A gunman has killed nine people and wounded 20 others in a school in central Russia, authorities said.

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

Surf instructor Jeff Walton was caught with heroin and methamphetamine when arriving in Bali from Vietnam and faces a long stretch in an Indonesian prison.

Italians have voted in an election that could move the country’s politics sharply toward the right during a critical time for Europe.

The outcome of the vote is being watched nervously in European capitals and financial markets, given the desire to preserve unity in dealings with Russia and concerns over Italy’s daunting debt mountain.

The 1.6 square kilometres of plastic pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is being removed by The Ocean Cleanup.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, clearly believes that compromising on the regime’s ideological pillars – including hijab – will only hasten its collapse.

The escalating rhetoric of a US response to a nuclear detonation follows Russia’s faltering efforts on the Ukraine battlefield.

Polls show far right candidate Giorgia Meloni is set to be the new Italian PM.

A community has been left "devastated" by the deaths of two young student rowers who were killed by an apparent lightning strike in Florida.

Protests against Russia's military mobilisation has led to thousands of arrests.

While the agency is searching the heavens for deadly space rocks, it also is developing methods for responding to a threat, should one emerge.

A recording device has battled towering waves and powerful winds to give a view inside Hurricane Fiona.

London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed that reinforcements had been called in when protesters tried to break police lines and storm towards the embassy compound.

Anthony Albanese and former PMs will fly to Japan for Shinzo Abe state funeral.

The mobilisation has prompted both sides to trade a fresh round of insults; a Kremlin spokesman said fake statements were partly to blame for the ridicule.

Empathy for the assassin who killed Japan’s longest-serving prime minister has matched sympathy for the victim.

In the coming northern winter, as he tries to blast the people of Ukraine into submission, Putin will attempt to freeze the people of wider Europe into acquiescence.

UK Opposition Leader Keir Starmer looked to have captured the mood of the country as he opened the Labour Party conference with a rousing rendition of God Save the King.

Russia has been accused of holding its referendum of eastern Ukraine residents “under the muzzle of an automatic rifle”.