Daily raids, increased Israeli checkpoints between major cities and a clampdown on travel permits for inhabitants to work outside the West Bank are all "fuelling anger” in the Palestinian territory.

Jerusalem

Increased Israeli occupation fueling anger in the West Bank

James Andre is joining us from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. James, fresh violence again in the West Bank overnight. What more do we know about these latest Israeli strikes? Yes, well, absolutely. Raids are just happening daily in the occupied West Bank. And indeed, well, yesterday there was an airstrike on a Balata camp that is indeed inside Nablus. It is a neighbourhood that is known to have a lot of young pro-Palestinian militants. And indeed, well, the Israeli army has confirmed this strike along with the Shin Bet. They said they were attacking an explosive production lab. Now, this is just the last in a long series of attacks. The day before there were five killed in Jenin, two more in Nablus. And that, of course, is fuelling anger in the West Bank where over 200 Palestinians have been killed since the 7th of October. It was just over 30 in the ten first months of the year. So that gives you an idea of the flair in violence in the occupied West Bank. So yesterday with the team, with Julie Dungelhoff and Tawfiq Mjayed, we were in Ramallah and we were able to talk to Nabil Abu-Rudina. He is the spokesperson for Mahmoud Abbas. We spoke to him at the Muqatta and this is what he had to say. The Gaza crisis has also spread to the West Bank. Five dead today, seven dead yesterday. There is a forgotten war in the West Bank, a war waged by the settlers with the support of the Israeli army. This was the subject of our talks with an American delegation two days ago and with Josep Borrell today, who has just left. James, how real then is the risk of the conflict in Gaza spilling over into the West Bank? It is very real indeed. Yesterday we were at a checkpoint waiting to go through and the car in front, to give you an idea, was searched by Israeli soldiers and after just a few seconds they started aiming their weapon at the driver at point blank. It was a very tense example of what is going on in the West Bank. The anger is coming from the fact that the Israeli army has set up checkpoints between all the major cities on the roads, which makes moving from one city to another extremely complex. And then there is the daily violence by armed settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank, which is making things extremely difficult. But lastly, the other thing is, of course, permits are no longer being delivered by the Israelis to authorise Palestinians who work in the rest of the country to be able to cross the checkpoints into Israel itself. And that is making the economic situation in the West Bank catastrophic. Yesterday we spoke to a young man in his 30s. He was standing on the street corner and telling us that basically he's a decorator and he hasn't been able to work for 45 days now. Also we spoke to a shopkeeper telling us that his sales had dropped 50% since the 7th of October and that he was wondering how he was going to get by and feed his family. So what we have here is, you know, very difficult conditions to move around in the occupied West Bank, a catastrophic economic situation and daily calls for the people to come out and protest. That, of course, one of these protests could very, very well turn into a full-blown riot. And this is what Volker Türk, who is the High Commissioner of the UN for Human Rights, is worried about. He says the situation is explosive. James, thank you so much for that update. That's our senior reporter, James Andre, joining us live from Tel Aviv.

Hong Kong's first district elections saw a turnout of 27.5 percent, the government said Monday, a record low for a race that had shut out all opposition candidates. China has barred pro-democracy candidates from entering the race this year, reserving the ballot for "patriots."

Sha Tin

Hong Kong elections witness record low turnout

Elon Musk has reinstated far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the social media platform X, a year after vowing never to let him return. Jones, who claimed that a December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six educators was a hoax, was banned from the platform in 2018 for violating its "abusive behavior policy."

Mountain View

Elon Musk lifts X ban on far-right conspiracist Alex Jones

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is warning the escalation in hostilities along the Israeli border could widen. The Israeli army has carried out multiple air strikes on frontline villages in some of the fiercest bombardment yet. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah is also stepping up attacks against Israeli military outposts. 

Beirut

Israel-Gaza War

Violence escalates between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah

The Federal Government has announced its new migration strategy, which plans to reduce migrant intake by raising requirements for international students and some workers to get a visa, including minimum English language requirements.

Canberra

Government announces crackdown on migration

As Israeli troops move closer to the centre of Khan Younis, Gaza, and residents attempt to find safety, the UN warns that half of Gaza’s population is starving.



Sderot

More people flee Gaza as UN warns of mass starvation

In the final days of COP28, finding greener ways to produce clean drinking water is a big topic of conversation, but the pressure is on for an official statement about fossil fuels.

