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Australia’s parliament on Thursday passed a law to cut student loans by 20%, wiping more than A$16 billion ($10.31 billion) in debt for 3 million people, and fulfilling a key election promise to help mitigate the rising cost of living, Reuters reported.

The law is the first passed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party since being re-elected in May with one of the country's largest-ever majorities.

“We promised cutting student debt would be the first thing we did back in parliament – and that’s exactly what we've done,” Albanese said in a statement, according to Reuters.

“Getting an education shouldn't mean a lifetime of debt.”

Russia unleashed a combined missile and drone attack on Kyiv, killing at least six people, including a child, and wounding dozens more, local officials said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

A 6-year-old boy was among those killed, said city military administrator Tymur Tkachenko, who said the overnight attack had caused damage in 27 locations across four districts of the Ukrainian capital.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted a video of burning ruins, saying people were still trapped under the rubble of one residential building.

"It's a horrible morning in Kyiv. The brutal Russian strikes destroyed entire residential buildings and damaged schools and hospitals," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X with an image of a devastated block of apartments, according to Reuters.

The United States is suspending a "de minimis" exemption that allowed low-value commercial shipments to be shipped to the United States without facing tariffs, the White House said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, packages valued at or under $800 sent to the U.S. outside of the international postal network will now face "all applicable duties" starting on August 29, the White House said.

Trump earlier targeted packages from China and Hong Kong. The tax and spending bill recently signed by Trump repealed the legal basis for the de minimis exemption worldwide starting on July 1, 2027, according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump says the US will charge a 15% tariff on imports from South Korea, in what he called a "full and complete trade deal". 

It comes just a day before a 1 August deadline for countries to reach agreements with the US or be hit with higher tariffs. South Korea had been facing a 25% levy if it had not struck a deal, BBC reported.

Pressure on Seoul had been mounting after Japan, a key competitor in the car and manufacturing industries, secured a 15% tariff rate with the US this week.

The deal, which will also see Seoul invest $350bn (£264.1bn) in the US, has been touted as a success in South Korea - especially given the record trade surplus of at least $56bn with the US last year, according to BBC.

US officials said on Wednesday that they will sanction Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, accusing him of authorising "arbitrary pre-trial detentions" and suppressing "freedom of expression".

Judge Moraes has been leading the investigation into allegations that Brazil's former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies plotted a coup after he lost the 2022 election, BBC reported.

Bolsonaro has denied those allegations and has called Judge Moraes a "dictator".

Shortly after the sanctions were announced, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that raised tariffs on Brazil to 50%.

As Canada joins France and the UK in announcing plans to recognise a Palestinian state, the US is standing firmly with Israel - but does Trump have a long-term plan for Gaza's future?

Of all history's declarations about the Middle East, one that may be less prominent in the global collective memory was in Tokyo in November 2023.

Then-US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken laid out a series of principles for the "day after" the war in Gaza at a meeting of the G7, a group of the world's most powerful countries, BBC reported.

He travelled there from Tel Aviv, after meeting Israel's leadership a month after the Hamas attacks on October 7, during the ensuing Israeli offensive on Gaza.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada plans to recognise a Palestinian state in September, becoming the third G7 nation to make such an announcement in recent days, BBC reported.

Carney said the move depends on democratic reforms, including the Palestinian Authority holding elections next year without Hamas.

His remarks come a day after the UK announced it would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire and other conditions and a week after France unveiled a similar plan. 

Israel's foreign ministry rejected Canada's announcement, calling it "a reward for Hamas". Most countries - 147 of the UN's 193 member states - formally recognise a Palestinian state, according to BBC.

In the fiscal year 2024-25, the government successfully raised 100 percent of its targeted domestic debt but managed to mobilize only about 57.79 percent of the planned external debt, according to the Public Debt Management Office’s report up to mid-July. The government had set a target of Rs 330bn for domestic borrowing, which was fully achieved. However, out of Rs 217bn targeted for external borrowing, only Rs 125.39bn was raised, falling short by approximately Rs 9.16bn.

Gopikrishna Koirala, head of the Public Debt Management Office, explained that lower capital expenditure and delayed completion of development projects prevented full utilization of external debt. He said the government initially spends from its own resources on annual projects and later seeks reimbursement from lenders, but delays in project completion blocked such reimbursements and external borrowing.

External debt generally carries lower interest rates and longer repayment periods compared to domestic debt, which is often used for operational expenses. Moreover, lenders impose stricter conditions on external loans, requiring them to be focused on capital investment, making external borrowing more effective.

The government’s total public debt mobilization target was Rs 547bn, but only Rs 455.39bn (83.25 percent) was realized during the fiscal year. The total government debt increased by Rs 231.8bn to
Rs 2,669.57bn, equivalent to 43.71 percent of GDP. Of this, external debt accounted for 52.49 percent and domestic debt 47.51 percent.

Outstanding repayments stand at Rs 1,263.45bn for domestic debt and Rs 1,401.35bn for external debt, representing 22.14 percent and 24.56 percent of GDP, respectively. Interest payments on government debt exceeded Rs 400bn during the fiscal year. Rs 362.59bn had been paid by mid-July, reaching 90.01 percent of the annual budget allocation for debt servicing. Interest payment accounts for 5.94 percent of GDP. Specifically, Rs 304.19bn was spent on interest for domestic debt and
Rs 58.40bn for external debt.