World

The journey north up the Swat Valley in Pakistan is a lesson in just how overwhelming the power of a natural disaster like this can be.   Whole villages are swept away, towns are cut in half, a hydroelectric power station is overwhelmed and smashed and roads and bridges along the way are destroyed. Like

It’s easy to lose sight of the scale of loss in Pakistan. Even as we travel by boat through the heavily-hit Dadu district in Sindh Province, I struggle to comprehend what lies beneath the water. But we soon hear the horrendous stories of a community drowning in loss. Crops, homes, livelihoods – all submerged. The

Russia has scrapped plans to reopen a major pipeline that sends natural gas to Europe. The decision by Gazprom, a state-controlled firm, will make it more difficult for Europe to secure fuel ahead of the winter. Gazprom said the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would remain closed because of a leak in the main gas turbine,

A man has pointed a loaded handgun in the face of Argentina’s vice president in what is being described as an attempted assassination. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was threatened outside her home in Buenos Aires on Thursday night. The trigger was pulled but no shots were fired – indicating the weapon jammed – before the

I’ve been to the Swat Valley before, it’s one of Pakistan’s most beautiful areas. Indeed, it’s known as the Switzerland of Pakistan, famous for its clear flowing river, magnificent mountains and delicious peaches and plums. Swat Valley as a tourist destination is jam-packed with hotels and restaurants – or rather, it was. Even as we

The UK Disasters Emergency Committee has launched an appeal to “save and protect lives” as Pakistan deals with devastating floods. More than 1,100 people have died and 33 million people are affected after monsoon rains and melting glaciers destroyed houses, infrastructure and crops. The UN has appealed for $160m (£138m) to help alleviate an “unprecedented

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had a “huge impact on the course of world history” who found his “own solutions to urgent problems”, Vladimir Putin has said. Expressing his condolences to his family, the Russian president said in a statement: “He led our country during a period of complex, dramatic changes, large-scale foreign policy, economic and

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has died at the age of 91, according to Russian media. His office earlier said that he was undergoing treatment at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. He died after a long illness, the medical facility was quoted as saying by news agencies. Tributes to man who brought about the

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has died aged 91 – with Joe Biden leading tributes and calling him “a man of remarkable vision” who helped avert the prospect of nuclear war. Putin says Gorbachev ‘changed course of history’ – read the latest on this story One of the most significant figures of the 20th century,

At least 15 people have been killed in Iraq after protesters stormed the country’s government palace following the resignation of an influential Iraqi Shiite cleric. Hundreds of people mobbed the building in Baghdad, sparking violent clashes with security forces after Muqtada al-Sadr announced he is quitting Iraqi politics and ordered the closure of his party

Ukrainian forces have begun an offensive operation against Russian troops in the Kherson region – a key, Russia-occupied part of southern Ukraine, two Ukrainian sources have told Sky News. There have been growing expectations that Ukrainian troops were planning to launch an operation to recapture Kherson, which was the first regional capital that Russia seized

Widespread floods in Pakistan that have killed more than 1,000 people since mid-June may not have reached their peak yet, experts have warned. All four of the country’s provinces have been hit by the unusually heavy rains, with over 30 million people affected. Flash floods have swept away villages, crops, and 800,000 livestock, as soldiers

A seven-year-old girl on holiday with her parents in Germany has died after a marble statue collapsed on her. Lavinia Trematerra, from Italy, was struck by the object weighing around 200kg (440lbs) in the courtyard of a hotel in Munich on Friday evening. People at the scene were able to free the child and call

Tens of thousands of people in Pakistan have been forced to flee their homes following deadly floods, as the country’s prime minister warned the “magnitude of the calamity is bigger” than expected. Nearly 1,000 people have been killed in the floods since mid-June, which have been triggered by heavy monsoon rains. The latest destruction saw

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

Residents near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are being handed iodine tablets in case of a radiation leak. The move comes two days after the plant was temporarily knocked offline because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line. Iodine tablets, which help block the absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid

Pakistan wants international support to help with a “humanitarian disaster of epic proportions” as the death toll from months of flooding reached nearly 1,000. It comes amid exceptionally heavy rain that has been lashing the country since mid-June. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif met with foreign diplomats in the capital Islamabad to discuss damage caused by

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

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,