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By Tom Balmforth and Olena Harmash, Reuters File photo. An Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile fired in South Korea during a South Korea-US military exercise in 2022. Photo: AFP / South Korean Defence Ministry Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory, taking advantage of newly granted permission from the outgoing Biden administration on the war's 1000th day. Russia said its forces shot down five of six of the missiles, which were fired at a military facility in the Bryansk region. Debris of one hit the facility, starting a fire that was swiftly put out and caused no casualties or damage, it said. Ukraine said it had struck a Russian arms depot around 110 km inside Russia in an attack that caused secondary explosions. The Ukrainian military did not publicl...

File photo. Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a lowering of the threshold for a nuclear strike. Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin has lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks, as Moscow says Ukraine struck deep inside Russia with US-made ATACMS missiles. Putin approved the change days after two US officials and a source familiar with the decision said on Sunday that US President Joe Biden's administration allowed Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike deep into Russia. Russia had been warning the West for months that if Washington allowed Ukraine to fire US, British and French missiles deep into Russia, Moscow would consider those NATO members to be directly involved in the war in Ukrain...

By Melissa Brown, Syan Vallance and South-East Asia correspondent Lauren Day, ABC Holly Bowles's family say they are in a state of disbelief about what has happened. Photo: Facebook The parents of two Melbourne 19-year-olds are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals as the women fight for their lives after drinking tainted alcohol. Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones were staying at a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng, a popular party town north of the Laotian capital, Vientiane. According to the owner of the Nana Hostel, they had been out drinking at a nearby bar last Tuesday night and, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, were taken to a hospital in Vientiane after falling ill. It is understood at least two Danish women in their 20s have died, and at least 10 have fallen ill afte...

By Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters US President-elect Trump has vowed to swiftly end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Photo: AFP Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Donald Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO, five sources with knowledge of Kremlin thinking told Reuters. US President-elect Trump, who has vowed to swiftly end the conflict, is returning to the White House at a time of Russian ascendancy. Moscow controls a chunk of Ukraine about the size of the American state of Virginia and is advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of the 2022 invasion. In the first detailed reporting of what President Putin would accept in any deal brokered by Trump, the five current a...

A view from Mount Arapiles in Victoria. File pic Photo: ROB FRANCIS / AFP Recreational climbers were the first to respond after a 69-year-old rock climber died in a fall at Mount Arapiles in western Victoria, Australia. The New Zealand woman fell as she scaled the final section of a climb called Eskimo Nell. Mount Arapiles is a renowned rock climbing destination attracting outdoor climbers from across the world. Emergency services were called around 3:30pm on Tuesday afternoon to Centenary Park Access Road. Climbing veteran Zorba Parer heard a cry and went to help. He free climbed 80 metres without a harness and rope and was the first person to reach the woman, while two other climbers followed him. Another two climbers went to the top to drop a rappel line and abseiled down 30 metres. ...