It will benefit around 115,000 school and early learning teachers over three years.

North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it has sent troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

US, South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials said North Korea last year dispatched up to 12,000 troops to Russia.

But North Korea had not confirmed or denied its reported troop deployments to Russia until Monday.

READ MORE: Donald Trump says he views Volodomyr Zelenskyy as 'calmer' following Vatican talks

In a statement provided to North Korea’s state media, the North’s Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party said leader Kim Jong Un had decided to send combat troops to Russia under a mutual defence treaty.

It cited Kim as saying that the troops’ deployment was meant to “annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces.”

“They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland,” Kim said, according to the statement.

READ MORE: Donald Trump's approval at 100 days lower than any president in at least seven decades

In February, South Korea’s spy agency said North Korea appeared to have sent additional troops to Russia, after its soldiers deployed on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties.

In January, the NIS said about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and another 2700 had been injured. Zelenskyy earlier put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4000, though US estimates were lower at about 1200.

Earlier this year, Kim expressed his unwavering support for Russia's war in Ukraine during a meeting with a top Russian security official, Sergei Shoigu, in Pyongyang.

State media reports said Kim and Shoigu reaffirmed their commitment to uphold the mutual defence treaty agreed upon last year. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told Russian media the governments were discussing a potential visit by Kim to Moscow.

LIVE UPDATES: Leaders in last-minute dash to convince voters

North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia as well. South Korea, the US and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons program. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia as well.

North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well trained, but observers say they've become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine battlefields due to their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain.

Still, Ukrainian military and intelligence officials have assessed that the North Koreans are gaining crucial battlefield experience and have been key to Russia's strategy of overwhelming Ukraine by throwing large numbers of soldiers into the battle for Kursk.

Australia's consumer watchdog is urging businesses to ensure card surcharges are in line with the law.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is encouraging businesses to review their surcharges to make sure the cost doesn't exceed the cost of accepting card payments.

Any card payment surcharges that apply should also be adequately disclosed up front.

LIVE UPDATES: Leaders in last-minute dash to convince voters

"Businesses need to ensure their customers know about any card payment surcharges upfront, and that they are only charging what it costs them to accept those card payments," ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.

Australian Consumer Law prohibits businesses from misleading people about the prices they charge and charging a card payment surcharge that is excessive.

This year the ACCC will focus on educating businesses on their obligations to help them to comply with the laws.

READ MORE: Trump hits a new low. It hasn't happened in seven decades

"We understand that small businesses need to be across a lot of information to comply with all of the laws that apply to their business," Keogh said.

"However, charging excessive surcharges and not being upfront with customers about pricing can result in small businesses losing customers.

"It is important for small businesses to ensure they understand their obligations and check their costs of acceptance to know what amounts they can legally charge their customers as a payment surcharge, as well as reviewing how they inform customers of their prices, including any applicable surcharges."

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St John was notified at 9.49am today.

Police fear Leonie Emery has been the victim of foul play.

Seven children in Australia and the Philippines have been rescued after a Queensland man was arrested and charged with 28 child exploitation and drug offences by police.

Police raided the 31-year-old's home at Moreton Bay, north of Brisbane, last December and arrested him after detectives from Redcliffe Child Protection Investigation Unit (CPIU) received a tip-off.

Officers also seized several devices.

LIVE UPDATES: Leaders in last-minute dash to convince voters

He was initially charged with possessing child exploitation material and using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

Later he was charged with a further 24 offences, including supplying dangerous drugs, using the internet to procure children, facilitating the procurement of a child for a sexual act and indecent treatment of a child under 12 with mental impairment.

Since his arrest, seven child victims – two in south-east Queensland and five in the Philippines – have been rescued.

Queensland police Detective-Inspector Phil Hurst said the man's arrest was the culmination of a lengthy and complex investigation.

"I thank the CPIU detectives for their tenacity in going to lengths to ensure the victims were identified and, in some cases, rescued from harm," he said.

"This shows that we will investigate all reports of harm against children both locally and even if it leads us overseas."

The man has been remanded in custody and is due to reappear in court on Thursday.

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President Donald Trump said he viewed his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "calmer" and more interested in reaching a peace accord following their sit-down inside the Vatican this weekend.

Trump called the meeting "beautiful" and said Zelenskyy asked for more weapons during the 15-minute session.

Trump continued voicing his frustration at President Vladimir Putin for launching a missile attack on Kyiv, and said he could not say for sure whether the Russian leader was serious about ending the war.

