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,

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 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 unnamed

A huge fire broke out at Iran’s notorious Evin prison last night – where political prisoners and anti-government activists are held, as well as criminal convicts. Gunshots were reported to have been fired as the blaze took hold at the jail in the capital Tehran. An alarm was heard as the US-based Centre for Human

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

The number of babies born in January 2021 dropped compared to previous years due to COVID-19 health concerns. Countries with the strictest lockdowns in early 2020 and over-occupied intensive care units have seen the biggest drops in live births 9-10 months later, according to scientists in Switzerland. Dr Leo Pomar, the first author of the

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 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.

The UK will for the first time give Ukraine a number of powerful missiles to defend against Russian airstrikes, but it is not providing the weapons that launch them. Instead, the AMRAAM rockets – capable of shooting down cruise missiles – will help to arm air defence systems that will be given to Ukraine by

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

A deliberate attack on NATO energy supplies will be met with a “united and determined response”, the alliance’s chief has vowed. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pledged to boost protection of critical infrastructure in response to the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines. The EU believes three leaks in the pipelines last month were the work

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

Russia is running out of weapons for its war in Ukraine and the costs to the Kremlin are “staggering” in terms of soldiers killed and equipment lost, a UK spy chief will say. Sir Jeremy Fleming, the head of GCHQ, will use a rare, public speech today to say the Ukrainian armed forces are “turning

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

It is a quiet street in a fairly tough part of Sao Paulo, but the sound of high velocity weapons firing and the thud of rounds impacting every few seconds is somewhat disconcerting. We ring the doorbell of an innocuous-looking building; after a few minutes the thick metal door opens, and we are greeted by

At least eight people are reported to have been killed in Kyiv with several other cities being targeted in Russian missile attacks. Rostyslav Smyrnov, an aide to the interior minister, said six cars had caught fire after the initial attack – and another 15 vehicles were damaged. Explosions have also been heard in Lviv, Ternopil,