World

The Albanian government plans to block access to TikTok for a year after the killing of a 14-year-old boy led to concerns about social media’s influence on children. Prime Minister Edi Rama said the proposed ban will start early next year as he particularly blamed the video-sharing app for fuelling violence and bullying, especially among

Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini has been acquitted of kidnap and failing to fulfill his public duties. An Italian court has found him not guilty of refusing to let a migrant rescue boat dock in Sicily in 2019. The vessel, operated by the Spanish NGO Open Arms, was stranded in the Mediterranean Sea with

Vladimir Putin has said Russia should have invaded Ukraine earlier, in a national address spanning more than four hours. Russia began the conflict with its neighbour in February 2022 and at his annual televised news conference, Mr Putin claimed the war has made Russia “stronger”. The decision to invade “should have been made earlier” he

It is a crime so brutal and depraved it defies words – so outside the court, they applaud instead. Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse Since September, people have lined the route in Avignon clapping as Gisele Pelicot walks past. It is a wordless act of support for the 72-year-old woman at the

We drove the backbone of Syria, north from Damascus through Homs and Hama to Aleppo, and then south west, through the towns and villages of southern Idlib. The scale of the devastation is almost impossible to comprehend. Yes, there is daily life and markets and bustling commercial life in the city centres. But there are

A citizen from Uzbekistan has been detained over the killing of Russian nuclear forces general Igor Kirillov, Russia’s investigative committee has said. The committee says the suspect was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services. The senior general was killed on Tuesday by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter outside an apartment block in Moscow. His

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks, Reuters has reported. The news agency added, citing sources briefed on the meetings, that a deal is expected to be signed in the coming days. However, this wouldn’t be the first time there have been positive noises about a potential ceasefire, only

For Ukraine – pitched against Russia’s larger and more powerful military – the use of unconventional tactics such as assassinations is seen as a vital way to fight back. There is no official confirmation yet of who was behind the killing on Tuesday in Moscow of the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical defence

Germany is on course for an early election in February after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in parliament. Of the 717 MPs who voted in the lower house, or Bundestag, only 207 supported the country’s leader, while 394 opposed him and 116 abstained. That left him far short of the majority of 367

Israel’s foreign minister has ordered the closure of the country’s embassy in Dublin, citing the Irish government’s “extreme anti-Israel policy”. Gideon Sa’ar said “Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel”. “The actions and antisemitic rhetoric used by Ireland against Israel are rooted in the delegitimisation and demonisation of the Jewish state,

I knew we were near a Russian military base when I could read the names of shops, cafes and pharmacies written in Russian, in surrounding villages. The Russians have been permanently based here since 2017, propping up the Assad regime and overseeing the war against their many opponents. And the local communities have benefitted financially

The Kremlin has praised Donald Trump after he criticised Ukraine’s use of US-supplied weapons for attacks deep in Russian territory. Western allies have provided Ukraine with air defence systems to help it protect critical infrastructure, but Russia has sought to overwhelm the air defences with combined strikes involving big numbers of missiles and drones. “It’s

Russia has established “direct contact” with Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) rebel group, according to state media outlet Interfax. It reported that deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told journalists that Russia was aiming to maintain its military bases inside Syria. Mr Bogdanov said contact with HTS was “proceeding in constructive fashion” and that Moscow

Vladimir Putin has not been invited to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration next month, Moscow has said. The Kremlin said it had not received an invitation for the Russian president to attend the US president-elect’s swearing-in ceremony on 20 January. Meanwhile Mr Trump has reportedly invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the inauguration in Washington

Russia has issued a travel warning to its citizens as it said tensions with the US are “teetering on the verge of rupture”. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, urged citizens on Wednesday to “refrain from trips to the US, Canada and with a few exceptions EU countries” over the Christmas period.

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

Seismic is an overused word. Not when it comes to events currently under way in Syria, a country straddling the fault lines of the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, if it comes, will be the most significant event yet in the upheaval that’s followed the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel

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

Russia’s ability to outmatch Ukraine with artillery barrages on the battlefield has significantly reduced to just 1.5 Russian rounds for every Ukrainian shell fired back, Western officials have said. This compares with Russian forces launching at least five times as many artillery rounds as Ukraine could in the war previously – with the ratio at times

Israel has dismissed allegations it is committing genocide in Gaza, saying the claims from Amnesty International are “no surprise”. Government spokesman David Mencer called it “fake news” and told Sky’s Mark Austin the human rights group’s “raison d’etre is to criticise Israel – they do that at every opportunity and this is sadly just another