World

Sri Lankans rose up in their hundreds of thousands and clamoured for change – instead they have been handed more of the same. President-elect Ranil Wickremesinghe has been prime minister six times, is a veteran of 50 years in the swamps of Sri Lankan politics, and is closely aligned with the elites that have brought

Sri Lanka’s acting president has become the country’s new permanent leader after being selected in a parliament vote. Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the prime minister in May 2022 but was temporarily placed in charge of the presidency on 13 July after his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives. Sri Lanka is in the

Cyber spies suspected of working for Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) are targeting NATO countries in a recent hacking campaign, according to a new industry report. The hackers are using online storage services such as Google Drive and Dropbox to avoid being detected, said cyber security company Palo Alto. The hacking attempts have included phishing

Vladimir Putin visits Iran today for his first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian president will meet Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as he seeks to bolster the few foreign alliances his regime still enjoys. Mr Putin has described Western sanctions against Moscow as a declaration of economic

Dramatic footage has captured a passenger plane as it flipped over during a crash-landing on an airport runway. The incident happened at Aden Adde international airport in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. The crew and all passengers on board – around 30 – escaped. Video from the scene showed the plane upside down after having apparently tipped

The Ukrainian head of security services has been fired due to alleged “treason”. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also sacked prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova amid claims dozens of employees in her office have “worked against our state”. Mr Zelenskyy said: “Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the state’s national security, and the links

The distraught family of a four-year-old killed in a missile strike in Ukraine have attended her funeral – while her unknowing mother remained in intensive care. Liza Dmytrieva died in the Russian bombing of the central city of Vinnytsia on Thursday. The blast left her mother, Iryna, in a “grave condition” in an intensive care

A cargo plane operated by a Ukrainian airline and reported to be carrying 12 tonnes of “dangerous materials” has crashed in northern Greece. Residents reported seeing a fireball and hearing explosions for two hours after the Antonov aircraft came down on farmland near the city of Kavala. The Soviet-era An-12 plane had been heading from

Mexican military forces have captured notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the torture and murder of a US DEA agent in 1985. Caro Quintero, 69, was arrested after a search dog named Max found him hiding in shrubland in the town of San Simon in Sinaloa state during a joint operation by

A British aid worker who was detained by Russian separatists in Ukraine has died, a family member has told Sky News. Paul Urey is believed to have died five days ago “due to sickness”, according to information his family has received from the Foreign Office. He was charged with committing “mercenary activities” after being captured

Sri Lanka’s parliament has accepted a letter of resignation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The letter was flown from Singapore late last night, and its authenticity has now been verified. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena says a new president will be appointed “quickly and successfully” – with the process set to be completed within seven days. Mr

Italy’s prime minister Mario Draghi has offered his resignation – but the country’s president has rejected it. Mr Draghi, the widely respected former head of the European Central Bank, has been at helm of a broad coalition. He said he would resign after a coalition ally pulled its support for the government earlier on Thursday.

The president of Sri Lanka has failed to resign despite promising to do so after thousands of people stormed his palace in protest at the economic chaos in the country. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife fled to the Maldives on Wednesday aboard an air force jet and he made the prime minister acting president

It was unfair to blame Liverpool fans for unrest in Paris before the Champions League final as state authorities failed to manage crowds, a report has found. France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, pointed the finger at Liverpool fans to divert attention away from the failings of police and organisers, the report commissioned by the French

Protesters have stormed the office of Sri Lanka’s prime minister as police use tear gas on crowds. A nationwide state of emergency has been declared by the prime minister’s office and a curfew has been imposed in the Western Province in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled the country after months of

In a community kitchen in the backstreets of Colombo, volunteers prepare 250 meals every day for people struggling to survive Sri Lanka’s worse economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948. We meet Mabel Silva and her family while they’re waiting for a meal. Her two grandchildren are disabled and Mabel is suffering from diabetes. She

Japan has said farewell to its country’s its longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead at a campaign rally last week. Long lines of people queued outside the Zojoji temple in Tokyo to pay their respects to the man who dominated Japanese politics for decades. The 67-year-old’s assassination by an unemployed man wielding

People swimming in the president of Sri Lanka’s pool say they will remain at the official residence in Colombo until Gotabaya Rajapaksa finally leaves office. Protesters have also stormed the home of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, demonstrating against an economic catastrophe that has left many struggling to afford two meals a day. Both men have

The Kagarlytskyi family narrowly escaped Russian occupation in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin. After three months on the run, moving from one place to another, they’ve returned home. But they’ve lost everything, and they’re now living in a train carriage as they try to piece their lives back together. Russia ‘storing weapons in nuclear plant’

Sri Lankans are roaming through the ransacked presidential palace a day after it was stormed by thousands of people angry at the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe both announced they were going to step down in the face of the protests. The prime minister’s private residence