A mayor, her husband and son were shot at close range. The bodies of some 410 civilians have been retrieved from around Kyiv.

The Hong Kong chief executive will put an end to a 42-year career that saw her transform from a social activist to an icon of Beijing’s authoritarian reach.

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

“We won a victory so big that you can see it from the moon, and you can certainly see it from Brussels,” said the man often condemned by the EU.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of carrying out a massacre in the town of Bucha, while Western nations reacted to images of dead bodies there with calls for new sanctions against Moscow.

Afghanistan produces about 5.5 tonnes of opium, which the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says could potentially yield 290 tonnes of pure heroin.

“It’s a very unusual thing for us to find that suddenly everything goes dark in terms of tracking the movements and the conversations of the president.”

Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist who has boasted of his close ties with Vladimir Putin, has sought to portray himself as a guarantor of stability amid the Ukraine war.

Submitting himself to jabs for months, the 60-year-old was caught when he showed up at a vaccination centre for the second day in a row.

Mariia Ruban escaped to Sydney with her eight-year-old daughter – and says she can only hope the nightmare at home will end.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan called for an election after the deputy speaker of parliament cancelled a no-confidence vote in a surprise move that the opposition said was illegal.

Ukrainian forces were advancing on Saturday into areas north of Kyiv littered with debris and destroyed Russian tanks as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused departing Russian soldiers of leaving behind mines.

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

Most of the cases were likely to involve the Omicron subvariant known as BA.2, the most transmissible version of the virus yet identified.

Jamaica’s move could kill off its short-term ambitions to become a republic.

Images of crying children who have been separated from their parents and sent to a Shanghai health facility have gone viral in China.

With Ukraine retaking lost territory and his elite tank division routed, experts fear the Russian president will turn to weapons of mass destruction to save face.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have been dragged into the multimillion-pound fraud case that has embroiled their father, amid claims they also received money.

It is time to plant seeds of hope in both the war zones of Ukraine and the flood zones of northern NSW.

The entire Hong Kong population of more than 7.4 million people will be asked to voluntarily test at home for COVID-19 for three days in a row.

A Ukrainian official says at least three Russian ballistic missiles were fired at the Odesa region. Strikes were also reported in Poltava, east of Kyiv.

Australian-Tuvaluan Ian Fry has been chosen as the Human Rights Council’s first-ever Special Rapporteur on climate change.

Shortly after the first EU-China virtual summit since 2020 ended, a senior Chinese diplomat said his country wasn’t deliberately circumventing sanctions on Russia.

Russian forces have left "a complete disaster" outside Kyiv, Ukraine's President said on Saturday.

Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Saturday. Two more were killed on Friday, following attacks that left 11 Israelis dead.

The Roman Catholic Church had sought to erase indigenous cultures at its residential schools. Many children suffered abuse and were buried in unmarked graves.

The heist, the subject of an episode of Netflix’s “Dirty Money”, involved replacing the sweet liquid with water and trafficking the original.

The country was once a leader in accepting homosexuality. But under Viktor Orban, old anxieties are being harnessed for political gain.

Maxwell had argued for a new trial because the juror’s failure to disclose his past abuse denied her lawyers a chance to question him about potential bias.

A senior group of Congress members will form a special AUKUS working group to elevate the deal in the US capital.

The vote unionise marked the first successful US organising effort in Amazon’s history.

NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg says intelligence indicates Russia is trying to regroup, resupply its forces and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region.

Pavel Kulazhanka is a Belarusian volunteer fighter in Ukraine. He says halting Putin’s march on Kyiv is a step towards democracy in his own country.

It’s essential that we give small and increasingly impoverished countries a voice in the big decisions on issues such as climate change and security.

What started as a meeting in Townsville in November 2000 will end with Solomon Islands signing a security deal with Beijing.

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

The contents of the President’s son’s laptop are now the subject of a federal probe.

In the months leading up to the invasion on February 24, France played down the imminence of a full-scale attack - in stark contrast to allies, notably the US and Britain.

The feat opens up new territories for researchers and could have practical applications in the realm of personalised medicine.

Claims of a Russian pullback are not trusted as Ukraine forces re-take positions outside Kyiv.

Andrew and his former wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, both received “suspicious” payments on the orders of an ex-Goldman Sachs banker, as part of an international £40 million fraud, it is alleged in High Court.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has upended Hungary’s election campaign – which even Orban supporters thought was heading in the wrong direction for the Moscow-friendly leader.

In the survey, emotional abuse was defined as swearing, insulting or belittling; physical abuse was defined as hitting, beating, kicking or physically hurting.

Joe Biden is ordering an historic oil release, while Vladimir Putin has announced foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas.

India’s Foreign Minister says it is natural for a country to seek cheap oil, as criticism grows over India’s purchase of discounted Russian oil.

Graham Fletcher said Australia had “no confidence in the validity of a process which is conducted in secret”.

The agreement paves the way for China to take its first major stake in security in the Pacific and tests Australia’s century-long influence over the region.

Three of Australia’s most senior judges will remain on Hong Kong’s top court after Britain pulled out its judges in response to Beijing’s national security laws.

El Shafee Elsheikh is accused of a playing a leadership role in an IS cell known for decapitations and torture. The cell included “Jihadi John” now dead.

The proposed project involving a member of the Quad alliance would undermine the sanctions imposed against Vladimir Putin over his February invasion of neighbour Ukraine.