A plane and its passengers are set to test the mental and physical limits of long-haul aviation when Qantas operates the first direct flight by a commercial airline from New York to Sydney this weekend. In the first of three "ultra long-haul" test flights planned by Australia's national flag carrier this year, researchers will monitor the effects on passengers of the 19-hour non-stop journey.

The United States slapped sanctions on Turkey Monday as it demanded an end to the deadly incursion against Syrian Kurdish fighters, accusing its NATO partner of putting civilians at risk and allowing the release of Islamic State extremists. The actions came hours after Syrian regime troops returned for the first time in years to northeastern parts of the country, invited by Kurdish fighters desperate for protection as the United States pulls out.

Thousands of people marched through central Kiev on Monday to protest against President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's deal with Moscow to grant special status to a pro-Russian rebel-held region of eastern Ukraine as part of efforts to end a five-year conflict there.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday defended his stance on Turkey’s military operation against Kurdish militants in northeastern Syria, saying that the military alliance should not lose its unity in the fight against Islamic State.

Syria’s troops have entered a northeastern town, Syrian state media said on Monday, after Washington announced it was abruptly pulling out its forces, and its former Kurdish allies reached a deal with Damascus to help resist a Turkish attack. The US withdrawal from the eight-year Syrian war, and the potential return of the Syrian army to the Kurdish-controlled northeast, are major victories for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Russia and Iran.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Sunday to bring to an immediate halt the military operation in northern Syria, a German government spokeswoman said.

Japan sent tens of thousands of troops and rescue workers on Sunday to save stranded residents and fight floods caused by one of the worst typhoons to hit the country in recent history, which killed 23 people and briefly paralyzed Tokyo, news wires reported.

More than 100,000 people from the towns of Ras Al-Ayn and Tal Abyad have been displaced by the escalation of violence in Syria, the UN World Food Programme said on Saturday. The World Food Programme and its partners will still support people in the northeast despite a deterioration in the security situation, it said. About 580,000 of the people it feeds in the region are currently living in Kurdish-controlled areas.

Leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia signed a so-called “mini-Schengen” deal on Thursday, which envisages free movement of people, goods, capital, and services between the three Western Balkan countries, news wires reported.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced.