World

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been brutal and attritional, and has shocked most of the “civilised” world. Russia’s evident disregard for casualties and collateral damage in the pursuit of victory is very different to the West’s approach to warfare, which has profound implications for the war in Ukraine, and the West’s wider defence planning assumptions.

The gunman who killed seven people at a Jehovah’s Witness building in Hamburg was a former member of the congregation who police had been warned about, German police have said. The 35-year-old man, referred to by police as Philip F, left the religious community 18 months ago with “ill feelings”, Hamburg’s head of police Matthias

The unborn baby of a woman who was seven months pregnant was among those killed during a mass shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness building in the German city of Hamburg. Police identified the gunman as Philipp F, a 35-year-old German with no prior offences who had been a member of the congregation – but had

Several people have been killed in a shooting inside a building used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in the northern German city of Hamburg. Shots were fired at the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Kingdom Hall in the Gross Borstel district, with police alerted at around 9.15pm on Thursday. Police say “several people” died and “several” were wounded and taken

Three people have been arrested following a spate of “sushi terrorism” videos posted online in Japan. Videos showing customers interfering with food and pranking other diners in some of Japan’s conveyor-belt sushi restaurants, known as kaitenzushi, caused shares in some of the venues to plummet. One video showed a man licking the top of a

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria has left children “completely on edge” and fearing their “world is going to be turned upside down again” amid ongoing aftershocks, a spokesperson for UNICEF has said. Nearly 52,000 people lost their lives in the disaster, which flattened many buildings and left others too dangerous to occupy. Joe English,

Ireland will hold a vote in November on removing “outmoded” references to a woman’s place being in the home from the country’s constitution. The Irish government said on Wednesday that it will hold a referendum on Article 41.2, which says Ireland recognises that “by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a

An anti-Kremlin activist jailed for social media posts criticising the invasion of Ukraine has told Sky News that “Russia is not Putin”. Dmitry Ivanov, who founded an opposition Telegram channel run for students at his university, was convicted in a Moscow court of spreading misinformation about the army. Mr Ivanov, a 23-year-old Russian blogger, will

China’s foreign minister has warned of likely conflict should the US continue its “reckless” approach to relations with Beijing. Qin Gang said rising tensions between the two powers were the fault of Washington, with last month’s downing of a suspected surveillance balloon the latest flashpoint. The mysterious reconnaissance aircraft was taken out on the orders

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his top military commanders have pledged to continue defending the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut in the face of intense Russian pressure. The Ukrainian president said the generals agreed at a meeting to strengthen the defences and the top brass would “find the appropriate forces to help our guys” there. It comes

Kim Jong Un may be appearing with his daughter in public to present her as a potential successor as he seeks to portray his family as being a dynasty like the British Royal Family, an expert on the secretive country has said. Jean H Lee, who set up the Associated Press news agency’s first bureau

Dozens of Israeli air force reservists will refuse to turn up to training drills in protest over controversial plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to overhaul the country’s legal system. Demonstrations have taken place nationwide for nine weeks running because of the proposals, which critics have warned would limit the power of judges and weaken

After 15 years of disagreement, failures and stalled formal and informal talks, there is finally a UN high seas treaty that will help to protect vast swathes of the planet’s oceans. The legally binding agreement was reached after five rounds of protracted United Nations-led negotiations that ended in New York on Saturday, a day after

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s longstanding foreign minister, provoked laughter from an audience at an international conference in India when he attempted to portray his country as the victim of the war in Ukraine. Addressing the Raisina Dialogue, an event in New Delhi that debates the major challenges facing the world in politics and economics and one

When Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury city centre – five years ago to this day – few would have known that a huge diplomatic crisis was about to erupt. Mr Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer turned British double agent, had been targeted with the deadly

The famous Prussian general Clausewitz famously opined: “No one starts a war or rather, no one in his senses should do so without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it”. Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine over a year ago initiated a

A mother who killed her five children has been euthanised at her own request – 16 years to the day after their murders, her lawyer has said. Genevieve Lhermitte slit the throats of her son and daughters – aged three to 14 – with a kitchen knife at their family home in the Belgian town

I’ve been to Huwara many times, but never seen it like this. Driving in feels like you’re nearing the frontline of a war. The streets, normally heaving with shoppers and cars parked bumper-to-bumper, are now quiet. The shops are all closed, metal shutters pulled down. There are Israeli soldiers everywhere. The IDF (Israeli Defence Forces)

The police wave us through. We are allowed to drive off the motorway, down a rutted track and into a field, and there, in front of us, is a sight at once extraordinary and terrible. A railway carriage, slumped on its side, its windows broken. The graffiti is still all over the paintwork, like a

At least 43 people have died in a train crash in Greece, with the country’s prime minister saying the disaster appeared to be mainly down to “tragic human error”. The search continues for survivors after a passenger service collided with a freight train carrying shipping containers and travelling in the opposite direction but on the