Tens of thousands of Australians were ordered to flee their homes yesterday, as torrential rain sent floodwaters to record levels, leaving residents stranded on the rooftops of their homes.

Climate change is upon us and humanity is far from ready, the United Nations climate panel warned in a major report yesterday.

Oil prices jumped on Monday as Western allies imposed more sanctions on Russia and blocked some Russian banks from a global payments system, which could cause severe disruption to its oil exports.

The OPEC+ cartel of top oil producers at their monthly meeting on Wednesday are likely to be powerless to rein in prices, which have soared above $100 after member Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s army says it fought off several attempts by Russian forces to storm the outskirts of Kyiv overnight with the capital also hit by three missile strikes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart on Monday that the demilitarisation of Ukraine and Western recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula were prerequisites to ending fighting in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

The websites of several Russian media outlets were hacked on Monday, Reuters checks showed, with their regular sites replaced by an anti-war message and calls to stop President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian shelling killed at least 11 civilians in Ukraine's second most populated city Kharkiv on Monday, the regional governor said, adding that dozens more were wounded.

Hungary will not send troops or weapons to Ukraine and will not allow lethal weapons to transit its territory in order to keep the country safe, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday during a visit to Kosovo.

Setting aside political differences, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today offered unconditional support to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Ukraine issue and urged him to consider convening an all-party meeting for a national resolve to emerge from the crisis.

They file into neighbouring countries by the hundreds of thousands — refugees from Ukraine clutching children in one arm, belongings in the other. And they’re being heartily welcomed, by leaders of countries like Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania.

After curfew was lifted, Ukrainian people along with Bangladeshis -- currently in Kyiv -- are standing in long queues in front of grocery stores and restaurants to buy food, especially dry ones.

The European Union is preparing to grant Ukrainians who flee the war the right to stay and work in the 27-nation bloc for up to three years, senior EU and French officials said.

Ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials began on the Belarusian border on Monday as Russia faced deepening economic isolation four days after invading Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday asked the European Union to allow Ukraine to gain membership under a special procedure immediately as it defends itself from invasion by Russian forces.

Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google confirmed on Sunday it has temporarily disabled for Ukraine some Google Maps tools which provide live information about traffic conditions and how busy different places are.

Russia has apparently rendered Facebook largely unusable across leading Russian telecommunications providers amid rising friction between Moscow and the social media platform.

In a call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that he believed the next 24 hours was a crucial period for Ukraine.

Ukraine's health ministry said on Sunday that 352 civilians, including 14 children, had been killed since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said on Sunday that it was "very probable" that neutral Switzerland would follow the European Union (EU) on Monday in sanctioning Russia and freezing Russian assets in the Alpine country.