Why does China have Taiwan in its sights? What does Taiwan want? And how would the US – and Australia – be likely to respond if there was an attack?

An abrupt decision by Britain to close its border to the United Arab Emirates has dealt a fresh blow to stranded Australians.

The government is even giving incentives to stop roughly 300 million domestic migrant workers from going home during the traditional holiday.

With polls showing increased support for Scottish independence from the UK, the British PM went to Glasgow despite a lockdown to promote the benefits of the union.

That is despite a drop of 23 per cent in the number of asylum seeker arrivals last year compared to 2019.

In echoes of a debate held in Australia in 2017, many hit out at the idea of a permanent barrier, saying the “people’s house” should not be fenced off from the public.

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

The country’s vaccine committee says there is not enough trial data available for the age group. Australia says it trusts the TGA’s assessment.

The government defended the auction, saying the elephants would not be sold to zoos. “Only some circles of people, mostly foreigners, object to this.”

The meeting came three weeks after McCarthy enraged Trump by saying the then-outgoing president bore responsibility for the deadly January 6 riot.

It comes as the Chinese Defence Ministry warned: “Those who play with fire will get burnt.”

The king, who normally appears in public wearing a robe, was pictured in a dark T-shirt and with a surgical mask on his face as he got jabbed in the arm.

Efforts to curb trading by retail investors prompted a swift response from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who tweeted: “This is unacceptable” only for far-right GOP Senator Ted Cruz to agree.

The proposed remedy is being criticised as label censorship by advocates for alternatives to conventionally produced protein.

Frontex said that it was ceasing work in Hungary until the nationalist government brings its laws into line with a ruling by the EU’s top court in December.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene supported Facebook posts that advocated violence against Democrats and the FBI. One suggested shooting Pelosi in the head.

A World Health Organisation team has emerged from quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan to start field work in a fact-finding mission on the origins of the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

The workers trekked through the snow on the highway, knocking on car windows in search of six lucky arms.

Officials are rushing to prepare up to 17,900 new plots on the outskirts of Jakarta as COVID deaths mount.

“We are dealing with incompetence, corruption, a total decay of the state, so these men are doing what they know best — taking away rights and freedoms from the citizens,” said a protest organiser.

Tony Blinken says hunger for US leadership is ‘almost palpable’.

The casino CEO and his actress wife allegedly flew to a remote community in Yukon Territory on a chartered flight and posed as hotel workers.

Australia has extended its suspension of the travel bubble with New Zealand for a further 72 hours after more community cases were reported. 

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

“We reject the logic of first come, first served,” the EU’s Health Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides said.

Douglass Mackey, who the feds say went by the Twitter name Ricky Vaughan, was a prominent anti-Semite, racist and Trump-booster online before the 2016 election.

Unlike Australia, Britain has never closed its borders and had previously allowed travellers to quarantine at home for ten days, with officials performing few checks.

The department did not cite a specific threat, but pointed to “a heightened threat environment across the United States” that it believes “will persist” for weeks.

Last year, then-president Donald Trump famously told the group to “stand back, and stand by” when asked during a debate to condemn white supremacists.

In a call to action ahead of the Glasgow climate summit, the US President’s special envoy also criticised gas as a transition fuel.

Vladimir Putin says the world risks spiralling into “all against all” conflict, as the Russian President faces fresh pressure over the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.

IOC President Thomas Bach could not guarantee there would be spectators and denied that pushing ahead with the event was “irresponsible”.

Officers raided a party at a bar on a popular resort island in southern Thailand and arrested 89 foreigners for violating coronavirus regulations, officials say.

The Internal Security Department said the teen was inspired by the Australian gunman who killed 51 worshippers at two mosques in New Zealand in 2019.

Three days of strikes have forced the Indonesian Trade Ministry to warn it may have to look elsewhere for meat imports.

It was Mount Merapi’s biggest lava flow since authorities raised its danger level in November, officials said.

The New Zealand Ministry of Health is carrying out “urgent testing” after two more people tested positive for COVID-19 after leaving hotel quarantine.

Despite pressure not to speak out, Zhang has been organising relatives of coronavirus victims in China to demand accountability from officials.

A new report accuses the government of money-laundering and being indifferent to the devastating impact on its people.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said reality did not match the rhetoric of Xi Jinping after the Chinese President told world leaders the “strong should not bully the weak”.

Breaking from the previous government, 43-year-old Kaja Kallas also pledged not to spend any more public money to support Estonia’s fossil fuel industry, and end oil shale mining by 2040.

In a report, the top human rights watchdog also found that traditionally patriarchal relationships in the South Korean mayor’s office had created conditions that led to harassment and abuse.

Republican Senator Rand Paul’s proposal argued the former president couldn’t be tried as a private citizen. It was defeated 55-45.

They are accused of using a practice they called “auto-subscribing” to charge monthly fees for unsolicited messages about celebrity gossip, horoscopes, jokes, love tips and trivia.

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

The Netherlands’ first curfew since World War II was imposed on Saturday despite weeks of falling infections.

A simple majority was needed in the Democratic-controlled chamber for his confirmation.

The panel only wants humans to make decisions on launching nuclear warheads.

With existing purchases, the White House expects to be able to deliver enough of the two-dose regimens to states to vaccinate 300 million people.

The British PM appeared sombre at a news conference held in Downing Street and said he accepted full responsibility for the handling of the pandemic.