World

Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued a stark warning against global protectionism, declaring that “trade wars and tariff wars produce no winners” as he began a three-country diplomatic tour in Southeast Asia aimed at countering the economic pressure of US tariffs.

Patients were evacuated from Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, in Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike hit the facility on Sunday. The civil defence agency in Gaza said the strike came just minutes after the Israeli army issued a warning to evacuate the building. The blast reportedly destroyed the surgery unit and an oxygen generation station for the intensive care units. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Anthony Albanese will unveil a $10bn plan to construct 100,000 homes reserved for first-time buyers, forming the centrepiece of Labor’s federal election campaign launch in Perth. The scheme will allow first home buyers to secure homes with just a 5% deposit, while avoiding expensive mortgage insurance through a government guarantee.

The commander of the United States military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Colonel Susannah Meyers, has been dismissed from her post after allegedly distancing herself and the base from remarks made by US Vice President JD Vance during his recent visit to the Arctic territory.

A High-Profile Exchange with Diplomatic Implications In a significant development in US-Russian relations, dual Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina has been released from Russian custody as part of a prisoner swap with the United States. Karelina had been serving a 12-year prison sentence in Russia after being convicted of treason for donating a modest sum to a US-based charity supporting humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. Her release was exchanged for Arthur Petrov, a German-Russian citizen accused by the US of illegally exporting sensitive microelectronics to Russia.

A catastrophic roof collapse at one of the Dominican Republic’s most iconic nightclubs has claimed nearly 100 lives, leaving a nation in mourning and prompting urgent questions about safety and oversight in one of the Caribbean’s top tourist destinations.

For the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has openly confirmed the presence of Ukrainian forces inside Russia’s Belgorod region. In his daily address on Monday, 7 April 2025, Zelenskyy noted “active operations” across the border and stated bluntly, “The war must return to where it came from.”

The Israeli military has revised its account of a deadly March incident in Rafah, Gaza, in which 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers — including a UN staff member — were killed, after newly recovered phone footage undermined its initial explanation.