World

Members of K-pop band BTS are to fulfil their requirement to do military service in South Korea, their representatives say. Label Big Hit Music said members of BTS are “honoured to serve” their country. The band – RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook – will reconvene “around 2025” following their service commitment,

If this was a “normal” party congress then the speech by President Xi Jinping would have been his swansong. But this is not a normal party congress. The speech instead felt more like a consolidation, an enshrining of sorts, of Xi’s vision, Xi’s path and Xi’s China. The party congress is the most important political event

China will never renounce the right to use force over Taiwan, President Xi Jinping has declared at the opening of a major party meeting. China views democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, but the island’s government has strong objections and believes sovereignty should be claimed by its people. Speaking at the opening of the

Two men opened fire on volunteer troops at a Russian military shooting range near Ukraine, killing 11 and wounding 15 others, the Russian defence ministry has said. The shooting is said to have taken place in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia, which borders Ukraine. Moscow’s defence ministry said that the two men from an

At least 40 people have been killed in a coal mine explosion in Turkey – with dozens more still trapped inside. The state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in the town of Amasra was rocked by the blast at around 6:45pm on Friday, with emergency services working through the night to pull trapped workers to

Vladimir Putin has said he has “no” regrets over the war in Ukraine and warned that any direct clash of NATO troops with Russia could lead to a “global catastrophe”. On Friday, the Russian president spoke at a news conference in the Kazakh capital, Astana, and also said that his country’s partial mobilisation will be

A Florida jury has recommended a sentence of life in prison for gunman Nikolas Cruz who killed 17 people at a Parkland school in 2018. Jurors could not unanimously agree he should be given the death penalty, despite the prosecution requesting he be executed and arguing the deadly attack was cold, calculated and meticulously planned.

Deep in the Buloburde bush in the Hiiraan region of central Somalia, there’s a ragtag regiment gathering around a missile launcher. Huddled tightly with their ears pressed against a small black phone, they receive intelligence and feed it back to the troops positioning the launcher. The Ma’awisley militia is made up of farmers turned fighters

A senior Iranian official has questioned excessive state enforcement of the country’s compulsory hijab laws – following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody. Ali Larijani, 65, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and a former parliamentary speaker, warned in an interview with Iranian daily Ettela’at that a “rigid response” to the widespread

Nagib’s small feet poke out from a bundled blue shroud. His body is far too small for his three years of age. He is shrunken by malnutrition and marked by the measles that eventually took his short life. Nagib is carried out of the emergency care ward in Baidoa and into a white van as

Ireland’s football association and the women’s team manager have apologised after players sang a song referencing the IRA while celebrating their World Cup qualification. Video circulated on social media showing them singing the song after Tuesday night’s 1-0 play-off victory over Scotland at Hampden Park. A statement by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) apologised

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007 has been charged in Germany with several sexual offences allegedly committed in Portugal. Christian B allegedly committed the offences between 2000 and 2017, German prosecutors said. The prosecutor’s office said the charges do not relate to the McCann case. Madeleine was on holiday with

A “historic deal” has been signed by Lebanon and Israel that has the potential to ease security and economic concerns in both countries. The neighbours have backed a final draft of a US-mediated maritime border deal that will resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern tip of the Mediterranean Sea. The agreement has the potential

Russian forces will soon be down to their last supplies of fuel and unable to transport their troops in Ukraine after the crippling attack on the Kerch Bridge between Crimea and Russia, say analysts. “If we’re talking about the ability to manoeuvre, ie drive places, I think we are talking days into very short weeks

Vladimir Putin has said Monday’s deadly missile strikes targeting cities in Ukraine were in retaliation for its “terrorist action” against Russian territory. In televised remarks, the Russian president said Moscow had launched long-range missile attacks against Ukraine’s energy, military and communications infrastructure on Monday. Cities including Lviv, Ternopil, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, and Zaporizhzhia were targeted, with

The hunger is sharp in Lyman but the instinct to survive, even sharper. It’s been exceptionally honed in those Lyman residents who’ve remained through months of fighting, bombing and Russian occupation. And there are a surprisingly large number of them. We see crowds on the outskirts of the town, gathering around a small warehouse where