World

A key commitment on fossil fuels has been watered down in a draft of the final agreement between nearly 200 nations at the COP26 climate summit – and the latest text has sparked a backlash from campaigners. An earlier draft text had stated that nations should pledge “to accelerate the phase-out of coal and subsidies

Outside a detention centre in the Polish city of Bialystok, where we know asylum seekers who crossed the border from Belarus are being held, we meet a local mother and son. They have arrived as visitors. The mother, who only wants to be known as Zofia, is carrying a bag of clothes. She plans to

The president of the COP26 climate talks has sounded the alarm on a “number of issues” outstanding on funding for poor nations, urging progress on all topics before we are “literally out of time”. In an address in Glasgow, Alok Sharma urged countries to “step up” when it comes to climate finance, an issue that

Scientists have warned that some countries in eastern Europe risk facing repeated COVID-19 restrictions until vaccination rates improve. Coronavirus infections have risen across the continent as restrictions were relaxed over the summer. But a recent surge in cases has led to the continent experiencing two very different pandemics. In eastern Europe, Romania and Bulgaria have

Two groups of migrants have reportedly managed to cross the border from Belarus into Poland, amid accusations that Belarusian forces have fired shots into the air near a makeshift camp. Poland’s Defense Ministry posted a video on Twitter with noises of what sounded like shots in a border area. The footage cannot be independently verified

At least 16 UN workers have been “detained against their will” in war-torn Ethiopia, while British nationals have been told to leave the African nation immediately. Since Ethiopia declared a state of emergency last week, the government has been able to arrest anyone suspected of being involved with a terrorist group without needing a court

A group of migrants have camped overnight on the far side of Poland’s eastern border in Belarus. Polish police posted a video on Tuesday, which showed the migrants were met with riot police and coils of razor wire, but officers said the situation overnight was calm. That followed a day of heavy tensions on the

The absence of President Jair Bolsonaro at the critical UN summit in Glasgow is not a problem, Brazil’s top climate diplomat has told Sky News. Asked if it was embarrassing that the President had not attended COP26, Paulino de Carvalho Neto said: “Not really. He had other things to do. We have a huge delegation

Satellite images have revealed that China has built mock-ups of US warships in its northwestern desert. The images captured by Colorado-based satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies dated on Sunday show the outlines of a US aircraft carrier and at least one destroyer that sits on a railway track. It comes as China has made a

The family of a 21-year-old Kenyan woman said to have been murdered by a British soldier are taking legal action against the Ministry of Defence. Relatives of Agnes Wanjiru, a single mother to a young baby, have instructed British legal firm Leigh Day to represent them in a bid to find answers to her death

Iraq’s prime minister has survived an attempted assassination by a drone armed with explosives. The government said the drone targeted Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi’s home in Baghdad’s Green Zone early on Sunday. By early afternoon, it was reported that troops were being deployed across the city. State news agency INA quoted an interior

Iraq’s prime minister has survived an attempted assassination by a drone armed with explosives. The government said the drone targeted Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi’s home in Baghdad’s Green Zone early on Sunday. Baghdad residents heard the sound of an explosion followed by gunfire from the heavily-fortified area, which houses government offices and foreign

Scores of people have been killed after an oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, with the country’s president mourning the “horrendous loss of life”. Local authorities and morgue officials told the Reuters news agency that 91 people had been killed in the incident near Freetown. The government has yet to confirm the number of

Nine armed Ethiopian factions have joined forces in a bid to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed from power. The newly-formed United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces aims to form a transitional government “by force or by negotiation”. “There is no limit for us… Time is running out”, said Tigray official and former foreign

Tourists at a beach resort in Mexico were left scrambling for cover after a gang of men shot dead two suspected drug dealers in front of several luxury hotels. Gunmen stormed a beach in front of the high-end resort of Puerto Morelos, just south of Cancun on Thursday. They then shot dead two men, who

Drive through the swamplands of Western Siberia, and you’ll pass one oil installation after the next. This is the largest petroleum basin on Earth and the heartland of Russia’s vast oil and gas reserves.  Pipelines cut through the swampy ground. Fuel tankers thunder past, carrying hydrocarbons for global delivery. There is not much sense of