World news

• Secrecy over Pentagon review suggests there’s stuff in there Australia doesn’t want to talk about

  09-12-2025 02:18 via smh.com.au
  
  The Pentagon’s AUKUS review might be an American document, but the Australian government has a duty to its own taxpayers to insist upon greater transparency.
  
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• Zelensky digs in against Trump pressure as peace talks at risk of collapse

  09-12-2025 01:46 via smh.com.au
  
  The Ukraine president is holding firm in a deepening dispute over whether to cede land to Russia to end the war, issuing a forceful statement of his nation’s sovereignty.
  
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• Marles refuses 12 times to say what the Americans want in AUKUS review

  08-12-2025 22:43 via smh.com.au
  
  Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong met their American counterparts Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio in Washington for annual talks amid what Rubio called “real momentum” in the alliance.
  
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• Trump’s son-in-law part of Paramount’s hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros

  08-12-2025 20:12 via smh.com.au
  
  The White House’s preferred bidder for Warner Bros is back in the race with a hostile takeover offer that challenges Netflix’s plan to create an unassailable media empire.
  
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• Paramount bids to take over Warner Brothers

  08-12-2025 20:06 via smh.com.au
  
  Media giant Paramount launches a $150 billion hostile bid to grab control of Warner Brothers.
  
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• Japan issues tsunami alert after powerful earthquake

  08-12-2025 20:00 via smh.com.au
  
  The entire northern coast of Japan is today under a tsunami alert after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck.
  
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• Hegseth touts Australia’s next $1.5 billion AUKUS cheque as ministers meet

  08-12-2025 19:17 via smh.com.au
  
  Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised fresh “momentum” in the US-Australia alliance as he met with counterparts for the annual AUSMIN talks in Washington.
  
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• America first? Maybe not, if you ask Trump-voting Americans

  08-12-2025 19:00 via smh.com.au
  
  A poll suggests a clear majority of Americans – especially MAGA Republicans – want the US to defend Ukraine and Taiwan, even while Donald Trump is equivocal.
  
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• The married scientists torn apart by a COVID bioweapon theory

  08-12-2025 09:55 via smh.com.au
  
  In 2020, a Chinese virologist fled to the US, aided by allies of Donald Trump who sought to promote her unproven theories about the origins of COVID-19. Her husband still can’t find her.
  
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• It’s not just Sudan. The same destructive forces are coming for other countries too

  08-12-2025 09:30 via smh.com.au
  
  The death toll in Sudan is now more than Gaza and Ukraine combined. With the new world order, civilisation is a lot more fragile than we like to think.
  
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• Marles sounds alarm after Chinese fighter ‘locks on’ to Japanese jets

  08-12-2025 07:23 via smh.com.au
  
  Experts say the statement of support for Japan is cautious but welcome after a month-long campaign of retaliation from Beijing for a remark by Japan’s PM.
  
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• Trump said he solved the Thailand-Cambodia crisis. It has just escalated. Again.

  08-12-2025 05:57 via smh.com.au
  
  Thailand has sent fighter jets to hit Cambodian targets after fresh clashes on the weekend.
  
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• Fresh airstrikes shatter Asian ceasefire Trump claimed as a victory

  08-12-2025 05:57 via smh.com.au
  
  Six weeks ago, a smiling US president was celebrating the ceasefire he had brokered. Now Thailand has once more deployed fighter jets against its neighbour.
  
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• Katy Perry goes ‘Instagram official’ with Justin Trudeau amid romance rumours

  08-12-2025 05:31 via smh.com.au
  
  The pop star posted photos and videos on Instagram of herself and the former Canadian PM posing cheek to cheek and exploring Japan.
  
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• After El Fasher horror, UN warns of new wave of atrocities

  08-12-2025 01:52 via smh.com.au
  
  Only weeks after satellite images showed blood-stained earth, deaths are mounting in a nearby region and a kindergarten has also been reportedly struck.
  
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• ‘Dangerous and extremely regrettable’: Chinese fighter ‘locked on’ to Japanese jets

  07-12-2025 21:48 via smh.com.au
  
  Australia and Japan have sounded the alarm after a Chinese J-15 fighter directed fire-control radar – one of the most threatening acts a military aircraft can take – at Japanese jets near Okinawa islands.
  
