World

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed killing 38 people was downed by a Russian air defence system, according to four Reuters sources. The Embraer 190 passenger jet was en route from Azerbaijan‘s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it changed course. It crashed around two

Indonesia and Thailand are marking 20 years since a tsunami caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people in one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. People started gathering in prayer today and visiting mass graves in Aceh, one of the worst-hit areas by the Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami which saw

Ukrainians sheltered in metro stations on Christmas morning as Russian missiles and drones rained down on their cities. Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that he said sought to plunge his people into darkness. “Putin deliberately chose Christmas,” he said on Wednesday. “What could be more inhumane?” Russia’s defence ministry said it

Dozens are feared dead after a passenger plane carrying 67 people crashed in Kazakhstan, the country’s emergencies ministry said. Preliminary data suggests 25 people survived the crash, authorities have said. The Azerbaijan Airlines flight was en route from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, but was rerouted due to fog. It crashed near the

The sense of hollowness of the Church of the Nativity is deeper than absent tourists. The chants and prayers are pain-stricken and desperate. Down in the manger by the enshrined spot where baby Jesus was said to be born, a priest solemnly swings incense into the corners. Image: Bethlehem’s Christian community struggles to celebrate amid

Slovakia’s prime minister has drawn criticism from across Europe and from his own people after his surprise visit to Moscow for face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin on Sunday. Robert Fico is only the third EU leader to visit Mr Putin in Moscow since the Russian president ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine

The sister of a British man who has been missing in Spain for nine days has said “panic” is setting in. Courtney George last spoke to her brother John Hardy on Saturday 14 December, around the time she believes he was due to drive from Alicante to Benidorm. She reported him missing after he failed

The suspect in the German Christmas market attack “threatened to do something that would attract international attention” in 2013 and was flagged as a potential threat the following year, according to a state interior minister. Christian Pegel told a press conference the 50-year-old suspect had referred to the Boston Marathon bombings, in which three people

The mother of a nine-year-old boy killed in the German Christmas market attack has paid tribute to “my little teddy bear”. Andre Gleissner was one of at least five people who died, while more than 200 others were injured when a car ploughed into crowds in Magdeburg on Friday evening. German Christmas market attack –

A memorial service has taken place in Magdeburg, Germany, for the victims of a Christmas market attack. At least five people were killed and more than 200 others injured when a car ploughed into crowds shopping on Friday evening. Image: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C) and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (R) at the memorial service. Pic:

The suspect in the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg appeared to be dissatisfied with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany, a prosecutor has said. On Friday evening, a car was driven at speed into visiting crowds in the central German city. Five people have died so far – including a nine-year-old child

A police investigation is under way after a car was “driven at speed” into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany. At least two people have been killed, including a small child, and dozens of others have been injured following the incident in Magdeburg, according to local officials. They say the suspect is a

At least one person has been killed and dozens of others injured after a car was driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany, local media reports. News agency dpa said the driver had been arrested following the incident in the eastern city of Magdeburg, while AFP news agency reports 60-80 people have

Vladimir Putin has said Russia should have invaded Ukraine earlier, in a national address spanning more than four hours. Russia began the conflict with its neighbour in February 2022 and at his annual televised news conference, Mr Putin claimed the war has made Russia “stronger”. The decision to invade “should have been made earlier” he

A man who repeatedly drugged his then wife and invited strangers to rape her while she was unconscious has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after a historic mass trial. Dominique Pelicot, 72, had confessed to all the charges and admitted he mixed sedatives into the food and drink of his wife, Gisele Pelicot,

Ukraine cannot remove Russian troops from the land they occupy in the east of the country and Crimea, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has admitted. While Kyiv would never recognise Russia’s rule, he said diplomacy is the only option to get President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his army. It comes less than a month after he gave similar

The compound in front of the blue and white low-rise building is buzzing with rushed activity. On one side there are men stacking boxes of water bottles. On another, women sitting on chairs are picking through bundles of clothing on the ground before folding and organising them into piles of men’s, women’s and children’s sizes.

👉Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈 In this special episode, Richard and Yalda take a look back at the biggest world news stories of 2024. From reporting on the frontlines of Ukraine and Lebanon, to witnessing the election of Trump in Washington, Richard and Yalda have criss-crossed

For Ukraine – pitched against Russia’s larger and more powerful military – the use of unconventional tactics such as assassinations is seen as a vital way to fight back. There is no official confirmation yet of who was behind the killing on Tuesday in Moscow of the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical defence

Now Bashar al Assad has gone, there is so much to see and film in Syria which was impossible to document before. The extent, for example, of the regime’s involvement in the captagon trade, a speed-like amphetamine which flooded out of Syria and across the Middle East, was widely known but impossible to film, barring