POLITICS & POLICY

Shruti Sharma tearfully hugged her family goodbye and fled her home near the contested border in Kashmir with her three children on the first night of India and Pakistan's worst conflict in decades.

Russia's former culture minister and Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky took part in failed talks with Ukraine at the start of Moscow's invasion in 2022 and has built a career promoting an ultra-patriotic version of Russian history.

However, economists still expect the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to cut interest rates next week, as inflation continues to ease and global economic risks grow.

A Russian delegation landed in Istanbul on Thursday for the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in more than three years, Russian state media reported, but without President Vladimir Putin as many world leaders had urged.

Israel's participation in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest has drawn protests but its competitor Yuval Raphael -- who escaped the Hamas attack on her country -- is hotly tipped to qualify from Thursday's semifinal.

Sean "Diddy" Combs's former partner Casandra Ventura testified Wednesday that the music mogul raped her near the end of their decade-plus relationship that included routine physical abuse and left her with post-traumatic stress and suicidal thoughts.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou struck a defiant tone in parliament on Wednesday as he insisted during a tense hearing that he only knew of claims of sexual abuse at a Catholic school from media reports.

The United States and China slashed sweeping tariffs on each others' goods for 90 days on Wednesday, after a temporary ceasefire in a brutal trade war that roiled global markets and international supply chains.

According to analyst Hayley Channer, while Australian businesses, which is China-reliant, could manage around fixed import taxes, the deeper concern is the persistent uncertainty about Trump's next move. "That uncertainty is worse than the 10% tariff," he said.

Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" powers into the Cannes film festival for its premiere on Wednesday on a steamroller of hype, with the world asking if this will be the final curtain for agent Ethan Hunt.

Ko Min said he found his son and daughter's bodies in the ruins of a schoolhouse in central Myanmar, moments after a deadly air strike that witnesses said came as a military jet circled the village.

Tributes poured in from across Latin America on Tuesday following the death of Uruguay's former president Jose "Pepe" Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics.

Sean "Diddy" Combs's former partner Casandra Ventura told jurors at the music mogul's sex trafficking trial Tuesday how he subjected her to "disgusting" marathon group sex sessions.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would lift sanctions on Syria to offer it a chance for "greatness" after Bashar al-Assad's fall, as he cast himself as a peacemaker in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days, despite ongoing ceasefire efforts and the release of a US-Israeli hostage from the war-ravaged territory.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky urged Donald Trump to help secure a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday, accusing the Russian leader of not seriously wanting to negotiate an end to the war.

A Paris court on Tuesday handed French cinema icon Gerard Depardieu an 18-month suspended sentence after convicting him of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.

Economic growth in Central Europe and the Balkans is expected to be strained this year by US President Donald Trump's tariff policies, Europe's development bank forecast Tuesday.

Ukraine said Tuesday that if Vladimir Putin skips talks in Turkey it would be a "clear sign" to the world the Russian leader is not serious about peace, and the West should reply with boosted military support to Kyiv.

"Like every other fund, we are questioning our exposure to the U.S. It would be fair to say that we've hit peak exposure and will be reducing over time," said John Pearce, chief investment officer of UniSuper, said.

Wang Dong hasn't worked for months and doesn't plan to, whiling away his days at a lakeside town as one of a growing number of young Chinese "retiring" in the countryside.

More than 350 figures from the cinema world including Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon condemned "genocide" in Gaza in an open letter published Monday on the eve of the Cannes Festival.

Millions of Filipinos braved long lines and soaring temperatures Monday to vote in a mid-term election largely defined by the explosive feud between President Ferdinand Marcos and impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.

Donald Trump on Sunday defended plans to receive a new Air Force One as a gift, after reports he will accept a luxury Boeing jet from Qatar despite strict rules on presents for US presidents.

Pope Leo XIV called Monday for the release of jailed journalists and urged reporters against using words that fan hatred, as Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky invited him to the war-torn country.

Deep in the bowels of the UN headquarters, a pump sucks in huge amounts of water from the East River to help cool the complex with an old but energy-efficient mechanism.

Hamas said it would release a US-Israeli hostage held in Gaza as the group revealed it was engaged in direct talks with the United States towards a ceasefire in the war-battered territory.

The glitz and glamour of the Cannes film festival returns to the French Riviera on Tuesday.

Newcastle took a huge step towards qualifying for the Champions League with a vital 2-0 victory over top-five rivals Chelsea, while Arsenal fought back from two goals down to rescue a valuable 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Sunday.