POLITICS & POLICY

On Ecuador's lawless southwest coast, drug gangs operate with impunity and terrified residents ask if their president's "iron fist" security policies are just words.

US President Donald Trump committed Wednesday to announcing "reciprocal tariffs" on other countries, saying he could sign an order for them within a day, a move that could open new fronts in a trade war.

Donald Trump's defence chief denied Thursday the US president was betraying Ukraine by opening talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin, as blindsided European powers insisted they and Kyiv must have a seat at the table.

While NATO countries living near the Russian border pay well over two percent of their GDP on defence, those further away pay less.

According to the Australian Defense Force, the incident occurred on Tuesday, when the J-16 aircraft released flares just 30 meters from the RAAF P-8 Poseidon.

For the first time in nearly two years of war, soup kitchens in famine-stricken Sudan are being forced to turn people away, with US President Donald Trump's aid freeze gutting the life-saving schemes.

US President Donald Trump revealed Wednesday he expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks, in an extraordinary thaw in relations after a surprise phone call between the two leaders.

Imposing punitive tariffs on countries with high trade surpluses with the United States has been at the heart of US President Donald Trump's economic policy.

New US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrived for his first meetings at NATO headquarters Wednesday looking to push European nations over support for Ukraine and ramping up military spending.

Russia on Wednesday rejected swapping occupied territory with Kyiv as part of any future peace deal hours after launching a barrage of drones and missiles on Kyiv that killed one person.

Mediators Qatar and Egypt were pushing to resolve a crisis in the Gaza ceasefire Wednesday, a Palestinian source told AFP, after Israel and the United States told Hamas to release hostages this weekend or face a return to war.

US President Donald Trump set a Saturday deadline for all hostages to be released from Gaza, saying that otherwise "all hell" would break out and he would call for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire to be canceled.

North Korea has given Russia 200 long-range artillery pieces, a South Korean defence ministry official told AFP on Tuesday, as Moscow and Pyongyang deepen their military ties.

Hamas announced Monday it would postpone any further hostage-prisoner exchanges under a fragile Gaza ceasefire accusing Israel of violations, while Israel said its military was readying for "any possible scenario".

Trump's decision to introduce 25% tariffs caused a drop of AU$15 billion on the ASX, with the ASX200 falling 0.5% during early trading.

Ecuador's closer-than-expected presidential election is likely headed for an April runoff between two very different candidates who have faced each other three times already.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti's ruling party appeared set to secure the most seats in Kosovo's parliamentary elections Sunday but it remained uncertain whether the incumbent stood a chance of forming a majority government.

US President Donald Trump said in remarks aired Sunday that Elon Musk, who is presiding over a purge of government jobs, will help find "hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud" in federal agencies.

Some 14 million Ecuadorans began voting under tight security Sunday, choosing who will lead their violence-wracked Andean nation through its worst crisis in half a century.

She says she was violated by police. In Peaches' case, she said she was forced to give two police officers "services for free" to evade arrest for prostitution.

Britain's newest reality TV show has been slammed as "insensitive", "voyeuristic" and even "nauseating" for recreating with six Britons the often fatal journeys made by thousands of refugees to the UK. Bluntly titled "Go Back to Where You Came From", the part-documentary, part-reality TV show by Channel 4 follows the group of six, who hold strong views both for and against immigration.

Mykhailo received a flurry of messages when US President Donald Trump suspended international aid, a move that endangered the NGO where he works helping Ukrainian veterans.

Mehdi al-Shayesh thought he would quickly resettle in his central Syrian home town after Bashar al-Assad was ousted, but like many others stuck in camps, he found his home uninhabitable.

US President Donald Trump said Friday he would "probably" meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky next week, as Russia said its forces had seized the key mining town of Toretsk in east Ukraine.

President Donald Trump on Friday called for USAID to be shuttered, escalating his unprecedented campaign to dismantle the humanitarian agency.

A senior US official visiting Beirut warned on Friday against any Hezbollah presence in Lebanon's new government, saying the Iran-backed group was "defeated" in its war with Israel.

Taiwan detected six Chinese balloons off the island, the defence ministry said Friday, as Beijing maintains military pressure to push its claim of sovereignty.

Germany logged a record trade surplus with the United States last year, data showed Friday, news that could stoke tensions with US President Donald Trump as he threatens the EU with tariffs.

Russia reported strong economic growth for 2024 on Friday as record spending on the military offensive against Ukraine outweighed the impact of Western sanctions.