jewish community has criticised Albanese for not taking enough action on antisemitism.

The prime minister defended himself against those accusations on Wednesday, telling ABC NewsRadio he had taken a series of measures including appointing the country's first antisemitism envoy, toughening hate speech laws and increasing funding for social cohesion projects and Jewish institutions.

He also said that one of the two men accused of carrying out Sunday's attack would be charged later on Wednesday, although NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon later said this may depend on his medical condition.

"It's important he has appropriate cognitive ability. For his fairness, we need him to understand what is exactly happening," he told reporters in Sydney.

Naveed Akram reportedly woke from a coma on Tuesday afternoon after being shot and critically injured by police in Sunday's attack. His father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram was shot dead.

The pair, who allegedly fired on people attending the Hanukkah festival for around 10 minutes, reportedly travelled to the Philippines in November and police are investigating whether they met with Islamic extremists.

Two police officers were critically injured in the shooting and police on Wednesday confirmed that one of them had lost the sight in one eye as a result.

Jack Hibbert, 22, had only been in the police force for four months when he was shot, police said in a statement. During the attack he had "responded with courage, instinct, and selflessness, continuing to protect and help others whilst injured, until he was physically no longer able to."

The second officer, constable Scott Dyson, underwent further surgery this morning and is in a critical but stable condition, Lanyon added.

Simon Atkinson contributed reporting.

US President Donald Trump has said he is ordering a "a total and complete" blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela.

In a post on Truth Social, he accused Venezuela of stealing US assets, such as oil and land, and of "Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking".

"Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela," he added.

His post came a week after the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela – a move that marked a sharp escalation Washington's pressure campaign against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro's government.

In the post, the US president said Venezuela was "completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America".

He added that it will "only get bigger" and "be like nothing they have ever seen before".

Trump also accused Maduro's government of using stolen oil to "finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping".

Venezuela has not yet responded to Trump's latest remarks.

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Venezuela of drug smuggling and since September the US military has killed at least 90 people in strikes on boats it has alleged were carrying fentanyl and other illegal drugs to the US.

In recent months, the US has also moved warships into the region.

Venezuela - home to some of the world's largest proven oil reserves - has, in turn, accused Washington of seeking to steal its resources.

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South Africa has accused the US of using Kenyan nationals who did not have work permits at a facility processing applications by white South Africans for refugee status.

Seven Kenyans were arrested after intelligence reports revealed that people "had recently entered South Africa on tourist visas and had illegally taken up work" at the centre, said a statement from South Africa's department of home affairs.

The BBC has approached the US State Department for comment.

While the US is trying to reduce overall levels of migration, it says that members of South Africa's white Afrikaner community can get asylum because they face persecution - a claim South Africa's government strongly rejects.

The US has reduced its yearly intake of refugees from around the world from 125,000 to 7,500, but says it will prioritise Afrikaners, who are mostly descendants of Dutch and French settlers.

South Africa says the Kenyan nationals arrested in Tuesday's raid will now be deported and will be banned from entering the country for five years.

They had previously been denied work visas but were found "engaging in work despite only being in possession of tourist visas, in clear violation of their conditions of entry into the country", the statement said.

South Africa said the raid showcased the commitment that the country shared "with the United States to combating illegal immigration and visa abuse in all its forms", it said.

It added that "formal diplomatic engagements" had been started with both the United States and Kenya.

No US officials were arrested and the operation was not at a diplomatic site, it said.

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F1 driver Kimi Antonelli has surprised local go-karters by going incognito at a packed racing session.

Antonelli attended Daytona Milton Keynes on Saturday and registered under the name "Henry Shovlin".

The 19-year-old Italian, who drives professionally for Mercedes, set the fastest lap of the session in the main race but did not win.

Daniel Prince, from Daytona, said Antonelli failed to make the podium because he got "two penalties" for "pushing too hard" but was happy to pose for a photo until he was mobbed by fans.

Mr Prince said Antonelli did the usual briefing and then raced with everyone else but "no-one had a clue" who he was.

"He actually got two penalties for pushing too hard so didn't finish on the podium at the end of it," he told Roberto Perrone on BBC Three Counties Radio.

"But he did get the fastest lap of the race by at least three seconds."

Mr Prince said the star was not recognised because he was wearing a helmet, but when he went back inside and removed it "everyone realised who they'd been racing against".

"Everyone really mobbed him so a member of staff quickly rescued him and put him behind the desk for a cheeky photo by our celebrity leaderboard, and then he ran away and left."

F1 drivers including Alexander Albon, Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda have visited the track due to its proximity to Silverstone.

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In a further escalation of tension between the United States and Venezuela, President Donald Trump has ordered a naval blockade to stop sanctioned oil tankers from entering and leaving the South American country.

Venezuela - which has the world's largest proven oil reserves - is highly dependent on revenues from its oil exports to finance its government spending.

