How does the transfer of power work? How do the nuclear codes change hands? And when do the Bidens move into the White House?

Health authorities say there's no evidence of a direct link between the recent string of deaths among elderly people, and the COVID vaccine they received.

One poor country received a mere 25 coronavirus vaccine doses while over 39 million doses have been administered in nearly 50 richer nations.

A Biden spokeswoman said: "With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this was not the time to be lifting restrictions."

As the Russian opposition leader was led out of a police station, he told supporters that the only thing they needed to be afraid of was their own fear.

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

The charter rejects extremism, refuses foreign influence and requires imams to condemn "all forms of racism, discrimination and hatred". It faces resistance from some quarters.

The Chinese mining company did not report the 22 gold miners were missing for more than 30 hours. A week later, a note came to the surface. 

Washington residents never liked Donald Trump. But instead of party central, the US capital feels like an occupied military zone in his final days as President.

The move comes as the nation's most populous state became the first to record more than 3 million known coronavirus infections.

The list of "heroes" Trump wants commemorated includes Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney and Woody Guthrie, who wrote Old Man Trump about the President's father.

Chinese employees of the Philippines' online casinos are smuggling in shipments of Pfizer and Sinovac, though locals cannot get any vaccine legally yet.

Biden's first priority for renewed talks is getting both Iran and the United States back in compliance with Obama's nuclear deal.

Environmentalists have long been trying to sterilise the hippos, but it can take three months to track an individual animal and the procedure is not easy.

Fresh research into the long-term effects of COVID finds the disease plagues sufferers for months - and more than one in 10 have died after being discharged.

Riley Williams has disappeared after allegedly abandoning her scheme, but a heavy metal guitarist accused of attacking Capitol police has turned himself in.

The US Capitol complex temporarily locked down during a rehearsal for President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration after a nearby fire caused security concerns.

The boy became the youngest Briton ever convicted of terrorism after he encouraged Australian jihadist Sevdet Besim to attack police.

A Russian judge has remanded Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in pre-trial detention for 30 days for violating the terms of a suspended jail sentence.

The Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol were deplorables. But they were also victims.

In a much-anticipated retrial, the Seoul High Court found Lee guilty of bribing then-President Park Geun-hye and her close confidante in 2015.

Serological tests of a brown fish owl, which died at the National Zoological Park in New Delhi, confirmed that the bird was infected with the H5N8 virus.

But scores of others remain stranded in the multibillion-dollar trade dispute between Australia and China.

Gideon Saar, who defected from Netanyahu's ruling Likud party to form the New Hope party last month, shares the Israeli PM's hardline nationalistic ideology.

In scenes captured by veteran war correspondent Luke Mogelson, rioters tell police: "You're outnumbered. We are listening to Trump - your boss."

The find, 3000 to 4000 years old, includes coffins and mummies, the funerary temple of Queen Nearit and a four-metre long papyrus that contains texts of the Book of the Dead.

As Trump prepares more than 100 pardons and commutations for the day before Inauguration, he is not expected to pardon himself - because it would make him look guilty.

The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary security concerns that have gripped Washington.

China's GDP grew 2.3 per cent in 2020 making it the only major economy to avoid a pandemic-induced contraction last year.

Separately about 40,000 people have been evacuated and at least 20 have been killed due to floods that affected other parts of the country at the weekend.

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

Under tough new rules permitted by emergency powers, Germans who repeatedly refuse to quarantine after being exposed to the coronavirus will be locked up in detention centres.

Pardons and commutations are intended to show mercy to deserving recipients, but Donald Trump has used many of them to reward personal or political allies.

A year ago the US and China agreed a truce in their trade war. The latest data confirms that Donald Trump's attempt to slow China's export growth and lower the US trade deficit has failed.

The test thrusts Virgin Orbit into an increasingly competitive commercial space race, offering a unique “air-launch” method of sending satellites to orbit alongside rivals such as Rocket Lab and Firefly Aerospace.

The number of COVID deaths in the past year is fast approaching the 405,000 US fatalities over four years during World War II.

The spate of almost daily unclaimed killings is thought to be largely the work of the Taliban, in what is feared to be in part a chilling new campaign to silence liberal voices.

The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now said that over 90 per cent of the homes lay deep inside the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as the heartland of a future independent state.

Members of the failed Trump campaign found to have played key roles in orchestrating the Washington rally that spawned a deadly assault on the US Capitol.

Brandon Fellows previously said he had “no regrets” for having entered the Capitol through a broken window, roaming the halls and smoking a joint in a senator's office.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been detained after returning to Russia for the first time since he was poisoned.

Spector produced 20 top 40 hits between 1961 and 1965 and went on to work with the Beatles on Let It Be, as well as Leonard Cohen, the Righteous Brothers and Tina Turner.

If history can ever repeat, it did on January 6 when Trump supporters marched on the US Capitol.

They are businessmen born in mainland China, serve on top advisory committees to Beijing and profess patriotism for the motherland. Now, they are seeking to bring that ardour to Hong Kong, as the founders of the city's newest political party.

It was once a stop on the hippie trail and inspiration for the Lonely Planet guidebooks. So how did Afghanistan come to be defined by war and terrorism?

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

Once a hub for both Western and Indian tourists, Kashmir has been reeling for more than a year. First, India brought in security forces. Then the coronavirus struck.

The opening salvo would herald a 10-day blitz of executive actions as Biden seeks to act swiftly to redirect the country in the wake of Donald Trump's presidency without waiting for Congress.

Thousands of Hondurans, many of them families with children, are travelling in a migrant caravan headed for the United States as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take power.

The far-right media personality posted a video that showed supporters of Trump taking selfies with officers in the Capitol, telling the officers and each other: "This is only the beginning."