Dubai

Climate Crisis

Drinking water, fossil fuels lead COP28 agenda in final days

Residents as far south as Mackay are being warned to brace for damaging winds as Cyclone Jasper continues to track toward the coast. It's expected to cross as a Category Two on Wednesday.

Mackay

North Queensland residents prepare for Cyclone Jasper landfall

The competition to follow Annastacia Palaszczuk as Queensland Premier is heating up after her announcement that she's retiring from politics at the end of this week. 

Brisbane

Race to replace Queensland Premier heats up

Israeli tanks battled their way to the centre of Khan Younis in a major new push into the heart of the main city in the southern Gaza Strip which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians who fled other parts of the enclave. 

Israeli tanks reach center of Khan Younis

Three Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been arrested, just before voting began in a "patriots only" district election that has marginalised formerly popular opposition figures in the city amid a national security clampdown.

Shenzhen

Hong Kong activists arrested in city's 'birdcage' election

Foreign investors who leave their homes vacant will be slugged with a six-fold increase to penalties as the Federal Government seeks to free up more housing stock.

Foreign investors to be penalised for leaving homes vacant

The Federal Government is set to unveil a major new migration strategy tomorrow that aims to dramatically cut Australia's intake.

Government plans to 'drastically cut' migration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease, making one of them the first treatment in the United States based on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene editing technology.

Maryland

US approves two gene therapies for sickle cell disease

Israel bombing of the Gaza Strip has intensified in an expanded phase of its war against Hamas. This is after the United States wielded its U.N. Security Council veto to shield its ally from a global demand for a ceasefire.

Intensified fighting in Gaza as U.S. vetoes ceasefire

EU lawmakers and policymakers have reached a deal on rules regulating the use of artificial intelligence, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on the X social platform.

Brussels

Rise of AI

EU reaches landmark deal to regulate AI threat

The U.S. has vetoed an emergency resolution at the UN security council — triggered by the secretary-general with a rarely-used power to force a vote — for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to allow more aid into the area.

New York

United States vetoes UN vote on immediate Gaza ceasefire

Israel's military says it has struck 450 targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, roughly double the figure it's typically reported since the end of the truce with Hamas. It marks a new expansion of the war.

Israel ramps up airstrikes on Gaza targets amid new phase

Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris 2024 Olympics can take part as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems at the event next year, the International Olympic Committee has ruled.

Paris

IOC rules Russian athletes can compete at Paris Olympics

Cyclone preparations are underway in north Queensland. Communities in North Queensland are bracing for Category Four Jasper to approach mainland Queensland by mid-next week.

Townsville City

North Queensland braces for Category Four cyclone

The Hamas-run health ministry reported 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City on Friday, and dozens more in Jabalia and the main southern city of Khan Yunis. So far, the fighting in the Palestinian enclave has left 17,487 people dead, according to the ministry's latest published figures. 

Hamas health ministry says over 17,000 dead in Gaza

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday told soldiers who had fought in Ukraine that he would run for the top job again in the 2024 election - a move that will allow the former KGB spy to stay in power until at least 2030. 

Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

Russia's Putin tells soldiers he will run for president again

Ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said there was a gap between the government's declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.

Washington

U.S criticizes Israel over Gaza civilian toll

2023 has been declared the hottest year in recorded history a month earlier than scientists would usually confirm the evidence. Temperatures are now nudging one and a half degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, giving the UN climate talks in Dubai a heightened sense of priority.

Council of the City of Sydney

Scientists confirm 2023 is the hottest year on record

The Department of Justice filed new criminal charges against U.S. President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, indicting him for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle. 

Delaware

Hunter Biden hit with new charges for tax evasion

Two months since the initial Hamas attack on southern Israel, doctors in Gaza are treating many times the number of patients they are equipped to handle, and a UN official says there is no safe place for humanitarian operations to continue.

Israel pushes deeper south as war with Hamas passes 2 months

Emergency authorities are on alert as severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper intensifies in the Coral Sea. The category four system is continuing its gradual march towards the North Queensland coast, but its exact path remains uncertain.

Tropical Cyclone Jasper strengthens off Queensland coast

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited Greece and met with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday. The two leaders agreed to reboot their relations, establishing a roadmap designed to usher in a new era of closer ties between the two NATO allies but historical foes. 