World

Scientists advising the World Health Organisation have recommended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in adults of all ages. The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation has issued interim recommendations on the vaccine, saying that the jab could be given to people aged 18 and above “without an upper age limit”. “That

Prominent Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul has been released from prison after spending more than 1,000 days behind bars. Her sister Lina posted the news on Twitter with a screenshot of a smiling Loujian speaking to her via video call but warned that while she was out of jail she was still not fully

A 100-year-old man in Germany has been charged with 3,518 counts of being an accessory to murder over claims he was a member of the SS at a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War. It is claimed the man, who cannot be named due to German laws, worked at the Sachsenhausen camp between

There is a continuous sound of heavy machinery at the mouth of the main tunnel of the Tapovan power station in India’s Uttarakhand state. Rescuers are desperately trying to reach about 35 workers trapped inside a tunnel after a glacier collapse. It has now been more than 60 hours since a Himalayan glacier broke off

The impoverished country of Haiti – already an economic disaster zone with organised crime and kidnapping for ransom out of control – now finds itself in the midst of a constitutional crisis with violent confrontations between anti-government protesters and the police a daily occurrence. The country’s leading opposition parties, the judiciary and activist groups say

Myanmar’s military ruler has promised to hold an election and hand power to the winner. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was addressing the country on television, as nationwide protests against his coup last week intensified. The military seized power last Monday, detaining democratically-elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her government, claiming there had been

Iran’s supreme leader has said Tehran’s “irreversible and final” decision is to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal only if Washington lifts sanctions on the country. The comment, reported by Iranian State TV, comes as US President Joe Biden said he would lift sanctions to simply get Iran back to the negotiating table.

South Africa is suspending its rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after finding it offers limited protection against mild disease caused by the COVID-19 variant discovered there. It follows disappointing results in a trial conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said. The government had been intending to give the AstraZeneca

Tens of thousands of people have marched for a second day in Myanmar’s biggest city to denounce the military coup. Protesters in Yangon carried red balloons – the colour representing the party of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained by the military last week. Sunday was the second day of protests and

*Warning – this story contains descriptions of a child who has suffered extensive burns* The vicious conflict in Syria has been raging for 10 years. One of the worst humanitarian disasters in history, more than 6.5 million people have been displaced, forced to escape the violence. Many of them live in camps in the Idlib

You can see the boats sail into Pakaquiteta beach every morning, carrying people and possessions from an area in Mozambique that is known as “the land of fear”. More than half a million people have fled from northern parts of the country’s most northerly province, Cabo Delgado, and thousands of evacuees have sought sanctuary on

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has criticised the Russian government after diplomats from several European countries were expelled from the country for allegedly joining protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The Russian foreign ministry said Polish, German and Swedish officials took part in what it described as “illegal demonstrations” in St Petersburg and

People may be able to catch COVID-19 twice and suffer two completely separate bouts of the disease within just four months, doctors have said. The warning comes after evidence emerged of a man whose infections were separated by four months of no symptoms and serial negative tests for the virus. But although dwindling immunity could

There was no accidental leakage of disease from a Chinese laboratory with a history of studying coronaviruses, an international team investigating the origins of COVID-19 has been told. The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was on Wednesday visited by World Health Organisation (WHO) experts who are looking for clues as to how the COVID-19 pandemic

The lawyer representing hundreds of families still grieving after the Beirut explosion has told Sky News that the British authorities may hold the key to providing them with answers and justice. It is six months since one of the largest ever non-nuclear explosions ripped through the port in the Lebanese capital. More than 200 people