World

A Chinese defector has revealed to Sky News how Uyghur detainees are transported in their hundreds on packed prison trains, along with details of torture and deaths inside re-education centres in Xinjiang. The man, who says he served as a police officer in Xinjiang and asked only to be identified by the name Jiang, told

The president of Taiwan has vowed to do her “utmost” to defend her country from Chinese claims on its territory. Following increasing tensions with Beijing, Tsai Ing-wen said defences would be bolstered to “demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves”. Although the island has ruled itself since it split from the Communist-ruled mainland in 1949, following

Searing hot boulders the size of three-storey buildings have flowed down the side of a volcano in the Canary Islands as a string of tremors shook the ground three weeks after it erupted. The accompanying river of scorching magma, reaching temperatures of up to 1,240C (2,264F), also destroyed the last few properties that remained standing

Tonight, Lebanon has been knocked into darkness. Again. The two state power stations are without fuel, and so the entire country is without electricity. Small mercy it’s no longer the height of summer, when air conditioning units and fans are literally life-saving for many. Lebanese are used to power shortages: for some time now, the

Lebanon’s electricity grid has shut down entirely after the country’s two main power stations ran out of fuel, according to reports. The al Zahrani and the Deir Ammar power stations stopped working after supplies of diesel were apparently exhausted, and energy production dropped to below 200 megawatts. The outage will continue for a few days,

At least 46 people have been killed and more than 140 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunduz province, a state-run news agency has reported. Photos from the scene show bodies and bloodstains surrounded by rubble inside the mosque. Rescuers could be seen carrying bodies wrapped in blankets from the

As they came past us – panting, cajoling, shouting – it was hard to believe what we were seeing. Here, in broad daylight, were dozens of migrants, manhandling a large inflatable boat down a northern French beach, to get to the seafront in order to to cross the Channel. Forget the normal rules about subterfuge

Governments are being urged to do what is “morally right” to ensure all countries have enough jabs – as the World Health Organisation set a target of vaccinating 70% of the world by the middle of next year. The agency also said countries need to help meet its fresh target of vaccinating 40% of the

More than 29 inches of rain – nearly two-and-a-half feet – fell in 12 hours in Italy this week, breaking a European record, as parts of the country were hit by extreme weather. The commune of Rossiglione in Genoa, Liguria, was among the worst affected with the record deluge of 29.2in of rain on Monday

The first vaccine against malaria could be rolled out to billions of people after key advisers to the World Health Organisation (WHO) gave it the green light. Experts on the WHO’s advisory bodies for immunisation and malaria concluded the vaccine Mosquirix could save tens of thousands of lives every year. The vaccine is now expected

Taiwan’s defence minister has warned that China will be capable of mounting a “full-scale” invasion of the island by 2025. Chiu Kuo-cheng said on Wednesday that the relationship between the two countries is the worst it has been in more than four decades. Mr Chiu said there was the risk of a “misfire” across the

A French actor has said he was raped by a priest when he was eight years old. Laurent Martinez spoke out on the day a damning report into the Catholic Church in France found an estimated 330,000 children were victims of abuse between 1950 and 2020. A commission concluded that the church showed complete and

The Catholic Church in France showed complete and sometimes cruel indifference to people who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of clergy for decades, a commission investigating the abuse has found. The investigation found that an estimated 330,000 children were victims of abuse between 1950 and 2020. The report said an estimated 3,000 child abusers

Two more earthquakes have rattled the Spanish island of La Palma amid a fresh surge of lava from an erupting volcano. Part of the volcano’s crater has also collapsed – two weeks after the eruption on what is one of the Canary Islands situated off northwest Africa. Spain’s National Geographical Institute said it recorded two

Russia says it has successfully launched a hypersonic Tsirkon cruise missile from a submarine for the first time. The country’s defence ministry, which originally test fired the weapon – also known as Zircon – from a warship in July, said the second test, deployed in the Barents Sea, had hit its chosen target. Low-quality video

A bomb has exploded in the entrance of a mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul, leaving a “number of civilians dead”, according to the Taliban. The blast happened as a memorial service was being held for the mother of deputy information minister Zabihullah Mujahid, who later tweeted the attack had claimed civilian lives. Those killed

An erupting volcano in the Canary Islands has turned “much more aggressive”, officials have warned, after two further cracks blew open, spewing lava. Amid reports of “intense” activity on La Palma, the fresh fissures, some 25m (50ft) apart, sent scorching rivers of molten rock down towards the sea, parallel to an earlier flow that reached

A serial killer who carried out a spate of murders and rapes in and around Paris in the 1980s and 1990s has been revealed as a retired police officer, according to reports in France. Francois Verove, 59, is said to have used his police identity card and handcuffs to abduct and restrain his victims. The

An erupting volcano in the Canary Islands has blown open a third fissure – sending a fresh river of lava down the mountainside. It came as authorities recorded eight new earthquakes up to magnitude 3.5 on the island of La Palma on Friday. They are now waiting to see whether lava from the new fissure

Australia will start to reopen its international border from November, allowing fully vaccinated travellers into the country. Only Australian citizens and permanent residents will be able to enter at first, and they will need to quarantine for seven days. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said individual states will have to achieve vaccination rates above 80% before