World

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Russian president’s charm offensive has helped him head off repeated deadlines and sanctions threats by Donald Trump without curtailing Russia’s war effort.

AARON PATRICK: After defeating Russia’s summer offensive, Ukraine hopes to secure US Tomahawk cruise missiles to degrade Russia’s vital oil and gas industry.

The arrest of a high-profile defence adviser accused of spying for China in Washington has caused shockwaves in Canberra where he regularly held meetings with Australian officials. 

Virgin boss Richard Branson says he is baffled by the United States’ dithering in response to Vladimir Putin, saying the West is effectively already at war with Russia.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Donald Trump’s secretary of defence offered unusually strong criticism of Russia, just as Ukraine seeks American Tomahawk missiles.

Both nations announced the ceasefire after a week of deadly clashes along their border and strikes on the Afghan capital threatened to spill into a broader conflict.

News outlets were almost unanimous in rejecting Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s restrictive new reporting rules.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the fight over metals like lithium, cobalt and copper was a case of ‘China versus the world’.

JENI O’DOWD: Years ago, the so-called ISIS brides walked away from Australia, pledging allegiance to a barbaric movement that beheads innocent people and is at war with everything we stand for.

The cease-fire talks in Egypt showed that with pressure on Hamas and Israel, seemingly huge impediments could be overcome or set aside.

AARON PATRICK: The ceasefire in Gaza has left Hamas free to hunt down and murder its opponents.

Donald Trump has intensified his trade war with China, unveiling new tariffs on furniture and wood imports in a move set to shake global markets.

A deeply distressing video showing Hamas gunmen executing alleged collaborators in Gaza has cast doubt over Donald Trump’s new ceasefire plan. WARNING: Graphic content

AARON PATRICK: Designated prisoner number 22, Elkana Bohbot slept on a mouldy mattress in a tunnel barely big enough stand. Hamas used him in its propaganda war against the Netanyahu government.

SARAH STINSON: Every morning Viki Cohen woke not knowing what - or if - her hostage son Nimrod had eaten, if he was warm, if he was scared, if he was safe. But she refused to give up.