World

South Africa’s president has condemned travel bans enacted against his country and its neighbours over the new coronavirus variant Omicron. Cyril Ramaphosa said he was “deeply disappointed” by the action, which he described as unjustified, and called for the bans ...

Belarus’s threat to cut off gas supplies to Europe would be a breach of contract with Russia, President Vladimir Putin has warned. In a TV interview, Mr Putin said President Alexander Lukashenko may have made the threat in a fit ...

Turkish authorities have opened a legal inquiry against 30 people accused of tweeting disinformation about the health of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They posted “manipulative content” on Twitter using the hashtag #olmus (dead in Turkish), police said. The hashtag started ...

A four-year-old girl missing for 18 days in a remote part of Western Australia has been found alive and well in a locked house, police have said. Cleo Smith disappeared from her family’s tent at a campsite near the town ...

The Afghan capital Kabul has been rocked by two explosions and gunfire at the site of a military hospital. A Taliban spokesman said the first blast happened in front of the 400-bed Sardar Daud Khan hospital and the second was ...

More than five million people are known to have died of Covid-19 worldwide, 19 months since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University. Vaccines have slowed the death rate, but some health experts say the true toll could be ...

Shops, restaurants and schools have shut in Moscow in a partial lockdown, as Russia battles record Covid deaths and infections. Only essential shops like supermarkets and pharmacies are allowed to open in the capital, while food outlets are only providing ...

A Texas nurse has been found guilty of the murder of four patients who died after he injected them with air following heart surgeries. William Davis, 37, was convicted of capital murder by a jury on Tuesday and could now ...

South Korea has launched its first homegrown rocket, stepping up the country’s ambitions in space. The Korean Satellite Launch Vehicle II, known as Nuri, took off from Goheung, about 500km (310 miles) south of Seoul. President Moon Jae-in said the ...

US officials are investigating possible cases of Havana syndrome illness in Colombia, days before a visit by the Secretary of State, US media say. US embassy staff in Bogota may have been injured by the mysterious illness, which causes a ...

North Korea’s leader has vowed to build an “invincible military” in the face of what it says are hostile policies from the United States, state media report. Kim Jong-un added that weapons development was for self-defence, and not to start ...

At least 25 people have been killed and many others injured in a bus crash in north-west Nepal, police say. The vehicle was travelling through Mugu district when it left the road shortly after midday on Tuesday, local media report. ...

More than 1.76 million people have been affected by severe flooding in China’s northern Shanxi province, according to local media. Torrential rain last week led to houses collapsing and triggered landslides across more than 70 districts and cities in the ...

Taiwan will not bow to pressure from China and will defend its democratic way of life, President Tsai Ing-wen has said in a defiant speech amid heightened tensions over the island. “The more we achieve, the greater the pressure we ...