World News

By Olena Harmash, Reuters Photo: AFP / Roman Pilipey Ukraine has lost over 40 percent of the territory in Russia's Kursk region that it seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said. The source, who is on Ukraine's General Staff, said Russia had deployed 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv's forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared two-and-a-half-years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "At most, we controlled about 1376 square kilometres, now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks," the source said. "Now we control approximately 800 square kilometres. We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appr...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters People comfort each other inside Kamal Adwan Hospital, following an Israeli strike in the area. Photo: AFP Strikes kill 120 in last 48 hours, damage hospital, Palestinian officials say Israel military says it is "not aware" of strike on Kamal Adwan Hospital Ceasefire negotiations on hold after Qatar suspends mediation Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 120 Palestinians over the last 48 hours and hit a hospital on the northern edge of the enclave, wounding medical staff and damaging equipment, Palestinian medics say. Among the dead were seven members of one family whose house was hit overnight in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, the health officials said. The rest were killed in separate Israeli strikes in central an...

By Maddy Morwood and Jessica Lamb, ABC Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, members of the so-called Bali Nine gang, were executed in 2015. (File photo) Photo: AFP The remaining members of the Bali Nine could be set to return to Australia after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lobbied the new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto for their release. Albanese raised the issue with Subianto on the sidelines of this month's APEC summit in Peru that Australian men Scott Rush, Matthew Norman, Si-Yi Chen, Martin Stephens and Michael Czugaj be transferred to Australian prisons to continue serving their sentences. Senior Indonesian minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said his government will consider Albanese's request and make a decision in December. He said that other countries have made ...

By Brad Lendon, CNN North Korea launches a nuclear-capable ballistic missile in 2017. Photo: AFP/KCNA Analysis - Russia's use of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile this week is the latest escalation in the Ukraine war. It also marks a decisive, and potentially dangerous moment in Moscow's conflict with the West. The use of what Vladimir Putin said was a ballistic missile with multiple warheads in offensive combat is a clear departure from decades of the Cold War doctrine of deterrence. Ballistic missiles with multiple warheads, known as "multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles", or MIRVs, have never been used to strike an enemy, experts say. "To my knowledge, yes, it's the first time MIRV has been used in combat," Hans Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Pro...

By Laila Bassam and Riham Alkousaa, Reuters An airstsrike in the suburbs of Beirut on 23 November. Photo: AFP / Ibrahim Amro A powerful Israeli airstrike has targeted central Beirut, security sources say, shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel pressed its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. At least four people were killed and 23 wounded in the attack on Saturday in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, Hezbollah's al-Manar broadcaster reported, citing the health ministry. Lebanon's National News Agency said the attack resulted in a large number of fatalities and injuries and destroyed an eight-storey building. Footage broadcast by Lebanon's Al Jadeed station showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it. The blasts shook the capital around ...

From 30 November, New Zealand passport holders can spend 30 days in China without needing to apply for a visa. Photo: 123RF New Zealand travellers will soon be able to spend longer in China without a visa. China introduced a 15-day, visa-free policy earlier this year and is now extending it to 30 days. It applies to ordinary New Zealand passport holders travelling to China for business, tourism and family visits. The policy is valid from 30 November until the end of 2025. The policy was first announced in June after Chinese premier Li Qiang's visit to New Zealand. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. Source link

By Lilit Marcus, CNN Vang Vieng, a popular backpacker destination in northern Laos, is at the centre of an unfolding tragedy after multiple people died from suspected methanol poisoning. Photo: CNN The deaths of six foreign tourists linked to a suspected mass methanol poisoning has thrown a spotlight on a small town in Southeast Asia that has worked hard in recent years to shed its reputation for excess. Vang Vieng, a popular backpacker destination in northern Laos, is at the centre of an unfolding tragedy after several Western nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, confirmed their citizens had died in Laos in recent days and warned of the potentially fatal consequences of drinking tainted alcohol in the country. Though the complete circumstances of those deaths...

Photo: Lech Blaine / Supplied Australian writer Lech Blaine felt blessed as a "miracle" child. He had the unconditional love and adoration not only of his parents - who had struggled to conceive naturally - but his three foster siblings. But he knew nothing of what was to come: being haunted by the "monster" figures of his siblings' infamous biological parents. Michael and Mary Shelley - self-styled Christian fanatics of no fixed abode - were determined to reunite with John, Steven and Hannah, believing they had been taken from them unfairly, despite authorities finding they were not cared for properly. The pair went as far as kidnapping their first-born, sending death threats to the Blaine family and politicians, trespassing, and calling their own children traitors. Blaine - a writer wh...

By Holly Tregenza for ABC Katy Perry on the red carpet at the 2024 VMAs. Photo: Noam Galai / Getty Images for MTV / AFP Pop star Katy Perry has won an appeal in a long-running trademark dispute with a Sydney fashion designer bearing a similar name A string of legal action was first launched in June 2009 over a trademark held by Katie Jane Taylor, who uses her birth name to design and sell clothes under the brand Katie Perry Taylor's 'Katie Perry' trademark will be cancelled unless she applies for special leave to appeal to the High Court and she has been ordered to pay costs Pop star Katy Perry has had a big court win in a long-running trademark dispute with a Sydney fashion designer bearing a similar name. The American singer has successfully appealed a Federal Court ruling from ...

By Victoria Lukovenko, Sergii Volskyi and Florent Vergnes, AFP Putin's hints of strikes on Western countries have raised fears of the war spilling over into a global conflict. Photo: AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised more combat test-firing of an experimental hypersonic missile launched at Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelensky appeals for updated air-defence systems to meet the new threat. The latest statements from the leaders came hours after Ukraine's parliament shut down over heightened fears of a missile attack. A day after Moscow fired the new missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Putin said there would be more tests of the new Oreshnik missile. "We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and character of the security th...