POLITICS & POLICY

"The idea that we would weaken biosecurity laws is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. In order to defend the exports that total less than 5% of Australia's exports, you undermine our biosecurity system," Albanese told reporters in Adelaide.

As the sirens wailed outside the ruins of Mandalay's Sky Villa condominium and Myanmar began a minute's silence for its more than 2,000 earthquake dead, Shwe Sin thought of her missing child.

An Israeli strike Tuesday killed three people, Lebanon said, as a source close to Hezbollah said one of the group's officials was targeted in the second such strike on south Beirut during a fragile four-month ceasefire.

Kenya's President William Ruto sparked protests recently after donating some $150,000 to a Nairobi church just months after saying such hand-outs fuelled corruption.

China on Tuesday sent its army, navy, air and rocket forces to surround Taiwan for drills Beijing said were aimed at practising a blockade of the self-ruled island.

Myanmar will hold a minute of silence on Tuesday in tribute to victims of a catastrophic earthquake that has killed more than 2,000 people, buckling roads and flattening buildings as far away as Bangkok.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen fought Tuesday to keep alive her dream of winning the French presidency after a court handed her a five-year ban on running for office.

A senior Hamas official urged supporters worldwide on Monday to take up weapons and fight plans to displace Gaza's people, as Israel issued a sweeping evacuation order in the territory's south, stepping up its renewed offensive.

President Donald Trump said Sunday the tariffs he plans to impose in the coming days would include "all countries", not just those with the largest trade imbalances with the United States.

President Donald Trump said Sunday he was confident of reaching a deal on TikTok ahead of the April 5 deadline for its Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the popular short video app or see it banned in the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu picked former navy commander Eli Sharvit to head the domestic security agency, his office said Monday, despite the supreme court freezing the incumbent's dismissal.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged dozens of countries to collaborate to dismantle migrant smuggling gangs "once and for all" when he opened an immigration crime summit on Monday.

Hopes faded Monday of finding more survivors in the rubble of Mandalay, where some residents spent a third night sleeping in the open after a massive earthquake killed more than 1,700 people in Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand.

The world's richest man took to the stage in the US state of Wisconsin on Sunday in a bid to swing the local supreme court to the right, with the help of two $1 million checks for voters.

For almost two years, Emad Mouawad had been repeatedly shuttled from one Sudanese paramilitary-run detention centre to another, terrified each day would be his last.

A French court on Monday will rule in the trial of far-right leader Marine Le Pen over an alleged fake jobs scam at the EU parliament, a verdict which could ruin her chances of standing in the next presidential elections in two years.

US President Donald Trump lashed out Sunday at the leaders of both warring parties in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, expressing frustration as efforts to kick-start ceasefire talks remain deadlocked.

Rescuers braved aftershocks to scour the devastated city of Mandalay for survivors on Monday, after a massive earthquake killed at least 1,700 people in Myanmar and at least 18 in neighbouring Thailand.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded the group abandon its arms, as his country kept up its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

A bitter boardroom row at an African charity Prince Harry founded and then quit escalated Sunday after its chairperson accused the prince of "bullying" and being involved in a "cover up".

Turkey's opposition on Sunday worked to keep up the momentum of the protest movement triggered by the arrest of Istanbul's mayor after a giant weekend rally, with a Swedish reporter the latest detained in a government crackdown.

Residents scoured collapsed buildings Sunday searching for survivors as aftershocks rattled the devastated city of Mandalay, two days after a massive earthquake killed at least 1,700 people in Myanmar and at least 17 in neighbouring Thailand.

Sky-high tobacco prices in Australia have created a lucrative black market, analysts say, sparking a violent "tobacco war" and syphoning away billions in potential tax revenue.

Exhausted, overwhelmed rescuers in Myanmar's second-biggest city pleaded for help Saturday as they struggled to free hundreds of people trapped in buildings destroyed by a devastating earthquake.

Waving flags and chanting slogans, hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators rallied in Istanbul Saturday calling for democracy to be defended after the arrest of mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey's worst street unrest in over a decade.

The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand passed 700 on Saturday, as rescuers dug through the rubble of collapsed buildings in a desperate search for survivors.

Marwa fled Taliban rule in Afghanistan because she wanted to study, work, wear jeans and go to the park without a male chaperone.

Turkey intensified its crackdown on anti-government protests on Friday, arresting the lawyer of the jailed Istanbul mayor and targeting more journalists, as the country faces its biggest wave of unrest in more than a decade.

Donald Trump's attacks on NATO and the established world order are undermining the confidence of its allies under the US security umbrella, fuelling fears of an eventual proliferation of nuclear weapons, experts told AFP. Since his return to power in January, the US president has criticised the transatlantic alliance, reopened direct dialogue with Russia and flattered North Korea's Kim Jong-Un with warm words.