U.S. forces were attacked at an airbase west of Baghdad early on Tuesday and a U.S. military aircraft responded in self-defence, U.S. officials said, in the first U.S. retaliation on Iraqi territory to dozens of recent militant drone and missile attacks.

The leader of Hamas said on Tuesday a truce deal with Israel was close and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped for good news soon about hostages, the most optimistic signals so far of a deal to pause the war in Gaza and free captives.

Hundreds of people are queuing at Wellington Airport to rebook their flights after mass cancellations.

U.S. President Joe Biden turned 81, a milestone that drew attention to his status as the oldest person ever to occupy the Oval Office, with opinion polls showing Americans worried he is too old for the post he is seeking re-election to.

The chief of Hamas told Reuters on Tuesday that the Palestinian militant group was near a truce agreement with Israel, even as the deadly assault on Gaza continued and rockets were being fired into Israel.

A shipment of cocaine worth NZ$66.2 million has been found hidden inside the hull of a cargo ship, in an emerging smuggling trend.

Twenty-eight prematurely born babies evacuated from Gaza’s biggest hospital were taken into Egypt for urgent treatment on Monday, while Palestinian authorities and the WHO said 12 people were killed at another Gaza hospital encircled by Israeli tanks.

One of Queensland’s busiest hospitals will be upgraded after a grandfather died following a three-hour wait in an ambulance.

A federal appeals court ruled that only the U.S. government, not private parties, can sue under a landmark civil rights law barring racial discrimination in voting, a decision that would significantly hamper usage of the Voting Rights Act to challenge ballot access, voting rules and redistricting.

An Italian tribunal overnight convicted 207 people and sentenced them to a combined 2100 years in prison on charges related to their membership in Italy’s ‘ndrangheta organised crime syndicate, one of the world’s most powerful, extensive and wealthy drug-trafficking groups.

Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president on Sunday, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister elect Christopher Luxon said on Monday that a “significant milestone” had been achieved in forming a government overnight with the National Party, ACT New Zealand and New Zealand First agreeing on policy programmes.