Ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's White House meeting, Vladimir Putin has agreed to peace guarantees.

The US president has referenced his wife on several occasions when explaining his growing doubts about the sincerity of the Russians claims to want peace.

The shooting occurred at Taste of the City Lounge in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Crown Heights just before 3.30am local time (5.30pm AEST).

Almost 24 years on from the September 11 attacks, many relatives of victims are resigned to possibility that the accused perpetrators will never face trial.

Former politician Ted Hui expressed relief but urged Australia not to forget others facing prison simply for defending basic democratic rights.

The floods came so fast that many people could not leave their homes, one eyewitness said, as forecasters warn of more rain to come.

Political posturing will have no real effect on the lives of Israelis or Palestinians, according to one witness.

The UK has paused to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, which marks the day Japan surrendered in 1945 bringing WWII to an end.

Itamar Ben-Gvir admonishes the man that many see as the future leader of the Palestinian Authority, in an encounter that the United Nations condemned as disturbing.

The victims friend saw the man fighting off the bear while bleeding from his leg, before being dragged away into a bush along the trail leading to the summit of Mount Rausu.

When builder Steven Parkinson started digging up a childrens playground in his picture postcard town of Wooler, he had no idea that the suspicious object he found was only the beginning.

Chinas ministry of state security has verbally attacked Australias intelligence agencies, accusing them of fabricating a Chinese spy threat while carrying out their own espionage in China.

The code is engraved into a sculpture installed 35 years ago. The artist says it has destroyed marriages and led to threats to his life.

Lauren Southern moved with her husband from Canada, where shed grown up, to Australia, where she says, she lived in near-total isolation.

The long-delayed settlement would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, which the UN warned would put an end to prospects of a two-state solution.