Australians directed to leave Ukraine immediately as Russian tanks roll into the breakaway territories.

The country is stuck in a never-ending cycle of corruption and his brother, former PM Saad Hariri, has announced he is bowing out of politics.

Western governments, including Australia’s, are huffing and puffing and imposing sanctions on Russia. But no one is stopping it.

The decision, in 1998, to expand NATO into central and eastern Europe was designed to kick Russia when it was weak. Instead, it fuelled Putin’s nationalistic fires.

As a misreading of history, the claim that Ukraine was invented by Lenin was extreme even by the standards of Putin.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, Russia said it would not accept “a new bloodbath” in the Donbas.

Human rights activists say the women were forced to make the declarations.

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

A fourth dose of a COVID vaccine may be unnecessary for most people, say a flurry of new studies.

A quick guide to the latest twists in the Ukraine crisis.

An official study found a modified scooter crossing the French capital at night can wake as many as 10,000 people.

When Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly president was driven from office in February 2014, Russia responded by annexing Crimea, then threw its weight behind an insurgency in eastern Ukraine.   

It will become the first jurisdiction to allow people with COVID infections to continue working and socialising without facing penalty.

America won’t defend Ukraine against a Russian invasion because it is seized with the all-consuming urgency of defending itself, against China.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia would decide later in the day whether or not to recognise two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent.

I grew up in Sydney hearing stories about how my Ukrainian grandparents had to flee their homeland. When I return to the country tomorrow, I’ll be thinking of them.

The US says Russian front-line commanders have been ordered to begin final preparations for an attack.

In a letter to the UN, the US says targets would include exiled dissidents, journalists and “religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons”.

Perhaps Buckingham Palace would be wise to focus on quality over quantity when it comes to the monarch’s forthcoming engagements.

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

The Prime Minister told protesters outside the Parliament that measures would not be lifting because of their actions, but because the need for them was passing.

An archaeological report has raised concerns about the Australian National Maritime Museum’s declaration that the final resting place of Captain Cook’s Endeavour has been found.

The world is watching as Russian President Vladimir Putin amasses troops on the border with Ukraine.

The launch would restore Trump’s presence on social media more than a year after he was banned from Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

Julie and Rupert Wills, visiting Windsor to the west of London, said they loved the Queen “to bits”, with Rupert respecting her ability to just “quietly get on with” things.

Challenges remain for holidaymakers hoping to visit the popular Indonesian island, prompting some adventure-seeking families to hatch alternative plans.

They started with a diplomatic boycott, half a dozen cities in lockdown and a spectacle loaded with geopolitics, but by Sunday, China had made the most of its moment in the spotlight.

The Queen, 95, has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms, but expects to continue light duties, Buckingham Palace has announced.

Researchers have investigated the rumours circulating online and in Russian news media that could be the groundwork for an invasion of Ukraine.

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

The claim was that in recent days tens of thousands of women, children and elderly residents in breakaway regions had fled an impending Ukraine “genocide”. The reality appears altogether different.

Exhausted, confused, isolated and depressed Americans are not buying the Democratic line that things are better than they look.

Like so many autocrats, over time the Russian leader has surrounded himself with cronies, yes-men and like-minded mini-mes.

Boris Johnson’s plan would make England the first major European country to allow people who know they are infected with COVID-19 to freely use shops, public transport and go to work.

In new signs that a war could start within days, Germany and Austria have told their citizens to leave Ukraine, while the US warns Russia is “poised to strike”.

One of Epstein’s main accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, said the death of well-known model scout Jean-Luc Brunel was “devastating”.

The Beijing Winter Games have survived a lack of snow, a pandemic, and very strict rules, to arrive at substantial wins for the Chinese Communist Party.

The US says Moscow has 190,000 troops ready. Biden says the Russian President has made up his mind. Scott Morrison says Russia’s bullying “is not something we can allow to stand.”

Sport glory and the threat of invasion of Ukraine seem worlds apart but are pieces of a Russian puzzle coming together while everyone watches on.

In Lebanon, Iran-backed Hezbollah said the flight was a “reconnaissance mission”.

Quarantine facilities are at capacity and hospital beds are more than 95 per cent full, with elderly patients left on beds outside in chilly weather.

In Greece’s rural heartland, tractors have become a symbol of anxiety. Now they’ve started forming truck-style protest convoys.

It is an unusual gambit, in part because US President Joe Biden has repeatedly made clear he has no intention of sending US troops to defend Ukraine.

A new exhibition sheds light on a mysterious circle that England’s prehistoric ancestors constructed in a salt marsh.

Winds ripped off the roof of London’s O2 Arena, while plane-spotters under the Heathrow flightpath filmed live as plane after plane defied the weather.

Families of sailors lost on the famous World War II cruiser are resisting a proposal to open the wreck off the coast of Indonesia to marine tourism and diving.

The plot to oust Patricia Scotland as Secretary-General appears to have come undone after her Kenyan rival Monica Juma withdrew from the race.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns the UN Security Council that a Russian false flag operation could include a fake or real assault using chemical weapons.

Until last year, South Korea had never had reached 8000 new cases a day. But with Omicron, the daily caseload soared to 109,831 on Friday.

Authorities took into custody 1266 migrants “from different continents that were transiting irregularly”. More than 200 were minors travelling alone.