World

A senior Iranian official has questioned excessive state enforcement of the country’s compulsory hijab laws – following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody. Ali Larijani, 65, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and a former parliamentary speaker, warned in an interview with Iranian daily Ettela’at that a “rigid response” to the widespread

Ireland’s football association and the women’s team manager have apologised after players sang a song referencing the IRA while celebrating their World Cup qualification. Videos circulated on social media showing them singing the song after Tuesday night’s 1-0 play-off victory over Scotland at Hampden Park. A statement by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) apologised

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 on Tuesday to say the Ukrainian armed forces are

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

Accusing Ukraine of terrorism after the explosion on the Crimean bridge is “too cynical even for Russia”, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. The blast on the Kerch Strait Bridge that links occupied Crimea to Russia caused serious damage and will further squeeze supply lines for Kremlin forces fighting in Ukraine. Nobody has claimed

A five-year-old girl and her father were among 10 people killed in the devastating explosion at a petrol station in Ireland, as the identities of all the victims were revealed. A mother and her 13-year-old son were also among the dead following the blast in the village of Creeslough on Friday afternoon, in what has

The British government has been accused of “dragging its heels” over trade linked to forced labour.  A Chinese labour camp survivor is preparing to sue the UK’s trade secretary for allowing cotton imports from the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, where it has been alleged local minority groups such as the Uyghurs have been subjected

Russia says three people have been killed after a key bridge to Crimea was partially destroyed in an explosion. Kerch Bridge – which is also known as the Crimean Bridge – spans 12-miles and is a key supply route for Moscow as they continue their attack on Ukraine. Ukraine war latest: Putin sends ministers to

There are a quite shocking number of Russian corpses left in the wake of the Ukrainian blitz on their eastern front. Kyiv’s troops are moving so fast and methodically, there’s no time to collect the enemy’s dead. It’s a grim illustration of Ukraine’s current battlefield successes. As we followed their route through the village of

The US president is hardly unique in saying the risk of a nuclear “Armageddon” is higher now than it has been since the Cuban missile crisis – or as it is known in Russia, the Caribbean crisis. Anyone who has thought for more than five seconds about Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats given the geopolitical state

US President Joe Biden has said the world is facing the biggest threat of nuclear “Armageddon” since the days of President Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Washington, his ‘off camera’ comments were overheard by journalists from the White House pool. Describing Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Biden

At least 38 people have been killed in a mass shooting by a sacked policeman at a children’s day care centre in Thailand. The victims included 22 children – some as young as two years old – as well as adults, authorities said. A manhunt was initially launched to catch the perpetrator, named by police

A suspected Russian torture chamber – dubbed a “mini Auschwitz” – has been discovered in a newly-liberated town, Ukrainian officials have claimed. The room, which contained a box of gold dental crowns, was found inside a de-occupied town near Izyum, a city in the eastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Having been occupied by Russian forces

Vladimir Putin has signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia, finalising the annexation of the occupied territories in defiance of international outcry. It follows the so-called referenda in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, rejected as a sham by Ukraine and the West. The areas being annexed are not even under full control of Russian

Vladimir Putin’s mounting problems in Ukraine make Russia’s use of a tactical nuclear weapon more likely, a senior US expert has told Sky News. Tactical nuclear weapons are designed to be used on a battlefield. John Bolton, a former US national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations, said that the Russian president is

More losses for Russia in Ukraine, this time around Kherson. Ukraine’s long-telegraphed Kherson counter-offensive is making some headway along the western banks of the Dnipro river, between the villages of Zolota Balka and Dudchany around 100km north of the port city. Ukraine makes biggest breakthrough in the south – live updates Russia’s ministry of defence