POLITICS & POLICY

Senior US officials were to meet their Israeli counterparts Thursday to discuss a possible deal to end the conflict in Lebanon and secure Israel's northern border from Hezbollah attacks.

North Korea said Thursday it had test-fired one of its newest and most powerful missiles to boost its nuclear deterrent, Kim Jong Un's first weapons test since being accused of sending soldiers to Russia.

Georgia's pro-European president on Wednesday refused a summons by prosecutors to give evidence after she accused the ruling party of fraud in the weekend's disputed parliamentary election.

Progress has been slow but it is relentless. "We have seen an acceleration in this progression, with the feeling that it cannot be stopped," he added, describing a "Russian strategy of pressure everywhere, all the time, while waiting for (the defence) to crack, crumble or collapse."

The US economy undershot expectations in the third quarter even as growth remained resilient, according to government data Wednesday, weighing on inflation-weary voters less than a week to the presidential election.

Political uncertainty after Japan's election shock risks slowing economic reforms, pushing up government spending and even holding up the Bank of Japan's exit from its outlier monetary policy, economists said.

Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said China's recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test in the South Pacific particularly triggered Australia to enhance its missile stockpiles, deploy advanced naval defenses, and collaborate closely with the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

Sandra Demontigny was afraid of being a prisoner in her own body: a 45-year-old diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, she worried about losing control of her life and burdening those she loves for years.

The Catholic Church must make it easier to remove priests who have abused minors while giving victims "access to the truth", a papal commission at the Vatican said Tuesday in its inaugural report on protecting children.

Kamala Harris will urge Americans to turn the page on Donald Trump as she delivers her closing election argument Tuesday on the spot where her rival rallied supporters before the January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack.

Iran's government has proposed tripling its military spending, an official said Tuesday, as tensions with arch-rival Israel rise following recent tit-for-tat missile strikes.

The inquiry report also highlighted the nation's "grossly inadequate" handling of the COVID pandemic. "The first lesson from this report is that like most countries, frankly, our pandemic plans were grossly inadequate for the scale of the challenge that COVID-19 presented to us," Health Minister Mark Butler said.

Israeli bombardment of Lebanon forced Mohammed Fawaz and his family to flee so often that they finally moved many kilometres (miles) away to find respite in central Iraq.

Negotiators meet in less than a month to agree on the world's first treaty to end plastic pollution, but countries remain so far apart that a deal may prove impossible.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, whose operations in Israel were banned by the Israeli parliament on Monday, is seen by some as an "irreplaceable" humanitarian lifeline in Gaza, but as an accomplice of Hamas by others.

Manchester United sacked manager Erik ten Hag on Monday after a disastrous start to the season and are reportedly set to appoint Portuguese coach Ruben Amorim as their next boss.

Georgia's pro-European president Salome Zurabishvili in an interview with AFP Monday alleged that parliamentary polls -- whose results have been rejected by the opposition -- were marred by widespread voting fraud bearing the hallmarks of Russia's influence.

A book named "The Chairman's Lounge" revealed that Albanese declared flight upgrades on around 20 Qantas flights between 2009 and 2019, during his time as transport minister, shadow transport minister, and opposition leader.

A record number of women have been elected to Japan's house of representatives, projections showed Monday, but at less than 16 percent they remain a minority.

A nail-biting US presidential campaign heads into its final week Monday, with polls showing little daylight between the two candidates as they ramp up appeals to their respective bases to turn out and vote.

This move follows Federal Labor's industrial relations reforms' referendum for labour hire workers to receive equal pay as regular employees across various sections, including mining, aviation, and meat processing.

Georgia braced for protests on Monday after the pro-EU opposition called for mass demonstrations, accusing the ruling party of "stealing" this weekend's parliamentary election with Russian help.

Afghanistan's morality ministry is gradually introducing a ban on images of living beings in media, with multiple provinces announcing restrictions and some Taliban officials refusing to be photographed or filmed, journalists across the country told AFP. Since mid-October the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) has held meetings with journalists in one province after another.

Israeli forces launched deadly strikes on Lebanon and Gaza on Monday, pressing their offensive against militants after Egypt's president proposed a two-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war.

Actor Gerard Depardieu on Monday asked for a delay to the start of his trial on sexual assault charges, saying his health prevented him from attending the proceedings, with numerous other complaints and a possible second court case already lying in wait.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faced the prospect of minority rule Monday after his gamble of snap elections backfired with the ruling party's worst election result in 15 years.

Hundreds died in the student-led revolution that toppled Bangladesh's autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, but those impacted in the violent aftermath fear the new authorities' promise of justice will exclude them.

"It barely exists anymore," said the mayor of Vovchansk, an industrial town razed by a Russian onslaught shocking even for the killing fields of eastern Ukraine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Sunday that Israel's "precise and powerful" strikes on Iran had been a success, as his country's forces pounded targets in Gaza and Lebanon.