World

I put my ear plugs in and take a step back. The flash from the tank barrel comes first, then the boom. Snipers to my left open fire. Red machine gun tracer fire zips towards the village and laser guided artillery thuds into walls. Israeli paratroopers are attacking a mock Hezbollah village. It’s a drill,

The US is trying to hit Iranian targets in the Middle East hard enough to stop attacks against American forces but not so hard that it triggers wider escalation or even direct war with Iran. Experts in recent days have dubbed the strategy the “Goldilocks” approach because it needs to be just right. Joe Biden

A dangerous new phase in the Middle East conflict has begun with a major US military action targeting multiple locations in Syria and Iraq. Seeking to both to punish and deter Iran and its Iraq-based proxies after an Iranian-backed militia killed three US service personnel in Jordan, manned and unmanned aircraft hit multiple locations with

Since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine there has been a revolution in the role of military UAVs (unmanned air vehicles), which have enabled much smaller forces to prevail against the traditionally dominant military powers. Has drone warfare become the dominant military capability for the underdog? The first flight of a powered UAV was on 6

At least two people have been killed and 29 injured after gas explosion in Nairobi, according to reports. A local newspaper in the Kenyan capital said the blast happened in the Embakasi neighbourhood just before midnight on Thursday. Wesley Kimeto, commander in charge of police in Embakasi, was quoted saying on the Standard newspaper’s X

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has admitted he “did not handle this right” and should have told President Biden and the public about his prostate cancer diagnosis. However, he said he didn’t order his staff to hide his condition. “We did not handle this right and I did not handle this right. I should have

Angry farmers have started fires outside the European Parliament building in Brussels in protest against taxes, rising costs and cheap imports. About 1,000 tractors have blocked major routes through the city, police estimate, with one displaying a banner reading “if you love the Earth, support those who manage it”. Another banner read “no farmers, no

A reservist who dealt with the aftermath of the Hamas terror attack says there was a “systematic genital mutilation” of women as multiple victims were shot in the crotch, breasts and head. Warning – contains graphic details of injuries Shari Mendes was part of an Israeli army reserve unit whose role was to identify and

Universal Music has accused TikTok of bullying and threatened to pull millions of songs from the platform following a breakdown in payment negotiations – which would remove access to music by artists including Taylor Swift and Drake. In a scathing open letter shared online, titled Why We Must Call Time Out On TikTok, Universal said

Undercover Israeli troops dressed as civilian women and medics have stormed a hospital in the West Bank – killing three people Israel claimed were militants. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said its troops shot dead three men after entering the Ibn Sina hospital, in the northern city of Jenin, early on Tuesday. Security camera video footage

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets. The decision was announced by special court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain during a hearing held at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Khan’s former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also given a 10-year jail sentence as part

The UK and the US are among more than 10 countries that have suspended funding to the UN’s relief agency in Gaza. The move comes after an Israeli intelligence dossier claimed 12 employees at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were involved in the attack on Israel by Hamas fighters on 7 October.

A British base jumper has died after his parachute failed to open during a stunt in Thailand, according to reports. The man has been named by a number of news outlets as Nathy Odinson. The 33-year-old from Cambridgeshire is said to have jumped from a 29-storey building in the coastal resort of Pattaya on Saturday

This is a troubling moment on many levels. It represents yet another clear indication that America and its allies are facing a regional conflict in the Middle East. It is a conflict in which they are protagonists, a conflict they are struggling to influence and a conflict which they have not contained. It’s moments like

Israel’s war against Hamas could be paused for two months should US negotiators reach a deal where dozens of hostages captured in the 7 October attack would be released, according to two senior administration officials. The American officials, who wished to remain anonymous, said the terms of the deal in progress would play out in

Ukraine would win the war faster if it had permission to fire British and other Western weapons against targets deep inside Russia, the head of the Ukrainian navy has signalled. Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa told Sky News the course of the entire conflict would have been very different had Ukrainian forces been allowed to use

An oil tanker is on fire in the Red Sea after a missile attack by Houthi fighters. In a statement, the ship’s owner Trafigura, which has offices in Britain, said firefighting equipment on board was being deployed to control the flames and the safety of the crew is its “foremost priority”. A spokesperson for the

Just before midnight on 21 January, four RAF Typhoons attacked a series of Houthi targets in a coordinated wave of UK-US strikes. It was the eighth attack on the Iran-backed militia by the US, and the second by the RAF, since the first on 11 January. The latest US strikes were all carried out by

It’s time to “think the unthinkable” and consider introducing conscription to ready the country for a potential land war, Britain’s former top NATO commander has said. General Sir Richard Sherriff, ex-deputy supreme allied commander of the military organisation, warned that the UK defence budget is not big enough to expand the armed forces alone. He

Josef Fritzl – who kept his daughter captive for 24 years, raped her thousands of times, and fathered seven children with her – can be moved to a regular prison, a court has ruled. The 88-year-old Austrian – who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 for incest, rape, coercion, false imprisonment, enslavement, and the