World

Civilians in Afghanistan face a “deadly and dangerous” situation amid concerns that the capital Kabul could fall to the Taliban within 90 days, a former foreign secretary has said. David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, warned the West not to take its eyes off Afghanistan as the Taliban‘s forces continue to make gains

A British embassy worker has been arrested in Germany on spying charges. The British national, named as David S, was arrested in Potsdam after he allegedly worked “for a foreign secret service”, the German public prosecutor said in a statement. The statement continued: “Until his arrest, David S worked as a local employee at the

At least 32 people have been killed in wildfires that erupted in Algeria, including 25 soldiers trying to save residents from the blazes, the country’s officials have said. The fires have been ravaging forests and villages east of the capital, Algiers, in the Kabyle region. Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane said the blazes appeared to be

The first case of Marburg virus has been confirmed in West Africa after a man died of the haemorrhagic fever disease in Guinea. The virus, which belongs to the same family as Ebola, spreads from human to human through bodily fluids and can have a fatality rate of up to 88%. Symptoms include a high

It is sad to think that just a few days ago a family lived happily in the burned shell of the house we are now looking around in the village of Limni on Evia Island. That next door the same family ran a business built over 40 years. Now, the son of the family, Pablos

Heatwaves, flooding and droughts will be more frequent and more intense as the world is set to hit the 1.5C global warming limit in the next 20 years, a landmark United Nations review has predicted. The milestone scientific assessment says the rate of warming in the last 2,000 years has been “unprecedented” and it was

In hiding and desperate, two former Afghan interpreters have urged the UK to rescue them from what they see as a Taliban death sentence because they worked for British troops. Both men, named “N” and “W” to protect their identities, said they applied to a government scheme to be allowed to resettle in Britain, but

From Greece to California, the summer has seen wildfires rage in several places around the world, with lives lost and thousands evacuated. In Europe, where some officials have blamed climate change for the large number of fires, blazes have burned in several countries, from Italy to Greece and Turkey. Massive fires also have been burning

British firefighters are being deployed to tackle the raging wildfires in Greece – as new footage shows people escaping by boat as flames fill the sky. It comes after the death of a volunteer firefighter and the evacuation of thousands of people from an island near Athens, as well as towns north of the capital.

A volunteer firefighter has died in and thousands of people have been evacuated from an island near Athens as wildfires rage in Greece. Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said firefighters faced “exceptionally dangerous, unprecedented conditions” as they battled 154 wildfires on Friday, with 64 still burning into the night. “Over the past few days we

British nationals in Afghanistan are being told to leave immediately as the country moves into what the UN has described as a “deadlier and more destructive phase”. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Friday evening issued an advisory against all travel to Afghanistan. It added: “If you are still in Afghanistan, you are advised

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it has removed two Belarusian team coaches from the Games, four days after they were involved in trying to send sprinter Krystina Tsimanouskaya back to Belarus. The organisation said it had cancelled and removed the credentials of Artur Shimak and Yury Maisevich. “The two coaches were requested to leave the

A Belarusian sprinter who has flown to Poland after a stand-off with her country’s officials at the Tokyo Olympics said her grandmother had advised her not to return home. Krystina Tsimanouskaya had refused her team’s orders to go back to Belarus early from the Games after she criticised coaches. The 24-year-old’s criticism on social media

I spot George Kyriakopolous sitting in his car, the door open to blackened surroundings and smouldering earth. To his left is his house. To the right, the one owned by his 95-year-old mother and 98-year-old father. His parents’ property is burned beyond repair. His own house is badly damaged. George is a man in shock.

Security forces in Lebanon have fired water cannon and tear gas at anti-government protesters calling for justice on the one-year anniversary of the Beirut explosion. Demonstrators in the city had been throwing stones at the parliament building, with some trying to climb its gate. Earlier, thousands of people gathered to hold a moment of silence

Two people died and more than 40 others were injured when a fast train from Munich collided with a commuter passenger train in the Czech Republic. Four people who were seriously injured were taken to hospital by helicopter and seven others required surgery. Another 31 people were injured in the crash near the western Czech