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• ‘May the force be with you’: A relentless night in a Ukrainian bomb shelter

  07-12-2025 20:10 via smh.com.au
  
  The air raid alarm goes off and the iPhone starts talking in an American accent, urging listeners to seek shelter. It’s 1.23am and our correspondent is about to witness what is a routine night for millions of people across this war-ravaged country.
  
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• First, the alarm goes off. Then my iPhone starts talking in an American accent

  07-12-2025 20:10 via smh.com.au
  
  It’s 1.23am and our correspondent is about to witness what is a routine night for millions of people here.
  
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• A relentless night hunkered down in a Ukrainian missile shelter

  07-12-2025 20:10 via smh.com.au
  
  The air raid alarm goes off and the iPhone starts talking in an American accent, urging listeners to seek shelter. It’s 1.23am and our correspondent is about to witness what is a routine night for millions of people across this war-ravaged country.
  
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• A relentless night hunkered down in a missile shelter as Russia attacks

  07-12-2025 20:10 via smh.com.au
  
  The air raid alarms go off all through the night, urging people to seek shelter. Our correspondent experiences what is a routine night for millions of Ukrainians.
  
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• Trump to host Kennedy Centre awards

  07-12-2025 19:59 via smh.com.au
  
  Donald Trump will host the revamped Kennedy Centre awards to honour famous figures in the film and music industry.
  
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• Suspected pepper spray attack at London's Heathrow airport

  07-12-2025 19:56 via smh.com.au
  
  More than 20 people have been injured in a suspected pepper spray attack at London's biggest airport.
  
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• Climber ‘left girlfriend to die’ on Austrian mountain

  07-12-2025 09:30 via smh.com.au
  
  An experienced mountaineer has been charged with manslaughter after a woman froze to death on the nation’s highest peak.
  
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• Hegseth said boat military destroyed was carrying drugs to the US. It was heading to Suriname

  07-12-2025 07:00 via smh.com.au
  
  New details have emerged of the deadly repeat strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs targeted by the US military.
  
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• King Charles and Queen Camilla’s quiet move after skipping Catherine’s Christmas concert

  07-12-2025 06:36 via smh.com.au
  
  Less than half of the British monarchy’s senior working royals attended the biggest event on Catherine’s calendar, though some absences are more noteworthy than others.
  
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• Hegseth said boat military destroyed was carrying drugs to the US. It was actually heading to Suriname

  07-12-2025 05:56 via smh.com.au
  
  New details have emerged of the deadly repeat strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs targeted by the US military.
  
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• Why Is Christianity so hard to find in the Trump administration?

  07-12-2025 05:40 via smh.com.au
  
  For all the concerns that Donald Trump would enforce “Christian nationalism” on American and the world, the reality of his government’s policies has been very different.
  
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• Trump was expected to enforce hard Christian values. The reality has been different

  07-12-2025 05:40 via smh.com.au
  
  For all the concerns that the US president would enforce “Christian nationalism” on America and the world, we’ve seen another set of values define his government.
  
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• US allies that don’t step up ‘will face consequences’, Hegseth warns on eve of Ausmin

  07-12-2025 03:59 via smh.com.au
  
  At a major defence conference, civilian and military officials also spoke of the ongoing difficulty in building more nuclear-powered submarines, which Australia will depend on under the AUKUS agreement.
  
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• Activists vandalise Crown Jewels

  07-12-2025 03:28 via smh.com.au
  
  Tax the Rich campaigners smeared custard over the case containing the State Crown at the Tower of London
  
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• ‘Yobbos with custard’ vandalise Crown Jewels in ‘disgraceful’ dessert protest

  07-12-2025 02:36 via smh.com.au
  
  UK Police have made four arrests after “Tax the Rich” activists smeared crumble and custard over the case containing the State Crown at the Tower of London.
  
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• Drug boat destroyed in lethal repeat strike not headed to US: reports

  07-12-2025 01:42 via smh.com.au
  
  New details have emerged of the deadly repeat strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs targeted by the US military.
  
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• Drug boat destroyed in lethal ‘double-tap’ strike not headed to US: reports

  07-12-2025 01:42 via smh.com.au
  
  New details have emerged of the deadly repeat strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs targeted by the US military.
  
