World

Russia has reached a new low and is trying to “threaten the whole world” by shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy has said. Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the facility as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed a demilitarised zone at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the city of

Satellite images appear to show several Russian warplanes at an airbase in Crimea have been damaged or destroyed. Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday that nine aircraft were demolished in explosions a day before – a claim Russia denied. The images, from the US-based Planet Labs, show several warplanes in pieces and swathes of scorched

The people of Gaza are taking their first tentative steps towards normality after three days of violence in the territory. The latest episode began last Friday when Israel launched what it described as a pre-emptive attack against the Islamic Jihad Movement, the second-largest militant group in the Gaza Strip. Two of its commanders were killed

Russian authorities have raided the home of a former state TV journalist who quit after making an on-air protest against the war in Ukraine. Marina Ovsyannikova gained international attention in March after bursting into a studio of Russian state TV, her then employer, to denounce the war in Ukraine. She held a poster that read:

At 4pm last Friday, residents of an apartment building on Al-Shohada Street in Gaza were eating, sleeping or relaxing on their day off. Then, the Israelis struck the complex from above. Their target was man a called Tayseer al Jabari who was visiting relatives on the sixth floor. He was a senior commander in the

The drought scorching much of the European Union is set to be the worst endured since the sixteenth century, a senior scientist at the European Commission’s (EC) drought service has warned. “At the moment… this seems to be the worst” year in 500 years, although a full analysis will need to happen retrospectively, said Andrea

China is extending threatening military exercises around Taiwan that have already disrupted shipping and air traffic, further fuelling concerns about potential conflict in the region. According to Moscow, the exercises include anti-submarine drills, apparently targeting US support for Taiwan in the event of a potential Chinese invasion. The Chinese military has said the exercises involving

A peace of sorts seems to have returned to the fractious, wartorn border that separates Israel and the territory of Gaza. The Egyptians managed to negotiate a temporary truce yesterday as Palestinian militants sent multiple rocket barrages across the frontier – and the Israeli military targeted rocket launching sites run by the militant group Islamic

Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have agreed to a ceasefire following a weekend of fighting. The stoppage has been called for 11.30pm local time (9.30pm BST), Islamic Jihad and the Israeli government said in separate statements. It has been the most serious flare-up on the Gaza frontier in more than a year. In an update

A second senior Islamic Jihad commander has been killed in an Israeli airstrike as a surge of fighting continues in Gaza. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group said the man was Khaled Mansour – their top official for the southern Gaza Strip. The strike in the southern city of Rafah also killed two fellow militants

In the Balkans, Europe is watching as a crisis slowly develops. A familiar problem, in a familiar place, but now with the added prospect of Russian intervention. Thirty years after its horrific war, Bosnia is caught in a complex, volatile dispute that embraces ethnic divisions, religious rivalry, genocide denial, harrowing memories and the nagging suspicion

The war in Ukraine is set to enter a new phase, British military intelligence chiefs have said this morning. Russian forces are “almost certainly” massing in the south in preparation for a counter-offensive from Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) warned on Saturday. Long convoys of military trucks, tanks and towed artillery are moving southwest

Ships travelling in one of the world’s busiest shipping regions have been forced to avoid areas totalling nearly 10,000 square miles, as China conducts military exercises around Taiwan. Taiwanese authorities have asked vessels to avoid six zones where Chinese military drills are taking place, some of which are in or near the usually packed Taiwan

Taiwan’s premier has condemned China as the “evil neighbour next door” after its military began live firing drills around the island. Su Tseng-chang told reporters in the capital Taipei he believed China was arbitrarily destroying the Taiwan Strait – the world’s most frequently used waterway – with its military exercises, and its actions were being

A Russian judge has convicted and sentenced American basketball player Brittney Griner to nine years in prison for drug possession and smuggling. President Joe Biden described the jail term as “unacceptable” and called for her immediate release. Judge Anna Sotnikova said the time Griner has served in custody since her arrest in February would count

China has begun another series of military exercises around Taiwan as tensions continue to rise following a 24-hour visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Chinese state media is reporting the drills are underway hours after suspected drones flew over Taiwan’s territory on Wednesday and hackers targeted the defence ministry’s website. Taiwan

China’s determination to take control of Taiwan is often cited as one of the likeliest causes of World War Three – a conflict which, it is widely accepted, could even end human civilisation altogether. Chinese President Xi Jinping warned in advance that the Speaker of the US House of Representatives was “playing with fire” with

Chinese military exercises near Taiwan have encroached on the island’s territory and amount to a blockade of its sea and air space, the defence ministry has said. The exercises by the Chinese navy and air force are seen as a direct response to the visit to Taiwan of top US politician Nancy Pelosi, the most

China has warned the United States it is performing a “highly dangerous trick” over Taiwan and “those playing with fire will get burned”. Beijing’s ambassador to London – one of his country’s most senior diplomats – made the comments in a press conference, hastily convened, to respond to the arrival of top US politician Nancy

A key force behind the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, Ayman al-Zawahiri spent much of the past two decades with a $25m bounty on his head. The bespectacled Egyptian doctor was leader of al Qaeda for the second half of that period. But he is perhaps better known for his previous role