World

The US and South Korea have begun their biggest combined military training in years as they heighten their defence posturing against a growing North Korean nuclear threat. The drills could draw anger from Pyongyang, which has pushed its weapons testing activity to a record pace this year while repeatedly threatening conflicts with Seoul and Washington

Sex between men will be decriminalised in Singapore at a time when society is becoming more accepting of gay people, the country’s prime minister has said. Lee Hsien Loong announced the government will repeal Section 377A of the penal code, a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men. Under Section 377A, offenders can be jailed

The daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist and ally of President Vladimir Putin who argued Russia should absorb Ukraine has been killed in a suspected car bomb attack. Russian state investigators said Darya Dugina, daughter of idealogue Alexander Dugin, was killed after a suspected explosive device detonated on the Toyota Land Cruiser she was travelling in

Russian forces have stepped up their efforts to seize one of the dwindling number of cities in eastern Ukraine not already under their control. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily update that intensified fighting took place around Bakhmut in the Donbas region. The capture of Bakhmut would allow

At least 12 people have been killed in an attack by Islamic militants who stormed a hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Several people were also injured and others, including children, had to be rescued by security services from Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel. Most of those who died are reported to have been civilians. The attack started

El Shafee Elsheikh, known to his victims as “Ringo”, grew up in White City, west London, after his family arrived from Sudan in 1993 when he was five. His father was a communist and part-time poet who worked as a translator and opposed the Islamist dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir in his home country. The couple

The sister of North Korean president Kim Jong Un has told South Korea’s president to “shut his mouth” as she rejected an offer of economic aid in return for nuclear disarmament. Kim Yo Jong, a member of North Korea’s politburo, also described South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol as “really simple and still childish”. “No one

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’s visit to the war-ravaged nation. Located in

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

The city of Kherson, on the banks of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, was taken by Russian forces without much fight in early March, days after the invasion started. It remains Russia‘s biggest victory in the war and still one of the only major cities that its forces have managed to capture. In recent

German director Wolfgang Petersen, known for the World War Two submarine epic Das Boot and Air Force One, has died aged 81. The filmmaker died on Friday at his home in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Brentwood after a battle with pancreatic cancer, said representative Michelle Bega. His 1982 breakthrough, Das Boot, chronicled the intense

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

Girls’ rights to education in Afghanistan will be solved with “the passage of time” and should not be a “condition for aid” from the international community, a senior Taliban leader has told Sky News. Anas Haqqani made the remarks as the Taliban marks one year since it captured the Afghan capital Kabul and regained control

“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

COVID cases are surging on the Marshall Islands as the Pacific nation grapples with its first community outbreak of the pandemic. Prior to the current wave of cases, there had been no transmissions within the island group, which is located around 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii and 3,000 miles east of the Philippines. In a

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