World

A defunct spacecraft the size of a small car is expected to plummet to Earth within weeks, according to the European Space Agency. The ESA says its 1.3-tonne Aeolus satellite is running out of fuel and is falling by about 0.6 miles (1km) a day. Although much of it will burn up in the atmosphere,

The heatwave affecting southern Europe has been building for months. And it’s about to get much worse. Temperatures have been consistently above 40C since mid-April in many areas. Europe heatwave – latest: Continent could have hottest day ever But on the Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia they’re expected to climb to 48C in the

The search for a missing two-year-old boy in the French Alps has been called off, police have said. The boy, named only as Emile, was last seen walking down the street near his grandparents’ house by two witnesses on Saturday afternoon, according to authorities. They live in a remote mountain village with only two dozen

The UK is not an “Amazon” delivery service for weapons to Ukraine, Britain’s defence secretary has said. Ben Wallace added that Kyiv might be wise to let its supporters “see gratitude”. In a blunt intervention, the minister said his “counsel” to the Ukrainians was to keep in mind that they need to persuade some doubting

North Korea has fired a long-range missile that flew for 74 minutes – the longest flight time ever recorded. According to Japanese defence officials, it travelled at an altitude of 3,728 miles (6,000km) with a range of 621 miles (1,000km). It follows heated complaints from Pyongyang in recent days, which has accused US spyplanes of

If Ukraine’s counter-offensive has moved more slowly than many in the West had hoped, it has also proven more costly in terms of human lives. The fighting has been brutal – and bloody – as the Russians use mass artillery and minefields to defend territory seized earlier in the war. An information blackout has been

A giant poster on the road into the host city of this week’s NATO summit in Russia’s backyard reads: “Ukraine deserves NATO membership now.” That is what Lithuania and the other Baltic states would like to see, though it is not going to happen as long as Ukraine is at war with Russia. Even after

Countries around the world are experiencing extreme weather from landslides and flash flooding to scorching temperatures. In some areas, its caused casualties, triggered evacuations and further weather warnings. Here, we take a look at some of the most recent events and why they may be happening. In Japan, the highest-level heavy rain warning was issued

In Washington circles and beyond, officials bristle at suggestions that the decision to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine represents an erosion of the moral high ground for America or that it suggests the war isn’t going well for Ukraine. On the first point, Congressman Adam Smith, a ranking member of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee,

The head of NATO has said he is “absolutely” confident that allies will agree on a form of wording at a summit this week about Ukraine’s future accession to the alliance that will be acceptable to Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who has yet to confirm whether he too will attend the gathering of NATO

Monday will mark the sixth meeting between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden – and their seventh encounter in all as both were at official functions for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last September during the Liz Truss interregnum. The president did not attend the King’s Coronation – that is normal

The White House is fully aware of the huge controversy surrounding this cluster munitions decision. 123 countries are part of the 2008 International Convention on Cluster Munitions which bans the use or transfer of this particular weapon. Almost all of America’s allies are signatories to the convention. Even within US government circles, there has been

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Ukrainian military forces have proven incredibly resilient against what should – at least on paper – have been a superior Russian force. But one month on from the start of a much-anticipated “spring” counteroffensive, there has been limited positive news from Kyiv, plenty of Russian reporting of significant enemy losses,

For a base that Wagner Group forces are definitively not at – at least for now – the training facility at Tsel, near Osipovichi in Belarus, is certainly interesting. We saw row upon row of tents – 300 in all and enough to house 5,000 troops, an adviser to the Belarusian defence minister told us.

Two new satellite images show unidentified white shapes on top of Reactor 4 at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. The images, taken by satellite imagery company Planet Labs, were captured on 5 July – a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed explosives may have been placed at the plant. There are five white shapes visible

The St Petersburg palace of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has been raided by Russian security services. The FSB says it found guns, ammunition, gold bars, a stuffed alligator and a cupboard full of wigs at the opulent residence the mercenary leader was forced to abandon after his aborted coup attempt last month. The pro-Kremlin