World

A promise to end fossil fuel subsidies must not disappear from a final COP26 agreement despite opposition, the European Union’s climate policy chief has warned. Major fossil fuel exporters including Saudi Arabia and Australia have been accused of trying to water down or remove a section in the draft version that calls for an accelerated

Clinical trials are starting for a new Ebola vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, designed to tackle the two strains responsible for nearly all outbreaks and deaths worldwide. The university has launched a Phase I trial to test the vaccine in human volunteers, with the first jabs taking place today. The study is currently recruiting

Two groups of migrants have reportedly managed to cross the border from Belarus into Poland, amid accusations that Belarusian forces have fired shots into the air near a makeshift camp. Poland’s Defense Ministry posted a video on Twitter with noises of what sounded like shots in a border area. The footage cannot be independently verified

At least 16 UN workers have been “detained against their will” in war-torn Ethiopia, while British nationals have been told to leave the African nation immediately. Since Ethiopia declared a state of emergency last week, the government has been able to arrest anyone suspected of being involved with a terrorist group without needing a court

A group of migrants have camped overnight on the far side of Poland’s eastern border in Belarus. Polish police posted a video on Tuesday, which showed the migrants were met with riot police and coils of razor wire, but officers said the situation overnight was calm. That followed a day of heavy tensions on the

The absence of President Jair Bolsonaro at the critical UN summit in Glasgow is not a problem, Brazil’s top climate diplomat has told Sky News. Asked if it was embarrassing that the President had not attended COP26, Paulino de Carvalho Neto said: “Not really. He had other things to do. We have a huge delegation

Satellite images have revealed that China has built mock-ups of US warships in its northwestern desert. The images captured by Colorado-based satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies dated on Sunday show the outlines of a US aircraft carrier and at least one destroyer that sits on a railway track. It comes as China has made a

The family of a 21-year-old Kenyan woman said to have been murdered by a British soldier are taking legal action against the Ministry of Defence. Relatives of Agnes Wanjiru, a single mother to a young baby, have instructed British legal firm Leigh Day to represent them in a bid to find answers to her death

Police in Western Australia have called off a search for a swimmer attacked by a shark. Paul Millachip, 57, was swimming at Port Beach near Fremantle on Saturday morning when he was attacked by what appeared to be a four-and-a-half-metre (15-foot) great white shark. The search was called off on Sunday afternoon, local time, with

Iraq’s prime minister has survived an attempted assassination by a drone armed with explosives. The government said the drone targeted Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi’s home in Baghdad’s Green Zone early on Sunday. Baghdad residents heard the sound of an explosion followed by gunfire from the heavily-fortified area, which houses government offices and foreign

Scores of people have been killed after an oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, with the country’s president mourning the “horrendous loss of life”. Local authorities and morgue officials told the Reuters news agency that 91 people had been killed in the incident near Freetown. The government has yet to confirm the number of

Nine armed Ethiopian factions have joined forces in a bid to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed from power. The newly-formed United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces aims to form a transitional government “by force or by negotiation”. “There is no limit for us… Time is running out”, said Tigray official and former foreign

Tourists at a beach resort in Mexico were left scrambling for cover after a gang of men shot dead two suspected drug dealers in front of several luxury hotels. Gunmen stormed a beach in front of the high-end resort of Puerto Morelos, just south of Cancun on Thursday. They then shot dead two men, who

China is expected to have at least 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030, according to a new projection by the US military – a significant acceleration of its nuclear weapons programme. The Pentagon’s analysis sharply increased its estimate of China‘s upcoming nuclear weapon capability over the coming years, in its latest report. It projected Beijing could

More than 28 million “extra years of life” have been lost during the coronavirus pandemic, a new study has found. By comparing the lives cut short by COVID-19 and the estimated normal life spans of those who died, researchers, led by a team at Oxford University, calculated that millions of years of life have been

Police who found missing Cleo Smith in a locked house in Australia say they were “shocked” and then “elated” when the four-year-old confirmed: “My name is Cleo.” Detective Sergeant Cameron Blaine told reporters they were not prepared for such a happy outcome despite “always” hoping for it. “It was absolutely fantastic. To see her sitting

Missing four-year-old Cleo Smith has been found “alive and well” after disappearing from a camp site in Western Australia more than two weeks ago. A team from Western Australia Police broke into a locked house in Carnarvon around 1am on Wednesday morning where they found the little girl in one of the rooms. A man

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his ex-UEFA counterpart Michel Platini have been charged with fraud in Switzerland. It follows a six-year investigation into a payment of two million Swiss francs (£1.6m) from FIFA to Platini. Blatter, 85, and French football legend Platini, 65, could now face a trial within months. “This payment damaged FIFA’s

World leaders have made a series of climate pledges at COP26 culminating in an agreement to strengthen emissions-cutting targets for 2030 by the end of next year. A lot has happened over the past two weeks in Glasgow. Here is a look back at all the key agreements. Follow the latest coverage in our COP26

2070. It’s the most distant net-zero target of any G20 nation, but, as one climate activist in Kolkata, India, told Sky News: “At least it’s a start, although I’ll be dead by then.” Coming into Glasgow’s COP26 climate summit, India hadn’t updated its previous carbon reduction commitments (or NDCs, Nationally Determined Contributions) pledged during the 2015