Middle East

An Israeli air strike has killed the head of the police ‌force in Khan ‌Younis and ⁠his aide, according to the Gaza Strip's Hamas-run interior ministry.

Iranian media reports say the government has sent its response to a US ceasefire proposal to mediators and wants talks to focus on permanently ending the war.

But the US President says if talks fail, the country may reintroduce ‘Project Freedom’.

Iran says it is still weighing its response to the US peace proposal, ​but none was reported by mid-afternoon in Washington, just before midnight in Tehran.

US President Donald Trump says ceasefire with Iran was still in place despite an Iranian attack on three American destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, which he dismissed as “a trifle.”

Officials say Iran and the US are working toward an arrangement set out in a one-page memo to end the war and stabilise shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel's air force has carried out a strike in a suburb of Beirut for the first time since a ceasefire took effect three weeks ago, Israeli officials say.

An Iranian official says the country is reviewing a negotiation proposal from the United States to end the conflict.

It won't be simple to help women and children linked with ISIS reintegrate into Australian society after years in a refugee camp, experts warn.

A tumbling oil price and rally in tech stocks including Google-parent Alphabet on Wall Street set the S&P/ASX 200 up for a positive open on Thursday.

Conditions are not yet right for an Australian warship to be sent, but ‘planning’ talks are continuing with the US about a future naval deployment to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the defence minister says.

THE ECONOMIST: What looks like a 21st-century problem has deep, dark roots.

Donald Trump says the US initiative to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is being paused to see if an agreement with Iran can be finalised.