As two families prepare funerals for their young sons, a Melbourne community has been left searching for answers to stop the bloodshed.

Israel has launched an airstrike against the leaders of arch foe Hamas in Qatar, expanding its wide-ranging military actions in the Middle East to include the Gulf Arab state where the Palestinian Islamist group has long had its political base.

The Murdoch family has reached a deal that will see Rupert Murdoch's politically conservative eldest son Lachlan Murdoch cement control of the family media empire.

France's parliament has brought down the government, deepening a political crisis that is weakening the euro zone's second-largest economy.

Two powerful aftershocks struck Afghanistan 12 hours apart, triggering fears of more deaths and destruction in a region where recent earthquakes have killed about 2200 people.