World

Abdel-Fattah al Burhan’s voice was jovial when he first answered the phone. My first question – “are you safe?” – was met with “thank God, we are well and in his safety”. The commander-in-chief has been Sudan’s de facto president since ousting his former ally and longtime military dictator Omar al Bashir after prolonged pro-democracy

The former home of a German cannibal has been destroyed in a fire, police say. Armin Meiwes was convicted almost two decades ago of murder and disturbing the peace of the dead, with both crimes having been committed at the half-timber house. The cause of the overnight fire in the German town of Rotenburg an

The head of Sudan’s army has told Sky News his troops will “definitely” defeat an attacking paramilitary group, but he is open to negotiations. At least 97 people have been killed and 365 injured over the weekend in clashes between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Tensions have escalated since a power pact between

One of Vladimir Putin’s biggest critics has been jailed in Russia for 25 years after being found guilty of treason. Vladimir Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three and former journalist who holds Russian and British passports, spent years as a politician opposing the Russian president. He was accused of treason and of discrediting the military

SpaceX will launch its Starship rocket system for the first time today. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued Elon Musk‘s company with a licence to put its most powerful rocket system through its paces, saying it met all safety and environmental requirements. The Starship rocket is due to blast off for its debut orbital

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has been moved from intensive care following treatment for a lung infection, his brother has said. Berlusconi, who has chronic leukaemia, had been hospitalised for treatment and is now on a regular ward at a Milan hospital. “All okay, he’s out of intensive care,” his brother Paolo told the Corriere

An Indian gangster-turned-politician has been shot dead on live television. Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were being escorted for a medical check-up in handcuffs at the time of the attack. Both men were accosted by camera crews – and police say the gunmen who killed the pair had been masquerading as journalists. Three people

Germany has begun shutting down its three remaining nuclear power plants as part of a long-planned transition towards renewable energy. The shutdown of the Emsland, Neckarwestheim II and Isar II reactors, which was agreed upon more than a decade ago, has proved divisive. Other industrialised countries – such as the UK, US, Japan, China and

The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are now members of NATO, so are probably beyond Russia’s grasp – for now – but with the war in Ukraine dominating world headlines, Russia has been quietly increasing its influence and control over Belarus. Is Belarus the next target on Putin’s radar, and is there anything

Ghana has become the first country in the world to approve a new malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University. R21/Matrix-M was shown to be up to 80% effective in a trial involving 400 children in Burkina Faso, published in September. Malaria kills more than 600,000 people each year, most of them children in Africa, and

Alexei Navalny, the jailed critic of Vladimir Putin, is grappling with a mystery ailment in prison that could be the result of a slow-acting poison, his spokesperson has suggested. The opposition politician has reportedly lost 8kg in weight in just over two weeks and an ambulance was called for him over the weekend. Mr Navalny

Donald Trump has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of “kissing Xi Jinping’s a**” during his recent visit to Beijing. Mr Macron held talks with his Chinese counterpart last week in the hope of convincing him to use his relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday,

A space mission with a name like no other is about to embark on a journey to find alien life on the moons of Jupiter. Juice (that’s short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) is a European Space Agency (ESA) venture to make unprecedentedly detailed observations of the gas giant. It will include searching its icy

The head of Mexico’s immigration agency will face criminal charges for a fire that killed 40 migrants in a locked cell at a detention centre near the border with the US. In a statement, the federal Attorney General’s Office said National Immigration Institute head Francisco Garduno was criminally remiss in not preventing the fire, despite

Alibaba has become the latest Chinese technology giant to unveil its own ChatGPT-like AI model. Tongyi Qianwen, which translates to “truth from a thousand questions”, will be added to the firm’s existing apps, including workplace messaging and a voice assistant. Like OpenAI’s GPT tech, which has been added to websites from Microsoft’s Bing to travel

Germany is on course to shut down its three remaining nuclear power plants on Saturday. The country began phasing out nuclear power more than 20 years ago – but plans were escalated following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Subsequent anti-nuclear demonstrations in Germany led then chancellor Angela Merkel to press ahead with plans to

Iranian authorities are installing cameras in public places to identify and penalise unveiled women in an attempt to rein in the increasing numbers who are defying the country’s strict dress rules. Those deemed to be violating Iran’s hijab rules will receive “warning text messages as to the consequences”, police in Iran say. The move is

Nearly 20 military ships – about 10 Chinese and 10 Taiwanese – are involved in a stand-off near the Taiwan Strait’s sensitive median line, Reuters reports. China also conducted simulated attacks on foreign military targets off Taiwan’s southwest coast on Sunday, the agency said, citing a source familiar with the situation. It comes on the

Six rockets have been fired from Syria towards Israel overnight, according to the Israeli military. Only three of the missiles fell within Israeli territory – two on open ground and one intercepted by air defence systems, the military said. There were no reports of casualties. Syrian state media later reported explosions in and around the

China has accused the World Health Organisation (WHO) of “attempting to smear” Beijing after the global health body’s boss said data linking the origins of coronavirus to raccoon dogs should have been shared years ago. Samples of genetic material collected at a market in Wuhan – where the first cases were detected in late 2019