Foreign Aid

China has handed over a massive newly-built presidential palace to Vanuatu days before the Pacific nation's prime minister is expected to visit Beijing.

War in Lebanon will devastate the country and leave millions hungry, aid agencies warn as the country faces its most serious threat of violence in 20 years.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele says he has asked Australia to help his country expand its police force to 3,000 officers after sitting down with Anthony Albanese for bilateral talks in Canberra.

Save the Children's Alexnadra Saieh says US aid initiatives like a humanitarian pier just build a 'mirage' of improved access in Gaza.

Poland's response to the human tide from Ukraine is already a case study in effective crisis management. But dealing with Russian disinformation — now morphing into subversion and outright sabotage — has been a consistent problem.

The leaders' statement, issued towards the end of the summit in Apulia, Italy, caps off a summit marked by broad consensus on global conflicts but clashes on abortion and vaccine funding.

The Israeli Defense Forces says it will hold daily tactical pauses in military activity in parts of southern Gaza to allow more aid to flow into the area, where international aid organisations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis. 

Australia looks to set up a 200-strong cohort of highly trained Pacific islands police officers to be sent to regional hotspots, under an ambitious initiative designed to strengthen the government’s strategic position in the region.

Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest has offered to build and install automated gates at Gaza border crossings to improve the flow of aid into the region, but first it has to be acceptable to the Israelis.

A US-built pier helping to deliver vital aid to Palestinians on the brink of famine broke less than two weeks after its installation, so what happens now? 

Vast uncertainty surrounds the final death toll from last week's catastrophic landslide in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province with a local official saying he believes 162 people have been killed in the natural disaster — far fewer than estimated by the United Nations or the country's government.

Concerns about a second landslide are compounded by worries about the possible outbreak of disease at the site.

It's been four days since a devastating landslide wiped out a small village in remote Papua New Guinea. As more footage emerges of the aftermath, the world is only just waking up to the scale of the disaster.

The Papua New Guinea government says more than 2,000 people are believed to have been buried alive in a landslide. But the remains of only six people have been recovered so far.

The United Nations will hold an emergency meeting to further coordinate the response to the disaster, which has been hampered by the weather and tribal violence in the remote region.

Papua New Guinea's government has warned the death toll from Friday's landslide in Enga province could jump dramatically.

The US secretary of state met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked up Ukraine's prospects as a NATO candidate and even played guitar during the surprise visit.

Australia and Tuvalu declare there are only a "narrow set of circumstances" where the federal government might trigger a contentious part of the Falepili Union which allows Canberra to veto security arrangements struck by the Pacific Island nation.

Aid agencies warn of a humanitarian catastrophe as Israeli forces seize the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza and close the flow of aid through the checkpoint.  

The West has taken to parachuting food aid into Gaza to help feed the people below. But on the ground, these meagre packages have sometimes turned deadly.

Israel denies it's limiting and blocking humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Allyson Horn goes onboard a British aerial mission to trying to get aid into the north.

It comes as the White House says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to listen to US concerns before it launches an invasion.

A UNICEF aid worker recounts the moment her aid convoy, which had informed both parties in the Israel-Gaza conflict of its movements, was hit by bullets in Gaza.

One Monday late last year I received a call from the Australian Red Cross: "What would you say about going to Gaza?" I didn't hesitate. Sometimes I wonder why I have no fear.

Rockets in North Korea, cherry blossoms in Japan and heat waves in the Philippines — the Asia Pacific this week in photos.