World

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been shown firing a sniper rifle while visiting a training facility for reservists. Footage of the inspection of the military boot camp in the Russian region of Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, is thought to have been aimed at showing progress in rectifying problems with training and supplies. Russian TV showed

When soldiers in Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanised Brigade do their work, most tasks are performed under trees. It is a simple matter of staying alive. Members of the brigade’s Oril Company stack their munitions under a stand of gnarly-looking trees. Their mortars are hidden in the bushes. Putin’s forces ‘preparing to blow up major dam’ – Ukraine

A missile was released from a Russian aircraft near an unarmed RAF plane on a routine patrol over the Black Sea, the defence secretary has revealed. In a statement updating MPs on the war in Ukraine, Ben Wallace said the incident happened on 29 September and that Russia has acknowledged it took place in international

A 55-year-old Massachusetts woman is facing several assault and battery charges for allegedly releasing a swarm of bees on a group of sheriff’s deputies as they tried to serve an eviction notice. Rorie Woods, who lives in Hadley, is accused of carrying out the attack while officers from Hampden County Sheriff’s Department were dealing with

Kherson residents have been boarding boats in an apparent evacuation as Russia claimed Ukraine is planning a major attack and President Putin declared martial law in four occupied regions. Russian media showed people in the city boarding ferries to cross from the right bank of the Dnipro river to the left. The Moscow-backed head of

There are days in Bakhmut that are more difficult than others – although no day is easy in this battered city.  Once home to 100,000 people, it’s now a military objective for the Russian army, the gateway to key industrial cities in eastern Ukraine. But the city has become a major obstacle for Russian generals,

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is on a hastily-arranged visit to Washington to talk with his counterpart and White House officials about “shared security concerns” including Ukraine and Russia, a source and an official said. The secretive, last-minute nature of the trip and a comment by a second defence minister, James Heappey – who said the

A preliminary investigation of damage on the two Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Danish part of the Baltic Sea shows the leaks were caused by “powerful explosions”, Copenhagen Police has said. The force added officers investigated the “crime scenes” with assistance from Denmark’s armed forces and in collaboration with the Danish security and intelligence

The world’s first geological tomb for nuclear waste is rapidly taking shape more than 400 metres below the forests of Finland. Batches of lethally radioactive uranium will start arriving within two years for burial in the warren of tunnels carved into the bedrock. Other countries, including the UK, are considering plans to build their own

Members of K-pop band BTS are to fulfil their requirement to do military service in South Korea, their representatives say. Label Big Hit Music said members of BTS are “honoured to serve” their country. The band – RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook – will reconvene “around 2025” following their service commitment,

China will never renounce the right to use force over Taiwan, President Xi Jinping has declared at the opening of a major party meeting. China views democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, but the island’s government has strong objections and believes sovereignty should be claimed by its people. Speaking at the opening of the

Two men opened fire on troops at a Russian military shooting range near Ukraine, killing 11 and wounding 15 others, the Russian defence ministry has said. The shooting is said to have taken place in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia, which borders Ukraine. Moscow’s defence ministry said that the two men from an unnamed

A huge fire broke out at Iran’s notorious Evin prison last night – where political prisoners and anti-government activists are held, as well as criminal convicts. Gunshots were reported to have been fired as the blaze took hold at the jail in the capital Tehran. An alarm was heard as the US-based Centre for Human

At least 40 people have been killed in a coal mine explosion in Turkey – with dozens more still trapped inside. The state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in the town of Amasra was rocked by the blast at around 6:45pm on Friday, with emergency services working through the night to pull trapped workers to

Vladimir Putin has said he has “no” regrets over the war in Ukraine and warned that any direct clash of NATO troops with Russia could lead to a “global catastrophe”. On Friday, the Russian president spoke at a news conference in the Kazakh capital, Astana, and also said that his country’s partial mobilisation will be

Deep in the Buloburde bush in the Hiiraan region of central Somalia, there’s a ragtag regiment gathering around a missile launcher. Huddled tightly with their ears pressed against a small black phone, they receive intelligence and feed it back to the troops positioning the launcher. The Ma’awisley militia is made up of farmers turned fighters

A Florida jury has recommended a sentence of life in prison for gunman Nikolas Cruz who killed 17 people at a Parkland school in 2018. Jurors could not unanimously agree he should be given the death penalty, despite the prosecution requesting he be executed and arguing the deadly attack was cold, calculated and meticulously planned.

The UK will for the first time give Ukraine a number of powerful missiles to defend against Russian airstrikes, but it is not providing the weapons that launch them. Instead, the AMRAAM rockets – capable of shooting down cruise missiles – will help to arm air defence systems that will be given to Ukraine by

Nagib’s small feet poke out from a bundled blue shroud. His body is far too small for his three years of age. He is shrunken by malnutrition and marked by the measles that eventually took his short life. Nagib is carried out of the emergency care ward in Baidoa and into a white van as

A deliberate attack on NATO energy supplies will be met with a “united and determined response”, the alliance’s chief has vowed. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pledged to boost protection of critical infrastructure in response to the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines. The EU believes three leaks in the pipelines last month were the work