World

Hamas has said one of its top officials, Saleh al Arouri, has been killed in an explosion in Beirut – blaming the “cowardly assassination” on Israel. Al Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing and the deputy leader of the group’s political bureau. He also headed Hamas’s presence in the West Bank.

As firefighters and rescue crews work on the ground following a huge plane fire at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in Japan, investigators behind the scenes will try to piece together how it happened. Captured in dramatic footage from the scene, a Japan Airlines aircraft can be seen bursting into flames and moving along the runway in

South Korea’s opposition leader Lee Jae-myung has been stabbed in the neck during a visit to Busan, according to local media. He was attacked as he toured a construction site at a new airport, said the city’s emergency office. It said Lee – who heads the main opposition Democratic Party – was conscious but his

A tsunami warning has been issued after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 hit Japan. The warning, issued by the country’s meteorological agency, covers western coastal regions of Ishikawa, Niigata and Toyama. Hokuriku Electric Power said it was checking for any irregularities at its nuclear power plants, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. Waves of

Denmark’s queen has unexpectedly announced her abdication in her traditional New Year’s Eve speech. Margrethe II will formally step down from the throne on 14 January – exactly 52 years to the day of her ascension to the throne in 1972. She will be succeeded by her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik. This breaking news

Former world cycling champion Rohan Dennis has been charged with causing the death of his wife, the retired Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins, according to reports. South Australia Police were called to the suburb of Medindie, Adelaide, after a woman was hit by a car at around 8pm local time on Saturday. The 32-year-old was taken

At least 14 people – including two children – have been killed and more than 100 injured during shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod, officials in Moscow say. They have accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack – a day after an 18-hour aerial Russian barrage across Ukraine killed at least 39 people.

Imran Khan has been rejected as a candidate in Pakistan’s upcoming election by officials. Lawyers for the former prime minister have said they will appeal ahead of the vote to elect a new parliament in February. Khan is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for corruption, making it difficult for him to run for office.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy started 2023 full of optimism. In Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces had demonstrated they could push Russian invaders back, and Western confidence in Ukraine’s ability to prevail was growing. Despite the risks to domestic national security, Western nations donated huge quantities of weapons, ammunition and high-tech capability from national stockpiles to support Ukraine’s proposed

Russia has launched one of its biggest aerial barrages on Ukraine since the start of the invasion, killing at least 27 people and wounding 144 others. Several cities were struck overnight as Russia launched more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, with most of them being shot down. Ukrainian

The UK could find itself in the deep freeze in January due to a change in wind patterns high up in the atmosphere – the same phenomenon that blew in the bitterly cold Beast from the East in 2018. However, forecasters are warning it is too soon to tell where in Europe the cold weather

The gunman who killed 14 people at a university in Prague before killing himself, reportedly left a suicide note confessing to the murder of a father and his baby six days earlier, Czech media have reported. A note found at the home of David Kozak, 24, was said to have contained the admission he shot

Former European Commission president Jacques Delors has died at the age of 98. An ardent advocate of post-war European integration, Delors served as president of the body for three terms – longer than any other holder of the office – from January 1985 until the end of 1994. The Frenchman, a Socialist, was also the

Hamas has always had a reputation for having some of the best underground tunnels of any militia. In a media tour arranged by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) into Gaza, one of the most impressive examples the Israeli military has discovered was on full display. The entrance was just inside Gaza, only a few hundred

Subhi Shaledeh and his extended family had around 500 acres of prime grazing land in the Occupied West Bank, in the village of Janoub. They owned olive trees and hundreds of sheep. The land had been in the family for decades. But overnight they lost their livelihood and their and land. Subhi says on 9

Ukraine says it has carried out an air strike on the port town of Feodosia in Crimea. Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Ukraine‘s air force said that the attack destroyed a Russian Navy vessel known as the landing Novocherkask ship. Writing on the Telegram messaging app, he said: “And the fleet in Russia is getting smaller

Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza will expand over the coming days, Benjamin Netanyahu has warned, as attacks appeared to intensify on Christmas Day. The Hamas-led Gaza health ministry says 250 Palestinians have been killed and 500 wounded in the past 24 hours – with 106 of those said to have died in an airstrike on

