Category World News

Russia has lost a legal fight to build a new embassy near Australia’s Parliament, with the nation’s top court ruling that Canberra acted within its rights when it cancelled the lease for the site.

Australia passed legislation in 2023 to mothball the planned embassy building after officials deemed it to pose a security threat.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at the time that his government decided to revoke the lease over the “specific risk” posed by the site, located about 300 metres (328 yards) from Parliament House.

Russia, which blasted the move as “Russophobic hysteria”, challenged the legislation in court, arguing that it was not valid under the Australian Constitution.

In a unanimous ruling on Wednesday, the High Court found that the cancellation of the lease had been a “valid exercise of the legislative power” to enact laws related to the acquisition of property.

The court, however, ruled that Russia was entitled to compensation after paying about $2m for the 99-year lease in 2008.

The court previously rejected a bid by Moscow to stop its officials from being evicted from the site.

The government introduced new legislation on June 15 to end the Russian lease on the land after intelligence agencies warned the location was a risk to national security.

In a statement following the ruling, Attorney General Michelle Rowland said, “Australia will always stand up for our values and we will stand up for our national security.”

“The government welcomes the High Court’s decision that found the government acted lawfully in terminating the Russian Embassy’s lease,” Rowland said in a statement.

“The government will closely consider the next steps in light of the court’s decision,” Rowland added.

The Russian embassy said it was studying the judgement, according to Australian broadcaster ABC News.

“The Russian side will carefully study the text of the court ruling, which sets a precedent,” an embassy official said in a statement.

Relations between Australia and Russia have been strained for years.

Ties deteriorated sharply after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which multiple investigations blamed on pro-Russian separatists, and then plunged further after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

#BREAKING: The lease was granted to Russia in 2008, but was withdrawn when parliament passed a new law citing ASIO advice that the planned embassy could pose a threat to national security. https://t.co/6S6bf37h7m

World number one Carlos Alcaraz came under extreme pressure before overcoming American Taylor Fritz 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 in a thrilling round-robin match at the ATP Finals, leaving the Spaniard on two wins from two.

Last year’s finalist Fritz played the tennis of his life on Tuesday as both men served up the best encounter of the season-ending championships so far, but the American ran out of steam as Alcaraz turned on the style and took the deciding set with ease.

Alcaraz and Fritz had won their opening Jimmy Connors Group matches, and the Spaniard looked in real trouble when the American took the opening set in a tiebreak. Alcaraz faced break points in the second set but rallied back to draw level.

Fritz began to tire, and Alcaraz broke to lead 4-2 in the final set before wrapping up the win in two hours and 48 minutes by serving out to love.

“It was pretty tight. I was struggling more than him in the first set,” Alcaraz said. “I wasn’t serving well, and I think he was pretty comfortable from the baseline, from everywhere.”

Alcaraz closes in on number one ranking

Alcaraz will be assured of a semifinal place if Alex de Minaur defeats Lorenzo Musetti in the evening match. He also needs one more victory to guarantee the year-ending world number one spot and will face Musetti on Thursday.

“I try not to think about it to be honest,” Alcaraz said.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a really big match for me. I’ll try to control the emotions, to control myself.”

Tuesday’s clash was a battle from the opening game as Fritz took nine minutes to hold after hitting three aces but also faced two break points. The American forced three break points in the next game before the pair traded breaks.

Fritz raced into a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak and smashed two aces to take the set. At 2-2 in the second, Alcaraz was rattled. His drop shots that earlier had beaten Fritz began to fall short, but after losing advantage five times, the Spaniard held on.

Alcaraz got lucky with a shot that hit the net but crept over in the final game of the second set and broke to take the match to a third, where Alcaraz outclassed an exhausted Fritz.

“I was really relieved after the win because of everything I went through during the match,” Alcaraz said.

“I wasn’t feeling the ball as well as I was in the first round, but I’m really happy that I found a way to come back.”

Taipei, Taiwan — More than 3,300 people in Taiwan have been evacuated from their homes as Tropical Storm Fung-Wong closes in on the island, bringing heavy rain and strong winds, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

The slow-moving storm was about 140km (87 miles) southwest of Taiwan on Wednesday morning, according to its Central Weather Administration, with winds measuring 72km/h (45mph) and gusts of up to 101km/h (63mph).

Fung-wong, downgraded from a super typhoon, is expected to make landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday evening and move northeast over the island, the weather bureau said.

Earlier this week, the storm caused 18 deaths in the Philippines due to floods and landslides, according to The Associated Press news agency; however, it has since slowly weakened as it approached Taiwan.

Schools and workplaces across southern and eastern Taiwan were nevertheless shuttered on Wednesday, and all domestic flights were cancelled in anticipation of Fung-Wong ‘s arrival.

Parts of Taiwan have already seen heavy rain and flooding before the arrival of Fung-wong, with one community in the north receiving 783.5mm (3 inches) of rainfall as of Tuesday evening.

The bulk of Taiwan’s evacuation order has been issued for Hualien County on the island’s rugged east coast, which is prone to landslides and earthquakes. The region usually takes the brunt of Taiwan’s typhoon damage.

