- China launches major military drills around Taiwan
- The search resumes for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
- Alex de Minaur’s bid to beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
China's military has launched live-fire drills around Taiwan involving army, naval, air force and rocket force units.
Taiwan's government has condemned the military drills, as the island scrambled soldiers and showcased US-made hardware to rehearse repelling an attack.
It's 11 days since the US announced $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, which is the largest ever weapons package for the island.
That drew protest from China's defence ministry and warnings the military would take forceful measures in response.
Karen Kuo, a spokesperson for Taiwan's Presidential Office, says China must not escalate tensions.
"We call on the Chinese authorities to act rationally and with self-restraint, to immediately cease irresponsible provocative behaviour, and not to misjudge the situation and become a troublemaker undermining regional peace. Our government will also continue to closely cooperate with all parties in the region to jointly protect the rules-based international order and safeguard peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific."
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The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH-370 is expected to resume today, more than a decade after the aircraft vanished while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
A fresh search in the southern Indian Ocean is being conducted by private marine robotics company Ocean Infinity, using advanced technology in the hope of retrieving answers to one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.
But families of passengers on board say they need transparency on the terms of the search, and clarity on the prospects for recovery.
KS Narendran is the husband of Chandrika Sharma, who was on her way to Mongolia for a conference when the plane crashed on the 8 March 2014.
He is hoping the new search will grant him closure.
"The search is important personally, because I think it could point to knowing a little more, if not the totality of the answer, at least a little more about what may have happened. For many other families, it has a very deep personal significance because it's about saying goodbye with an air of finality. And you're not at peace until you have a reasonably acceptable, reasonably clear answer to the questions because it has had a life-changing impact."
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Efforts are underway to refloat a cruise ship that ran aground off Papua New Guinea as investigations into the incident begin.
None of the 80 passengers and 43 crew aboard the Australian-registered Coral Adventurer were reported injured when it hit a reef off the Finschaffen Coast, east of the PNG city of Lae, on Saturday.
The cruise has ended early, and passengers will be flown out of P-N-G on a charter.
It follows a previous incident involving the same Cairns-based vessel on October 25th, when an elderly female passenger died after allegedly being left behind on Lizard Island in far north Queensland.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation is under way into the PNG grounding.
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Russia has accused Ukraine of trying to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northern Russia – a claim Ukraine's government has dismissed as baseless and designed to derail peace talks.
Russia's government says it is now reviewing its negotiating position, further weakening already fragile prospects for a ceasefire.
US President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida on Sunday, and said a deal is close despite unresolved territorial disputes.
President Zelenskyy says the U-S has offered 15 years of security guarantees.
"We discussed this within our teams yesterday and approved it with the President of the United States, that we will have strong security guarantees from the United States. Truly, now, this is not for ever. In documents, this is for 15 years, with possibility of extending these security guarantees. ... and I told him, that we'd very like to review a possibility of security guarantees for 30, 40, or 50 years."
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In tennis, Alex de Minaur has vowed to be a disruptor in his bid to finally defeat rivals Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in 2026.
The Australian world-number-seven is making final preparations ahead of January's United Cup and Australian Open.
The 26-year-old is yet to win a match against the current top two players in the world, after plating 13 matches against Sinner and 5 against Alcaraz.
He says he's been training hard to find an edge over his elite rivals.
"You ultimately have to bridge that gap. I've played some very close matches over the years with both of them. And you feel like you're getting closer and closer. And that's what it is, right? You've got to work on your game, find new weapons. For me, it's finding different ways to hurt these players. So trying to be ready to take more risks and be a little bit more of a disruptor."
