World

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been shot and killed by an unidentified gunman while at a political rally in Quito. The killing comes amid an alarming wave of violence in the country, with drug trafficking and violent killings on the rise. Incumbent president, Guillermo Lasso, suggested an organised crime gang was behind the killing.

At least six people have died after wildfires rampaged through parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui, officials have said. Fires, fuelled by the wind, have swept across the town of Lahaina, West Maui, leading to 13 evacuations, mayor Richard Bissen Jr said. “Our main focus now is to save lives,” Mr Bissen said. It

The bodies of nine people have been found and two others are feared dead after a fire at a holiday home for disabled people in eastern France. Earlier, officials said 11 people were missing – which included 10 adults with disabilities and one staff member following the fire in the north-eastern town of Wintzenheim. Seventeen

Sinead O’Connor has been remembered as a singer and activist whose “voice moved a generation of young people”, as stars including U2’s Bono and Bob Geldof attended her funeral and thousands of mourners lined the streets to pay their respects. The music star’s life was celebrated at a private ceremony before the funeral cortege travelled

“Tumbling” records in Antarctica must be taken more seriously because of their “cascading” global impacts, a group of scientists asked by the Foreign Office to investigate the “unprecedented” changes has warned today. After enormous icebergs up to a quarter the size of Wales appeared to break off with “increasing frequency”, the Foreign Office commissioned the

Another Russian warship listing in the water is probably not the image Vladimir Putin had in mind for his beloved Black Sea fleet – but it does demonstrate the increasing effectiveness of Ukraine’s sea drones. The last few days have seen two attacks on Russian ships, both reportedly carried out by Ukrainian unmanned vessels. In

A wife poisoned the coffee of her estranged US Air Force husband with bleach for months, according to court documents. Melody Johnson was arrested on 18 July after her husband submitted video to police allegedly showing her pouring the cleaning product into his coffee machine. The husband, who has not been publicly named, first noticed

Dramatic footage shows people being rescued from choppy seas in the Mediterranean – as reports emerge that a mother and her one-year-old child have lost their lives after two boats capsized. Video released on Sunday shows people clinging to life rings as they drift in the heaving waves while others are hoisted aboard a coastguard

A Russian bomb has hit a blood transfusion centre in the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed. On Telegram, the Ukrainian president said there are fatalities and injuries after the strike in the town of Kupiansk. Mr Zelenskyy said rescue workers were extinguishing fires at the scene, and he described the attack as

Imran Khan has always said the mounting cases against him are politically motivated and intended to stop him from running for election. This new arrest could do exactly that. It adds more jeopardy and tension to an already febrile political climate in Pakistan. And the timing is significant. This week Shehbaz Sharif’s government announced a

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has been arrested after he was sentenced to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts, his lawyer said. Police were seen surrounding his residence in Lahore on Saturday after the verdict was released. The 70-year-old former cricketer was sentenced after he was found guilty of unlawfully selling

A US publishing executive has died after a boating accident off Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Adrienne Vaughan fell into the water when a rented motorboat she was on with her family crashed into a sailboat that was carrying more than 80 tourists on Thursday, reports said. The 45-year-old was pulled out of the water and brought

Andrew Tate has won his appeal in a Romanian court to be released from house arrest pending trial. The controversial influencer has been held in Romania charged with human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group. The Bucharest Court of Appeals said in a written ruling that it “replaces the house arrest measure with

A Somali sports official has been suspended after an apparently untrained female sprinter represented the African country at an international athletics tournament in China. Nasra Abukar Ali took more than 20 seconds to finish the 100m race at the World University Games in Chengdu, with footage showing she came last by a considerable distance. She

Dozens of people have been killed in clashes in Brazil as police carry out raids to crack down on criminal gangs and drug traffickers. At least 44 people have reportedly died in total after violent scenes in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo state and Bahia state. In Rio, police said nine people

The latest case against Donald Trump could backfire against prosecutors, the man who famously wore a horned helmet during the January 6 2021 riot at the US Capitol has told Sky News. Jacob Chansley, also known as the QAnon Shaman, was sentenced to 41 months in prison in November 2021 after pleading guilty to obstructing

A “cancer-killing pill” has appeared to “annihilate” solid tumours in early research – leaving healthy cells unaffected. The new drug has been in development for 20 years, and is now undergoing pre-clinical research in the US. Known as AOH1996, it targets a cancerous variant of a protein called proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). In its

A US architect charged with murdering three women and suspected of killing a fourth has appeared in court – as his estranged wife said the pair’s adult children “cry themselves to sleep”. Asa Ellerup, who has filed for divorce from 59-year-old suspect Rex Heuermann, said she has “no answers” for their son and daughter when

France and Italy have announced plans to fly their citizens out of Niger following a military coup in the country. It comes after Niger’s presidential guard surrounded the palace in the capital Niamey, detained elected president Mohamed Bazoum, and announced a new military government last week. The French Foreign Ministry in Paris cited recent violence

A zoo in China has denied suggestions some of its bears might be humans in costumes after photos of the animals standing like humans circulated online. Hangzhou Zoo said on social media that the sun bears from Malaysia are smaller than other bears and look different, but insisted they were the real thing. “Some people