Pilots first heard about a Chinese live-fire naval exercise near Australia last week when already in the air, receiving messages that forced some to change paths through a busy air corridor, satellite text messages to and from pilots seen by Reuters show.

The incident highlights how airlines are increasingly having to react at short notice to geopolitical disruptions and military hazards, such as missile and drone barrages between Israel and Iran last year.

It also shows how China's military, in its first drills in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, is raising tensions by being more assertive across the Indo-Pacific region, according to Western defence analysts, including near Taiwan.

[...]

Archived

Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has called on European governments to make Russian assets and “elite interests” pay for the war in Ukraine, as his charity made another multimillion-dollar donation to the war-torn country.

Following the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Minderoo Foundation announced another $5 million funding package to de-mine agricultural areas, launch peace-building activities and financially support households.

[...]

“While philanthropy can play a crucial role, governments across Europe should redouble their efforts to make Russian assets and elite interests pay for the war of aggression they have waged on Ukraine.

“Looking forward, Ukraine has the capability to draw on her deep pools of talent, vast natural resources and remarkab

Archived

Beijing prison officials slashed jailed Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun’s access to food and hygiene products late last year in a move that triggered official complaints from Australia’s top diplomat in China.

Yang was detained by Chinese authorities six years ago this week and was handed a suspended death sentence last February after being found guilty of mysterious espionage offences.

Yang’s supporters, who say he has been subjected to torture-like conditions since his arrest, are calling on the federal government to forcefully speak out about his treatment even if it offends the Chinese government.

Sources familiar with Yang’s prison conditions said his monthly spending allowance was cut from 200 Chinese yuan ($44) to 100 yuan ($22) in November for three months because eyesight problems mea

According to a 2018 Time Magazine report, incarcerated firefighters were four times more likely to sustain injuries compared with professional firefighters working on the same fires.

Using a statistical method called capture-recapture analysis, the researchers sought to assess the death toll from Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza between October 2023 and the end of June 2024.

They estimated 64,260 deaths due to traumatic injury during this period, about 41 per cent higher than the official Palestinian Health Ministry count. The study said 59.1 per cent were women, children and people over the age of 65. It did not provide an estimate of Palestinian combatants among the dead.

In short:

The fires started in Los Angeles and its surrounding communities earlier this week, and have resulted in the loss of thousands of homes and buildings.

Satellite images show the aftermath of the blazes, with houses and neighbourhoods left completely destroyed.

What's next?

Firefighters are continuing to battle blazes around the county while the City of Los Angeles houses residents in evacuation shelters.

In short:

Donald Trump has refused to rule out using military force to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.

Trump also said he would try to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America".

What's next?

Trump takes office on January 20.

KEY POINTS

• Justin Trudeau has announced he will resign as Canada's prime minister.
• He had been under pressure to quit amid polls showing the party will be crushed at the next election.
• Trudeau said he will stay on in his post until the party chooses a replacement.

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A leading US expert on China has urged Australia to be bolder in its dealings with Beijing and less afraid of upsetting the ruling Chinese Communist Party — or risk the political consequences of perceived weakness.

Oriana Skylar Mastro, assistant professor of political science at Stanford University and a United States Air Force reservist who serves as a strategic planner at Indo-Pacific Command, wrote one of the most definitive books of 2024 on the economic and military rise of China and its future strategy.

‘Upstart: How China Became a Great Power’, offers unique insights into Beijing’s rapid emergence from poverty to wealth and its current global ambitions as it challenges an international order that has long been based on the dominance of US military and financial might.

Pl

Summary

• Kamal Adwan hospital patients and others told to leave
• Palestinian health ministry says contact with staff lost
• Israel says it has taken steps to reduce harm to civilians
• Israel says militants were operating inside hospital

A growing number of Chinese are fleeing their home country, where rising authoritarianism under the rule of Xi Jinping and the difficulties of a faltering economy has prompted some people to look for a way out. The phenomenon has become so widely discussed online that it has its own nickname: runxue, or run philosophy, a coded term for emigration.

Some are relocating on student or business visas, joining growing diaspora communities in places like Japan or Thailand. But tens of thousands of others who don’t qualify or have the resources for such pathways are fleeing in other unconventional and often dangerous ways, known as zouxian, or walking the line.

Most head for the US, trekking from South America through the hostile jungle of the Darian Gap. In September the Guardian revealed a small but growing number were also flying into the Balkans to find smugglers to take them to Germany. Now, another emerging high-stakes escape route has been revealed, through the Indonesian archipelago

In short:

Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state murder and terror charges.

Mr Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel.

What's next?

Prosecutors say the state case is expected to run parallel to a federal prosecution.