READ MORE: Donald Trump's approval at 100 days lower than any president in at least seven decades

"I think the meeting went well. We'll see what happens over the next few days. We'll probably learn a lot. I was very disappointed that missiles were flying by Russia," Trump said as he was departing New Jersey, where he spent part of the weekend at his golf club.

He said during his meeting at St Peter's with Zelenskyy they briefly discussed the issue of Crimea, which the US would recognise as Russian under an American peace proposal that Zelenskyy has rejected.

Trump denied his relationship with Zelenskyy was ever bad, saying instead their televised dispute in February was merely a small obstacle.

READ MORE: It might be Carney vs Poilievre to lead Canada, but Trump is unofficially on the ballot

"I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture. And I think he wants to make a deal," Trump said.

Putin, he said, needed to demonstrate a commitment to ending the war.

"I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal," Trump said. "We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it and just go back to life."

Donald Trump might as well be on the ballot when Canadians vote for a new government.

The US president's trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in nationalism that has helped the Liberal Party flip the narrative heading into Monday's parliamentary election, at least in opinion polls.

"Trump is the campaign," former Quebec Premier Jean Charest said.

READ MORE: Anthony Albanese wins final leaders' debate, Peter Dutton calls welcome to country ceremonies 'overdone' 

"The ballot question is who is the person we are going to choose to face Trump. Everything has changed."

Foreign policy hasn't affected a Canadian election this much since 1988, when, ironically, free trade with the United States dominated the political discourse.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal leader who was sworn in on March 14 following Justin Trudeau's resignation, led in the polls heading into Monday, marking a dramatic turnaround for a party that seemed destined for a crushing defeat until Trump started launching broadsides at Canada's economy and sovereignty.

"We are in a crisis. President Trump is threatening Canada, he's threatening our companies, he's threatening our workers, he's threatening the savings of our retirees," Carney said on Tuesday.

"This threat is not only an economic threat, it is an existential threat."

Until a few months ago, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was seen as a shoo-in to become the next prime minister by shepherding his opposition faction back into power for the first time in a decade.

READ MORE:  Five charged after brawl at Sydney U7s football game 

Trump's tough talk could hurt his ideological allies abroad

Charest, a moderate who led Canada's French-speaking province from 2003-2012, said if Trump wants to help his ideological allies abroad, he needs to tone down the bluster.

"At what point are the Trump folks going to think this thing through and measure what are the consequences?" Charest said.

"In the White House, they should sit down and think about the effect Trump has in the world," he added.

Carney has accused Trump of severing the close relationship that Canada and the US long enjoyed.

Poilievre, meanwhile, would be "very much in sync" with the "new direction in America", said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a Conservative ally.

As such, Poilievre has offered a more muted response to Trump's rhetoric and economic manoeuvring, imploring Canadians to deny the Liberals a fourth-straight term after what he described as "a lost Liberal decade."

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What will the result of Canada's election mean for the US?

Trump has threatened to slap steep tariffs on Canadian goods, and both Carney and Poilievre said that, if elected, they would accelerate renegotiations of the countries' free trade deal in an effort to end the uncertainty hurting both of their economies.

Carney plans to diversify Canada's exports and is reviewing the remaining purchase order of US F-35 fighter jets to see if there are other options "given the changing environment". Carney visited Paris and London, not Washington, for his first trips as prime minister.

But almost 80 per cent of Canada's exports go to the US.

"Let's be honest, if Canada does a remarkable job — a remarkable job — of diversifying trade, what is that going to look like?" said former Foreign Minister John Baird, noting that even shifting 3 per cent – 5 per cent over five years would be quite an achievement.

"Let's keep our eye on the main ball. They are 78 per cent of our customers so we need to tackle that challenge," said Baird, a Conservative who works as a senior adviser at a law firm.

What do the polls say?

In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47 per cent to 20 per cent.

In the latest Nanos poll, which was conducted during a three-day period that ended April 26, the Liberals led by 4 percentage points nationally and 6 points in Ontario, Canada's most populous province, which has 122 of the 343 seats in Parliament.

The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points, while the latest poll had a 2.7-point error margin.

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One of the world's most obscure "sports" held its annual championship at the weekend.

Police are investigating the death of a man near the Brisbane central business district overnight.

He was asked to leave a business on the corner of Ann and Morgan streets in Fortitude Valley about 12.20am before being restrained by security guards.

Moments later, he became unresponsive and died at the scene, despite CPR being given.

LIVE UPDATES: Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton in last-minute dash to convince voters

A crime scene has been declared, and investigations are ongoing today.

Anyone with information or relevant dashcam or CCTV vision should contact Policelink and quote reference number QP2500727851.

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