Ukraine is officially marking Christmas on 25 December for the first time today – after it continued to fend off Russian drone attacks overnight. Traditionally, Ukrainians have celebrated on 7 January, in line with the Russian Orthodox Church. But in July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed legislation moving the Christmas holiday to 25 December. On Sunday,

Imagine having not one, but two babies born in the middle of war. Lina Hammad gave birth to twins in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. It should be a time of celebration, but the stress of keeping the infants, and two other children alive, is all-consuming. The impact of war always hits the most vulnerable.

Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting in Gaza, the Israeli military has said. The deaths take the number of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) killed to 154 since its ground operation in Gaza began on 20 October. Some 480 IDF personnel have died since Hamas launched its incursion on 7 October. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Around 300 Indian travellers are stuck in a French airport after their flight was grounded in a human trafficking investigation. Those on board the Romania-based charter company Legend Airlines plane from Fujairah airport in the United Arab Emirates to Managua, in Nicaragua, included families and children. The youngest passenger is a 21-month-old toddler while some

The main road into Bethlehem is closed. What is normally a simple 20-minute journey from Jerusalem now takes us an hour, as cars queue to get through the one Israeli military checkpoint open further south. It’s been like this since the war began, and it’s just one way that life in the West Bank has

The UN Security Council has voted for a resolution to speed up aid to Gaza – but left out a call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities”. It instead includes a commitment to “create conditions for the sustainable cessation of hostilities” between Hamas and Israel. Thirteen members voted in favour, while the US and Russia

Police have released bodycam footage of officers storming a university building during their response to a shooting in Prague which killed 13 people. The footage shows armed officers entering a building and members of the public fleeing the scene at Charles University in Prague on Thursday. The gunman – named in Czech media as 24-year-old

Several people have been killed and dozens have been injured during a shooting in central Prague, according to Czech police. “The entire building is currently being evacuated and there are several dead and dozens of injured,” police said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “The shooter has been eliminated.” The incident took place in

All Eurostar services have been “temporarily suspended” due to “unexpected strikes” by French staff. An update on the Eurotunnel website said: “Due to industrial action in France, all Le Shuttle services have been temporarily suspended. We apologise for the delay to your journey. Further updates will be provided shortly.” The industrial action by staff is

A Sky News team witnessed a dead child being pulled from the rubble in Gaza and desperate attempts to dig out survivors following an Israeli drone strike. The attack happened during filming on Wednesday at a hospital in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. A father took cover behind a car with his terrified children while

The Irish government is to bring a legal case against the UK under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The inter-state case is over the UK’s decision to bring in the Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy Act, deputy premier Micheal Martin has confirmed. The act became UK law in September 2023. It looks to end

The eruption in Iceland may have weakened but it’s far from over. Scientists are using GPS signals from space to precisely measure the height of the ground around the volcanic site. It had risen by 35cm in some areas, pushed up by the magma rising from beneath. Since the eruption it’s slumped back down by

The molten rock that has been building up beneath southwest Iceland has erupted in spectacular fountains of lava. A gash two miles long has opened up on the Reykjanes peninsula, spewing between 100 and 200 cubic metres of lava every second. That’s far more than in other recent eruptions in the area. Incredible footage shows

A volcano has erupted in Iceland after weeks of intense earthquake activity, the country’s Meteorological Office said. An evacuation had already taken place in recent days, moving nearly 4,000 people out of the fishing town of Grindavik in the country’s southwest. The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa had also been closed as a precaution. Iceland’s

BP has announced it is pausing shipments of oil through the Red Sea after recent attacks on vessels by Houthi rebels. The oil giant said it made the decision because of the “deteriorating security situation” – but added that the move was temporary. “The safety and security of our people and those working on our

An MP who has family members she says are trapped in a church in Gaza is worried they will not survive until Christmas. Layla Moran told Sky News that around 300 people are trapped inside the Holy Family Church complex in Gaza City, including her five relatives. After contacting her family today, the Liberal Democrats’