Benjamin Netanyahu has started giving evidence in his corruption trial, calling the case “absurd” and saying he hates champagne in response to claims he accepted gifts of alcohol and cigars. The Israeli prime minister told a fortified, underground court in Tel Aviv he would refute the allegations and called them a “drop in the sea”
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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is recovering in intensive care after having emergency surgery to drain blood from his brain, a medical note published by the country’s government said. The leftist politician, known as Lula, had reduced travel in recent months while doctors monitored his recovery from a trauma he suffered to the
Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to appear in court later for the first time in his long-running corruption trial. The Israeli prime minister has been charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Judges have ruled he must testify three times a week, despite the ongoing war in Gaza war and new threats in the Middle
Syrian rebels have brought 24 years of Bashar al Assad’s dictatorship to an end in a single week. Led by the former al Qaeda affiliate group Hayat Tahrir al Sham, the uprising was also supported by US-backed Kurdish forces, Turkish-backed militias, and dozens of smaller fighter groups. Russia ‘surprised’ at Assad ousting – Syria latest
Syria’s ousted President Bashar al Assad has arrived in Moscow, Russian state media has confirmed. Mr Assad and members of his family arrived in the city on Sunday, a Kremlin source told the TASS news agency. The source said: “Assad and his family members have arrived in Moscow. Russia, for humanitarian reasons, has granted them
Seizing military bases, toppling regime statues, freeing prisoners and capturing major cities – this is just a fraction of what Syrian rebel forces have achieved in just over a week. Sky News has tracked the shock offensive that has ousted President Bashar al Assad, using over 60 geolocated videos that show how they advanced through
The Syrian government appears to have fallen after a lightning offensive by rebels. President Bashar al Assad fled Damascus on a plane for an unknown destination, according to two senior Syrian army officers speaking to the Reuters news agency and Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, speaking to AP. Syria’s army command
The favourite to win Romania’s controversial presidential election has launched an extraordinary series of attacks in an exclusive interview with Sky News, less than a day after the election was cancelled. Calin Georgescu, the populist politician who rose from obscurity to the brink of victory, said he had been the victim of a “coup d’etat”
South Korea’s president has said he is “very sorry” days after declaring martial law and surrounding parliament with soldiers. Yoon Suk Yeol plunged his country into turmoil on Tuesday when he put the military in charge, claiming it was necessary to defend the constitutional order and “eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces”. However, his
Romania’s top court has annulled the results of the first round of the country’s presidential election after claims of Russian interference. The unprecedented decision came after declassified intelligence documents alleged Russia was behind a campaign to promote far-right candidate Calin Georgescu on platforms such as TikTok and Telegram. Mr Georgescu was viewed as an outsider
Syrian rebels have captured the central city of Hama in the latest blow to President Bashar al Assad. The Syrian army said it had withdrawn and taken up positions outside the city to protect civilians, hours after opposition fighters said they were marching towards its centre. The insurgents said they had entered Syria’s fourth-largest city
Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians during its war against Hamas in Gaza. The human rights group said Israel sought to deliberately destroy Palestinians by launching deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid. It said such actions met the legal threshold for the
A gunman has tried to assassinate a prominent Indian politician at the Golden Temple in the Indian city of Amritsar, The assailant fired at Sukhbir Singh Badal, the former deputy chief minister of Punjab, at one of the holiest shrines in the Sikh religion on Wednesday. No injuries were reported. The suspect, later identified as
The French government has collapsed after prime minister Michel Barnier lost a vote of no confidence. It follows his decision to use special powers to force a social security budget through the lower house of parliament without a final vote after a last-minute concession was not enough to win support from the far-right National Rally
The president of South Korea has declared “emergency martial law”, accusing the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament and sympathising with North Korea. Yoon Suk Yeol announced he was taking the step, which enacts temporary rule by the military, during a televised briefing on Tuesday, saying it was critical for defending the country’s constitutional order.
In scrubland on the outskirts of Tyre, southern Lebanon, they started digging out the bodies – 186 of them. One family of women, mothers and daughters all dressed in black, fell on the coffin of their brother, their son, stroking it, sweeping the dust off, wailing. His name was Hussein Fakih and he was a
Syria’s military has said its joint airstrikes with Russia have killed at least 400 insurgents over the past 24 hours – as Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his support for Syrian President Bashar al Assad. The strikes are being carried out after insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al Sham and including Turkey-backed fighters launched a
President Biden had seemed so adamant. He would leave the Justice Department to make its own decisions. Hunter Biden would not be granted clemency for gun and tax convictions just because he was the president’s son. But that was before he dropped out of the presidential race. A lot has changed since then. A lifetime
Countries negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution have failed to reach an agreement, with oil-producing nations opposing a cap on production. A meeting in Busan, South Korea, was meant to be the fifth and final round of talks, but negotiators remain far apart on the basic scope of the deal and could only
Gerard Hutch, the alleged head of a major criminal gang in Dublin, has failed to win a seat in Ireland’s general election. Mr Hutch, known as The Monk, came fifth in the four-seat Dublin Central constituency, where Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald topped the poll. Mr Hutch, 61, is on bail for an alleged