World

Jordan is preparing for a royal wedding this week with Crown Prince Hussein set to marry a US-educated architect.  The 28-year-old Sandhurst-educated prince is marrying Rajwa Alseif, 29, at Zahran Palace – where his father King Abdullah II and his grandfather, the late King Hussein, also married. Thursday’s ceremony is expected to include some of

Russia has blamed Ukraine for a drone attack on Moscow that it said caused minor damage to buildings and injured two people. The defence ministry said Kyiv was behind the “terrorist attack”, but Ukraine denied the claim. “Eight aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles were involved in the attack. All enemy drones are hit,” said the ministry.

The Ukrainian foreign minister has expressed his support for a tennis player who was booed off the court at the French Open for refusing to shake hands with her Belarusian opponent. Marta Kostyuk was jeered by the crowd at the end of the first round match as she snubbed Aryna Sabalenka, whose country has supported

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have joined world leaders in congratulating Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his election win. In a letter to president Erdogan celebrating his narrow run-off victory on Sunday, Mr Putin addressed the Turkish leader as “Dear Friend” and praised his efforts at strengthening Russian-Turkish relations. “From the bottom of my

The man who revels in his image as Turkey’s strongman took an early lead almost as soon as polls closed in the second round of voting for President. Celebrations began long before the official declaration. But in truth, the dye was cast some time ago, before the election. Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s demeanour even before campaigning

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have been Vladimir Putin’s favourite in this election. A hard truth to swallow for his Nato allies who will have been hoping, albeit privately, for change. Mr Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule, economic eccentricity and waywardness within NATO have all caused deepening alarm among allies. His defeat would have been welcomed

F-16s are on the way to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden‘s approval of the move at the G7 conference will certainly provide Ukraine with some much-needed aerial firepower – but combat air power is heavily dependent on modern technology and some F-16s are vintage jets. When the F-16 Fighting Falcon first flew in the late

What are the big threats to our way of life? This question was a lurking preoccupation at the London Defence Conference this week, attended by the prime minister and the chief of defence staff along with academics and politicians from across the Western world. The immediate crisis is Ukraine, of course. There was general consensus

Iran has successfully launched a 2,000km-range (1,243m) ballistic missile, according to the country’s state media – two days after the chief of Israel’s armed forces raised the prospect of “action” against Tehran over its nuclear programme. With one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, Iran says its weapons are capable of reaching

A ship has become stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. According to Leth Shipping Agency, the ship is the Xin Hai Tong 23, a 189m-long bulk carrier that was built in 2010 and is sailing under the flag of Hong Kong. The agency said that tugboats are trying to

Millions of people in Mexico have been told to get ready to leave their homes as the country’s Popocatépetl volcano spews ash, rock and gas. Officials said people living downwind of “El Popo” should wear masks and cover their eyes but the country’s president played down the risk to life. The volcano, which lies in

A fire which killed 19 people at a secondary school dormitory in Guyana was deliberately set by a student, according to an official. The suspect – who is among the injured – was upset that her mobile phone was confiscated, investigators believe. She had been disciplined by the dormitory administrator for having an affair “with

Ireland is set to become the first country in the world to put health warnings on alcohol products. Dublin’s health minister Stephen Donnelly signed new regulations on Monday, which will warn drinkers about the health risks of drinking alcohol, as well as the calorie count of the product. However, the labels will not be mandatory

Ukraine has said its troops are still advancing on the flanks of the devastated city of Bakhmut, but that the “intensity” of their movement has decreased.  On Saturday Russia said it had completely taken the city but Ukrainian officials have said since then that Kyiv’s forcesstill control a small part. On Monday, Deputy Defence Minister

Flights to eastern Sicily were disrupted on Sunday after the nearby Mount Etna volcano began to erupt, tipping black ash onto runways and vehicles. Video from the scene showed smoggy looking cloud blanketing roads and flakes of dark, gritty ash scattered across car windscreens. Flights in and out of the port city and tourist favourite

China poses “the biggest challenge” to global security, Rishi Sunak has said at the end of a G7 summit. The Prime Minister added: “China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity, they are increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad.” “This is all about de-risking, not de-coupling.” Advertisement

Sudan’s warring factions have agreed to a new seven-day ceasefire. The Sudanese army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces signed the deal in the Saudi city of Jeddah, as the fighting entered its sixth week. The ceasefire, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia, will start on Monday at 9.45pm in Sudan (8.45pm UK time).

As Western supplies of high-tech weapons flow into Ukraine in preparation for the anticipated spring offensive, Russia is also trying to bolster its arsenal. It has resorted to trading SU-35 fighter jets to Iran in return for continued supply of Iranian Shahid 136 attack drones, and also fielded state-of-the-art missile systems for the first time.

Almost 15 million global excess deaths by the end of 2021 were caused by COVID, according to figures released by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It estimates a total of 336.8 million life-years were lost globally due to the pandemic which was declared in early 2020. This means that, on average, each excess death led

A copy of the Hebrew Bible, thought to be 1,100 years old and one of the world’s oldest intact books, has been sold at auction for $38m (£30m). The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume, was bought by Alfred H Moses, a former US ambassador to Romania, in New York on Wednesday. It is