World news

World news

Police in the Australian city of Sydney have used pepper spray against pro-Palestine protesters who have rallied against a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. A journalist with the AFP news agency witnessed police arresting at least 15 demonstrators during the confrontation on Monday. Media members covering the event were also affected by pepper spray. Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Sydney's business district with more protests planned across the country on Monday night.

A now-deleted video generated by artificial intelligence and shared by India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam state, home to more than 12 million Muslims, has been widely condemned after it showed the northeastern state's chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, appearing to shoot at Muslims. The 17-second clip shared on X and titled point blank shot circulated widely on social media on Saturday before being removed after public outrage and criticism from opposition politicians.

The organizers of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) did not hesitate to name who they thought is behind the "period of wrecking-ball politics." "The most powerful of those who take the axe to existing rules and institutions is US President Donald Trump," they wrote in the Munich Security Report 2026released on Monday. The release came as organizers announced that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead "a sizable delegation" of officials to the MSC this weekend.

The world's largest pencil maker has accused the Costa Rican government of misusing an old factory that the German manufacturer donated for humanitarian purposes by detaining asylum seekers there who were deported from the US by the Trump administration last year. Faber-Castell produces more than 2bn wooden pencils a year worldwide and used to have a factory in the southern part of Costa Rica, bordering Panama and supplied by trees cultivated in the region.

Like thousands of other sick and wounded Palestinians, I am slowly dying, trapped between a devastated health system and a heavily restricted border. As I write these lines, I am receiving treatment at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for kidney disease. Actually, I don't know whether what I am receiving can actually be termed treatment or if it is only an attempt to postpone the inevitable.

On November 28, with just weeks remaining until the run-off in Chile's presidential election, far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast issued a warning. "To the irregular immigrants in Chile," he said, "I tell you that 103 days remain for you to leave our country voluntarily." Kast ultimately won the election and is expected to be sworn in on March 11. But so far, in the highlands of Chile's most northerly region, the immigrant exodus that some expected has not occurred.

Taiwan, which produces more than 60 percent of global semiconductors and roughly 90 percent of the world's most advanced chips, insists it gained this leadership position by investing in the tech when other countries didn't. Former Intel chief Pat Gelsinger supports this view, publicly stating a couple of years ago that countries like Korea, Taiwan, and China put in place long-term industrial policies and investment in chipmaking, while the US and European nations failed to do the same.

Demonstrators risk arrest if they join a protest march late on Monday, organised by the Palestine Action Group from Sydney Town Hall to New South Wales Parliament, which falls in an area authorities have designated as a special protected area during Herzog's visit. Palestine Action Group failed in a legal challenge in a Sydney court on Monday against the restrictions placed on the demonstration.

He keeps returning to the same spot a small, burned-out shop in the centre of Woro in western Nigeria's state of Kwara. Tanko looked exhausted, his eyes red and swollen, his voice barely rising above a whisper. Inside that shop are the corpses of my friend's son and grandson, he said, fighting back tears. It was difficult to make out the bodies in the blackened shell of the shop.

Much of the work of the royal family in recent weeks has been overshadowed by the Epstein scandal, which was reignited when millions of documents associated with the convicted child sex offender were released by US authorities. These sparked a string of allegations against William's uncle and have led to UK police launching an investigation into Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office. The former minister has denied any wrongdoing.

LDP looks set to secure 316 seats in Japan's 500-member house, marking its best result since its founding in 1955. Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has promised to cut taxes and keep her cabinet intact as she celebrated her Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) landslide victory in Sunday's general election. Takaichi's pledge on Monday came as projections by the NHK broadcaster showed the conservative LDP securing 316 seats in the 500-member National Assembly and winning a historic two-thirds majority in the lower house.

On Wednesday evening in Dhaka, Shafiqur Rahman, the emir [chief] of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, unveiled an ambitious election manifesto. A key promise: If his party wins the country's February 12 election, it would lay the ground for Bangladesh to quadruple its gross domestic product (GDP) to $2 trillion by 2040. Addressing politicians and diplomats, the 67-year-old Rahman pledged investment in technology-driven agriculture, manufacturing, information technology, education and healthcare, alongside higher foreign investment and increased public spending.

From February 2 to 4, Libya's eastern commander, renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, visited Rawalpindi for talks at Pakistan's army headquarters with the army chief, Asim Munir. The visit might have seemed routine, but it highlights Pakistan's expanding defence diplomacy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Pakistan reportedly signed a $4bn defence deal with Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), including 16 JF-17 fighters and 12 Super Mushak trainer aircraft, structured over roughly two and a half years.

T20 World Cup debutants Italy have had a bruising introduction to cricket's biggest stage as they suffered a crushing 73-run loss to Scotland in Kolkata, India. Scotland posted a hefty 207-4 on Monday with opener George Munsey top-scoring with 84, and in reply, Italy were bowled out for 134 in 16.4 overs. list of 4 itemsend of list A nation better known for its football, Italy are cricket minnows and the lowest-ranked side in the 20-team tournament.

A new tranche of Epstein files has blasted its way through the worlds of media, politics, tech, academia, finance and Hollywood. High-profile individuals have once again been forced to explain their relationship with the billionaire financier and why exactly they sent that email, or what they were doing in that photo, in that place, at that time. There have been resignations in Norway, Slovakia, France, the UK and on Wall Street.

Kudelka was born in Burnie on the north coast of Tasmania in 1972. After selling his first cartoon at the age of nine, he went on to draw political cartoons for more than 30 years, some 10,000 of which were published. He won Walkley awards for best cartoon in 2008 and 2018, as well as Kennedy, Stanley and News awards. He was the Museum of Australian Democracy's political cartoonist of the year in 2010 and 2019.