World

Israel has unleashed a series of huge strikes on Beirut, with its military saying it struck the central headquarters of the militant group Hezbollah. The attack shook windows across the Lebanese capital and sent thick clouds of smoke billowing into the air. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the intended target of the strike and a

The world’s oldest piece of cheese has been discovered – found laid across a mummy’s neck. A 3,600-year-old coffin was opened in the Xiaohe Cemetery in Xinjiang, China, during an excavation in 2003, where a substance was draped across the neck of a mummified young woman. Despite seeming like a piece of jewellery at the

New fighting rocked Sudan’s capital on Thursday with airstrikes and drone attacks in and around Khartoum amid a worsening cholera outbreak, officials said. Four civilians were killed and 14 others were injured in the Karrari district of Khartoum, a health ministry spokesperson said. Sudan’s army launched the attack, which involved artillery and air strikes, in

The world’s longest-serving death row prisoner has been acquitted after a court in Japan ruled he wasn’t behind a 1966 multiple murder. Iwao Hakamada, 88, had spent 48 years behind bars, more than 45 of them on death row, longer than any other inmate. The ex-boxer was sentenced to death in 1968 for killing his

The UN’s highest body has heard the direst warning yet about the escalating situation in Lebanon. Addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was not mincing his words: “Madam President, excellencies. Hell is breaking loose in Lebanon. As I told the General Assembly yesterday, we should all be

Russia could use nuclear weapons if it is attacked by any state with conventional missiles, Vladimir Putin has said. In a thinly veiled warning to the West over its support of Ukraine, the Kremlin leader also said he would consider any assault that was supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack on

Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, the Ukrainian president referred back to Russia‘s 2022 attack on the nuclear facility in the city of Zaporizhzhia, which Moscow’s forces now control. Describing initial reports of Russia’s attack on that

An Israeli military chief has told his troops that airstrikes in Lebanon are preparing the way for a “possible” ground assault designed to “degrade” Hezbollah, bringing the region closer to all-out war. While the Lebanese militant group, which is backed by Iran and an ally of Hamas, has been involved in a constant tit-for-tat with

After Lebanon’s bloodiest day in almost two decades, the big question is whether this is the start of a much bigger war. Central to that is the arsenal of 150,000 missiles Hezbollah is thought to have at its disposal. Does it have the ability and the intent to use them? If the answer is yes

At least 274 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon – including 21 children – according to the country’s health minister. Israel attacked hundreds of Hezbollah targets on Monday in Lebanon‘s deadliest day since 7 October, with 39 women also reported killed and 1,024 people wounded. After Hezbollah was rocked by pager and

Two young siblings died on Sunday after a two-storey building collapsed in Naples, Italy. Their mother and an older woman are still buried in the rubble, with the Italian emergency services trying to find them. Rescuers in the Naples town of Saviano recovered the bodies of the four- and six-year-old siblings during the operation. Image:

There is a crushed pile of rubble where a nine-storey building once stood in Beirut. It’s all that’s left after an Israeli missile ripped through it. Nearly 20 families had lived in the apartment block – almost certainly there would have been plenty of children among them too. All around there are other high-rise residential

As bombs fell near the city she called home on the edge of Europe, Hasmik Arzanyan ran back to her fourth-floor home one last time. She was used to conflict in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, with her father serving in the first war 30 years ago and her husband fighting in the second during

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it struck hundreds of rocket launcher sites across southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah’s leader attacked Israel for crossing a “red line”. Israel’s military said the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out the strikes across two hours late Thursday evening, marking the first major attack since Lebanon was hit by pager

Nintendo and its partner The Pokemon Company have filed a legal case against the makers of the hit survival adventure game Palworld. The companies filed the case with the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday, seeking an injunction and compensation for damages on the grounds that the game infringes multiple patent rights. The multiplayer open-world game,

The West still relies on the Russian nuclear power industry and vice versa, a review has warned. It said the “significant” interdependence has protected Russia from further European sanctions. But reducing the West’s reliance risks increasing costs, the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report said. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western countries

Blasts have been heard in Beirut a day after 12 people were killed by pager explosions across Lebanon. Reuters have cited a security source and a witness as saying communications devices used by Hezbollah have detonated in the country’s south and in the southern suburbs of the capital. Follow live: Blasts heard in Beirut At

Italian football icon Salvatore Schillaci, who was top scorer at the 1990 World Cup, has died at the age of 59. The striker, also known as Toto, scored six goals during the tournament on his country’s soil. Despite his brilliant form, he could not guide the Azzurri to victory – they were knocked out in

A drone attack has destroyed a Russian weapons arsenal storing missiles, bombs and ammunition, according to a Ukrainian security source. Unverified images and video on social media showed a large ball of flame shooting into the night sky and detonations across a lake. NASA satellites detected heat from a site in the Tver region and

Germany has started checks at borders with five more European countries in an effort to crack down on “irregular” migration and guard against Islamist threats. Police are now checking vehicles at the land frontier with France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The checks are due to last six months and follow similar inspections, in