World

The King was still mid-flight when the military welcome began. His plane was given a German jet escort into Berlin. And then, the grandest gesture Germany has to offer, a full ceremonial welcome at the Brandenburg Gate. He is the first visiting head of state offered the honour and we heard early on just how

Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts are calling for a pause in the training of powerful AI systems due to the potential risks to society and humanity. The letter, issued by the non-profit Future of Life Institute and signed by more than 1,000 people, warned of potential risks to society and civilisation

Lebanon’s government has reversed a controversial decision to delay the start of daylight saving time by a month. Najib Mikati, the country’s caretaker prime minister, said the cabinet had voted to move the clocks one hour ahead on Wednesday night. Mr Mikati angered many Lebanese last week when he delayed the start of daylight saving

A pause – not a halt After hours hidden out of sight and in emergency negotiations with his coalition partners, Benjamin Netanyahu eventually bowed to the inevitable. As the sun was going down on an extraordinary day in Israel, news emerged that a deal had been struck. The party of Itamar Ben-Gvir said he would

India’s key opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi after being disqualified from parliament. Mr Gandhi, 52, was expelled on Friday after he was sentenced to two years in jail for making defamatory remarks relating to Mr Modi’s surname at a 2019 rally, before the last general election. Mr Gandhi – who

French President Emmanuel Macron has been criticised after removing his expensive watch during a television interview about pension changes. Violent protests and strikes are taking place across France after Mr Macron pushed through a law raising the retirement age by two years to 64 without a vote in parliament. The clip of Mr Macron taking

In anticipation – perhaps fear – of Western support for Ukraine’s much anticipated “spring offensive”, Russia has spent the past few weeks throwing wave after wave of attacks against a heroic and determined Ukrainian frontline. Progress has been limited, and despite seven months of intense fighting, cities like Bakhmut have not fallen. Now, Russia appears

Five boys aged 11 and 12 who became trapped in the New York City sewer system were told to “scream as loud as they could” to help firefighters locate them before being rescued. The children walked for a quarter of a mile after crawling through a storm drain tunnel on Staten Island at about 6pm

A national strike is taking place in France after President Emmanuel Macron’s circumvention of parliament to pass the divisive pension bill which would raise the retirement age by two years. The co-ordinated strikes are expected to cause widespread national chaos, as well as travel disruption to and from France. French airports will be hit, with

World Athletics has decided to exclude transgender women who have gone through male puberty from female events. The body’s president, Lord Coe, said “decisive action” had been taken to “protect the female category in our sport”. Lord Coe told a news conference in Monaco: “The council has agreed to exclude male-to-female transgender athletes, who have

Data from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic has provided crucial information on the outbreak’s origins, according to researchers. The virus was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019, with the Huanan live animal market widely suspected to be the source, before it rapidly spread around the world and killed nearly seven million people.

Vladimir Putin has welcomed his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to Moscow, just days after a warrant was issued for the Russian president’s arrest over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The two leaders, who called each other “dear friend” and exchanged compliments during the meeting at the Kremlin, were locked in talks for more than four

Vladimir Putin has said Russia and China are fighting “common threats” as he welcomes President Xi Jinping for a three-day trip to Moscow. Writing in an article in the People’s Daily Newspaper, the Russian president described Mr Xi‘s visit as a “landmark event” that “reaffirms the special nature of the Russia-China partnership”. The outlet is

For months, rising food and energy costs have brought protesters on to Moldova’s streets but while the cost-of-living crisis is biting, the government claims outside forces are fuelling the unrest. The pro-Western leaders have accused Russia of deliberately stoking the anger by reducing gas supplies to push up prices, spreading propaganda and backing a plot

Police in Pakistan have filed terrorism and other charges against former prime minister Imran Khan, as well as 17 of his aides and scores of his supporters. The move on Sunday came after the ousted premier’s followers clashed with security forces in the country’s capital of Islamabad a day before. Mr Khan‘s followers came to

Vladimir Putin has visited the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to Russian media reports. The president made what state media described as a “working trip” to the port city, which he annexed in September last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr Putin, who arrived in a helicopter, travelled around several districts of the

Putin ‘unruffled and unapologetic’, despite war crimes charge John Sparks International correspondent @sparkomat The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is now liable to arrest in 123 countries – but he knows that no one is going to detain him in Crimea. The peninsula was seized from Ukraine in 2014 and Russia’s long-time leader has returned to

An arrest warrant issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin is the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) “first shot” in what could be a substantial indictment against him, Ukraine’s leading lawyer has said. The intergovernmental group – based at The Hague – has accused Mr Putin of being responsible for the abduction of children from Ukraine. An

Russia has hit back after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, which accuses him of war crimes for his alleged involvement in child abductions from Ukraine. The ICC said the president is allegedly responsible for the “unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of children from the territory of Ukraine

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of abducting children from Ukraine. It also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children, on similar allegations of war crimes. The Kremlin said Russia found the very questions raised by the