World

The Taliban in Afghanistan have been making big strides in grabbing territory over the past few days and weeks particularly targeting the north – a long way away from their traditional homelands in the south. We spent a night in Taliban-controlled territory bordering the capital, in Wardak Province west of Kabul, and got an insight

The threat to the UK from terrorist groups like al Qaeda will grow if allies turn their back on Afghanistan after troops withdraw, Sir Alex Younger, the ex-head of MI6, has warned. The former spy chief said it would be an “enormous mistake” to neglect the country as happened back in 1989 when a previous

Cyprus has approached the European Union and Israel for help as a huge forest engulfs villages on the south of the island. At least three villages have been evacuated on the Mediterranean island as authorities battle to fight the blaze in the Troodos mountain region. Cypriot environment minister Costas Kadis said that the flames had

At least 43 migrants have drowned in a shipwreck off Tunisia as they attempted to cross from Libya to Italy, the Tunisian Red Crescent has said. The boat had set off from Zuwara, on Libya’s northwest coast, and was carrying migrants from Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Bangladesh, according to the humanitarian organisation. Another 84 people

The Lombardy region of Italy has recorded no daily coronavirus deaths for the first time in nine months. It was in the northern area that the first Italian case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in February of last year. At the start of this month, it had confirmed 33,782 deaths with the virus – far more

Parts of Canada have seen temperatures as high as 50C (122F) in recent days – and now wildfires are spreading out of control. Satellite imagery from NASA shows how the plumes of smoke sent up on the western side of the country can be seen from space. The terrifying destruction can be summed up by

Authorities in the Philippines have raised the danger level of the Taal volcano after it spurted a huge plume of gases and steam into the air. The Taal volcano in Batangas province, south of the capital Manila, caused disruption and concern on Thursday after spewing the 1km (0.62mile) high phreatomagmatic plume. According to the British

It was a long wait for the Party’s party.  The thousands of people awarded a ticket to Tiananmen Square had left their quarantine hotels at 3am for an 8am start, passing through security check after security check. To pass the time, they sang old red songs – Socialism is Good and other such classics –

The spectator who caused a massive pile-up at the Tour de France has been arrested, according to a report by Reuters. A 30-year-old French woman is in custody after presenting herself at a police station in Landerneau, Brittany, a source close to the investigation told the news agency. She is accused of involuntarily causing injury

It is unlikely the world “would have been on the verge of World War Three” if Russia had sunk a British warship near Crimea, Vladimir Putin has said. The Russian president claimed HMS Defender, a Type 45 destroyer, illegally entered his country’s territorial waters near Crimea in order to observe in detail how Russian forces

A ‘heat dome’ engulfing Canada and the US states of Washington and Oregon is thought to have caused dozens of deaths, officials said on Tuesday. Police in British Columbia said they had responded to 65 sudden death callouts since the heatwave began in the region on Friday. “Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and

More than 20 million Australians – about 80% of the population – are now under some form of lockdown or COVID-related restrictions as officials tighten rules on movement and push for vaccinations to contain outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta variant. Australia has so far been relatively more successful than many other developed countries in

Rebel forces in Tigray have moved into regional capital Mekelle following the withdrawal of Ethiopian National Defence Force soldiers from the city. The news – a major setback for the Ethiopian government – was confirmed by the national broadcaster this evening after fierce fighting surrounding Mekelle. It marks a significant juncture in this eight-month-old conflict,

Australians have been warned they face the most “serious crisis” in the COVID pandemic since last February/March as health officials battle to contain new outbreaks of the virus. Australia’s COVID-19 committee is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday over rising case numbers plus outbreaks of the Delta variant across the country. Authorities in

France’s far-right have endured another miserable night in the country’s regional elections, with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally failing to win any of the dozen mainland areas where it stood. Following a spate of disappointing results at the polls earlier this month, its candidates were once again largely rejected as other voters appeared to come

A new recording featuring the sound of Mars has been released by China’s space agency. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) released a series of audio files that were the first recorded by the country’s Mars rover Zhurong. The sound was captured on 22 May by microphones installed on the rover, when it went for