Defence and National Security

Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia have started holding annual defence ministers meetings to build trust and boost military cooperation, while PNG proposes building a 10km-wide demilitarised "buffer zone" along its border with Indonesia. 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorised an admiral to conduct multiple strikes that killed 11 people on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics in September.

Three groups within Defence will be rolled into one entity as part of a sweeping restructure of the department. 

Google's plans for a data hub could drag this remote island from a digitally starved past into an AI-powered future. But are the locals ready? 

Sarah Beckstrom, 20, has died in hospital after an ambush shooting near the White House on Wednesday. A male soldier who was also shot, Andrew Wolfe, is fighting for his life, the president says.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says it has begun "a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern".

Authorities identify the two National Guard members shot just blocks from the White House, as the FBI carries out searches of two properties on the US west coast.

The latest Asia Power Index shows Australia slipping behind Russia for influence, while the region remains dominated by the US and China.

It comes after the six US politicians appeared in a social media video that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described as "seditious".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns his country's borders "cannot be changed by force", highlighting a key sticking point in negotiations with the US over a potential peace deal with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is under pressure to agree to a peace deal, while US President Donald Trump faces domestic blowback over his foreign policy decisions.

The US approval of F-35 sales to Saudi Arabia sparks concerns among human rights groups in Australia, which provides parts and components to build and maintain the fighter jets. 

Six Democratic politicians, all of whom are veterans, are urging members of the military not to obey unlawful orders.

European allies of Kyiv say "peace cannot be capitulation" as details of a new plan to end the Ukraine war emerge.

The Russian vessel had directed lasers at pilots of surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities.

The opposition leader will pledge to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence during a speech at the Menzies Institute in Melbourne on Thursday.

Polish authorities say "everything indicates" Russian involvement in a blast along a railway line used to transport goods to Ukraine, as they identify two people believed to be responsible.

Recently released video shows a "Mad Max-style" convoy entering Pokrovsk in Ukraine's east on motorcycles and in ramshackle cars, in what experts say is part of Russia's latest push to take the city.

Moscow is intensifying its strikes on Ukraine, targeting the country's energy infrastructure ahead of winter.

Details of an upgraded security treaty between Indonesia and Australia are yet to be made public, and the practical impact it will have on relations between the two countries depends on who you ask.