World

Celebrities and world leaders watched on as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games got under way. A global audience of over one billion people is expected to watch the opening ceremony, which has seen the whole of central Paris turned into an open-air theatre. Earlier, arson attacks on France’s high-speed rail network early on

A far-left activist has been arrested in connection with a series of attacks on the country’s high-speed train network which caused travel chaos ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. France’s interior minister confirmed media reports of an arrest being made on Sunday in Seine-Maritime, Normandy. It comes as French reports said telecom installations belonging

Vandals have carried out arson attacks on France’s high-speed train network causing major travel disruption ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. The state-owned railway operator SNCF said fires had been set at installations along the lines connecting Paris with the country’s west, north and east and that services would be severely impacted during the

The UK, US and South Korea have accused a North Korea-backed cyber group of a carrying out an online espionage campaign to steal military and nuclear secrets. The “Andariel” group has been compromising organisations around the world as it attempts to get hold of sensitive and classified technical information and intellectual property data, according to

Russian authorities are investigating a suspected car bomb attack in Moscow that left two people injured, following conflicting reports a military official was targeted. Footage of the blast, posted on Telegram, appears to show a man and a woman getting into a vehicle before it suddenly explodes. Initial reports in state media outlets named the

If Russia keeps up its attacks on Ukraine, it will likely take five years for its forces to “grind their way” to a minimum goal of fully capturing just four regions at a loss of up to 1.8 million soldiers, dead and wounded, the new head of the British army has said. General Sir Roly

French prosecutors have effectively confirmed one of the biggest concerns facing the Olympics with the arrest of a Russian accused of plotting to destabilise the Games. The detention of the unnamed 40-year-old man came on the eve of the first events of the Summer Games returning to the French capital after a century. No specific

At least 229 people have been killed after two landslides in as many days in Ethiopia, with young children and pregnant women reported to be among the dead, a government official has said. Some were killed as they tried to rescue people, local authorities said, in what the prime minister called a “terrible loss.” The

Leaders of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have signed a declaration aimed at ending division and strengthening unity. A total of 14 Palestinian factions are due to be represented at a meeting with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi. It comes after days of talks to discuss reconciliation efforts to end around 17 years of

A gunman has killed several people in a care home in central Croatia, police say. Local media reported five people were killed and others were wounded at the home in the town of Daruvar. The Index news portal said the suspect fled the scene after the incident but police caught him in a cafe near

It was 1.46pm in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, when President Joe Biden posted a letter on his personal account on the social media site X announcing he would be withdrawing from the presidential race. By 2.13pm he had sent another post, this time endorsing Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic Party’s nominee. It took

Since 8 October when Hezbollah first fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Palestinians following the Hamas attacks, the two sides have exchanged nearly 5,000 strikes. The majority have come from Israel – but analysis by Sky News’ Data and Forensics team shows Hezbollah is changing its tactics, with its attacks stretching further into Israeli

A series of Israeli strikes have been launched against the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeidah in Yemen. The attack on oil refinery facilities resulted in fatalities in the western coastal city, according to the Houthis’ own TV station Al Masirah. The strikes come a day after the Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone strike

This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were told that as the internet matured, that this kind of thing – a single error causing a domino effect taking out millions of machines – was supposed to become less and less likely. There would be more and more servers and cables distributed in more and more places,

The CrowdStrike IT outage has been devastating for commerce, healthcare and transport because it was entirely agnostic in the services it affected.  This was not a sector or function-specific glitch, like the unconnected interruption to CHAPS transactions overseen by the Bank of England the previous evening. To have a problem, irrespective of where you were

The virus that causes polio has been detected in sewage samples in Gaza, according to its health ministry. It said tests had been carried out with UNICEF and that the finding “exposes thousands of residents to the risk of contracting poliomyelitis”. It warned of a potential “new health disaster” if action isn’t taken. Polio mainly

The man who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan has disavowed violence in the wake of the attempt on Donald Trump’s life.  John Hinckley Jr, who wounded the former US president during an attack in 1981, wrote on X: “Violence is not the way to go. Give peace a chance.” The post on Wednesday came days after Mr Trump

Families of two British men missing in Sweden are appealing for information on their whereabouts – amid fears they were victims of a double murder. It comes after two bodies were found in a burnt-out car in Malmo on Sunday afternoon. Emergency workers noticed a possible bullet hole in one of the victims, according to

Rare images of an uncontacted tribe show its members face “humanitarian disaster” as loggers encroach on their territory, a British human rights group has warned. According to local campaigners, the Mascho Piro indigenous tribe have been sighted coming out of the rainforest in their remote part of the Peruvian Amazon in recent weeks in search

Traces of cyanide have been found in cups and a teapot in the room of a luxury Bangkok hotel where the bodies of six people were discovered in a suspected deliberate poisoning. Police in Thailand said cyanide poisoning was likely the cause of death of the three men and three women – four Vietnamese nationals