Papua New Guinea will be free of its dependence on Australian aid within a decade, the new prime minister, James Marape, has said in Sydney. He said the first 44 years of PNG as a modern nation had been “filled with so many wasted opportunities and failures”, and pledged “regime shifts” in the resource industry to bring more wealth to the ...

One of China’s highest-placed Pacific diplomats has offered a scathing appraisal of the “political suspicion” heaped upon his nation, branding it “very negative for the image of Australia”. Wang Xining, deputy to China’s Australian ambassador, made the comments when asked about the national reaction to the controversial 99-year leasing of Darwin’s port to Chinese-owned company Landbridge in 2015. “In China, everybody, I ...

Labor now supports the Coalition’s bill to block foreign fighters from returning to Australia, but will attempt to force it to a further review and make amendments to include safeguards. On Tuesday Labor’s caucus agreed to support the temporary exclusion order bill in principle, refer it back to the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security and, if unsuccessful, move ...

The Hezbollah terror organization relocated part of its forces to the Lebanon-Syria border, which were spread out throughout Syria beforehand, according to a report on Tuesday by the Saudi Arabian Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper which is printed in London. The report said that the forces moved soldiers and heavy weaponry, including short-range and long-range missiles, and established new points in the ...

An Israeli Navy vessel crossed into Lebanese waters early Monday morning, breaching the contested maritime border, according to the Lebanon-based LBC TV news. The ship was detected by UNIFIL forces off the coast of the Rosh Hanikra land border between Israel and Lebanon, according to the report, which said that the UN peacekeepers informed Lebanese authorities of the suspected breach. ...

 The pyramids of Egypt have long attracted visitors intrigued by their ancient history, and now travelers have the opportunity to visit a distinctive structure just south of Cairo. Minister of Antiquities Khaled al Anani led a party of foreign ambassadors to the Dahshur Necropolis to inaugurate the so-called Bent Pyramid on Saturday, according to state media agency Al Ahram. Tourists will be able to ...

Warming waters have seen a concerning increase in lionfish off the coast of Lebanon. The venomous predator fish have drastically depleted the population of native species in the Mediterranean. “It’s like genocide,” says fisherman Atallah Siblini. “Now it is like 30 to 50 of them in one place. They started to scare away the other fish including sea bass which ...

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia will “extend a hand of support to Lebanon”, Lebanese former Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday after meeting Saudi King Salman. The king “stressed the necessity of preserving Lebanon and soon there will be Saudi steps towards the Lebanese state,” Mikati told Lebanon’s LBC TV from Riyadh.

A nationwide security outage believed to be linked to Australian Border Force terminals is causing delays at airports across Australia. The outage caused delays of between 15 and 30 minutes at airports including Sydney and Brisbane on Monday morning. By 11am the outage was still affecting a number of airports, though some, including Melbourne, said the system had begun working again. In Sydney, the ...

Australian police say preliminary DNA testing has identified remains of a French backpacker who disappeared five months ago. Erwan Ferrieux, 21, went missing along with a British backpacker, Hugo Palmer, north of Sydney. Mr Palmer, 20, remains unaccounted for. Authorities believe the pair may have drowned while swimming at a beach. Bones recovered from the sea match Mr Ferrieux’s DNA, ...