Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull praise Donald Trump for Korea talks The Turnbull Government is offering “credit” to US president Donald Trump for his hand in Friday’s historic meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea. North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shook hands in a pact for “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula” at …

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is angry over royal commission revelations and wants bankers and financial advisers to be forced to give plain language advice to their customers and have their conversations recorded. “Banks and financial advisers have a solemn duty to put the interests of their clients and customers first,” Turnbull said in Sydney on Saturday. Over the past two …

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova affirmed that there are new compelling proofs that the alleged chemical attack in the city of Douma is nothing but a play and a serious media provocation. In a press conference on Thursday, Zakharova said that there is increasing new proofs “floating on the surface gradually” proving that no chemical attack had occurred in …

Miguel Díaz-Canel has been sworn in as Cuba’s new president, replacing Raúl Castro who took over from his ailing brother Fidel in 2006. It is the first time since the revolution in 1959 that a Castro is not at the helm of the government. Mr Díaz-Canel had been serving as first vice-president for the past five years. Even though Mr …

Australia’s largest lender collected fees from customers it knew had died, a major inquiry has heard. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) told a public hearing that some of its financial planners had billed services to deceased clients. In one case, an adviser collected fees from a former client for more than a decade. Australia is holding a royal commission – …

Perhaps the most surprising news surrounding the US, British and French strike on Syria Saturday morning was the report that the country’s Air Defense Force managed to shoot down just shy of 70% of the Western cruise missiles launched. Sputnik looks at how the Syrians managed to do it. The Western attack, executed this morning at 4:00 am Syrian time …

The US and its allies struck civil and military facilities in Syria, violating the UN Charter and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, responding to the American-French-British intervention in Syria. Washington launched “an aggression against a sovereign state which is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism,” the statement from the president said. Putin stressed that the multi-national …

The substance used on Sergei Skripal was an agent called BZ, according to Swiss state Spiez lab, the Russian foreign minister said. The toxin was never produced in Russia, but was in service in the US, UK, and other NATO states. Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with an incapacitating toxin known as …

Children suffering in war have become tools for the West, with Nikki Haley stating that Russia’s hands are “covered in their blood” in Syria. However, the US seems to not mind “collateral damage” in the wars it’s backing. Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting following an alleged chemical attack in Syria, the US ambassador said that “the Russian regime, …

While many Facebook users’ hearts skipped a beat when the company’s founder was testifying before the US Congress on the Cambridge Analytica case, Twitterians were laughing their heads off, wondering if Zuckerberg was human. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has testified before Congress over a data breach scandal: the Cambridge Analytica consultancy firm managed to obtain the social network users’ private …