World

President Joe Biden has said that the US would intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan. “That’s the commitment we made,” Mr Biden told reporters at a press conference in Tokyo. The remarks seem to be a departure from the US’s longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity” in its response to a potential Chinese invasion. Washington must

Startling new figures from the UN show the war in Ukraine has displaced more than eight million people. And they reveal that more than six million refugee movements from Ukraine have been registered. According to new data from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations

Monkeypox is something “everybody should be concerned about” and the US is looking into what kind of treatments and vaccines are available, President Joe Biden has said. The World Health Organisation has identified about 80 monkeypox cases globally, and roughly 50 more suspected cases. Cases of the smallpox-related disease have previously been seen only among

Carpet bombing is indiscriminate – devastatingly destructive and utterly random. But if you’re an advancing army, it’s a deadly and effective tactic, and it’s being used mercilessly against the townspeople of Soledar. The town in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas has seen its topography alter dramatically in the last 72 hours as the Russians intensify their assault

Australia’s opposition Labor Party has won power for the first time since 2007, after Scott Morrison conceded defeat of the ruling conservatives. The party’s leader, Anthony Albanese, is to become prime minister after Mr Morrison’s conservative Liberal Party failed to win the minimum 76 seats needed for a majority in the 151-seat parliament. Labor has

The Donbas is feeling the brunt of the recent Russian military failures. The country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says the twin areas of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine are being “turned into hell”. He’s right. They are. The towns and cities here are being pummelled; homes and businesses are being smashed by this war. Ukraine

Ukrainian troops, thought to be the last fighting Russian forces in Mariupol, have been told to stop the defence of the city. Reuters news agency reported the Azov regiment had been ordered only to “save lives of soldiers” in the port – a key military objective for Vladimir Putin, which has been under bombardment for

The road to Severodonetsk in Ukraine has to be negotiated at a furious pace. The route incorporates a vast open stretch of land leaving vehicles exposed and vulnerable to attack. The journey is pitted with risks as the Russians try to cut off this, the only route into the city and the one remaining pocket

A captured volunteer medic’s bodycam footage shows the horrors taking place in the ruined city of Mariupol after it was smuggled out in a tampon. Yuliia Paievska is referred to as Taira in Ukraine, a moniker from the nickname she chose in the World Of Warcraft video game. Using a body camera, the 53-year-old recorded

Early in the invasion, Russia’s 59th tank regiment dug in east of Kharkiv. Near the treeline on raised ground, they looked down on a valley of villages. From there, Ukrainians say the tanks’ guns attacked civilian vehicles and homes below. A reckoning followed as Ukrainian forces comprehensively destroyed the Russian tanks and armoured vehicles. Sky

Finland and Sweden have formally submitted their applications to join NATO in a “historic moment” driven by security concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The applications will now be considered by the 30 member countries of the military alliance, with the process expected to take a few weeks. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed

Air, chemical and water pollution accounted for one in six deaths in 2019, a study has found. Pollution was responsible for nine million deaths worldwide in 2019, according to the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health – a figure unchanged since 2015. More more than 90% of pollution-related deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries,

The remains of an American teenager have been found more than a decade after she went missing on holiday – and a convicted sex offender has been charged with her murder. The body of Brittanee Drexel, who went missing in 2009 at the age of 17, was found last week less than an hour’s drive

More than 200 Ukrainian soldiers are being evacuated from Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol after weeks of resistance against the Russian invasion. Some 53 troops are being taken to hospital in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk, about 30 miles to the east, according to Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar. Another 211

A retired British geologist who faces the death penalty over accusations he smuggled artefacts out of Iraq has told a court he had no idea he was breaking the law. Jim Fitton, 66, collected 12 stones and shards of broken pottery as souvenirs while visiting a site in Eridu in the country’s southeast as part

Ukraine can win the war against Russia, NATO’s secretary general has said, insisting that Russia’s invasion is “not going as Moscow had planned”. Jens Stoltenberg was speaking on Sunday to a meeting of NATO member countries, although he addressed them via video as he was recovering from COVID-19. He said: “Russia’s war in Ukraine is

Pointing to a grubby, grey sofa in the corner of a small room in her neighbour’s house, the Ukrainian mother said that was where a teenage Russian soldier raped her. It happened during an evening of terror, cruelty and murder in a rural village outside Kyiv. Vika, 42, said she decided to speak about the

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia looks “insane” for still trying to snatch victory in the Donbas region. Mr Zelenskyy said he was “grateful to each and everyone” still defending the Donbas and other eastern and southern regions, adding Ukraine was forcing Russian occupants to leave Ukrainian land “step by step”. On Saturday,

The West has declared a “total hybrid war” against Russia and it is hard to predict how long it will last, Moscow’s foreign minister has said. Sergei Lavrov said the consequences of the war in Ukraine will be felt around the world. But speaking about sanctions on Russia, he warned: “Western politicians should understand their

Breakthrough talks have taken place between the US and the Russian Defence minister – after months of refusal. Sergei Shoigu spoke for an hour with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin who, according to the Pentagon, called for an “immediate ceasefire”. Austin said that while the call did not resolve any “acute issues” it was an