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The 10 most important things in the world right now Here's what's happening on Monday.

Sydney's housing market downturn could end up being the longest on record Sydney home prices have fallen 7.4% in a year.

'You will suffer consequences' — a Chinese warship reportedly threatened the US Navy in the South China Sea New details and video have emerged.

Profits at the big four banks have shrunk by a combined 5.5% The big four had $29.49 billion in combined full year cash earnings, down $1.72 billion or 5.5% from 2017. Return on equity decreased to 12.2%.

Virgin Australia will give military veterans priority boarding and an inflight thanks, but plenty of vets are embarrassed The airline now says it will consult further before making a final decision.

NSW is tweaking its cash cow -- stamp duty on property -- to take inflation into account The New South Wales government has announced changes to what's been dubbed "bracket creep" on the state's stamp duty on property, introducing CPI indexation from July 2019

'Mounting downward pressure': Chinese companies are doing it tough as new orders dry up Activity levels across China's corporate sector grew at the slowest pace in over two years in October. New orders increased at the weakest pace in 32 months.

France holds on to New Caledonia, but with another referendum in just 2 years, Paris is further from paradise than ever New Caledonians have roundly rejected a proposal to detach itself from France, with 56% voting against independence this weekend.

Backpackers will be able to stay in Australia longer thanks to relaxed working holiday rules Australia is relaxing its working holiday visa restrictions. Visa holders will now be able to stay longer, be older and work in more areas across Australia.

WATCH: An Australian autonomous drone exploring underground Emesent, a drone autonomy spin-off from CSIRO, just raised $3.5 million to commercialise Hovermap, technology to explore dangerous areas underground.

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