Approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine would pave the way for one of the world's largest vaccination programs. In France, partygoers defied curfew at New Year's dance parties.

A federal judge ruled that Republican congressman Louie Gohmert couldn't show personal harm if Vice-President Mike Pence didn't block electoral college votes.

President-elect Joe Biden's choice for Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, collected more than $9.1 million in speaking fees over the past two years.

Peace talks between the Taliban and the government resume on January 5, but the two sides remain stuck on the meaning of terms such as "cease-fire" and "Islamic".

Under direct orders from China's President Xi Jinping, studies of bat viruses and other missing links cannot be published without government approval.

The move could complicate efforts by US President-elect Joe Biden to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal that Trump abandoned in May 2018. 

Dame Judi Dench, Sir Kenneth Branagh and Stephen Fry throw their weight behind the battle to block sale of Reading Gaol to developers.

A Californian dies from COVID-19 every three-and-a-half minutes as the hospitals are overwhelmed. But doctors say it will get worse through January.

For the first time, Trump's veto was overturned by the Republican-controlled Senate, revealing the limits of his influence in the final days of his term.

With more than 50,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 for the last four days, the health service said it was preparing for an anticipated rush of patients and needed more beds.

Explosives experts are trying to defuse a large mine discovered on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, with speculation that its linked to rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

The Republican-controlled Senate ignored Donald Trump's protestations and backed a $961 billion defence bill, despite the President wanting the money to go towards his border wall with Mexico.

Boris Johnson's bull about the Brexit trade deal being a Christmas present to the nation is nothing but a bad joke.

Some front-line health workers have wrestled with whether discussing their own side-effects might deter others from getting vaccinated.

The US President is still to concede defeat to Joe Biden but his language is changing.

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While some cities would launch fireworks over empty streets, others, such as London and Singapore, called off their displays. Paris, Rome and Istanbul were under curfew.

The suit argues that Pence has the constitutional authority to ignore votes cast for Biden in states where Republicans have tried to cast doubt on the results.

The separation at midnight on January 1, 2021, ends a five-decade partnership and turns the page on Brexit.

Police said the ex-pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of reckless endangerment, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property.

The WHO's review found that the vaccine met the must-have criteria for safety and efficacy and that the benefits of using the vaccine offset potential risks.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane told Reuters the Australian Church was not aware of any such transfers.

One medical centre's example shows how how quickly simple mathematical tools can become scapegoats for people's decision-making flaws.

Prosecutors succeeded in asking the city's highest court to send Jimmy Lai back to detention.

Ten people remain missing after a landslide in southern Norway, with rescuers deploying drones and dogs to negotiate unstable clay soil.

China's foreign minister wants improved relations. He should be taken seriously but sceptically.

Department spokesman John Elder said the incident happened about 6.15pm while officers were carrying out a traffic stop with a man suspected of a felony.

China, which claims democratically run Taiwan as its own territory, has been angered by stepped-up US support for the island nation.

Yemen's internationally recognised government said Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired four ballistic missiles at the airport.

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

Jonathan Pollard, one of the most prolific spies in US history, was greeted by Netanyahu holding Israeli ID cards.

The officials spoke as two B-52 bombers carried out a round-trip, 30-hour mission from North Dakota to the Middle East.

The Mexican president guided viewers through direct comparisons between himself and some of the other heads of government in a global survey.

The landslide struck a residential area in the municipality of Gjerdrum, about 30 kilometres north of the capital Oslo.

Critics of the deal argue that Europe is knitting itself closer to an increasingly authoritarian China at a time when Beijing has shown little inclination to follow rules.

Lockdown measures in England will be extended but the government has resisted calls to close schools, despite a mutated version of COVID-19 spreading out of control across the country.

Striking a note of reconciliation, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told former prime minister Kevin Rudd that "there are better chances we can find solutions".

Boris Johnson's Brexit deal has passed the House of Commons, bringing to an end four years of political deadlock that cost his predecessor, Theresa May, her job.

European Union officials and Chinese President Xi Jinping have concluded a business investment deal that has the potential to irk the new US administration.

The return of the group's spiritual leader Rizieq Shihab from Saudi Arabia had fuelled concern within Indonesia's government that he could harness opposition.

Legalisation was a striking rebuke of Pope Francis, who on the eve of the vote had praised a women's group for its activism against abortion.

Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the vaccine developed by Oxford University as it battles a highly contagious virus strain.

Wang Yi has called for future relations to be improved, saying a confrontation between the US and China would "spell disaster" for "humanity as a whole".

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

The deal was sealed after China committed to ratifying the United Nations' rules on forced labour, but some European Parliament MPs have doubts.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal illness similar to mad cow disease and cases have been reported in deer and elk in at least 24 American states.

Labour opposition, which formally backed Remain during the referendum, is split with several high-profile MPs set to defy Leader Keir Starmer's order to back the deal.

The President-elect said “it’s going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people” at the current pace. 

“They are trying to put me behind bars for failing to die," tweeted the opposition leader who was poisoned in Russia in August.

Judge warned in 2017, “political corruption will slowly corrode the foundations of our democracy until it collapses under its own weight”.