World

The spire of France’s famous Rouen cathedral is on fire, according to the city’s mayor. Images posted on social media showed flames spewing from what looks like a scaffolding canopy near the top of the building, which is renowned due to its three towers spanning hundreds of years of architecture. The gothic cathedral is widely

Sir Keir Starmer has told the Ukrainian president that British missiles can be used for defensive strikes against targets inside Russia. The announcement came as the new British prime minister met Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Washington DC on Wednesday. The decision over the Storm Shadow missiles, which has been welcomed by Ukraine,

An Irish woman who was detained by police and charged with attempting suicide by a Dubai court will be allowed to return home, Ireland’s prime minister has said. Tori Towey, from Boyle in County Roscommon, says she tried to take her own life after allegedly being attacked and left with severe bruising and other injuries.

Dozens of people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in southern Gaza. The strike at the entrance to the school hit the tents of displaced families in the town of Abassan, east of Khan Younis, with most of the victims being women and children, according to Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli

The air-launched cruise missile that struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv was from Russia, Sky News can confirm. The strike on Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital was one of several attacks in the deadliest bombardment of Ukraine’s capital in several months. According to the United Nations team tracking human rights violations in Ukraine, at least two people

This feels like a significant moment in the war in Ukraine, and the timing is telling, coming on the eve of the NATO summit in Washington.  If Vladimir Putin wanted the West’s attention, he most certainly has it now. Follow latest: Aftermath of deadly strike on children’s hospital As ever, there are competing narratives about

Fifty feet underground, in one of the most secure rooms in Israel, is the country’s blood vault. We’re told we can’t say its exact location and they won’t reveal what measures have been taken to protect it, but it is safe against missile, chemical, and cyber attacks, and in the air-conditioned room are boxes and

National Rally has come third in the second round of voting in France’s parliamentary election – according to exit polls. Marine Le Pen’s far-right party was being tipped to emerge as the dominant force in French politics following President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to hold a snap poll. But the left-wing New Popular Front coalition won

This is an astonishing result, perhaps the biggest surprise in the history of French elections. Nobody saw it coming – the pollsters, the public or the politicians. France will not have a far-right government, but that answer, that single fact, does not cover another crucial point. The country is still cloaked in uncertainty. An election

Ukraine’s air force has claimed it tricked Russian forces into hitting dummy versions of warplanes and air defence systems. Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said mock-ups were put in place at an airfield near the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih and a district of the Black Sea port of Odesa. He shared a video

More than 50 candidates and their supporters have been attacked ahead of a second round of voting in France’s parliamentary elections. Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said politicians from across the spectrum had faced verbal and physical abuse – often while they were putting up campaign posters. He told BFM that several of the attacks had

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has been elected as Iran’s new president, beating hardline conservative Saeed Jalili. The country’s interior ministry confirmed Mr Pezeshkian’s victory on Saturday, after he secured 16.3 million out of the 30 million votes cast on Friday – Mr Jalili gained 13.5 million. The election was called after the death of former

War in Ukraine will not “miraculously end”, Hungary’s prime minister has said as he defended his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Viktor Orban angered European Union leaders after holding talks with Mr Putin in Moscow over a potential peace deal in the war launched more than two years ago by Russia. While Mr Orban

Police in Ecuador say 49 kidnapping victims have been rescued from a crime gang in the south of the country. Two suspected kidnappers were arrested during the raid in a mining region in Azuay province. Police said the Los Lobos (The Wolves) crime gang was behind the kidnappings. An earlier statement from the armed forces

Militant group Hezbollah has said it has fired 200 rockets into Israel in one of its largest barrages yet. The Iran-backed organisation claimed it launched the attack on ten Israeli military sites using a “squadron of drones”. Tensions have been boiling around the border between Israel and Lebanon in recent weeks. The Israeli military said

Mark Cavendish has broken the record for Tour de France stage wins. The British cyclist secured the historic milestone after triumphing in Saint-Vulbas, eastern France, to win the 35th stage of his career. Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, had been level with Belgian great Eddy Merckx on 34 victories. “I’m in a bit of

The chances of a newborn baby surviving in Gaza now are not good. On the malnutrition ward at The Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, babies only days old and often premature, fight for their lives. Mothers are so malnourished themselves that they cannot breastfeed, and so babies are dying, literally starving to death, because

Australian police are searching for a 12-year-old child who was reportedly attacked by a crocodile while swimming. The alert was raised on Tuesday night in Palumpa, a remote Northern Territory town about seven hours drive from Darwin. Police said the child was last seen swimming in a creek and that “initial reports stated the child

Tear gas has been used to break up anti-government protests in Kenya following violent clashes over now abandoned tax rises. Footage showed riot police on the streets of the capital, Nairobi, with clouds of tear gas billowing along a main road. Kenyan television stations have also been showing peaceful protests, with people marching with palm

Widespread damage has been reported only hours after Hurricane Beryl first made landfall in the southeastern Caribbean. Roofs were ripped off buildings, trees were uprooted and electricity lines brought crashing to the ground on several islands when the ferocious storm swept in earlier on Monday. Winds of up to 150mph were reported in some areas,