World

Novoshakhtinsk is a nondescript former mining city on Russia’s border with Ukraine. It is not the place for a day-trip.   But six days a week, two or three buses pull up to the local community centre and passengers pile out clutching documents. They are all residents of the separatist republics of Eastern Ukraine and they

The biggest reforms to the global taxation system in a century are edging closer to reality, with the group of seven leading industrial economies now on the brink of agreeing to a global minimum corporate tax rate, insiders have told Sky News. The unprecedented plans could mean the UK raises billions of pounds in taxes

US President Joe Biden has asked intelligence officers to “redouble” their efforts to find out the true origin of the COVID-19 outbreak. An international team of World Health Organisation scientists, working with experts in China, had been researching how the pandemic began, and as part of its work, visited the province of Wuhan where the

Cyclone Yaas has made landfall on India’s east coast with gusts of nearly 100mph, tidal waves and heavy rain leaving many areas flooded. More than 1.1 million people have been evacuated from areas in the storm’s path as India continues to deal with a devastating surge in new cases of COVID-19. The cyclone had already

A man is in custody after two members of the Garda Siochana (Irish police service) were shot and wounded in an exchange of gunfire. Gardai responding to reports of shots fired at Whitechapel Grove in Clonsilla, West Dublin at around 7pm on Tuesday evening came under fire from a gunman shooting from a house. The

Israel’s response will be “very powerful” if Hamas breaks the ceasefire, the country’s prime minister has warned. Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking as he and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave short statements after meeting during a visit to the region by Joe Biden’s foreign minister. The Israeli prime minister said: “If Hamas breaks the

A Belarusian opposition activist who was arrested after the Ryanair plane he was on was diverted to Minsk in a “state-sponsored hijacking” has appeared in a new video. Journalist Roman Protasevich‘s flight from Athens in Greece was rerouted from its scheduled destination of Vilnius, Lithuania, to the Belarusian capital on the orders of President Alexander

There are fears for the life of a journalist who was arrested when his Ryanair flight was diverted to Belarus. Roman Protasevich has been detained after his flight from Athens, Greece, was rerouted from its scheduled destination of Vilnius, in Lithuania, to Belarus capital Minsk on Sunday. The 26-year-old has been described as a “private

A senior Hamas leader has told Sky News the group’s current ceasefire should hold but warned there was no chance of making peace with Israel for the moment. In a wide ranging interview – the first he’s given to any broadcaster since the ceasefire was announced – Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas co-founder, denied the group

DR Congo’s Mount Nyiragongo has erupted for the first time in nearly two decades. Many thousands of people have fled the city of Goma, some heading for its highest point Mount Goma. Others headed for the nearby Rwandan border, with authorities there saying that around 3,000 people had already crossed over on Saturday night. Goma

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is continuing to hold, allowing the first aid convoys to reach Gaza. The truce, which began before dawn on Friday, is allowing both sides to assess the damage following 11 days of conflict in which Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes and militants fired thousands of rockets at Israel. Gaza

US President Joe Biden has said a two-state solution is the only answer to resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. Speaking at a White House news conference, Mr Biden said that he was praying that the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would hold. The US administration worked in the background, along

Fundamental facts on the ground will have to change for the truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza to hold. The past 11 days of bombardments did not just spark overnight. They were the product of decades of failed diplomacy and the inability to turn previous ceasefires into a lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

Israeli and Hamas have agreed a ceasefire to end their conflict after 11 days of fighting. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the ceasefire and a statement from the security cabinet called the truce “mutual and unconditional”. Hamas said the truce would begin at 2am local time on Friday (midnight UK time), but Israel said

The ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas overnight appeared to have been upheld by both sides in the first 12 hours. Eleven days of violence officially came to an end at 2am on Friday (12am UK time) after Egypt and the US helped broker a peace deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced it had

US President Joe Biden has told Israel’s prime minister he expects to see a significant de-escalation in its conflict with Hamas today. In what will be seen as Biden’s toughest public pressure on the US ally so far, the White House said the president asked Mr Netanyahu in a telephone call to move toward “the