World

Drones and rockets have been deployed in China to make clouds produce rainfall during a record-breaking heatwave and severe drought. The devices have been sowing silver iodide, which has a similar structure to ice, into clouds. Water droplets cluster around the particles, modifying the structure of the clouds and increasing the chance of rainfall. The

Ukrainian sailors are being trained to use underwater minehunter drones by the Royal Navy that will play a vital role in helping clear its coastline. More than a dozen Ukrainian personnel have already started a three-week course at a facility in southern England, learning how to operate and analyse data from the vessels. The drones

Russia has put all Europeans “one step away” from a radiation disaster at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said in a dire warning. The Ukrainian leader said the world narrowly avoided a catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhia facility, which is being reportedly being used as a base by Kremlin troops. He blamed

Emmanuel Macron has responded after Liz Truss refused to say if he was a “friend or foe” during the penultimate Conservative leadership hustings on Thursday. Asked if Mr Macron, the French president and leader of the UK’s closest neighbour, was a “friend or foe”, the Conservative leadership race frontrunner replied: “The jury is out.” She

Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s military to expand with another 137,000 personnel starting from next year. The announcement by the Russian president came a day after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine reached its six-month mark. Moscow has not revealed any losses in the conflict since the first weeks, but Western officials and the Kyiv government believe

A rocket attack on a train station in central Ukraine as the country marked its Independence Day has killed 22 people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. The Ukrainian leader had warned for days that Russian forces might attempt “something particularly cruel” this week. The lethal attack hit the town of Chaplyne in the central Dnipropetrovsk region,

NATO countries need to spend more on defence as “we live in a more dangerous world” and the alliance continues to support Ukraine against the “brutal aggression of Russia”, the organisation’s head has told Sky News. Member nations have been sending weapons, ammunition, and many types of light and heavy military equipment to Ukraine, including

Putin ally Alexander Dugin has said his daughter told him she felt “like a warrior” and a “hero” before she died in a car bombing Russia has blamed on Ukraine. Darya Dugina, 29, attended a festival on Saturday night before a remotely-controlled explosive device planted in her 4×4 blew up as she was driving on

Pictures of cages to apparently contain Ukrainian prisoners of war during trials in Mariupol have been condemned by the UN. Its human rights office said it was “concerned” they would not get a fair hearing and stressed that POWs cannot be prosecuted for lawful acts of war. Images said to be from the philharmonic hall

Staff at the Zaporizhzhia plant have been tortured by the Russians to force them to operate the facility, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear power industry has told Sky News. Petro Kotin said he hopes independent international inspectors will be able to visit the power plant in the next 10 days. “There are negotiations with the

Ukrainian special forces were behind a Moscow car bombing that killed the daughter of an ally of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s security service has claimed. The FSB, as reported by the Interfax news agency, said the attack was carried out by a woman who arrived in Russia last month with her teenage daughter. She rented an

The daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist and ally of President Vladimir Putin who argued Russia should absorb Ukraine has been killed in a suspected car bomb attack. Russian state investigators said Darya Dugina, daughter of idealogue Alexander Dugin, was killed after a suspected explosive device detonated on the Toyota Land Cruiser she was travelling in

Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk has retained his heavyweight titles after a thrilling rematch with Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia. Usyk won on a split points decision after the pair went the full 12 rounds – 113 to 115, 115 to 113 and 116 to 112. Until around March, Usyk was fighting on the frontline in

Russian forces have stepped up their efforts to seize one of the dwindling number of cities in eastern Ukraine not already under their control. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily update that intensified fighting took place around Bakhmut in the Donbas region. The capture of Bakhmut would allow

At least 12 people have been killed in an attack by Islamic militants who stormed a hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Several people were also injured and others, including children, had to be rescued by security services from Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel. Most of those who died are reported to have been civilians. The attack started

El Shafee Elsheikh, known to his victims as “Ringo”, grew up in White City, west London, after his family arrived from Sudan in 1993 when he was five. His father was a communist and part-time poet who worked as a translator and opposed the Islamist dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir in his home country. The couple

One of the bombmakers in the Bali terror attack that killed 202 people could be freed on parole this month after his sentence was reduced. Umar Patek was jailed for 20 years in 2012 after being found guilty of helping mix the bombs used to inflict mass murder at two tourist bars on the island

Ukraine has said Russia is preparing to stage a “provocation” at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant on Friday. The country’s intelligence agency made the claim just hours after Moscow accused Ukraine of trying to stage an “accident” there, which may involve a radiation leak, during the UN secretary-general’s visit to the war-ravaged nation. Located in

Two surfers on motorised boards who were labelled “idiots” by Venice’s mayor for speeding down the city’s Grand Canal have been identified by authorities. A video was posted on social media by Luigi Brugnaro of the pair heading along the famous Italian waterway after they were caught on camera. On Twitter, Mr Brugnaro asked for

Freed hostages were able to give British police key information identifying an IS kidnap gang nicknamed “The Beatles” which had held and tortured them, Scotland Yard has revealed. Officers have disclosed key breakthroughs that allowed them to identify the jihadis and bring two of them to trial in the US. It included vital details from