Sudan's defence minister said on Tuesday that the army would press on with its fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after the country's security and defence council met to discuss a US proposal for a ceasefire.

"We thank the Trump administration for its efforts and proposals to achieve peace," Hassan Kabroun said in a speech broadcast on state television, while adding that "preparations for the Sudanese people's battle are ongoing."

"Our preparations for war are a legitimate national right," he said following the council meeting in Khartoum.

Cement conglomerate Lafarge went on trial in France Tuesday, accused of paying the Islamic State group and other jihadists protection money to build its business in war-torn Syria.

In a similar case in the United States, the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated "terrorist" organisations and agreed to pay a $778-million fine, in what was the first time a corporation had faced the charge.

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -The work of Australia's defence force to protect its sea trade routes, including through the South China Sea, is becoming more risky as Beijing undertakes the "biggest military build-up in the world today", Australia's defence minister said on Tuesday.

Open sea lanes, including trade routes that go through the South China Sea and East China Sea, were at the core of Australia's national interest, Richard Marles said in an opening speech at a navy conference in Sydney.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be at the White House on November 18 for an official working visit with U.S. President Donald Trump, a White House official said on Monday.

The visit comes as Trump pushes Saudi Arabia to join the list of nations that have joined the Abraham Accords. In 2020, Trump reached deals with United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco to normalize relations with Israel.

The Saudis have been hesitant to join in the absence of steps toward Palestinian statehood.

BERLIN (Reuters) -Chancellor Friedrich Merz has invited Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to Germany to discuss deporting Syrian citizens with criminal records in Germany, the German leader said on Monday.

"We will, of course, continue to deport criminals to Syria. That is the plan. We will now implement this in a very concrete manner," Merz told reporters.

Germany also wants to help stabilise the country, he said, adding that he intends to discuss with Sharaa "how we can solve this together".

By Timour Azhari and Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iraq has pledged to bring all weapons under the control of the state, but that will not work so long as there is a U.S.-led coalition in the country that some Iraqi factions view as an occupying force, the prime minister said on Monday.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said a plan was still in place to have the multinational anti-Islamic State coalition completely leave Iraq, one of Iran’s closest Arab allies, by September 2026 because the threat from Islamist militant groups had eased considerably.

(Adds dropped word staff in headline)

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) -Tunisian bank workers began a two-day strike on Monday to demand pay rises, halting all financial transactions as the country struggles with an economic crisis.

Lines formed at cash points as the walkout started, but customers said many of the machines were broken.

"We are struggling with everything. Many medicines are missing. Some goods are in short supply ... The cost of living is extremely high, and now we are left paralysed without cash,” one woman, Imen Ben Slama, said.

GAZA STRIP (Reuters) -Gaza residents are suffering "a volcano" of psychological trauma from Israel's devastating military campaign that has become clear since last month's truce, according to Palestinian mental health specialists.

Two years of intense Israeli bombardment and repeated military incursions that local health authorities say have killed more than 68,000 people, along with widespread homelessness and hunger, have affected all of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants.

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Five million of the more than six million Jews killed in the Holocaust have now been identified, and with the further help of artificial intelligence (AI), even more names could be recovered, Israeli researchers said on Monday.

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, said the milestone marks seven decades of work and is at the heart of its mission to recover the identities of those murdered by the Nazis during World War Two.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -International Criminal Court prosecutors said on Monday they are collecting evidence of alleged mass killings and rapes after paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized al-Fashir - the last stronghold of the military in Sudan's Darfur region.

The ICC has been investigating alleged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur since 2005 when the case was first referred by the U.N. Security Council, long before the current civil war erupted in 2023.