World

The Taliban could begin an assault on Afghanistan’s capital within days, a US defence official has warned. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the hardline Islamist group is making a concerted effort to isolate Kabul. Resistance from government forces has been crumbling, with insurgents seizing Afghanistan’s second and third-largest cities in recent days. The Taliban now

The UK is sending military personnel to help evacuate Britons from Afghanistan as the security situation in the country rapidly deteriorates. The move was authorised by the defence secretary on Thursday morning. The US has also announced that it is deploying some 3,000 additional troops to help the departure of its embassy staff. The American

Taliban fighters have taken the Afghan city of Lashkar Gah, following their capture of Kandahar and Herat, as the security situation in the country rapidly deteriorates. A police official confirmed the capture of the city in the southern province of Helmand, with Afghan officials moving to Camp Bastion and about 1,500 soldiers surrendering. If follows

Fighting in Afghanistan’s Kandahar region has become “extremely intense” amid the continued insurgence of the Taliban in the country. It comes after warnings the capital Kabul could fall within the next 90 days, with the hardline Islamist group now controlling around 65% of Afghanistan. In Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city which is situated 480km (300

Civilians in Afghanistan face a “deadly and dangerous” situation amid concerns that the capital Kabul could fall to the Taliban within 90 days, a former foreign secretary has said. David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, warned the West not to take its eyes off Afghanistan as the Taliban‘s forces continue to make gains

A British embassy worker has been arrested in Germany on spying charges. The British national, named as David S, was arrested in Potsdam after he allegedly worked “for a foreign secret service”, the German public prosecutor said in a statement. The statement continued: “Until his arrest, David S worked as a local employee at the

At least 32 people have been killed in wildfires that erupted in Algeria, including 25 soldiers trying to save residents from the blazes, the country’s officials have said. The fires have been ravaging forests and villages east of the capital, Algiers, in the Kabyle region. Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane said the blazes appeared to be

The Canadian ambassador to China has condemned a court’s ruling to uphold the death sentence verdict for a Canadian convicted of drug smuggling. Robert Schellenberg was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to 15 years in prison in November 2018 but then abruptly resentenced to death in the city of Dalian in January 2019. Schellenberg was

It is sad to think that just a few days ago a family lived happily in the burned shell of the house we are now looking around in the village of Limni on Evia Island. That next door the same family ran a business built over 40 years. Now, the son of the family, Pablos

Heatwaves, flooding and droughts will be more frequent and more intense as the world is set to hit the 1.5C global warming limit in the next 20 years, a landmark United Nations review has predicted. The milestone scientific assessment says the rate of warming in the last 2,000 years has been “unprecedented” and it was

In hiding and desperate, two former Afghan interpreters have urged the UK to rescue them from what they see as a Taliban death sentence because they worked for British troops. Both men, named “N” and “W” to protect their identities, said they applied to a government scheme to be allowed to resettle in Britain, but

From Greece to California, the summer has seen wildfires rage in several places around the world, with lives lost and thousands evacuated. In Europe, where some officials have blamed climate change for the large number of fires, blazes have burned in several countries, from Italy to Greece and Turkey. Massive fires also have been burning

British firefighters are being deployed to tackle the raging wildfires in Greece – as new footage shows people escaping by boat as flames fill the sky. It comes after the death of a volunteer firefighter and the evacuation of thousands of people from an island near Athens, as well as towns north of the capital.

A volunteer firefighter has died in and thousands of people have been evacuated from an island near Athens as wildfires rage in Greece. Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said firefighters faced “exceptionally dangerous, unprecedented conditions” as they battled 154 wildfires on Friday, with 64 still burning into the night. “Over the past few days we

British nationals in Afghanistan are being told to leave immediately as the country moves into what the UN has described as a “deadlier and more destructive phase”. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Friday evening issued an advisory against all travel to Afghanistan. It added: “If you are still in Afghanistan, you are advised

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it has removed two Belarusian team coaches from the Games, four days after they were involved in trying to send sprinter Krystina Tsimanouskaya back to Belarus. The organisation said it had cancelled and removed the credentials of Artur Shimak and Yury Maisevich. “The two coaches were requested to leave the

A Belarusian sprinter who has flown to Poland after a stand-off with her country’s officials at the Tokyo Olympics said her grandmother had advised her not to return home. Krystina Tsimanouskaya had refused her team’s orders to go back to Belarus early from the Games after she criticised coaches. The 24-year-old’s criticism on social media

Security forces in Lebanon have fired water cannon and tear gas at anti-government protesters calling for justice on the one-year anniversary of the Beirut explosion. Demonstrators in the city had been throwing stones at the parliament building, with some trying to climb its gate. Earlier, thousands of people gathered to hold a moment of silence

More than 300 people have died after disastrous flooding hit central China, including 14 who perished after getting trapped in a flooded subway line. Chinese authorities in the Henan province announced a total of 302 people had been killed, more than three times the previous toll of 99 reported last week Another 50 people are

A Belarusian sprinter has boarded a flight to the Austrian city of Vienna, just days after a public dispute with her own team officials. Krystina Tsimanouskaya, 24, was seen at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport on Wednesday morning surrounded by an entourage. It is not clear whether Austria is her final destination, as several countries had