World

The number of babies born in January 2021 dropped compared to previous years due to COVID-19 health concerns. Countries with the strictest lockdowns in early 2020 and over-occupied intensive care units have seen the biggest drops in live births 9-10 months later, according to scientists in Switzerland. Dr Leo Pomar, the first author of the

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 senior Iranian official has questioned excessive state enforcement of the country’s compulsory hijab laws – following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody. Ali Larijani, 65, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and a former parliamentary speaker, warned in an interview with Iranian daily Ettela’at that a “rigid response” to the widespread

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

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007 has been charged in Germany with several sexual offences allegedly committed in Portugal. Christian B allegedly committed the offences between 2000 and 2017, German prosecutors said. The prosecutor’s office said the charges do not relate to the McCann case. Madeleine was on holiday with

Russia is running out of weapons for its war in Ukraine and the costs to the Kremlin are “staggering” in terms of soldiers killed and equipment lost, a UK spy chief will say. Sir Jeremy Fleming, the head of GCHQ, will use a rare, public speech today to say the Ukrainian armed forces are “turning

Vladimir Putin has said Monday’s deadly missile strikes targeting cities in Ukraine were in retaliation for its “terrorist action” against Russian territory. In televised remarks, the Russian president said Moscow had launched long-range missile attacks against Ukraine’s energy, military and communications infrastructure on Monday. Cities including Lviv, Ternopil, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, and Zaporizhzhia were targeted, with

It is a quiet street in a fairly tough part of Sao Paulo, but the sound of high velocity weapons firing and the thud of rounds impacting every few seconds is somewhat disconcerting. We ring the doorbell of an innocuous-looking building; after a few minutes the thick metal door opens, and we are greeted by

Accusing Ukraine of terrorism after the explosion on the Crimean bridge is “too cynical even for Russia”, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. The blast on the Kerch Strait Bridge that links occupied Crimea to Russia caused serious damage and will further squeeze supply lines for Kremlin forces fighting in Ukraine. Nobody has claimed

The hunger is sharp in Lyman but the instinct to survive, even sharper. It’s been exceptionally honed in those Lyman residents who’ve remained through months of fighting, bombing and Russian occupation. And there are a surprisingly large number of them. We see crowds on the outskirts of the town, gathering around a small warehouse where

The British government has been accused of “dragging its heels” over trade linked to forced labour.  A Chinese labour camp survivor is preparing to sue the UK’s trade secretary for allowing cotton imports from the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, where it has been alleged local minority groups such as the Uyghurs have been subjected

Russia says three people have been killed after a key bridge to Crimea was partially destroyed in an explosion. Kerch Bridge – which is also known as the Crimean Bridge – spans 12-miles and is a key supply route for Moscow as they continue their attack on Ukraine. Ukraine war latest: Putin sends ministers to

There are a quite shocking number of Russian corpses left in the wake of the Ukrainian blitz on their eastern front. Kyiv’s troops are moving so fast and methodically, there’s no time to collect the enemy’s dead. It’s a grim illustration of Ukraine’s current battlefield successes. As we followed their route through the village of

The US president is hardly unique in saying the risk of a nuclear “Armageddon” is higher now than it has been since the Cuban missile crisis – or as it is known in Russia, the Caribbean crisis. Anyone who has thought for more than five seconds about Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats given the geopolitical state

At Udon Thani hospital, we witness an unbearable procession of grief.  We’re standing by a narrow road as a convoy of vehicles arrive. Inside, are the bodies of the dead from the worst mass shooting in Thailand‘s history. A freezer truck pulls up and coffin after coffin emerges. Medical workers line the street frantically trying

At least 38 people have been killed in a mass shooting by a sacked policeman at a children’s day care centre in Thailand. The victims included 22 children – some as young as two years old – as well as adults, authorities said. A manhunt was initially launched to catch the perpetrator, named by police

A suspected Russian torture chamber – dubbed a “mini Auschwitz” – has been discovered in a newly-liberated town, Ukrainian officials have claimed. The room, which contained a box of gold dental crowns, was found inside a de-occupied town near Izyum, a city in the eastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Having been occupied by Russian forces

Vladimir Putin has signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia, finalising the annexation of the occupied territories in defiance of international outcry. It follows the so-called referenda in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, rejected as a sham by Ukraine and the West. The areas being annexed are not even under full control of Russian