But US sanctions targeting Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA have made exporting oil difficult for the Venezuelan government, leading them to resort to a fleet of "ghost ships".

So what do we know about these vessels and how they operate?

'Total and complete blockade'

As of last week, more than 30 of the 80 ships in Venezuelan waters or approaching the country were under US sanctions, according to data compiled by TankerTrackers.com.

It is these vessels President Trump is targeting with the "total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela" he announced on his Truth Social account on 16 December.

The post came less than a week after the US seized an oil tanker believed to be part of the "ghost fleet" off the coast of Venezuela, which used various strategies to conceal its work.

Trump imposed sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry as far back as 2019, during his first term as president.

That year, Venezuelan crude exports fell by more than half from roughly 1.1 million barrels per day in January to about 495,000 by the end of 2019, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Six years later, the sanctions remain in place but Venezuela's oil exports have grown again to around 920,000 barrels per day as of November, according to the news agency Reuters.

While this falls far short of the country's peak level of oil exports of 3 million barrels per day in 1998, this partial recovery indicates that the sanctions against Venezuela are not working as the US hoped.

It indicates that the government of Nicolás Maduro has found new ways to sell Venezuelan oil with the "ghost fleet" at their centre.

Not unique to Venezuela

Ghost fleets are a growing phenomenon, used not just by Venezuela but also by two other oil-producing countries under Western sanctions - Russia and Iran.

Financial intelligence firm S&P Global estimates that one in five oil tankers worldwide are used to smuggle oil from sanctioned countries.

Of these, 10% carry only Venezuelan oil, 20% carry Iranian oil, while 50% are exclusively dedicated to Russian oil. The remaining 20% are not tied to any particular country and can transport oil from more than one of these nations.

Oil sanctions aim to discourage countries or companies from buying or dealing with crude oil from sanctioned nations.

Companies and nations caught buying oil from sanctioned countries like Venezuela risk being sanctioned themselves by the US.

Sanctioned countries offer their oil at steep discounts so that companies or nations are willing to take the risk of buying it whilst applying tricks to disguise its origin.

False flags and name changes

One of the most common strategies ghost tankers use is to frequently change their name or flag - sometimes several times in a month.

For example, the tanker seized this Wednesday is called The Skipper, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

The ship has been sanctioned by the US Treasury since 2022 for its alleged role in an oil-smuggling network that helps finance Iran's Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, according to CBS.

At that time, the tanker was named Adisa, but it was originally called Toyo. It was one of the vessels linked to Russian oil tycoon Viktor Artemov, who is also under sanctions.

The Skipper is a 20-year-old vessel - another common trait among ghost fleet tankers. Major shipping companies usually dispose of ships after 15 years of service, and after 25 years they are typically scrapped.

'Zombie ships'

Another trick these ships use is to steal the identity of scrapped vessels by using their unique registration numbers assigned by the International Maritime Organization – similar to criminals using the identity of a dead person.

These are known as "zombie ships".

Last April, a ship called Varada arrived in Malaysian waters after a two-month journey from Venezuela.

It raised suspicions because it was a 32-year-old boat and flew the flag of the Comoros, an island nation off east Africa, which is a popular choice among ships that want to avoid detection.

According to a Bloomberg investigation, it was a zombie ship, as the real Varada had been scrapped in Bangladesh in 2017.

The news agency compared satellite images with historical photos to detect four zombie ships carrying Venezuelan crude oil.

Other common tactics include disguising the origin of crude oil by transferring it in international waters to legally compliant tankers with other flags.

These then deliver the oil to its destination, presenting it as coming from a country that is not sanctioned.

This happened with Venezuelan oil exports to China during Trump's first term when sanctions were tightened.

Another common trick among these tankers is disabling the Automatic Identification System, which transmits data including the vessel's name, flag, position, speed or route.

This allows ships to hide their identity and location.

Maritime risk company Vanguard Tech says it believes The Skipper was "spoofing its position for a long time" - that is, transmitting a false signal, making it appear to be in a different location.

According to a report in October by the anti-corruption NGO Transparencia Venezuela, there were 71 foreign tankers at the ports of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA - of which 15 are under sanctions and nine are linked to ghost fleets.

It found that 24 tankers were operating under stealth, with their mandatory location signals deactivated.

The NGO says it detected six ship-to-ship cargo transfers in waters off western Venezuela.

Most of the ships flew flags of countries considered regulatory havens with lax oversight of sanctions, including Panama, Comoros and Malta.

Many spent more than 20 days without docking at an oil terminal, unlike the Chevron-operated ships that the US has authorised in Venezuela, which load and leave within six days.

"The extended stay in port areas without directly reaching oil terminals raises serious doubts about the type of operations these vessels are conducting," said Transparencia Venezuela in its report.

Given that the operation to seize the ship on 10 December came from the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier - the largest in the world - which is now part of the massive US military deployment in Caribbean waters, Maduro's ability to rely on the ghost fleet is likely to be significantly curtailed.