World

Sri Lanka’s parliament has accepted a letter of resignation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The letter was flown from Singapore late last night, and its authenticity has now been verified. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena says a new president will be appointed “quickly and successfully” – with the process set to be completed within seven days. Mr

A four-year-old girl has been killed and her mother was seriously injured after Russian missiles struck a city in central Ukraine. Another 22 people died, including two more children, and over 100 others were injured in the attack on Vinnytsia, which is 167 miles (268km) southwest of the capital Kyiv. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence tweeted

The president of Sri Lanka has failed to resign despite promising to do so after thousands of people stormed his palace in protest at the economic chaos in the country. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife fled to the Maldives on Wednesday aboard an air force jet and he made the prime minister acting president

It was unfair to blame Liverpool fans for unrest in Paris before the Champions League final as state authorities failed to manage crowds, a report has found. France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, pointed the finger at Liverpool fans to divert attention away from the failings of police and organisers, the report commissioned by the French

Protesters have stormed the office of Sri Lanka’s prime minister as police use tear gas on crowds. A nationwide state of emergency has been declared by the prime minister’s office and a curfew has been imposed in the Western Province in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled the country after months of

The president of Sri Lanka has fled the country after protesters stormed his home and office amid a three-month economic crisis. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of Male – the capital of the Maldives. It comes just days after activists

The Sri Lankan president’s brother and former finance minister has been stopped from leaving the country, immigration officials said, as anger mounts against the powerful family who have been blamed for the economic crisis. It was not immediately clear where Basil Rajapaksa, who also holds US citizenship, was trying to go. He resigned as finance

Thousands of people lined up for hours in Colombo’s midday sun for an unprecedented glimpse of one of the most powerful buildings in the country, the official presidential residence. Queues snaked around the block. Some people told us they’d been waiting for more than six hours to enter. The city has never seen anything like

People swimming in the president of Sri Lanka’s pool say they will remain at the official residence in Colombo until Gotabaya Rajapaksa finally leaves office. Protesters have also stormed the home of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, demonstrating against an economic catastrophe that has left many struggling to afford two meals a day. Both men have

The Kagarlytskyi family narrowly escaped Russian occupation in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin. After three months on the run, moving from one place to another, they’ve returned home. But they’ve lost everything, and they’re now living in a train carriage as they try to piece their lives back together. Russia ‘storing weapons in nuclear plant’

Sri Lankans are roaming through the ransacked presidential palace a day after it was stormed by thousands of people angry at the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe both announced they were going to step down in the face of the protests. The prime minister’s private residence

Thousands of protesters in Sri Lanka have broken through police barricades and stormed the president’s official residence, news reports have said. In one of the largest anti-government marches in the country this year, the protesters are demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Thousands of people swarmed into Sri Lankan capital Colombo’s government district, shouting

Thousands of protesters in Sri Lanka have broken through police barricades and stormed the president’s official residence. In one of the biggest anti-government marches to hit the country this year as the economy crumbles, the demonstrators have demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, announced he would quit on Saturday

The moment Mykhailo Orlovskyi was taken by Russian forces was captured on his own dashcam. He can be seen being driven away by soldiers on top of an armoured vehicle, his arms in the air. At this point, a Russian soldier was driving Mykhailo’s car – which was capturing the arrest in real time. “The

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has died after being shot while giving a speech in the western city of Nara, state broadcaster NHK said. His death was also confirmed by a source within the ruling Liberal Democrat Party, Reuters reported. Mr Abe, who was 67, sustained wounds to the right side of his neck

A new wave of Covid-19 is sweeping across Europe driven by Omicron mutations, an EU Medicines Agency official has warned. Head of vaccines at the agency, Marco Cavaleri, has said “the increase in transmission among older age groups is starting to translate into severe disease”. The increase in the number of people testing positive is

Weapons supplied by the West are starting to have an impact on the war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Ukrainian fighters are making “tangible strikes” on Russian logistical targets, the president revealed in his nightly video message, adding that strikes were affecting Moscow’s offensive potential. He said: “The Western artillery – the weapons we

An armed policeman at the Uvalde school massacre had an opportunity to shoot the gunman but missed his chance waiting for permission from a supervisor, according to a new report. Two teachers and 19 children died after police waited more than an hour to storm Robb Elementary School when Salvador Rolando Ramos opened fire on

The boss of OPEC – the powerful cartel that represents many of the world’s biggest oil producers – has died at the age of 63. Mohammad Barkindo died late on Tuesday, said a spokesperson for Nigeria’s petroleum industry. The cause of his death is not immediately known, but he reportedly died hours after meeting Nigeria’s

Whenever Oleksiy was planning a trip from his home in the occupied region of Kherson, he would come prepared with a “legend” for the journey, a persona that helped him avoid suspicion at Russian checkpoints. He found playing the character of an elderly Russian farmer worked best. He brought props to back up his story