Pakistan’s national power grid has experienced a major breakdown, leaving millions of people in darkness, government officials have said. “A countrywide blackout has been caused by a sudden plunge in the frequency in the power transmission system,” Power Minister Omar Ayub Khan said on Twitter. According to Mr Khan, the power breakdown was caused after
World
A search and rescue operation is under way in Indonesia after contact was lost with a Boeing 737-500 plane on a local flight. An Indonesian Transport Ministry spokesman said the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 was flying from from the capital Jakarta to Pontianak City in West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. The
Kim Jong Un has threatened to expand North Korea’s arsenal of nuclear weapons and develop more sophisticated atomic weapons systems unless the US ends what he calls its “hostility” to his regime. The North Korean leader ordered officials to develop missiles with multiple warheads, underwater-launched nuclear missiles, spy satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, the Korean Central
Brisbane has entered a three-day lockdown after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel was diagnosed with the COVID-19 variant first identified in the UK. Australia’s third largest city – and its surrounding areas – will also see the introduction of compulsory face masks for the first time, the Queensland state government said. Queensland chief health
For the Speaker of the House of Representatives – the third in line of succession to power in the United States – to call for the immediate removal of the president was a breathtaking statement on the crisis of democracy in America. In the congressional TV studio where Nancy Pelosi made her announcement, it was
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been arrested in jail on a new charge, while a detained American lawyer has been granted bail. Mr Wong, 24, was arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of violating the controversial national security law imposed on Hong Kong last June, his friends and family said. The leading activist,
US President Donald Trump has turned on his deputy, accusing him of lacking courage after Mike Pence said he would not intervene in the election result. In a tweet, the president wrote: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use by the EU’s drug regulator. The decision by the European Medicines Agency came on the same day as the Netherland’s began administering its first doses against coronavirus. EMA executive director Emer Cooke said: “This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency.” The decision,
Olympic athletes should be given priority access to coronavirus vaccines to save the Tokyo Games from cancellation, according to a prominent International Olympic Committee (IOC) member. Sky News understands conversations are underway between government and the British Olympic Association (BOA) about securing athletes a COVID-19 vaccination by July, when the delayed Tokyo Olympics are due
A dog has been found alive in the rubble of a deadly landslide in Norway, boosting hopes among rescuers who are still searching for missing people. The landslide, which carried away homes in the Norwegian village of Ask, took place on 30 December. Seven people have died, and three others remain missing. The dog was
A coroner in Malaysia has ruled the death of British teenager Nora Quoirin was most likely a misadventure that did not involve other people. The 15-year-old from Balham, southwest London, vanished from a hotel in August 2019. Rescue teams searched for 10 days before her body was found by a stream just over a mile
At least 100 people are now known to have been killed in attacks by suspected jihadists on two villages in Niger, the country’s prime minister has said. Brigi Rafini said 70 people were killed in the village of Tchombangou and 30 others in Zaroumdareye, both near Niger’s western border with Mali, on Saturday. During remarks
Donald Trump’s hour-long call urging Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find 11,780 votes” sounded desperate and deluded. The recording was a worrying insight into the president’s state of mind – seemingly convinced by the many conspiracy theories about why he lost the election, and unwilling to listen to the facts from members of his
Three bodies have been recovered and seven people are still missing after a landslide in Norway. Rescue teams in the village of Ask, near Oslo, have yet to find any signs of life after the disaster tore down buildings in the area on Wednesday. Two bodies were recovered from the rubble on Saturday after the
On the quayside in Boulogne-sur-Mer, a small crowd is gathering. As they watch, a boat ties up and starts to unload its haul. In this fishing town, they know the significance of this. The tradition is that nobody goes to sea on New Year’s Day, so this is the first catch of 2021 – crabs,
More than 2,500 people have attended an illegal rave in France, clashing with police who attempted to stop the event. The rave, held in a disused warehouse at Lieuron near Rennes in Brittany, started on New Year’s Eve and came to an end on Saturday morning. Mass gatherings are not allowed under French COVID-19 restrictions