NEWS

Russian bombardments of Ukrainian cities overnight killed at least one person and wounded more than three dozen more authorities said on Friday, as Moscow escalated its bombing campaign of civilian hubs.

Reforming Europe's economy is all the more urgent following Donald Trump's US election win, warned the author of a blockbuster report, Mario Draghi, ahead of talks Friday with EU leaders in Budapest on tackling the challenge.

Major arms exporter South Korea is not ruling out providing weapons directly to Ukraine, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday, signalling a possible shift in Seoul's stance on the issue.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said Thursday that the head of its China operations had been detained, after reports the firm was under investigation for potentially illegal data collection and drug imports.

The UK government announced sanctions on Thursday against three private mercenary groups operating in Africa with links to the Kremlin, including Wagner group successor Africa Corps.

Speaking at the Raisina Downunder conference in Canberra, Andrew Shearer, Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence, said the nexus, which included China, Iran, and North Korea, warranted thorough evaluation.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Monday accused Turkey of "malice," after Ankara submitted a letter signed by 52 countries calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel over the war in Gaza.

North Korea fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early Tuesday, Seoul's military said, Pyongyang's second launch in days and just hours before Americans vote for a new president.

Sydney was elevated on Monday to the World Marathon Majors, joining the likes of London, New York and Boston at the pinnacle of global distance racing.

The police investigation, known as Operation Alesia, was looking into whether former PwC Australia employees disclosed official secrets, with the search expecting to last several days.

US job growth slowed drastically in October, hit temporarily by hurricanes and labor strikes, in a final major economic snapshot at the end of a razor-edge presidential election campaign where cost-of-living worries dominated voter concerns.

North Korea will stand by Russia until its victory in Ukraine, Pyongyang's foreign minister said in Moscow Friday, as the US has warned thousands of North Korean troops could be sent to combat in the Ukraine conflict in the coming days.

The World Health Organization said Friday that the necessary second round of child polio vaccinations in northern Gaza would begin on Saturday, after Israeli bombing had halted the drive.

North Korea's latest weapons test "perfected" its newest and most advanced solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, state media said Friday, as global criticism mounts over Pyongyang's purported deployment of troops to Russia.

Papua New Guinea on Thursday declared a boycott of next month's UN climate summit, branding the global warming negotiations a "waste of time" full of empty promises from big polluters.

Before the strike on his neighbourhood in eastern Ukraine, Volodymyr had planned to brave what promises to be the worst winter of the war yet with just a heavy blanket and two electric heaters.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris launch a frantic tour of swing states Wednesday in the final week of the campaign for the US presidency, a day after the vice president told a huge crowd outside the White House that her rival was unstable and itching for unbridled power.

Moscow said Tuesday it had seized the war-battered mining town of Selydove in eastern Ukraine where Kyiv's forces are buckling and as concern grows in Kyiv and abroad over North Korea's expanding military ties with Russia.

Rape is widespread in Sudan's civil war, a United Nations investigation said Tuesday, accusing paramilitaries especially of committing sexual violence on a "staggering" scale.

North Korean state media said Monday that an investigation had "proved" South Korea's military sent a drone over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets, calling it an infringement of sovereignty.

Flagrant violations of the laws of war in the escalating conflict in the Middle East are setting a dangerous precedent, aid workers in the region warn.

Russia's central bank hiked interest rates to 21 percent on Friday, taking borrowing costs to their highest level in more than 20 years as Moscow's Ukraine offensive has triggered rapid price rises at home.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks Thursday in Qatar, a key mediator in the Gaza war, as he seeks to build momentum for a ceasefire after Israel's killing of the leader of Hamas.

An Irish regulator helping to police European Union data privacy said Thursday it had fined professional networking platform LinkedIn 310 million euros ($335 million) over breaching users' personal data for targeted advertising.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a strategic missile base, state media said Wednesday, releasing images of him viewing transport and launch vehicles for the country's largest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic weapons.

King Charles III landed in Samoa Wednesday to join his first Commonwealth summit as monarch, hoping to breathe new life into a bloc seen by critics as "a leftover of empire".

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that "intense bombardment" and "escalating violence" in northern Gaza had forced it to postpone the final phase of a child polio vaccination drive.

Ukraine on Wednesday called on any North Korean troops fighting for Russia to surrender, after South Korea said over a thousand more had been deployed by Pyongyang.

China's military began a live-fire exercise near Taiwan on Tuesday, maintaining pressure on the self-ruled island after staging large-scale drills and President Xi Jinping called for troops to prepare for war.