World

A vocal pro-democracy website in Hong Kong has been shut down after police raided its office, froze its assets and arrested senior staff. Stand News said in a statement that its website and social media were no longer being updated and would be taken down. It said all employees have been dismissed. The outlet was

An unusually warm spell in what is usually the coldest state in the United States has seen temperature records broken. Experts say the mercury in some parts of Alaska was 11C (20F) higher than ever before for the time of year. Daytime temperatures have soared past 15C (60F) when there would normally be intensely bitter

Two Save the Children staff members were among at least 35 people, including children, who were killed in Myanmar on Christmas Eve during an attack blamed on government forces. The charity said both men were new fathers who were “caught up” in the rampage in Kayah state while on their way back to their office

Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered the country’s most prominent human rights group to be liquidated. The court ruled that the group Memorial must be closed for breaking the law on foreign agents. The group says the lawsuit was politically motivated and has announced it will appeal the ruling before the European Court of Human Rights.

The Taliban has said women in Afghanistan should not be offered long distance taxi services unless they are accompanied by a male chaperone. The Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice told drivers they should not admit women who do not follow a strict Islamic dress code by wearing the hijab. Women travelling

A week of memorial services has been planned to pay tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The 90-year-old anti-apartheid veteran died at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town on Boxing Day. His funeral is set to take place in Cape Town on Saturday 1 January but plans are still in their “infancy”, a statement

In the summer of 2008 I was asked to interview Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Salisbury International Arts Festival. Although I had met him and interviewed him several times when I was based in South Africa, I was a little nervous beforehand and I think he could see it.  Five minutes before we began, in

South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement, has died at the age of 90, the President’s Office has said. He was an outspoken critic of the country’s previous brutal system of oppression against the country’s Black majority. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his campaign

More than 30 people, including children, have been shot dead and their bodies burnt by government forces in Myanmar, according to a local human rights group and media reports. The Karenni Human Rights Group said they discovered the charred bodies near Mo So village in the Hpruso township in the eastern state of Kayah on

A maskless Pope Francis has urged people to look “beyond all the lights and decorations” this festive season. Celebrating Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the 85-year-old pontiff was the only one among a 2,000-strong congregation not wearing a face covering. A rise in COVID-19 infections in Italy has led to a

A British man working in Afghanistan has reportedly been detained by the Taliban after he went missing. Grant Bailey, believed to be in his 50s and from the south of England, was working for a non-governmental organisation in Afghanistan before he disappeared. He is understood to have returned to the country in September, despite Kabul

A fire on-board a ferry has killed at least 39 people and injured 72 in Bangladesh, officials have said. The blaze broke out at about 3am local time on Friday. It tore through the MV Avijan-10 ferry sailing off the coast of Bangladesh‘s Jhalokati district in the Sugandha River. The boat was carrying 800 passengers

Russia doesn’t want conflict with the Ukraine but Western powers must provide Moscow with “unconditional security” guarantees, President Vladimir Putin says. Speaking at his annual news conference, Mr Putin said the US has missiles at “Russia’s doorstep” and the “ball is in the West’s court” in relation to security in the region. The conference comes

A monument at the University of Hong Kong which marks the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has been removed. Depicting a heap of anguished human torsos, the famous statue commemorated pro-democracy protesters killed during a crackdown by Chinese authorities – and stood for more than two decades. In a statement, the Council of the University of

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that “blanket” COVID-19 vaccine booster programmes were “likely to prolong the pandemic”. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the widespread distribution of boosters risked diverting supply to countries that had high levels of their populations already jabbed and away from those that need it most. That

Vladimir Putin has threatened a “military-technical response” if Western countries continue with what he calls “unfriendly” actions over Ukraine. Speaking to military officials, Mr Putin said there was no room to retreat in the standoff currently centred on the former Soviet state. Concerns are growing that Russia is planning to invade its neighbour with thousands