World

Brazil officially has a new but familiar president as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in for the third time. The leftist politician, known as Lula, had held Brazil’s highest office between 2003 and 2010 after three attempts to get the top job. Now aged 77, he enters office having defeated far-right candidate Jair

Blasts have been heard in Kyiv and air raid sirens wailed across the country just after midnight, forcing Ukrainians to abandon New Year celebrations and head to bomb shelters. The latest apparent Russian salvo followed blasts on New Year’s Eve in multiple regions of Ukraine, with one person killed and 20 reported injured in the capital

World leaders and King Charles have paid tribute to former pope Benedict XVI following his death at the age of 95. The Vatican announced the former pontiff – who was the first to resign in some 600 years – had died on Saturday morning. Pope Francis, who succeeded Benedict in 2013, described him as “kind”

The UK is expected to announce a requirement for travellers arriving from China to provide a negative pre-departure COVID test. The move will align the UK with a number of other countries, such as the US, which announced a similar rule in recent days. Sources said the move was precautionary and temporary, and due to

Brazil has entered three days of mourning following the death of football superstar Pele. The 82-year-old – the only man to win the World Cup three times as a player – died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer. A 24-hour wake will be held on Monday in the centre of the field at

Half of Leonid Fatkulin’s home in the southern Osokorki suburb of Kyiv is now crumbling into a crater in his back garden. Just after 9am this morning, he was woken up by a loud blast as the wreckage of a Russian warhead fell into his house. “I was about to wake up and have a

At least seven people are dead and dozens injured in a fire at a casino and hotel in western Cambodia. The fire at the Grand Diamond City Casino in the city of Poipet, started at about midnight on Wednesday, the General Commissariat of National Police said. Just after 4am UK time (11am local time), police

Doctors in China have described the chaos unfolding within hospitals as COVID-19 infections sweep the country. Three health care professionals spoke anonymously to Sky News, painting a picture of emergency departments “packed” with patients, “ventilators and oxygen machines everywhere” and “not enough IV beds”. Strict zero-COVID restrictions were lifted just three weeks ago in China

Serbian security forces on the border with Kosovo have been placed on a state of “full combat readiness”. The order was given by Serbia’s interior minister Bratislav Gasic, who said he was acting on instructions from President Aleksandar Vucic so that “all measures be taken to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo”. Kosovo has not

South Korea says it has scrambled fighter jets and attack helicopters, firing warning shots, after North Korean drones “violated” its airspace. The country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, a group of chiefs from each major branch of the armed services, said several unmanned North Korean drones crossed the border and were detected in the South’s territory

Ukraine has said Vladimir Putin “needs to come back to reality” in response to the Russian president’s claim that he is ready to negotiate. On a day which saw Russia launch rocket attacks on dozens of frontline towns, Mr Putin had told state broadcaster Rossiya 1 that the Kremlin was “ready to negotiate with everyone

Combat medic Myroslav Mardarevych is hunched over a desk in the foyer of St Sophia Cathedral in central Kyiv. He has just come from the frontline and is furiously writing down names on small pieces of paper. These slips are prayer submissions for the church and Myroslav has filled out three of them with names.

Pele’s family are spending Christmas Day in hospital after the Brazilian football legend’s cancer progressed. A medical report earlier this week showed that the 82-year-old now needed care for cardiac and renal dysfunction, having been battling colon cancer since September 2021. He has been at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paul since 29 November.

The Taliban have banned Afghan women from working at non-governmental organisations in the country. It was not clear if the ban, announced in a letter and confirmed by the economy ministry, also applied to foreign women or those working for the United Nations, which has a significant presence in the country. The economy ministry said

Tragedy has once again struck Paris with three people dead and three others injured following a shooting. Here’s what we know so far about the incident in the French capital. Who is the suspect? A 69-year-old suspect, who was also injured, has been arrested after the incident and the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an

Three people have been killed and three others injured after a gunman opened fire in Paris. A man, 69, has been arrested in connection with the shooting at a local Kurdish cultural centre, the prosecutor’s department in the French capital said. The French government asked police to reinforce the protection of Kurdish community sites in

A Shanghai hospital has told its staff to prepare for a “tragic battle” with COVID-19 as it expects half of the city’s 25 million people will get infected by the end of next week. It is two weeks since most zero-COVID restrictions were suddenly reversed in China, leaving the virus to sweep through the country largely

Into a buttoned-up, power-dressed chamber of US politicians entered the man of war. Wearing khaki and a look of polite exhaustion, Volodymyr Zelenskyy received the adulation of a man fighting their fight as much as his own. That was certainly the message he carried into the well of the House chamber, an appeal from the

In the city where it all began, there is a creeping sense more suffering is coming. Wuhan, the city now known worldwide as COVID-19‘s original epicentre, is experiencing a second surge. It is two weeks since zero COVID restrictions were suddenly and abruptly reversed in China – exactly what that means in terms of infections

Female students have been banned from universities in Afghanistan with immediate effect, the Taliban has said. A letter, confirmed by a spokesperson for the higher education ministry, instructed Afghan public and private universities to suspend access to female students until further notice in accordance with a cabinet decision. The United States and Britain have both