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Tens of thousands of people marched in central Moscow to honour the memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down near the Kremlin in the highest-profile assassination during Vladimir Putin's rule. A sea of grim-faced supporters, holding Russian flags and Nemtsov portraits, marched in the drizzle from a packed Moscow square to the bridge over the Moskva where the 55-year-old was shot in the back on Friday shortly before midnight. In what appeared to be the largest opposition gathering since anti-Kremlin rallies in 2011-12 brought more than 100,000 people into the streets, marchers honoured Nemtsov's memory while condemning Moscow's stance on Ukraine. "Stop the war" in Ukraine, said others.

Ukraine's frontlines were relatively calm ahead of high-level EU-mediated gas talks between Kiev and Moscow, as journalists mourned the killing by mortar fire of a Ukrainian photographer. Kiev's security officials said there was no fire after midnight on Ukraine's positions and no Ukrainian soldiers had been killed over the past 24 hours. Security spokesman Andriy Lysenko, however, said that eight soldiers were injured after rebels shot at Kiev's positions late Saturday, including from a tank and a grenade launcher. The relative quiet in eastern Ukraine has set in following a shaky start a European-brokered peace plan to end fighting that has killed at least 5,800 people since last April.

More than 30 people were arrested as a group of about 400 demonstrators in Hong Kong clashed with police in the latest sign of tensions caused by China's influence in the city. Protesters in Yuen Long, in Hong Kong's New Territories just a stone's throw from mainland China, chanted to "cancel the multiple-entry permit" and "topple the Chinese Communist Party" as they complained about so-called parallel traders, who buy goods in Hong Kong to sell at a profit across the border. Early on Monday, a police spokeswoman said a total of 36 people aged 13 to 74 had been arrested for offences including possessing offensive weapons, assault, disorder, and fighting. The demonstration mirrored others in recent weeks targeting mainland Chinese visitors that have tapped a seam of resentment against China, resulting in calls for greater Hong Kong nationalism and even independence from China, nearly three months after police cleared away the last of pro-democracy street protests in the city.