World

A man has been charged over the alleged abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith in Australia. Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, has been charged with various offences including forcibly taking a child under the age of 16. Kelly, from Carnavon, Western Australia, was arrested after police rescued Cleo from a locked house. Please use Chrome browser for

More than 28 million “extra years of life” have been lost during the coronavirus pandemic, a new study has found. By comparing the lives cut short by COVID-19 and the estimated normal life spans of those who died, researchers, led by a team at Oxford University, calculated that millions of years of life have been

Police who found missing Cleo Smith in a locked house in Australia say they were “shocked” and then “elated” when the four-year-old confirmed: “My name is Cleo.” Detective Sergeant Cameron Blaine told reporters they were not prepared for such a happy outcome despite “always” hoping for it. “It was absolutely fantastic. To see her sitting

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his ex-UEFA counterpart Michel Platini have been charged with fraud in Switzerland. It follows a six-year investigation into a payment of two million Swiss francs (£1.6m) from FIFA to Platini. Blatter, 85, and French football legend Platini, 65, could now face a trial within months. “This payment damaged FIFA’s

India is kicking the can down the road on sulphur dioxide emissions despite being the world’s biggest emitter of the pollutant, according to an expert. Despite this week Boris Johnson declaring the world was at “one minute to midnight” on climate change, power plants in India are repeatedly being given extensions after failing to install

2070. It’s the most distant net-zero target of any G20 nation, but, as one climate activist in Kolkata, India, told Sky News: “At least it’s a start, although I’ll be dead by then.” Coming into Glasgow’s COP26 climate summit, India hadn’t updated its previous carbon reduction commitments (or NDCs, Nationally Determined Contributions) pledged during the 2015

The Maldives is fighting for its very survival. As an archipelago of low-lying islands in the Indian Ocean, it faces not one but three existential dangers, all driven by climate change. The rising sea levels threaten to submerge some of the islands with some scientists warning this disaster could happen within the next decade. Image:

A man brandishing a “long knife” while dressed as the Joker from Batman stabbed several passengers on a Tokyo commuter train before starting a fire in one of the carriages, local media reported. At least 17 people were injured in the attack, including three seriously, though not all the wounded had been stabbed. The incident

At least three people have died and several more are injured after security forces opened fire during Sudan’s largest pro-democracy protest since the military seized control earlier this week. Last Monday, Sudan’s top general Abdel Fattah al Burhan, head of the Sovereign Council, declared a state of emergency and dissolved the country’s transitional government. Sudan’s

More than 160 buildings in a Myanmar town have been destroyed in fires caused by shelling from government troops, according to local media. Tensions between Myanmar’s military junta and opposing militia forces have continued to grow since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February. Now footage has

Failure to tackle global vaccine inequality at this weekend’s G20 summit could prolong the pandemic, civil society groups have warned. Campaigners have claimed previous calls to tackle structural problems with vaccine supply have so far been ignored, allowing doses to be “hoarded” by rich nations. The People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 75

The US Senate has voted unanimously in favour of new restrictions on equipment from Chinese technology companies being installed in American telecommunications networks. The Secure Equipment Act will prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reviewing or issuing licenses to specific listed companies, including Huawei and ZTE. It will now pass to President Joe Biden

Attacks by Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) in Afghanistan have become more deadly since the withdrawal of NATO forces, with at least 346 civilians killed by the group since late August. The insurgents carried out bombings in areas where previously they had little presence. A security expert told Sky News this could be a sign of

Two weeks of global leaders meeting to save the world begin with a one-on-one between the leader of the planet’s biggest religious denomination and its most powerful superpower. US President Joe Biden flies into Rome for an audience with the Pope ahead of the G20 summit of world leaders and after that the COP26 climate

France has detained a British scallop trawler owned by Macduff Shellfish and given a verbal warning to another fishing boat in waters off its coast. French maritime minister Annick Girardin said it is “not war but this is a combat”, amid a warning the country could ban allowing British fishing boats to disembark at French

The president of the COP26 UN climate summit has told Sky News it is unclear if the crucial meeting will be a success and it is currently hanging “in the balance”. Just days from the summit, Alok Sharma said: “This is going to be difficult. “This is going to be a big challenge. “This is