At least 19 people were killed in Hualien in September when a barrier lake in the mountains overflowed during another typhoon, sending 60 million tonnes of water and debris into a nearby community.

Barrier lakes are formed from a combination of rainwater and landslides, and they cannot be easily dismantled if ground conditions are deemed too unstable. The same barrier lake has been under observation all week, according to Taiwan’s Forestry Bureau.

A video shared by CNA shows an overflowing creek surging through a nearby village of about 300 people in Hualien County on Tuesday, where high floodwaters easily pushed around a car caught up in them. A second video shows a road on a low-lying plain completely washed out by fast-moving water.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered a halt to intelligence sharing with United States security agencies as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to launch missiles at boats in the Caribbean.

“An order has been given at all levels of the public security force’s intelligence services to suspend communications and other dealings with US security agencies,” Petro said on X on Tuesday, adding that the suspension “will remain in force as long as the missile attacks on boats continue”.

The Colombian leader also shared a post with unconfirmed media reports that the United Kingdom has made a move similar to Bogota’s over legal concerns related to the ongoing US attacks that have so far killed at least 75 people.

Petro has called for Trump to be investigated for war crimes over the strikes, which the US says are targeting drug boats and which have affected citizens of Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The leftist leader has long been a critic of US drug policy and has accused the Trump administration of going after peasants growing coca, the base ingredient of cocaine, instead of targeting major drug traffickers and money launderers.

On Sunday, Petro said he met with the family of a Colombian fisherman who was allegedly killed in one of the strikes.

“He may have been carrying fish, or he may have been carrying cocaine, but he had not been sentenced to death,” Petro said during a summit between Latin American and European Union leaders hosted by Colombia on Sunday. “There was no need to murder him.”

The Trump administration has accused Petro of being soft on traffickers and has criticised the Colombian president’s decision to spare Colombian rebel leaders involved in the drug trade from extradition to the US.

This is also not the first time that Trump and Petro have clashed. In September, the Colombian president left the US within hours of Washington revoking his visa for what it said were his “reckless and incendiary actions” while in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly.

Earlier in the day, Petro had addressed a crowd protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza outside UN headquarters, where he called on US soldiers to “disobey the orders of Trump” and “obey the orders of humanity”.

Responding to his visa being taken away, he said: “Revoking it for denouncing genocide shows the US no longer respects international law.”

More recently, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Petro, his family and the South American country’s interior minister, Armando Benedetti, accusing him of failing to rein in Colombia’s cocaine industry and of shielding criminal groups from accountability.

Petro’s announcement on Tuesday came as a US aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean Sea, fuelling speculation the Trump administration is considering escalating its military action in the region, which has primarily targeted the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a longtime US rival.

The Pentagon confirmed that the Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group, which includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, had arrived in the Caribbean with at least 4,000 sailors and “tactical aircraft” on board.

Se da orden a todos los niveles de la inteligencia de la fuerza pública suspender envío de comunicaciones y otros tratos con agencias de seguridad estadounidenses. Tal medida se mantendrá mientras se mantenga el ataque con misiles a lanchas en el Caribe. La lucha contra las… https://t.co/IZRWiL4s6t

A former South Korean prime minister and the country’s one-time spy chief have been arrested in connection with the short-lived imposition of martial law by former President Yoon Suk-yeol in December 2024, local media report.

In separate arrests, former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was detained on Wednesday on charges of inciting an insurrection, and Cho Tae-yong, the former head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), was taken into custody for several violations of NIS law, including dereliction of duty, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports.

According to Yonhap, Hwang posted on Facebook following the declaration of martial law, calling for the arrest of the country’s National Assembly speaker and for the eradication of those involved in alleged electoral fraud.

Former intelligence chief Cho, once a close confidant of disgraced President Yoon, is accused of knowing and failing to report plans for the imposition of martial law to the country’s National Assembly.

“The NIS Act obliges its director to report to the National Assembly, as well as to the president, if a situation that has a significant impact on national security arises,” Yonhap reported.

Prosecutors said that Cho, a career diplomat, failed to report on plans for martial law, despite “understanding its illegality”. At a hearing on Tuesday, Cho denied all of the charges against him, Yonhap said.

Hwang and Cho’s arrests come after prosecutors on Monday added another indictment against the former 64-year-old president Yoon, who was removed from office in April, and is now detained while awaiting trial for his failed attempt to impose martial law.

The latest indictment accuses the former president of attempting to provoke a military conflict between South Korea and North Korea by covertly sending drones into North Korea in an effort to legitimise the state of martial law he declared.

Prosecutors argue that the drone deployment over North Korea in October 2024 led to the leak of military secrets when one of the unmanned aerial vehicles crashed near North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, Yonhap added.

State Prosecutor Park Ji-young told reporters that the special counsel team had “filed charges of benefitting the enemy in general and of abuse of power” against the former president.

Yoon’s move to impose martial law plunged South Korea into political crisis after armed soldiers were sent to parliament in a bid to stop lawmakers rallying against and outlawing his martial law bid. Yoon’s bid to seize power failed, and he was detained in January, becoming South Korea’s first sitting president to be taken into custody.