The prime minister will call on G7 leaders to pledge to vaccinate the world’s population against COVID-19 by the end of 2022. Boris Johnson is planning to use the UK’s presidency of the group to push for global vaccination coverage within the next 18 months. When he meets fellow G7 leaders face-to-face on Friday –
World
A chemical-laden cargo ship which is slowly sinking off the coast of Sri Lanka is being monitored for environmental damage by salvage experts. The MV X-Press Pearl began sinking on Wednesday, a day after authorities extinguished a fire that had torn through the vessel over 12 days, with volunteers describing the situation as the “worst
The world’s leading economies are on the brink of announcing a historic deal to tax the tech giants, the German finance minister has told Sky News. Olaf Scholz said the plan to reform the taxation of tech companies and introduce a minimum level for business tax rates would “change the world”, bringing in billions of
Brussels is to ban Belarusian planes from EU airspace as it ramps up pressure on the Minsk regime over the forced diversion of a passenger jet and arrest of a government critic. The move will also see European airlines strongly encouraged to avoid flying over the ex-Soviet country, which sparked an international outcry after a
Dissident journalist Roman Protasevich has been filmed appearing to praise Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in a new video. In the clip, recorded for Belarusian state-controlled TV, Mr Protasevich was asked whether he respected the president, to which he replied: “Absolutely.” Mr Protasevich, 26, said Mr Lukashenko has “acted like a man with balls of steel”,
Did the Middle East’s only democracy prove last night that, however messy it may be, democracy prevails? Or will it prove, over the coming days, that it is the most dysfunctional of democracies? Benjamin Netanyahu is still Israel‘s prime minister. He will remain so until the new coalition passes a vote of confidence in the
Israel appears to be on the brink of a new political era after an awkward coalition of parties from across the political spectrum announced it had formed a government. Taking negotiations up to the wire, opposition leader Yair Lapid informed the country’s president late on Wednesday that he had struck a power-sharing deal with a
Iran’s largest navy warship has sunk in the Gulf of Oman after catching fire. Iranian media did not give an explanation for the fire but said it had started at 2.25am local time on Wednesday. Photos on social media showed sailors in life jackets evacuating the ship as it sank near the port of Jask,
In a safe house in Myanmar, resistance is growing. Quietly, in the gloomy light, a group of men raise their hands in a three-finger salute. Traditionally a sign of defiance and support for pro-democracy protesters, for these men it symbolises so much more. Once police or soldiers, they now plan to fight the forces they
Peru’s COVID-19 death toll has more than doubled following an official review of deaths. A new analysis of the number of fatalities found there have been 180,764 in a population of about 32.6 million, compared to recent data indicating that 69,342 people had died from coronavirus. The new figure makes Peru the country with the
Coronavirus variants have been renamed with letters of the Greek alphabet following criticism of the way they have been labelled up until now. Under a new system revealed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Kent variant will now be known as Alpha, the Indian variant as Delta, and the South African variant as Beta.
China’s ruling Communist Party will now allow couples to have three children instead of two in a drive to reverse its ageing population. According to state-run news agency Xinhua, the change in policy was approved during a politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping. For decades, China had a one-child policy – initially imposed to
Israel’s opposition parties are moving closer to reaching an agreement that could mean the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12 years in power. Naftali Bennett, leader of the small Yamina party and a kingmaker following elections held in March, said he would join a diverse collection of opponents to form a unity government and
Thousands of people have gathered across Brazil to protest at President Bolsonaro’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic. People turned out in at least 16 Brazilian cities on Saturday, including the capital Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, calling for his impeachment and demanding more coronavirus jabs. Mr Bolsonaro‘s popularity has plummeted in the past year, with
Novoshakhtinsk is a nondescript former mining city on Russia’s border with Ukraine. It is not the place for a day-trip. But six days a week, two or three buses pull up to the local community centre and passengers pile out clutching documents. They are all residents of the separatist republics of Eastern Ukraine and they
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo over warnings that a volcano could erupt again – with some families struggling to find enough food and water. At least 31 people died when Mount Nyiragongo sent a wall of lava spreading towards the city of Goma last Saturday,