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By Andrew Osborn and Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters Igor Kirillov was killed in Moscow by a bomb was hidden in electric scooter. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defence / SUPPLIED A top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops was assassinated in Moscow by Ukraine's SBU intelligence service in the most high-profile killing of its kind. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building along with his assistant when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter went off, Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said. An SBU source confirmed to Reuters that the Ukrainian intelligence agency had been behind the ...

By Tim Lister and Eyad Kourdi, CNN A man discovered in a locked cell in a Syrian prison. Photo: CNN A man who was filmed by CNN being released by rebels from a Damascus jail was a former intelligence officer with the deposed Syrian regime, according to local residents, and not an ordinary citizen who had been imprisoned, as he had claimed. CNN initially found the man while pursuing leads on the missing US journalist Austin Tice. In a video report, chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team, accompanied by a rebel guard, came across a cell in a Damascus jail that was padlocked from the outside. The guard blew off the lock with a gun, and the man was found alone inside the cell, under a blanket. When he emerged into the open air, the man appeared bewildered. Questione...

By Elissa Steedman for the ABC The magnitude-7.3 quake hit 30 kilometres west of Port Vila at a depth of 57 kilometres. Photo: EARTHQUAKES USGS. GOV A major earthquake has struck Vanuatu, causing major damage across its capital city. While seismic activity is relatively frequent in the region, Tuesday's earthquake is considered to be one of the strongest in recent years. Here's what you need to know. What happened? At 12.47pm AEDT, a magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck near Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila. The quake hit 30 kilometres west of the city, at a depth of 57 kilometres, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Dan McGarry, a journalist in Port Vila, described the tremor as a "violent, high-frequency shake" that lasted for about 30 seconds. A tsunami warning was iss...

The embassy building is one of many in Vanuatu that has suffered heavy damage. Photo: Dan McGarry Vanuatu locals have described hearing screams from collapsing buildings as the strong earthquake struck off the coast of Port Villa. The 7.3 magnitude quake - which struck at a depth of 57 kilometres - has caused at least one death, according to reports. Twenty-year-old Emma Thompson was at a restaurant with a friend in the second storey of a building in Port Villa when the quake hit. "As soon as we started to take a few steps, the whole floor of the restaurant building dropped about 40 centimetres, and all the steel from the building was sticking out. I was on the floor with a statue all over my leg." "The building right next to us, it was a two three story building completely collapsed al...

By Nectar Gan and Gawon Bae, CNN Yoon Suk Yeol. Photo: HANDOUT / AFP Analysis - The vote by South Korea's Parliament to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday marked the culmination of a stunning political showdown sparked by his shock decision to impose martial law on the vibrant democratic country. Yoon, whose short-lived decree triggered weeks of protests and political turmoil, was suspended from office, after at least 12 members of his own ruling party voted in favor of his impeachment following his refusal to resign. But the fate of the embattled leader is far from sealed. Yoon now awaits a top court to deliberate the impeachment motion and decide whether he will be formally removed from the presidency or reinstated in office - a process that could take up to six months. Me...