World

Denmark’s queen has unexpectedly announced her abdication in her traditional New Year’s Eve speech. Margrethe II will formally step down from the throne on 14 January – exactly 52 years to the day of her ascension to the throne in 1972. She will be succeeded by her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik. This breaking news

At least 14 people – including two children – have been killed and more than 100 injured during shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod, officials in Moscow say. They have accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack – a day after an 18-hour aerial Russian barrage across Ukraine killed at least 39 people.

Russia has launched fresh airstrikes on Ukraine’s biggest cities, officials have said, hours after Moscow accused Kyiv of shelling the Russian border city of Belgorod, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than 110. Ukraine’s air defence systems surrounding Kyiv were engaged overnight to repel Russia’s drone attack, the military administration of the region

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy started 2023 full of optimism. In Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces had demonstrated they could push Russian invaders back, and Western confidence in Ukraine’s ability to prevail was growing. Despite the risks to domestic national security, Western nations donated huge quantities of weapons, ammunition and high-tech capability from national stockpiles to support Ukraine’s proposed

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has criticised the Israeli army after an aid convoy was allegedly shot at in Gaza on Thursday. It said an armoured car was clearly marked with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) branding and was hit despite prior coordination with Israel to ensure it would be protected. The

An airstrike that killed 86 people at a Gaza refugee camp was a “regrettable mistake”, an Israeli government spokesperson has admitted. Eylon Levy told Sky News the incident at the Maghazi site on Christmas Eve was down to the use of an “incorrect munition” and “should not have happened”. But he refused to apologise for

The UK could find itself in the deep freeze in January due to a change in wind patterns high up in the atmosphere – the same phenomenon that blew in the bitterly cold Beast from the East in 2018. However, forecasters are warning it is too soon to tell where in Europe the cold weather

Former European Commission president Jacques Delors has died at the age of 98. An ardent advocate of post-war European integration, Delors served as president of the body for three terms – longer than any other holder of the office – from January 1985 until the end of 1994. The Frenchman, a Socialist, was also the

Hamas has always had a reputation for having some of the best underground tunnels of any militia. In a media tour arranged by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) into Gaza, one of the most impressive examples the Israeli military has discovered was on full display. The entrance was just inside Gaza, only a few hundred

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said the war in Gaza is “greater than a war of extermination”. Speaking to Egyptian TV channel ON, Mr Abbas claimed the impact of the conflict between Israel and Hamas on the Palestinian people is “greater than a disaster”. He went on to compare the war to the mass displacement

Footage shared from Gaza City appears to show Israeli soldiers rounding up a group of men stripped down to their underwear. The video shows several men – and some males who may be children – in the middle of a run-down stadium, seemingly being directed by armed soldiers. The groups walk to the centre of

Ukraine says it has carried out an air strike on the port town of Feodosia in Crimea. Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Ukraine‘s air force said that the attack destroyed a Russian Navy vessel known as the landing Novocherkask ship. Writing on the Telegram messaging app, he said: “And the fleet in Russia is getting smaller

Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza will expand over the coming days, Benjamin Netanyahu has warned, as attacks appeared to intensify on Christmas Day. The Hamas-led Gaza health ministry says 250 Palestinians have been killed and 500 wounded in the past 24 hours – with 106 of those said to have died in an airstrike on

At least 68 Palestinians were killed following an Israeli air strike that hit a refugee camp in central Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry has said. The deaths on Sunday (Christmas Eve) were the result of one of the bloodiest strikes since Israel declared war against Hamas following its incursion on 7 October. The strike hit

Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting in Gaza, the Israeli military has said. The deaths take the number of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) killed to 154 since its ground operation in Gaza began on 20 October. Some 480 IDF personnel have died since Hamas launched its incursion on 7 October. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Around 300 Indian travellers are stuck in a French airport after their flight was grounded in a human trafficking investigation. Those on board the Romania-based charter company Legend Airlines plane from Fujairah airport in the United Arab Emirates to Managua, in Nicaragua, included families and children. The youngest passenger is a 21-month-old toddler while some

The main road into Bethlehem is closed. What is normally a simple 20-minute journey from Jerusalem now takes us an hour, as cars queue to get through the one Israeli military checkpoint open further south. It’s been like this since the war began, and it’s just one way that life in the West Bank has

On 7 October 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people, seizing over 230 hostages, and committing a series of atrocities. The appalling act of violence shocked the world and led to Israel declaring war on the militant group. Hamas – despite military support from Iran – would have known that it was no match militarily

Police have released bodycam footage of officers storming a university building during their response to a shooting in Prague which killed 13 people. The footage shows armed officers entering a building and members of the public fleeing the scene at Charles University in Prague on Thursday. The gunman – named in Czech media as 24-year-old

The Czech Republic will hold a day of mourning after 14 people were killed and 25 injured in a mass shooting – as police investigate the suspect’s links to another murder. Police say the gunman opened fire on Thursday in the philosophy department at Charles University in Prague – where he was a student –