World

More than 30 people, including children, have been shot dead and their bodies burnt by government forces in Myanmar, according to a local human rights group and media reports. The Karenni Human Rights Group said they discovered the charred bodies near Mo So village in the Hpruso township in the eastern state of Kayah on

A maskless Pope Francis has urged people to look “beyond all the lights and decorations” this festive season. Celebrating Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the 85-year-old pontiff was the only one among a 2,000-strong congregation not wearing a face covering. A rise in COVID-19 infections in Italy has led to a

A British man working in Afghanistan has reportedly been detained by the Taliban after he went missing. Grant Bailey, believed to be in his 50s and from the south of England, was working for a non-governmental organisation in Afghanistan before he disappeared. He is understood to have returned to the country in September, despite Kabul

A fire on-board a ferry has killed at least 39 people and injured 72 in Bangladesh, officials have said. The blaze broke out at about 3am local time on Friday. It tore through the MV Avijan-10 ferry sailing off the coast of Bangladesh‘s Jhalokati district in the Sugandha River. The boat was carrying 800 passengers

Russia doesn’t want conflict with the Ukraine but Western powers must provide Moscow with “unconditional security” guarantees, President Vladimir Putin says. Speaking at his annual news conference, Mr Putin said the US has missiles at “Russia’s doorstep” and the “ball is in the West’s court” in relation to security in the region. The conference comes

A monument at the University of Hong Kong which marks the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has been removed. Depicting a heap of anguished human torsos, the famous statue commemorated pro-democracy protesters killed during a crackdown by Chinese authorities – and stood for more than two decades. In a statement, the Council of the University of

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that “blanket” COVID-19 vaccine booster programmes were “likely to prolong the pandemic”. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the widespread distribution of boosters risked diverting supply to countries that had high levels of their populations already jabbed and away from those that need it most. That

Vladimir Putin has threatened a “military-technical response” if Western countries continue with what he calls “unfriendly” actions over Ukraine. Speaking to military officials, Mr Putin said there was no room to retreat in the standoff currently centred on the former Soviet state. Concerns are growing that Russia is planning to invade its neighbour with thousands

Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has been ordered to pay around £550m to his former wife and their two children in what is thought to be the largest award of its kind ordered by an English court. Judge Philip Moor said most of the money awarded to Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, who

With record numbers of daily infections in recent days, the UK is currently a hotspot for Omicron – but the latest COVID-19 variant has hit other countries around the world, too. The US government’s chief medical officer Dr Anthony Fauci has called on Americans to get vaccinated, as densely populated areas such as New York

“What if you’re married… but your husband dies? Who is going to come in and feed you? Who is going to help you look after yourself?” This is how Evangelista Apelis and her team convinced some communities in Papua New Guinea that women, so far banned from diving, should be allowed to take it up

Hospitality venues will now have to close at 8pm each night, as new COVID-19 restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the Omicron variant come into effect. The new rules, agreed by the cabinet on Friday, were introduced at midnight on Sunday and will last until January 30. What are the new measures? Restaurants and

The sound of the distant rumble of sporadic artillery, in positions a few miles away from us, only adds to the tension. We approach Ukrainian army positions through an icy fog that portends to the inevitable snowstorms that will soon envelop the east of the country. The army unit we are with is dug in

A man has been beaten to death in the northern Indian city of Amritsar after allegedly attempting to commit a sacrilegious act inside the historic Golden Temple. The temple in the state of Punjab is the holiest shrine in Sikhism. The man was killed by a mob after jumping over a railing to enter the

The Netherlands will enter into a tough lockdown from tomorrow morning to curb the spread of Omicron, with non-essential shops, bars, restaurants, and other public places to close. Schools will also shut from Monday, and the lockdown will run until at least 14 January, Prime Minister Mark Rutte has announced. He added it was “unavoidable

Ukraine faces “a dozen tonnes” of pro-Russian disinformation aimed at justifying Moscow’s false claims to the territory and to soften the ground ahead of a possible new invasion, the Ukrainian information minister has said. With international concern growing over the threat of a large-scale Russian military offensive, Oleksandr Tkachenko said his country is already under

The Kurdish travel agent, responsible for 10 of the people who died crossing the Channel last month, has told Sky News he thinks about the dead every day and defended his role in the network. “Even if we don’t participate, the process will still happen,” he said. “As an agency in Kurdistan and Iraq, we

Up to 27 people are feared to have died or been critically injured in a building fire in western Japan. State broadcaster NHK said the fire broke out on the fourth or fifth floor of an eight-story building in a shopping and entertainment area in the city of Osaka. It said the victims were found

2021 was the year that warnings on climate change went into overdrive. It was the year that scientists seemed to run out of patience. And it was the year that the consequences of climate change finally, indisputably, arrived at the doorstep of the western world. By summer, the UN’s special climate panel declared global warming

British tourists are to be banned from France amid concern over the “extremely rapid” rise in Omicron COVID cases in the UK. From Saturday morning, France is banning travel to and from the UK without “compelling reasons”. Those reasons do not include travel for tourism and business, Paris said. UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said