POLITICS & POLICY

On a mountain slope in south Lebanon, agricultural worker Assaad al-Taqi is busy picking olives, undeterred by the roar of Israeli warplanes overhead.

Hong Kong's largest national security trial will draw to a close on Tuesday, with dozens of the city's most prominent democracy campaigners set to be sentenced for subversion, a charge that can carry up to life imprisonment.

US President-elect Donald Trump tapped Republican Brendan Carr, an Elon Musk-backed critic of big tech, to lead the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), calling him a "warrior for Free Speech" in a statement on Sunday.

US and Philippine defence chiefs signed an agreement Monday on sharing classified military information and technology, as the long-time treaty allies deepen cooperation in a bid to counter Chinese influence in the region.

The Labor government had intended to limit the number of new international students admitted to universities to 145,000, other higher education institutions to 30,000, and vocational education and training to 95,000.

Floodwaters hit hundreds of houses in the northern Philippines on Monday after water released from a dam following Typhoon Man-yi caused a major river to break its banks.

India's capital New Delhi switched schools to online classes Monday until further notice as worsening toxic smog surged past 60 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum.

An Indigenous lawmaker was censured by Australia's parliament Monday for heckling King Charles about the legacy of European settlement during his October visit to Canberra.

Schools in Beirut were closed on Monday after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital killed six people including Hezbollah's spokesman, the latest in a string of top militant targets slain in the war.

Ukrainian studio GSC will on Wednesday release a long-awaited sequel to its hit S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game, fine tuned during the Russian invasion which forced many of its staff to leave the country.

In what claims to be the only woman-run cafe in the capital of Indonesia's most conservative province, owner Qurrata Ayuni says she and her baristas provide an alternative to rowdy, smoke-filled male haunts.

War, interrogations and a journey lasting days are not enough to stop Anna visiting her parents and beloved little brother in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

Around 1,500 supporters of Russia's exiled opposition marched Sunday through central Berlin -- led by Yulia Navalnaya and chanting "No to war!"

Israel issued evacuation orders Sunday for parts of south Beirut where it is targeting Hezbollah militants, hours after the Iran-backed group said it fired on several Israeli military bases around the coastal city of Haifa.

Josep Borrell took a deep breath as the train rumbled across Ukraine at the end of his final visit after five tumultuous years as the EU's foreign policy chief.

Israel launched a wave of air strikes on Hezbollah bastions in Beirut and south Lebanon on Saturday, a day after Lebanese government officials said they were studying a US truce proposal.

Gabon extended a night curfew Saturday as it held a referendum on a new constitution the ruling junta says will mark a new chapter after 55 years of dynastic rule in the oil-rich African nation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday accused Germany's Olaf Scholz of playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin after the chancellor spoke by phone to the Kremlin chief for the first time in almost two years.

A senior Hamas official on Friday said the group is "ready for a ceasefire" in Gaza, urging US President-elect Donald Trump to "pressure" Israel as it continued to pound the Palestinian territory.

Independent MPs Zali Steggall and Kate Chaney were of the opinion that the legislation was favourable to major parties, while limiting competition.

The wife of a Russian poet jailed for seven years for reciting anti-war verses said she was afraid he could be killed in prison after he was sexually assaulted with a dumbbell during his arrest.

Donald Trump's White House comeback gives his ally Elon Musk a sizeable advantage in a running standoff with EU tech regulators -- who may now think twice before fining his X platform over disinformation concerns.

"My focus will be on promoting Australia's national interests, which are about free and fair trade," Albanese told reporters on Friday, adding that strengthening Australia's engagement with economic partners in the region would be a priority.

Across northern Israel's lush, green nature reserves, the ecological toll of the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants is laid bare: wild boar hit by shrapnel, trees reduced to ashes and swathes of charred vegetation.

Donald Trump on Thursday tapped anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy as his secretary of health in the latest provocative nomination from the incoming Republican president.

Israel's warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, a special UN committee said Thursday, as a Human Rights Watch report said Israel's displacement of Gazans amounts to a "crime against humanity".

This legal obligation would require companies like Meta, Google, and X to proactively keep Australians safe and prevent instances of online bullying and predatory behavior, apart from stopping algorithms from spreading harmful content.

However, the country maintained its position on final-status issues, including borders, security, and Jerusalem, which must be addressed through negotiations towards a two-state solution.

Israel face France in a Nations League football match in Paris on Thursday surrounded by a huge security operation to prevent a repetition of the attacks on Israeli fans in Amsterdam last week.