World

India is to elect a new parliament in what is the largest democratic exercise with 970 million registered voters. The Indian Election Commission said on Saturday that the elections will take place in seven phases from 19 April to 1 June, stretched over 44 days. The gigantic exercise will be conducted by a 15 million-strong

For weeks, the ceasefire talks have been at a virtual standstill – not completely broken down but with little movement to report. Hamas’s new proposal though, is a potential – albeit small – breakthrough in the deadlock. Until now, Hamas had insisted on a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a

Around 2,000 Nepali men have been recruited by Russia to fight in its war against Ukraine, Sky News understands. Driven by poverty, many of the Nepali mercenaries are now desperate to return. Ganesh, 35, is one of the few recruits lucky enough to have made it home. He spent four and a half months fighting

Russia embarks this Friday on three days of voting to reconfirm the inevitable, which is another six-year presidential term for Vladimir Putin. Given the fact this is simply a matter of going through the motions for Putin and for the public, why does it matter and why does his administration go to such lengths to

A Holocaust survivor in Belgium says she knows Jewish people who have packed their bags ready to flee amid a spike in antisemitism. Regina Sluszny, 84, from Antwerp, says incidents have rocketed since the outbreak of the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas. Authorities in the city, which has the largest Hasidic Jewish population in

Russia has been hit this week inside its own territory with several strikes carried out. In the past three days, there have been skirmishes and incursions across its southern border, and drones have successfully targeted sites important to its economically crucial oil and gas sector. On 15-17 March, Russian citizens are scheduled to vote in

Iraq war veteran Andy Tosh points to his nose where he was treated for skin cancer and shows the red marks on his hand. His health has been permanently damaged – not by the baking heat of the Iraqi desert, he says, but by a toxic chemical at the industrial site he was ordered to

A long-time ally of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been attacked with a hammer near his home in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Lithuanian police are investigating the assault on 43-year-old Leonid Volkov as it remains unclear who carried it out – and their motive. A pine forest near Mr Volkov’s house was

A group of skiers who went missing in the Swiss Alps tried to dig “snow caves” to save themselves from the freezing temperatures, a lead rescuer has told Sky News. Anjan Truffer, the head of mountain rescue at Air Zermatt AG, was on site when the bodies of five cross-country skiers were found on Sunday

Powerful Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier has been out in the streets of Port-au-Prince calling for the international community to “give a Haiti a chance” – as he drew a rifle and fired his pistol in a show of force. Cherizier, a former police officer who is known as Barbecue among Haiti’s people, made the

The UK government has warned against all travel to Haiti as intense fighting and gang violence continues to spiral in the Caribbean nation. It follows US secretary of state Antony Blinken heading to Jamaica in an attempt to solve the crisis, which threatens to bring down Haiti’s government. Attacks by powerful gangs on key government

At least 50 people have been injured after an “incident” on an in-bound flight at Auckland International Airport. The LATAM Airlines flight from Sydney to Auckland suffered a technical problem which caused a strong movement, according to local media reports. Ambulance service Hato Hone St John said around 50 people were assessed and treated at

Fireworks were ignited and eggs thrown as pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Amsterdam where a new National Holocaust Museum has been opened. The Israeli president’s visit to the newly-opened National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam has sparked protests in the city. Thousands of protesters were heard chanting “never again is now” and “ceasefire now” at Waterloo Square

There’s a renewed urgency to the delivery of food to Gaza but it’s still struggling to keep pace with the escalating humanitarian catastrophe inside the besieged enclave. We joined the small kingdom of Jordan’s air force crew coordinating the multi-nation coalition to get aid to the thousands of Gazans cut off in the north of

Fifteen drones fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been shot down by the American military and its allies this morning, authorities say. US Central Command, also known as Centcom, said it had responded to a “large-scale” attack early on Saturday. The uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) presented

Lying on the hard desert ground, a lion is reduced to a pile of fur and bones – drained of all the strength and power we associate with the ferocious predator. So emaciated, he is barely even recognisable. He gently squirms as a towel is placed over his eyes by a rescue worker. There is