The sentences are the latest crackdown on independent thought in a country where authorities are busy stamping out dissent ahead of an important meeting by the ruling Communist Party later this month.

Two Democratic victories will spark blood-letting among Republicans over whether Donald Trump's claims of election fraud cost them their Senate majority.

Those arrested included former politicians and pro-democracy activists, arrested on suspicion of subversion under the city’s national security law.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made a frank admission that his country's economy had "immensely underachieved" in the past five years.

China sent one official back home and the other is staying in a third country until they are granted entry.

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

After months of lockdown, Israelis view a COVID-19 vaccination as a golden ticket that will finally allow them to get on with their lives.

The US Vice-President has pushed back against Donald Trump's demand he block the congressional certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory, while also attempting to placate the President.

If Democrat Jon Ossoff wins his Senate race, he will have what is believed to be one of the closest connections to Australia of any member of Congress in US history.

Scott Morrison's claim has earned a rebuke from the UK's drug regulator, which insists batch testing does take place before distribution.

The statement represented the US government's first formal attempt to assign a possible motive for the widespread cyber attacks on federal agencies.

"Coming to play golf is not what I would consider an essential purpose," Scotland's first minister Nicole Sturgeon said on reports the President could visit.

If all goes smoothly, the result that decides control of the US Senate might be known tonight - but complications could drag out the count for days.

Virus evolution fears as one in 50 people in England had COVID-19 over Christmas: "quite a very large number indeed," said England's chief medical officer.

Plastic bottles and bags, rusty barrels and other garbage could be seen clogging the Drina river near the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad.

Despite growing vaccine access, January is looking grim around the globe as the virus resurges and reshapes itself from Britain to Japan to California.

Voters are streaming to polling sites in Georgia in a pair of run-off elections that will determine control of the US Senate.

The former head of state-owned China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd has been sentenced to death for bribe taking in one of the harshest punishments for economic crimes in recent years.

Dr Anthony Fauci says the US' slow vaccine rollout cannot be blamed on mistrust: "getting it going into the people who want it is really the issue".

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

The kingdom is seeking to grant the Trump administration a final diplomatic win, curry favour with the Biden administration and isolate its enemy Iran.

"I hope that our great Vice-President comes through for us ... Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much."

Foreign Minister Marise Payne says the embassy asked for assurances that notorious extremist Abu Bakar Bashir would not be a future threat.

The leader of the extremist group the Proud Boys was arrested on his arrival in the capitol and charged with destroying property at a Black Lives Matter rally.

Health authorities across the world are debating the wisdom of delaying the second shot for three months to make scarce supplies go further.

At his rally, Biden only referred obliquely to Trump's phone call, saying: "Power has to be given, granted by the American people. We can never give that up."

Geoffrey Robertson, QC, has called on Australia to ask US President Donald Trump to pardon the Wikileaks founder.

The win is a personal reprieve for Assange. But for those who saw the case as totemic for press freedom, the ruling is cold comfort.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warns the coming weeks will be "the hardest yet" in the pandemic as he orders third lockdown.

Georgia's Republican top election official says the White House had pushed him against his better judgment to take a call from President Donald Trump.

Iran has begun enriching uranium up to 20 per cent at an underground facility and seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

A British judge has rejected a US bid to extradite Julian Assange to face charges relating to WikiLeaks’ publication of classified cables, saying he would be a suicide risk.

After two years as President Donald Trump's most outspoken antagonist, Pelosi will now be responsible for trying to shepherd through Congress as much of President-elect Joe Biden's agenda as possible.

Even in the final days of his chaotic administration, Donald Trump seems prepared to torch the rules and conventions that have made America a great democracy.

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

All 10 living former secretaries of defence, including senior Republicans Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld warned the US was at risk of moving into “dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory”.

Ruslan Shaveddinov was one of Russia's most promising opposition politicians when security agents in black masks broke down his door and took him to a leaky hut on a desolate archipelago.

When Ryu Han-na, a 20-year-old university student, got cosmetic surgery on her nose in mid-December, she had a simple reason: it might be the last chance to do so covertly before people start taking off masks this year as vaccines are distributed.

The pastor had drawn a gun and ordered the fugitive to stop after finding him hiding in a church, authorities said, but the man grabbed the weapon.

Armed men shot men and boys in what was said to be a revenge attack on villages that refused to pay a "tax" by the militants.

Supporters of the WikiLeaks founder say the court decision could have profound implications for press freedom.

Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi said eliminating gender-specific pronouns such as "he" and "she" from House rules would make it the "most inclusive in history" for transgender and non-binary people.

The ongoing controversy over the money left behind by Prince when he died without a will is heating up again after Internal Revenue Service calculations showed that executors of the rock star's estate undervalued it by more than $100 million.

US President Donald Trump pressured Georgia's top election official to "find" enough votes to overturn his defeat in the state, according to audio of a phone call.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday tougher lockdown restrictions were probably on the way as COVID-19 cases keep rising.

India faced questions from industry experts and opposition lawmakers on Sunday after approving a vaccine without publishing efficacy data.

Two top US health officials on Sunday disputed a claim by President Donald Trump that federal data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States is overblown, and both expressed optimism that the pace of vaccinations is picking up.

If I lost my mind, at least I wasn’t in public office. Donald Trump didn’t handle 2020 too well either.

Hundreds of Tibetans in exile braved the rain and cold in Dharmsala on Sunday to vote in a new political leader.

Indonesia starts its vaccine rollout this week, Russia has inoculated almost 1 million and the Vatican will jab everyone - including the Pope - this month.