World

At least 22 people have been killed in flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in the southern Indian state of Kerala over the weekend. The National Disaster Response Force, the Indian army and navy were called out to rescue people after several areas were hit. According to a government official, 13 people were

Russia has reported a record number of new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours with cases hitting 34,303 – the highest since the pandemic began. It represents a hike of more than 70% when compared with last month’s figure of 20,174. Meanwhile, the number of daily COVID deaths in Russia stood at 997 –

The backlog of cargo ships at the busiest port complex in the US – images of which have come to define the global supply chain crisis – is unlikely to return to normal before next summer. The executive director of the Port of Long Beach in California says plans to switch to 24/7 operations, pushed

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has lost her latest appeal against her sentence in Iran, meaning she could be sent back to prison “at any time”, her MP has said. Labour’s Tulip Siddiq said the British-Iranian dual national’s sentence of one year plus a one-year travel ban has been “upheld with no court hearing”. The Hampstead and Kilburn

At least 15 people have been killed in an explosion at a mosque in southern Afghanistan. The blast happened in the Kandahar region during Friday prayers at a Shia mosque, with 31 believed to be wounded, officials say. The interior minister’s spokesman, Qari Saeed Khosti, said authorities were collecting details of the explosion, which occurred

COVID-19 health passes – or “green passes” – are now compulsory for all workers in Italy. The rule was approved by Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s cabinet in mid-September, forcing all workers to show either proof of vaccination, a negative test within the previous 48 hours, or recent recovery from infection. Italy is one of a

The suspect in the Norway bow and arrow rampage which left five people dead had been flagged for possible signs of radicalisation, police have said. Officers had been worried about signs the man, who is a Muslim convert, may have been radicalised, police chief Ole Bredrup Saeverud said at a news conference. The 37-year-old Danish

Several people have been killed and others have been injured in bow and arrow attacks in Norway, according to police. The incidents took place in the town of Kongsberg, and those injured have been taken to hospital. A suspect has been apprehended. Police chief Oeyvind Aas said: “The man has been apprehended … from the

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is to call for “global action” to tackle supply chain issues on his first official visit to the United States. Mr Sunak will encourage finance ministers from G20 nations to “work together” to ensure supply chains are more resilient in the future following the struggles in getting goods around the world during

A large 6.4 magnitude earthquake has hit the Greek holiday island of Crete and a tsunami warning has been issued. The quake struck the east coast of the island at a depth of 10km under the village of Palekastro, according to the US Geological Survey. The village is 84km from Agios Nikolaos which is a

World leaders must deliver on their promises to limit global warming to 1.5C at COP26, the UN climate conference’s president will warn. Alok Sharma will make a speech in the French capital today in which he will call on countries to honour the Paris Agreement, which was signed six years ago and saw most nations

A Chinese defector has revealed to Sky News how Uyghur detainees are transported in their hundreds on packed prison trains, along with details of torture and deaths inside re-education centres in Xinjiang. The man, who says he served as a police officer in Xinjiang and asked only to be identified by the name Jiang, told

Tonight, Lebanon has been knocked into darkness. Again. The two state power stations are without fuel, and so the entire country is without electricity. Small mercy it’s no longer the height of summer, when air conditioning units and fans are literally life-saving for many. Lebanese are used to power shortages: for some time now, the

Lebanon’s electricity grid has shut down entirely after the country’s two main power stations ran out of fuel, according to reports. The al Zahrani and the Deir Ammar power stations stopped working after supplies of diesel were apparently exhausted, and energy production dropped to below 200 megawatts. The outage will continue for a few days,

At least 46 people have been killed and more than 140 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunduz province, a state-run news agency has reported. Photos from the scene show bodies and bloodstains surrounded by rubble inside the mosque. Rescuers could be seen carrying bodies wrapped in blankets from the

Governments are being urged to do what is “morally right” to ensure all countries have enough jabs – as the World Health Organisation set a target of vaccinating 70% of the world by the middle of next year. The agency also said countries need to help meet its fresh target of vaccinating 40% of the

In Thailand’s fields, convicted criminals tend to a precious crop. In the blazing sun, in neon orange tops, they bend and scrape, painstakingly weeding the ground around neat lines of dark green plants. They’re growing green chiretta (Andrographis paniculate) – or Fah talai jone, as it’s called in Thailand. It’s a traditional herbal medicine commonly

More than 29 inches of rain – nearly two-and-a-half feet – fell in 12 hours in Italy this week, breaking a European record, as parts of the country were hit by extreme weather. The commune of Rossiglione in Genoa, Liguria, was among the worst affected with the record deluge of 29.2in of rain on Monday

The first vaccine against malaria could be rolled out to billions of people after key advisers to the World Health Organisation (WHO) gave it the green light. Experts on the WHO’s advisory bodies for immunisation and malaria concluded the vaccine Mosquirix could save tens of thousands of lives every year. The vaccine is now expected

Malaria is a preventable and curable disease. But it still kills one child every two minutes, overwhelmingly in Africa. Today, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced it is backing a malaria vaccine for the first time. Clinical trials have proven that Mosquirix prevents three in every 10 cases of serious malaria disease in young