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• Dispute over Meghan’s claim she has contacted her estranged father after his leg amputation

  07-12-2025 00:35 via smh.com.au
  
  A spokesperson says she “reached out” to Thomas Markle after his surgery. Her half-sister disputes that on social media, and has called Meghan names.
  
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• Protesters smear Crown Jewels with apple crumble and custard

  06-12-2025 22:01 via smh.com.au
  
  The British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London were smeared with apple crumble and custard by protesters.
  
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• Life during wartime, in a city where death arrives from above

  06-12-2025 19:30 via smh.com.au
  
  Daily life in Lviv can sometimes seem normal. But then comes another jarring reminder of Russia’s relentless war.
  
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• ‘A shocking wake-up call’: Trump’s foreign policy manifesto savages Europe, lets Australia off hook

  06-12-2025 07:18 via smh.com.au
  
  The US administration’s new strategy on global security renews calls for Indo-Pacific allies to spend more on defence and share the burden of containing China, but places less importance on Australia’s role than Japan’s and South Korea’s.
  
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• Trump orders review of childhood vaccines, calls US an ‘outlier’

  06-12-2025 06:30 via smh.com.au
  
  The US president said his country recommends “far more” shots to children than necessary, hours after an influential vaccine advisory panel voted to lift a long-standing recommendation for all newborns receive a vaccine for hepatitis B.
  
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• Trump dances to Village People at World Cup draw

  06-12-2025 05:39 via smh.com.au
  
  President Donald Trump showed off his signature dance moves as FIFA capped off its draw for the 2026 World Cup on Friday.
  
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• What I saw when I (accidentally on purpose) crashed the World Cup draw

  06-12-2025 03:00 via smh.com.au
  
  The ceremony to sort out who’s facing who at next year’s global soccer-fest veered from sheer tedium to maximum cringe – and of course, the Donald also did his dance.
  
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• Boat destroyed by US military not heading to US

  06-12-2025 02:35 via smh.com.au
  
  Admiral Frank Bradley told lawmakers an alleged drug boat struck four times in September was meeting a vessel bound for Suriname, not heading directly to the United States.
  
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• Frank Gehry, titan of architecture, dies aged 96

  06-12-2025 01:12 via smh.com.au
  
  Guggenheim-designer Frank Gehry, known as one of the most formidable and original architects in history, has died at his California home.
  
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• Virginia Giuffre’s family asks: ‘Where are her missing millions?’

  06-12-2025 00:22 via smh.com.au
  
  Family members of the late sex abuse survivor have raised questions over what they say is a “significant” amount of money missing from her estate.
  
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• Initial AUKUS review ‘rewritten to reflect Trump’s support’

  05-12-2025 09:46 via smh.com.au
  
  The Pentagon’s original position was more sceptical, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter, and the document had to be reworked.
  
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• It’s your own fault you are losing, Abbott tells world’s conservatives

  05-12-2025 05:44 via smh.com.au
  
  The former prime minister also met privately with US Vice President J.D. Vance during his trip to Washington.
  
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• Man allegedly swallows jewelled octopus. Police fish it out

  05-12-2025 05:29 via smh.com.au
  
  Police say they recovered the James Bond-inspired Faberge pendant after six days of closely watching the man accused of ingesting it.
  
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• In Hong Kong, tragedy fuels a national security crackdown

  05-12-2025 01:45 via smh.com.au
  
  The Wang Fuk Court towers were still smouldering when Hong Kong authorities shifted gear from crisis to crackdown.
  
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• Ukraine pins hope on new era of AI drones to transform the face of war

  05-12-2025 01:44 via smh.com.au
  
  Young companies are forming across Ukraine in a bid to defeat Russian forces with faster and more powerful drones.
  
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• ‘One of the most troubling things I’ve seen’: US lawmakers watch classified boat strike footage

  05-12-2025 01:03 via smh.com.au
  
  The suspected drug boat was hit four times, not two. Democrats say the survivors posed no threat, while Republicans argued otherwise – though they agreed Pete Hegseth did not issue a “kill everybody” order.
  
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• Volunteers make camouflage nets for the Ukraine army

  04-12-2025 22:34 via smh.com.au
  
  “We save those who save us": A group of volunteers in Lviv are helping soldiers by weaving camouflage nets.
  
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