A United States citizen who attacked US policies and its human rights record during a press conference in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang is mentally ill, his mother says.

Turkish police have detained at least 24 police officers and media workers, days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signalled a new campaign against supporters of a Muslim cleric.

Declassified files have revealed new details of US government knowledge and support of an Indonesian army extermination campaign in the 1960s.

At least 25 people, many of them schoolchildren, were killed when a speeding bus fell into a canal in southern India on Saturday, an official and media reports said.

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

What was supposed to be on the trip of a lifetime for a pair of young Aussie backpackers has become a nightmare for the family of Rye Hunt, in the fortnight since he vanished in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Herald's picture editors showcase the best images from around the globe.

Thailand's ousted PM says the junta has fined her $1.3 billion over a rice subsidy scheme critics say haemorrhaged billions of dollars.

The Rio Olympics are yet to produce its final medal tally but one team has already claimed victory.

A return to the seaside village of Unawatuna in Sri Lanka 10 years after it was devastated in the Boxing Day tsunami brought back good and bad memories for a Melbourne family.