NEW ZEALAND: The government has said it would contemplate sharing advanced military technologies with the United States and Britain as it pursues closer defence ties with Australia.

The defence and foreign ministers of Australia and New Zealand met in Melbourne today to discuss strengthening security ties.

Australia said it would send officials to New Zealand this year to discuss the Aukus pact between Australia, Britain and the US.

YEMEN: Houthi rebels fired two ballistic missiles at a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea today, a US military official said.

The crew and vessel were unharmed by the attack, west of the port city of Hodeida, said Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations.

US war jets destroyed 10 Houthi drones on Wednesday night, plus a ground control station used by the rebels, the US military said.

KOSOVO: The European Union has called on the breakaway Serbian province to postpone an effort to force ethnic Serb-dominated areas to use the euro.

Most of Kosovo uses the EU currency, even though the country isn’t part of the bloc, but parts of the north continue to use the dinar.

Kosovo’s government banned banks and other financial institutions from using other currencies in local transactions today.

INDIA: Police have cleared a pigeon of spying for China and released the bird into the wild, the Press Trust of India reported today.

The pigeon was captured in May near a port in Mumbai with two rings tied to its legs, carrying words that looked like Chinese.

It turned out that the bird was an escaped racing pigeon from Taiwan.