World

The Odysseus moon lander has successfully touched down. The privately-owned Intuitive Machines’ lander is the first US lander to successfully touch down on the moon’s surface in more than 50 years – since the last of NASA’s Apollo programme in 1972. It is also the first ever private craft to land on the moon. There

Joe Biden has sparked a war of words with the Kremlin after he called Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” at a fundraiser. Speaking at an event in San Francisco, the president fired a barb at his Russian counterpart while discussing the effects of climate change. “This is the last existential threat. It is climate,” Mr

Citizen soldiers on an Estonian island are dubbed “the SAS” because they train with weapons and war paint on Saturdays and Sundays. The volunteers – many of them middle-aged dads and the odd mum – said British civilians should also consider getting off their sofas and learning how to fight as the threat from Russia

Russian authorities have detained a ballerina from Los Angeles who they say is suspected of treason, over claims she took part in fundraising for Ukraine. Kseniya Karelina, a Russian-American ballerina, is being held by Russia, a senior US official told to Sky News’ US partner NBC News. The 33-year-old became a US citizen in 2021,

One of the world’s most prolific cyber crime gangs has been taken down by law enforcement agencies including the FBI, Europol and the UK’s National Crime Agency. Lockbit is an extortion website that held its victims’ data for ransom – some of the biggest UK bodies affected were the Royal Mail and the NHS. Five

The widow of former Russian Federal Security Service agent, Alexander Litvinenko, has said Vladimir Putin critics in Russia need support from the West. Marina Litvinenko’s husband, a prominent Putin critic, died in 2006 after being poisoned in London with Polonium 210, a rare and very potent radioactive isotope. The former FSB agent’s murder was suspected

A member of Israel’s war cabinet has indicated a ground invasion of Rafah may begin around Ramadan, which is expected to start on 10 March. Retired general Benny Gantz, part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s three-member war cabinet, told a conference of Jewish American leaders: “If by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting

The boss of a mining company, which runs a gold mine where nine miners are missing after a massive landslide, has been detained by authorities in Turkey. Cengiz Demirci, Turkey director and senior vice-president of operations at the Denver-based SSR Mining, was detained on Sunday morning. Hundreds of rescue workers are searching for those trapped

Russian forces have taken complete control of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka after months of intense fighting, the defence ministry has said. President Vladimir Putin congratulated troops on the development, labelling it a “success” and “important victory” just days away from the second anniversary of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence

Police in Russia have cracked down on people gathered to mark the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny – with one human rights group claiming that at least 100 people have been arrested. Footage and pictures from Russia’s two largest cities – Moscow and St Petersburg – showed officers ripping away placards from protesters and

The head of Ukraine’s army has announced his forces are retreating from the frontline city of Avdiivka. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s newly appointed commander-in-chief, says military bosses have taken the decision to “avoid encirclement” and “preserve the lives and health of servicemen”. “Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve

The Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny – a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin – has died, according to the prison service. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet

Greece has legalised same-sex marriage – becoming the first Orthodox Christian-majority country to do so. The landmark bill, drafted by prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ centre-right government, passed on Thursday night with a cross-party majority of 176–76 votes. It also allows same-sex couples to legally adopt children, but will not allow gay men to acquire biological

Russia is secretly developing a new kind of satellite-killing space weapon, according to US intelligence watchdogs in Washington. The Biden administration is gathering highly sensitive information about the new capability, which is not yet operational but could potentially be a game changer in the war in Ukraine. Russia has denied the claims but the chair

The exchange of fire over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon is some of the most serious yet – but the situation remains fundamentally the same.  Hezbollah’s Iranian patrons do not want the militia to escalate the conflict to an all-out war. And its commanders want to avoid one too. Israel may be weighing a bigger

Vladimir Putin’s ambassador to the UK says the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which Russian forces razed to the ground, is now “beautiful” and “rebuilt”. In a wide-ranging interview with Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, Andrei Kelin also said Moscow has “no interest in Poland, Latvia, Estonia or any other countries” after NATO warned of future Russian

Global defence spending on everything from ammunition to nuclear weapons has jumped 9% to a record $2.2trn (£1.7trn) from a year earlier and will rise again in 2024 as the world enters “a more dangerous period”, new analysis has found. Russia – locked in a war with Ukraine – allocates more than 30% of annual

Israel should “stop and think” before taking any further action in Rafah, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said – as the UK sanctioned settlers in the West Bank. The former prime minister said the UK was “very concerned” about the situation on the Gaza-Egypt border. Local health officials have said 37 people were killed in

World marathon record holder and London Marathon winner Kelvin Kiptum and his coach have died in a road accident, Kenya’s former prime minister has said. The 24-year-old won the London Marathon last year. Kenya’s former prime minister Raila Odinga said on X: “Devastating news as we mourn the loss of a remarkable individual, Kelvin Kiptum,

Israel has been warned of repercussions if its military launches a ground invasion in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, while Israel has suggested civilians could evacuate and find refuge in tent camps which are not yet built. The warning came after Israeli air strikes killed at least 44 Palestinians, including more than a dozen children,