World

There is a civil war in Ethiopia that is being fought largely in the shadows. The country’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed and his government have imposed a full blackout as they seek to defeat the leadership of the region of Tigray. The phone lines have been cut and the internet is switched off. The banks

Thousands have attended the funeral of the Serbian Orthodox Church leader, who died from COVID-19 just weeks after leading the open-casket service of a bishop also killed by the virus. Despite the pandemic, many mourners attending the ceremony in Belgrade for Patriarch Irinej did not wear masks or respect social distancing and kissed the glass

The funeral of a black man who died while being beaten by supermarket security guards has been held following protests that echoed those of the racial justice movement in the United States. Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas, a father of four, was buried wearing a white T-shirt in a coffin draped with the flag of his

Beating the coronavirus must rest on better global coordination and fair distribution of vaccines according the host of the G20 summit, which is taking place this weekend. “When the pandemic happened, each country tried to do its own system of how to deal with it,” the Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al

Imagine how it feels to be given two days’ notice to pack up your home. The desperate situation follows a war which has already claimed the lives of your children and sunk your nation into a bitter defeat. Now, the hastily drawn up peace demands that your house be handed to the victors and it

The United Nations has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ethiopia, as it expects 200,000 refugees to escape to Sudan in the coming months. With more than one million refugees already in Sudan, the east African country is struggling to cope with about 31,000 Ethiopian refugees who have already entered since fighting erupted on 4

The number of people killed in protests over the arrest of Ugandan presidential candidate Bobi Wine has risen to 16, while dozens more have been injured. Mr Wine – a pop star whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi – was detained on Wednesday in the eastern town of Luuka after being accused of violating anti-coronavirus

The head of Pfizer has told Sky News his company is poised to send out doses of its COVID-19 vaccine “within hours” of it receiving official approval. Chief Executive Albert Bourla said his company would be applying for permission from regulatory authorities across the world “very, very soon – within a couple of days” and

Australian special forces unlawfully killed 39 people in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016, a report has found. The revelation comes after a four year inquiry by the Australian Defence Force (ADF), which investigated 57 incidents, took testimony from hundreds of witnesses and reviewed more than 20,000 documents. Speaking in the Australian capital of Canberra, General

The state of South Australia is beginning a six-day lockdown in response to a cluster of 22 coronavirus cases. Schools, universities, bars and cafes have been ordered to close since midnight local time on Wednesday (1pm Tuesday UK time). Only one person from each household is allowed to leave home each day and and only

US President Donald Trump will cut his country’s military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pentagon has announced. Acting defence secretary Christopher Miller said the number of US soldiers in Afghanistan will fall from 4,500 to 2,500 by the time Mr Trump leaves office early next year. The number of troops in Iraq will be

Hurricane Iota has made landfall on the coast of Nicaragua with winds of up to 155mph, the National Hurricane Centre (NHT) has said. The category four hurricane hit the town of Haulover at around 10.40pm eastern time on Monday (3.40am GMT Tuesday). It is around 15 miles south from where the devastating Hurricane Eta struck

Iota has strengthened into a “dangerous” category 4 hurricane as it heads towards Central America. Forecasters expect it to make landfall in northeastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras on Monday night. It comes just days after the countries were ransacked by category 4 Hurricane Eta which killed at least 200 people and left dozens more missing.

Coronavirus was circulating in Italy as early as September 2019, scientists there have claimed. The World Health Organization says COVID-19 was unknown before the outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, in central China, in December. A few months later, the first official cases were detected in Europe. However, scientists in Italy say they have found

Tigray’s leader has admitted it fired missiles at the capital of neighbouring Eritrea, in another escalation of the fighting in Ethiopia. Earlier, at least three rockets appeared to have been aimed the airport in the Eritrean capital Asmara, hours after the Tigray regional government warned it might attack. The attacks on an international target represent

Russia was the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine – and it also claims its vaccine is the best. Last week, two days after US drugs giant Pfizer announced that the vaccine it has developed alongside Germany’s BioNTech was 90% effective in protecting people against the virus, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) which