World

At least 17 people are dead after a military plane which was transporting troops missed a runway and crashed in the Philippines, the nation’s defence secretary said. Delfin Lorenzana said around 40 others were rescued from the burning wreckage of the C-130 aircraft in Bangkal village in the mountainous town of Patikul in southern Sulu

Cyprus has approached the European Union and Israel for help as a huge forest engulfs villages on the south of the island. At least three villages have been evacuated on the Mediterranean island as authorities battle to fight the blaze in the Troodos mountain region. Cypriot environment minister Costas Kadis said that the flames had

At least 19 people are missing after a powerful mudslide swept away rows of houses in the town of Atami, west of Tokyo, Japanese authorities said. Disaster management officials in Shizuoka prefecture, central Japan, say the mudslide occurred on Saturday morning in the town, known for its hot springs. Prefectural disaster management official Takamichi Sugiyama

The Lombardy region of Italy has recorded no daily coronavirus deaths for the first time in nine months. It was in the northern area that the first Italian case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in February of last year. At the start of this month, it had confirmed 33,782 deaths with the virus – far more

Statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II have been pulled down in Canada amid protests against the country’s treatment of indigenous people. The demonstrations were against the country’s residential schools system – which saw native children required to attend state-run Christian schools where they were prevented from speaking their own languages in a bid

Authorities in the Philippines have raised the danger level of the Taal volcano after it spurted a huge plume of gases and steam into the air. The Taal volcano in Batangas province, south of the capital Manila, caused disruption and concern on Thursday after spewing the 1km (0.62mile) high phreatomagmatic plume. According to the British

It was a long wait for the Party’s party.  The thousands of people awarded a ticket to Tiananmen Square had left their quarantine hotels at 3am for an 8am start, passing through security check after security check. To pass the time, they sang old red songs – Socialism is Good and other such classics –

It is unlikely the world “would have been on the verge of World War Three” if Russia had sunk a British warship near Crimea, Vladimir Putin has said. The Russian president claimed HMS Defender, a Type 45 destroyer, illegally entered his country’s territorial waters near Crimea in order to observe in detail how Russian forces

A ‘heat dome’ engulfing Canada and the US states of Washington and Oregon is thought to have caused dozens of deaths, officials said on Tuesday. Police in British Columbia said they had responded to 65 sudden death callouts since the heatwave began in the region on Friday. “Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and

More than 20 million Australians – about 80% of the population – are now under some form of lockdown or COVID-related restrictions as officials tighten rules on movement and push for vaccinations to contain outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta variant. Australia has so far been relatively more successful than many other developed countries in

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has signed a decree to send soldiers to the Amazon in an effort to curb surging deforestation. The decree, published in the country’s official gazette, said soldiers would go to the states of Para, Amazonas, Mato Grosso and Rondonia for two months until the end of August. It did not provide

Rebel forces in Tigray have moved into regional capital Mekelle following the withdrawal of Ethiopian National Defence Force soldiers from the city. The news – a major setback for the Ethiopian government – was confirmed by the national broadcaster this evening after fierce fighting surrounding Mekelle. It marks a significant juncture in this eight-month-old conflict,

Australians have been warned they face the most “serious crisis” in the COVID pandemic since last February/March as health officials battle to contain new outbreaks of the virus. Australia’s COVID-19 committee is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday over rising case numbers plus outbreaks of the Delta variant across the country. Authorities in

A new recording featuring the sound of Mars has been released by China’s space agency. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) released a series of audio files that were the first recorded by the country’s Mars rover Zhurong. The sound was captured on 22 May by microphones installed on the rover, when it went for

A Qatari sprinter who won bronze at the 2017 World Championships in London has died at the age of 24, the country’s Olympic Committee has said. Abdalelah Haroun, a former world junior champion, is believed to have died in a car crash, according to World Athletics. Qatar Athletics Federation chairman Mohammed Issa al-Fadala said Haroun

Almost £500m worth of drugs and precursors have been burned by Myanmar’s military authorities. Heroin, cannabis, methamphetamine and ketamine were among substances disposed of in the haul valued at £489m. Stockpiles were set ablaze in Yangon, Mandalay and Tauggyi, on the United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Image: Heroin, cannabis, methamphetamine