World

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 The Syrian army said it had withdrawn and taken up positions outside the city to protect civilians, hours after opposition fighters said they were marching towards its centre.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

Syria’s president has said his country will “defend its stability and territorial integrity” after rebels reportedly took control of most of the country’s second-largest city Aleppo. In his first public comments since the start of the offensive, Bashar al Assad said the regime would defeat the “terrorists and their supporters”. In comments released by the

Syria’s president has said his country will “defend its stability and territorial integrity” after rebels reportedly took control of most of the country’s second-largest city Aleppo. In his first public comments since the start of the offensive, Bashar al Assad said the regime would defeat the “terrorists and their supporters”. In comments released by the

It had appeared to be a conflict frozen in time, but the operation launched with blistering speed by Syrian opposition fighters has turned all of that upside down. It is also a potent reminder of the complexity of the Syrian conflict. What was a stalemate has revealed that the regime of President Bashar al Assad

Syrian rebels reportedly control around half of Aleppo following their surprise offensive which left regime forces reeling. Thousands of opposition fighters in armoured vehicles have been deployed to landmarks including the old citadel, said residents. It comes a day after the rebels entered the country’s second-largest city where they reportedly faced little resistance from government

Russian President Vladimir Putin fuels division within Europe “like an animal,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned. Speaking to Sky News’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, the Ukrainian president described his Russian counterpart as “a killer” and “a terrorist”. He said when world leaders are afraid, they communicate with their countries and other leaders and “divide the unity

Syrian rebels have breached Aleppo for the first time since the country’s government recaptured the city in 2016, according to war monitors and fighters. Insurgents led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have been advancing towards Aleppo – seizing towns and villages along the way – since launching a shock offensive on Wednesday.

There’s a veneer of normality to life in Ukraine’s major cities if you ignore the air raid sirens, the booming sounds of anti-aircraft fire, the threatening buzz of drones passing overhead, and the darkened streets of neighbourhoods taking their turn as part of rolling power cuts affecting all of Ukraine. As I say, if you