Australia has scaled back a planned disposal of vacant defence land after public criticism, excluding several heritage military sites including Sydney's Victoria Barracks. The government had proposed selling more than 60 military sites to raise about A$3.0bn (~US$2.1bn) to help fund defence capability upgrades; excluding these properties reduces the pool of assets slated for sale, the government said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Victoria Barracks will be retained as a public asset.

A union representing about 250 security staff at the US busiest ports agreed to extend contract talks two weeks to Nov. 20, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) said. PMA and ILWU Local 26 will continue negotiations; talks have been extended multiple times from an initial Nov. 1 deadline. PMA said it remains committed to negotiating a fair agreement to avoid operational disruption. Reports say a work stoppage at affected terminals could disrupt about 85% of cargo at the Port of Long Beach and roughly one-third at the Port of Los Angeles.

Japan Meteorological Agency said a magnitude-5.7 earthquake struck western Shizuoka prefecture at about 01:04 JST on the 8th. Hypocenter depth was 40 km and maximum seismic intensity reached shindo 5-upper; tremors were felt in Aichi, Hyogo, Shizuoka and Tokyo prefectures.