POLITICS & POLICY

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Thursday announced a major concession in a bid to end a standoff with the opposition over the budget, which has caused jitters on financial markets and risks bringing down his minority government.

A bitterly-fought climate finance deal reached at COP29 risks weakening emissions-cutting plans from developing countries, observers say, further raising the stakes for new national commitments due early next year.

Iran is set to meet with Britain, France and Germany for talks Friday on its nuclear programme after the three governments joined with the United States to have Tehran censured by the UN atomic watchdog.

Previously, these debts were indexed according to the inflation rate, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. However, indexation will now follow the CPI or the Wage Price Index, whichever is lower.

Soaring prices have left a bitter taste in shoppers' mouths at a market in Bangui, as a strike by Cameroonian truckers accusing Russia's infamous Wagner mercenaries of a recent murder cuts off the Central African Republic (CAR).

Russia on Wednesday said that it would expel two journalists from Germany's ARD national network in a like for like move after a Russian state broadcaster reported that its journalists had been ordered to leave Berlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a two-day trip aimed at shoring up ties with his Central Asian ally as tensions mount over the Ukraine war.

The coming year will put incoming US President Donald Trump's geopolitical strategies to the test, as wars rage in the Middle East and Ukraine and tensions rise in Asia.

The proposed law would require social media platforms to implement age-verification measures, with companies facing fines of up to AU$49.5 million for repeated violations.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon took effect on Wednesday after more than a year of fighting that has killed thousands of people.

The Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens has long made music that sheds light on America's untold stories, and her latest project brings to the fore marginalized groups that built its railroad.

French prosecutors on Tuesday demanded sentences of up to 15 years for the remaining co-defendants in the trial of a man charged with enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his wife while she was drugged and unconscious.

Pakistani protesters demanding the release of ex-prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday killed four members of the nation's security forces, the government said, as the crowds defied police and closed in on the capital's centre.

Landmine victims from across the world gathered at a conference in Cambodia on Tuesday to protest the United States' decision to give landmines to Ukraine, with Kyiv's delegation expected to report at the meet.

While speaking to reporters in Canberra, Xiao Qian said China and Australia should not jeopardize their national priorities "for the sake of a third party."

Australia's proposal to ban under-16s from social media platforms is "rushed", social media companies claimed Tuesday, expressing "serious concerns" about potential unintended consequences.

French prosecutors on Monday demanded a maximum 20-year jail term for the man charged with enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife, in a trial that has shocked France.

Israel bombed Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold on Monday and battles raged in Lebanon's south after the Iran-backed militant group claimed 50 attacks on Israeli targets the day before.

Filiz Demiral was at home in Istanbul when she got the phone call in August 2020 that would turn her life upside down: her 20-year-daughter Ceyda had been found dead with the police telling her it was suicide.

US President-elect Donald Trump's top security advisor called on Sunday for an end to the escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia, and for both parties to come to the negotiating table.

Australia has ditched plans to fine social media companies if they fail to stem the spread of misinformation, the country's communications minister said Sunday.

"The legislation will give investors clarity and certainty to invest in Australia's potential to add more value to its natural resources, and help deliver cheaper and cleaner energy," Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

Pep Guardiola said he expected a slip in Manchester City's standards sooner or later but even he has been shocked by the English champions' implosion in a five-game losing streak.

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the militant group claimed a wave of cross-border attacks.

Forced to flee Iran, dissident director Mohammad Rasoulof says it is bittersweet that his latest movie will contend at the Oscars -- under the banner of another country.

An Israeli air strike in central Beirut killed at least four people early Saturday, bringing down a residential building and jolting residents across the city out of bed as Israel kept up its air campaign against Hezbollah.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

Romanian far-right leader George Simion, a Donald Trump fan, has been touring the countryside, including bringing truckloads of construction material to a flood-hit village, ahead of Sunday's presidential election.

Responding to Elon Musk's criticism, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said, "Our job is not to come up with a social media policy to please Elon Musk. Our job is to put in place the necessary protection for kids online, and that's our motivation. We do that in the face of feedback from all quarters, we listen respectfully to the feedback we get on this policy and indeed on all of our policies, even where we don't agree with it."