World

Ukraine has said Russia is preparing to stage a “provocation” at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant on Friday. The country’s intelligence agency made the claim just hours after Moscow accused Ukraine of trying to stage an “accident” there, which may involve a radiation leak, during the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres’ visit to the war-ravaged nation.

We drove along Butchers Street in Kabul, the stripped carcasses of lamb and goat hanging on meat hooks swaying in the wind, gaggles of men argued over prices and butchers boys heaved the meat onto their backs and delivered them to waiting trucks. At the end of the street, an intersection marked the end of

Freed hostages were able to give British police key information identifying an IS kidnap gang nicknamed “The Beatles” which had held and tortured them, Scotland Yard has revealed. Officers have disclosed key breakthroughs that allowed them to identify the jihadis and bring two of them to trial in the US. It included vital details from

North Korea fired two cruise missiles towards the sea off its west coast on Wednesday. It is believed to be the first launch by the secretive country since 8 June, when it tested eight short-range ballistic missiles. The latest launch comes as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called for diplomacy aimed at building sustainable peace

Ukrainian special forces operating inside Russian-occupied Crimea were behind an attack on a military base there, Sky News understands. Russia’s defence ministry said that a fire broke out after several explosions at a temporary ammunition storage facility in the Dzhankoi area of north Crimea at around 4.15am BST (6.15am local time). Pictures show fire and

Three Britons have pleaded not guilty to mercenary charges at a Russian-backed separatist court in Ukraine. John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy are among a group of five European men on trial in a court administered by Kremlin-backed separatists in the city of Donetsk. Mr Harding, Vjekoslav Prebeg, who is Croatian, and Mathias Gustafsson,

“Look at this man… he worked for British forces,” shouted one Taliban fighter, as a group of them began to beat Ahmad in front of his screaming wife and children. It was 15 August 2021. The family were at the entrance to Kabul airport, trying to get on to an evacuation flight. They’d been met

William Ruto has been declared the winner of Kenya’s presidential election – moments after the main count was interrupted as scuffles broke out. Mr Ruto is currently the country’s deputy president and has beaten opposition leader Raila Odinga to the top job after winning 50.49% of the vote. “We are here this evening to witness

With his long black hair flowing beneath a traditional cap and over his masked face, a Taliban guard, machine gun in hand, indicated I should follow the doctor.   I realised then we were to have his company for the duration of our stay. A peculiar development and an unusual experience, but one that was

At least 41 people have been killed in a fire at a church a few miles from Egypt’s capital, Cairo. An electrical fire broke out as 5,000 worshippers gathered for mass at the Coptic Abu Sefein church in the Imbaba neighbourhood near Cairo, sources told the Reuters news agency. The fire blocked an entrance to

Ten months after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan and promised “amnesty for all”, data suggests they are the largest perpetrators of violence against civilians in the country – killing at least 341 people. Since 15 August 2021 – when the capital Kabul fell – the Armed Conflict Location and Event Project (ACLED) has recorded

New York police have identified the suspect in the attack on Salman Rushdie as 24-year-old Hadi Matar. Police have not established a motive for the stabbing that left the author, 75, seriously injured. He remains on a ventilator in hospital. This is what we know of the suspect so far: Born in the US Advertisement

Author Salman Rushdie will likely lose an eye and has suffered severed nerves in an arm and damage to his liver after he was stabbed, his agent has said. The 75-year-old remains on a ventilator after being airlifted to hospital and undergoing hours of surgery following the attack in New York state. “The news is

More than 1,000 firefighters are struggling to contain a huge wildfire that has destroyed a large area of pine forest in southwest France. Around 6,800 hectares (26 square miles) in the Gironde region and neighbouring Landes have been burnt by the blaze, which began on Tuesday. At least 16 houses have also been destroyed, and

Russia has reached a new low and is trying to “threaten the whole world” by shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy has said. Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the facility as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed a demilitarised zone at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the city of

Satellite images appear to show several Russian warplanes at an airbase in Crimea have been damaged or destroyed. Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday that nine aircraft were demolished in explosions a day before – a claim Russia denied. The images, from the US-based Planet Labs, show several warplanes in pieces and swathes of scorched