People on the Spanish island of La Palma have been urged to stay indoors due to toxic gas fears after lava from an erupting volcano reached the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists have warned of breathing difficulties and irritation to eyes and skin due to the chemical reaction caused by the lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano
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North Korea has claimed it has developed a new hypersonic missile following a test flight on Tuesday. If true it would represent a significant step forward in Pyongyang’s military technology. The North’s announcement came a day after the South Korean and Japanese militaries said they detected North Korea firing a ballistic missile into sea. Hypersonic
Twenty-one World Health Organisation (WHO) staff members were allegedly involved in sexual abuse during the agency’s response to the Ebola crisis in central Africa, according to an official report. The allegations, which include nine of rape, were identified by a special panel commissioned by WHO to look into claims involving the UN’s health agency in
Le Palma’s donation centre is a place for evacuated residents to find clothes and food, and also a place for them to console each other. I met Rosy outside, she was picking up a box of tins and fruit for her family. Her town was one of the first to be evacuated on the island.
Germany’s Social Democrats (SDP) will seek to start the process of trying to form a three-way alliance and lead the government for the first time in 16 years after Sunday’s tight election results. The SDP narrowly beat Angela Merkel’s Union bloc and the party’s leader, Olaf Scholz, hopes to strike a coalition deal before Christmas.
The centre-left Social Democrats have narrowly beaten outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right bloc in a closely fought election, according to preliminary results. SPD won 25.9% to the CDU/CSU’s 24.1%, according to figures released by election officials on Monday after the count for all 299 constituencies was completed. The Greens were next with 14.6%, followed by
An exit poll in Germany suggests the two main rivals are tied in an election that will determine who will succeed Angela Merkel. No single party has ever won a total majority in the country’s Bundestag (lower house of parliament), meaning politicians will likely be plunged into negotiations in the coming days. One exit poll
Polls have opened in the German election that will decide who succeeds Chancellor Angela Merkel after 16 years in charge of Europe’s biggest economy. Polls point to a very close race between Mrs Merkel’s centre-right union bloc, with state governor Armin Laschet running for chancellor, and the centre-left Social Democrats, for whom outgoing finance minister
Authorities have closed La Palma’s airport as a new vent opened in an erupting volcano, spreading more ash across the island. Flights to and from the Spanish island have been cancelled as a result of the volcanic eruption that has lasted nearly a week. Rivers of lava poured down the slopes of the volcano and
The Hofbrauhaus in the heart of Munich is a huge building dedicated to the art of beer. It’s been welcoming drinkers for 432 years, during which time Bavaria has been ruled variously by princes, emperors, kings, dukes, dictators and, latterly, a load of democrats. The walls here have heard every grumble and every political aspiration.
Three more towns have been evacuated on the island of La Palma in the Canaries amid “intensifying volcanic activity”, emergency services say. Authorities ordered the evacuation of the towns of Tajuya, Tacande de Abajo and the part of Tacande de Arriba thathad not already been evacuated due to a volcanic eruption, emergency services said. Residents
Authorities in Mexico are urging Haitians at the Texas border trying to reach the United States to give up. They encouraged them to instead return to Mexico’s border with Guatemala and request asylum there. Up to 14,000 people, mostly Haitians, have been camped north of the Rio Grande river this month, though hundreds have turned
The advance of lava from a volcanic eruption in Spain’s Canary Islands has slowed, rising in some places up to 50 feet as it thickens. One giant river of lava on the island of La Palma slowed to 13 feet (4m) per hour on Wednesday – on Monday, a day after the eruption, it was
Swathes of La Palma are swimming in volcanic ash. It’s everywhere, on the roads, covering cars and buildings and in your clothes, and probably lungs. The roar of the volcano can be heard for miles. It is thunderous and menacing. The lava is spewing from the crater, burning everything in its path, utterly consuming anything
A volcanic eruption in Spain’s Canary Islands could last three months, experts have said. The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute said on Wednesday that the eruption on the island of La Palma and its aftermath could last for up to 84 days. The institute said it had looked at calculations of the length of previous eruptions
The Australian city of Melbourne has been struck by a 6.0-magnitude earthquake, Geoscience Australia has said. The quake, which was one of the country’s biggest on record, caused some damage to buildings as it hit the city on Wednesday. No serious injuries have been reported so far, prime minister Scott Morrison said. The epicentre was
The US will again double the money it gives to help developing nations respond to climate change, President Biden has announced. Mr Biden said in April that America would double its contribution to $5.7bn (£4.2bn), but speaking at the United Nations General Assembly he said it would increase again to over $11bn (£8bn). In his
Russia was responsible for the 2006 assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in London, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. Mr Litvinenko was a former Russian FSB agent who went on to work with MI6 after fleeing to the UK. He died an agonising death after being poisoned in London in 2006 with Polonium 210,
Boris Johnson has criticised other world leaders over their efforts to tackle climate change, telling them he is growing “increasingly frustrated” that their commitments are “nowhere near enough”. Speaking during a meeting at the United Nations in New York, the prime minister said the gap between what has been promised by industrialised nations and what
At least eight people have been killed and several are injured after a gunman opened fire at a university in the Russian city of Perm, officials have said. The shooter at Perm State University has since been “neutralised”, according to the independent Russian news agency Interfax. Students and staff of the university locked themselves in