At least 132 students and nine staff members were killed on Tuesday after Taliban gunmen opened fire in a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, reports Reuters.

Gunmen entered the school compound with suicide vests strapped to their bodies and indiscriminately opened fire on schoolchildren and teachers, witnesses have told press.

The school, which is run by the military, is attended by over 1,100 people, many of them children of army personnel.

Russia’s foreign minister urged Ukraine to carry out  constitutional reform that allowed greater autonomy to Russian-speaking eastern regions whilst remaining a part of Ukraine.

In an interview with the Interfax news agency on Monday, Sergei Lavrov called for constitutional reform “with the participation of all regions and all political powers,” to allow the Russian speaking “rebellious” regions to exist in Ukraine.

Australian security forces stormed a café in Sydney to release hostages that had been held for 16 hours by a gunman.

Two hostages, including the gunman were killed, reported Reuters. The New South Wales police announced the end of the siege at 15:00 (GMT).

The military operation began after the gunman was named as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee who had claimed political asylum. He was facing charges of sexual assault as well as being accessory to murder.

During the siege hostages were forced to display an Islamic flag displaying the Shahada that had also been used by Islamic state militants and Al-Qaeda.

Police officers cleared the last remaining site of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong on Monday. The last site in Causeway Bay was one of three main areas where protestors have been staging sit-ins over the last three months.

In a statement following the clearance on Monday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said,

The Israeli prime minister, rejected any talk of Israel withdrawing from west Jerusalem and the West Bank within two years, reports the Associated Press.

Responding to efforts at the UN to pass a resolution placing a two year time frame for withdrawal of Israel from land seized in the 1967 war with Palestine, Benjamin Netanyahu said,

“We stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, that is an attempt to compel us by means of UN decision to withdraw to the 1967 lines within two years.”