Gu is aiming to win five gold medals at these Games while skiing her way through a geopolitical and financial minefield with all the finesse of one of her trademark double corks.

Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko told the BBC Ukraine was willing to be “flexible” about joining the alliance, but later walked back his remarks.

“He’s (Putin) going to try and concoct a reason to then say that Russians were threatened and he had to attack,” says Liana Slipetsky, the president of the Noble Park branch of the Association of Ukrainians

The Russian leader’s history of aggression has taught him how to keep his adversaries guessing.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

Hong Kong and mainland China are among the few places in the world still aiming to suppress every COVID-19 outbreak, but the Omicron variant has proven tough to control.

The US president already waived sanctions against the pipeline’s operator when it was almost complete in return for an agreement from Germany to take action against Russia if needed.

Washington says the Russian military, which has more than 100,000 troops massed near Ukraine, could invade at any moment.

Cook Islands resumed quarantine-free travel with New Zealand a month ago, after shutting itself off from the world when the pandemic hit in early 2020.

Avocado exports are the latest victim of the drug cartel turf battles and extortion of avocado growers in the western state of Michoacan.

The domestic and global politics for the US President will be critical - and fraught - if Russia invades Ukraine.

India’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, also chided Beijing for violating agreements covering border disputes on land and at sea.

He has a full campaign team fanning out across France, but Emmanuel Macron isn’t even a candidate for April’s presidential election – yet.

The Amazon lost 430 square kilometres of jungle in Brazil last month, five times higher than the previous year.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to invade Ukraine, it may well set the stage for a similar showdown soon enough in our neighbourhood.

It’s a simple question everyone is asking: dead man walking or comeback kid?

The Canadian demonstrations have attracted the attention of far-right and anti-vaccine groups globally, raising millions of dollars and inspiring copycat protests in France, New Zealand and Australia.

Australian Sean Turnell, an economic adviser to deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was not among those pardoned.

Some countries like France or Canada might send in a riot squad to disperse anti-vaccination protesters. In New Zealand, however, authorities turned to an old crooner.

A communal way of life is poised to play a central role in a burgeoning, multi-billion dollar cannabis industry.

A feverish round of diplomatic talks took place on Saturday after the US warned of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine – a claim Moscow dismissed as propaganda.

Around 8 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the oceans every year, most of it discarded on land or washed into rivers.

“It’s as if I’m watching a movie. I have a feeling of sadness,” said one fearing what will happen over the years due to drought and climate change.

The new document lays out how the US will try to ensure a “free and open” Indo-Pacific, starting with a pushback on China’s “economic coercion” of Australia.

The White House says it could happen even before the end of the Winter Olympics, Australia has joined the US and Britain in telling Australians in Ukraine to leave immediately.

The frenzy of activity over the past 48 hours added a sense of urgency to growing fears about a likely incursion, but the US has been warning for weeks.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

Palace sources have said only that the Queen has not shown any symptoms of coronavirus, despite close contact with Prince Charles... yet.

But it still protects against hospitalisation. The report provides the first real-world data in the US of the durability of protection against Delta and Omicron.

The movement that started with frustration from truckers over vaccination mandates in Ottawa has snowballed to include a hodgepodge of grievances.

Observers were struck by images of the presidents holding five-hour talks across a four-metre-long table this week. It appears COVID tests were to blame.

After video of a Muslim student defying Hindu nationalists near her school went viral, even Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai weighed in.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

Confidence in London’s Met Police has been shaken by revelations of misogyny, including the abduction, rape and murder of a woman by one of its officers.

It’s the second time the Prince of Wales – the heir to the British throne – has contracted the virus.

Nancy Pelosi has yet to comment publicly on the incident, but the apparent mix-up of “gazpacho” and “Gestapo” quickly went viral online.

The UK will boost its military presence in Europe as part of Western efforts to deter Russia from invading Ukraine.

“The whole health system has been destroyed,” says the head doctor at the only Kabul hospital still open to coronavirus patients.

Using new techniques, scientists have dated human remains to about 10,000 years earlier than previous finds in Europe.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

Why parents, politicians and school officials around the US are challenging books at a rate that experts and librarians say is unprecedented.

The prince is being prepared for his interview under oath after his Newsnight interview prompted fears he would not perform well under pressure.

The French national of Moroccan origin said he had pledged allegiance to Islamic State 48 hours before the 2015 Paris attacks but that he had harmed no one. 

Visitors last month spotted the additions scrawled in pen on faceless subjects of Three Figures by Anna Leporskaya, one of Russia’s greatest avant-garde painters.

Audit shows the charity set up in the name of Captain Tom paid more than £53,000 into private companies owned by the late centenarian’s daughter and her husband.

States like New York and Massachusetts are winding back COVID-19 restrictions as the surge in cases eases.

Up to 40 of the 49 small satellites launched last week have either reentered the atmosphere and burned up, or are on the verge of doing so, the company said in an online update.

The centrepiece of the auction was an NFT artwork, Clock, that displays the number of days Julian Assange has been imprisoned. It updates each day.

Military planes, stopovers, Chinese support away from Asia... an island at the bottom of South America is back in the headlines.

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors