World

An alliance of rebel groups in Myanmar has taken control of a key city in the north of the country after government forces reportedly laid down their weapons and withdrew. The Three Brotherhood Alliance took control of the city of Laukkaing, located on the border with China, late on Thursday. Around 1,000 government troops put

Oscar Pistorius has been freed on parole nearly 11 years after murdering his girlfriend in a case that made global headlines. The former Paralympic champion – once celebrated as the ‘blade runner’ – was granted parole in November and today left a South African jail and is now at home, South Africa’s correctional services department

A full transcript detailing air traffic control conversations moments before the fatal plane crash at Tokyo’s Haneda airport has been released by authorities in Japan. The transcript shows the discussions between the airport’s control tower and the two planes – one a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger jet and the other a smaller coastguard plane –

The leader of Hezbollah has condemned the “dangerous” killing of Hamas’s deputy leader, and warned Israel there will be “no ceiling and no rules” if it wages war on Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah vowed Hezbollah “will not be silent” following the killing of Saleh al Arouri in a drone strike in southern Beirut yesterday. Hezbollah has

At least 20 people have been killed at a cemetery in Iran where a ceremony was being held to mark the 2020 killing of Iran’s top commander Qassem Soleimani, state media has reported. The reports added there were two explosions at the site in the city of Kerman where the former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Hamas has said one of its top officials, Saleh al Arouri, has been killed in an explosion in Beirut – blaming the “cowardly assassination” on Israel. Al Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing and the deputy leader of the group’s political bureau. He also headed Hamas’s presence in the West Bank.

As firefighters and rescue crews work on the ground following a huge plane fire at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in Japan, investigators behind the scenes will try to piece together how it happened. Captured in dramatic footage from the scene, a Japan Airlines aircraft can be seen bursting into flames and moving along the runway in

The number of people killed after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Japan has risen to at least 30. A series of quakes struck Ishikawa prefecture on Monday afternoon, triggering a now-cancelled tsunami alert that caused some to flee to higher ground. Buildings collapsed, cracks opened in roads and fires broke out – with Japan‘s prime minister

A tsunami warning has been issued after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 hit Japan. The warning, issued by the country’s meteorological agency, covers western coastal regions of Ishikawa, Niigata and Toyama. Hokuriku Electric Power said it was checking for any irregularities at its nuclear power plants, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. Waves of

Britain is reportedly considering air strikes on Houthi rebels after the US Navy sank three boats that had been targeting a container ship in the Red Sea. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the government would not hesitate to take “direct action” to prevent further attacks on shipping. It comes after the US military said four

Denmark’s queen has unexpectedly announced her abdication in her traditional New Year’s Eve speech. Margrethe II will formally step down from the throne on 14 January – exactly 52 years to the day of her ascension to the throne in 1972. She will be succeeded by her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik. This breaking news

Houthi rebels in Yemen are showing no signs of ending their “reckless” attacks on ships in the Red Sea, a top US navy commander has warned. Attacks on commercial vessels in the region have continued even as more nations join the international maritime mission to secure the vital waterway and trade traffic begins to pick

At least 14 people – including two children – have been killed and more than 100 injured during shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod, officials in Moscow say. They have accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack – a day after an 18-hour aerial Russian barrage across Ukraine killed at least 39 people.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy started 2023 full of optimism. In Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces had demonstrated they could push Russian invaders back, and Western confidence in Ukraine’s ability to prevail was growing. Despite the risks to domestic national security, Western nations donated huge quantities of weapons, ammunition and high-tech capability from national stockpiles to support Ukraine’s proposed

Russia has launched one of its biggest aerial barrages on Ukraine since the start of the invasion, killing at least 27 people and wounding 144 others. Several cities were struck overnight as Russia launched more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, with most of them being shot down. Ukrainian

An airstrike that killed 86 people at a Gaza refugee camp was a “regrettable mistake”, an Israeli government spokesperson has admitted. Eylon Levy told Sky News the incident at the Maghazi site on Christmas Eve was down to the use of an “incorrect munition” and “should not have happened”. But he refused to apologise for

The gunman who killed 14 people at a university in Prague before killing himself, reportedly left a suicide note confessing to the murder of a father and his baby six days earlier, Czech media have reported. A note found at the home of David Kozak, 24, was said to have contained the admission he shot

Former European Commission president Jacques Delors has died at the age of 98. An ardent advocate of post-war European integration, Delors served as president of the body for three terms – longer than any other holder of the office – from January 1985 until the end of 1994. The Frenchman, a Socialist, was also the

Hamas has always had a reputation for having some of the best underground tunnels of any militia. In a media tour arranged by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) into Gaza, one of the most impressive examples the Israeli military has discovered was on full display. The entrance was just inside Gaza, only a few hundred

Subhi Shaledeh and his extended family had around 500 acres of prime grazing land in the Occupied West Bank, in the village of Janoub. They owned olive trees and hundreds of sheep. The land had been in the family for decades. But overnight they lost their livelihood and their and land. Subhi says on 9