Two people have been killed and three others, including a child, taken to hospital after what police described as a "suspicious" explosion tore through a house in Bristol, England. Avon and Somerset Police declared a major incident after the blast, which happened at about 6.30am today. Investigators are also making inquiries at a second property connected to the man who died. Police said the cause of the explosion is being treated as suspicious, though it is not being investigated as a terrorist incident. "Three people - a…

Under a full moon on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, Shakira launched her free mega-concert late Saturday, arriving more than an hour after the scheduled start as drones overhead traced the outline of a she-wolf — the nickname that has become part of her pop mythology. Roughly two million people were expected for the free open-air performance by the 49-year-old Colombian superstar, who appeared on a sprawling stage set up beside the iconic Copacabana Palace hotel. The beach has become a showcase for pop royalty in recent…

After nearly two weeks of relentless firefighting, the massive wildfires that tore through forests in northern Japan have been brought under control, officials said, ending an 11-day battle against what has been described as the country’s second-largest blaze in more than 30 years. Since last month, hundreds of firefighters and more than 1,000 military personnel had been deployed to fight the flames as they swept across about 1,600 hectares in the mountainous Iwate region. That burn zone is nearly five times the size of New…

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of Washington this week, accusing America of entering the war with Iran without a clear plan for how to finish it. The US, he said bluntly, appeared to have no strategy for the conflict. "The problem with conflicts like this is always you don't just have to get in," he said during a meeting with German students, "you have to get out again". "We saw that very painfully in Afghanistan for 20 years - we saw it in Iraq," he added. The remarks quickly set off a…

When Andrzej Poczobut crossed from Belarus into Poland last Tuesday, he barely resembled the broad-shouldered, sharply dressed journalist familiar to Polish readers just five years earlier. Images that swiftly spread from the border crossing in eastern Poland showed a hollowed, gaunt man with a shaved head. Five years in cold, concrete prison cells — including six months in solitary confinement last year — had left him looking far older than 53. His freedom, secured as part of a 10-person prisoner exchange, came after months…

Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon with deadly force, killing 13 people, the country’s health ministry said, including residents of a town where the Israeli military had ordered an evacuation despite a ceasefire still being in place. According to the ministry, the heaviest toll came in Habboush, where eight people were killed, among them a child and two women, while 21 others were wounded - an increase from an earlier casualty count. In Zrariyeh, four people were killed in separate strikes, including two women, and…

President Donald Trump has intensified a brewing dispute with key European allies, declaring the planned withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from Germany is only the start as tensions widen over the Middle East war. The Pentagon unveiled the 5,000-troop drawdown on Friday, but Mr Trump signalled on Saturday that the cut would go deeper. "We're going to cut way down, and we're cutting a lot further than 5,000," he told reporters, without offering further details. The latest move comes after a public clash between Mr Trump and…

A suspected extortion plot involving baby food took a significant turn on Thursday, when Austrian police said they arrested a 39-year-old man linked to a case in which rat poison was placed in jars of baby food. Authorities previously said five "manipulated" jars of the same HiPP baby food product were recovered safely last month in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia before anyone could consume them. German ‌police said ⁠at the time that a sixth jar believed to have been in Austria has still not been located. "Today we…

A Peter Kay performance at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena was abruptly cut short and the crowd evacuated on Thursday night after what was reported as a potential suspicious bag, though British police later said their searches uncovered nothing опасious. West Midlands Police said a 19-year-old man arrested on suspicion of a bomb hoax offence remains in custody. The comedian’s set was stopped after the discovery of what was described as a "potential suspicious bag". In a statement issued this morning, police said: "Following…

An oil tanker was hijacked by unidentified assailants off Yemen’s coast in the Gulf of Aden and forced toward Somalia, according to Yemen’s coast guard. The agency said the tanker EUREKA was taken near Yemen’s Shabwa province by a group that “boarded, took control of it, then steered it ... in the direction of the Somali coast”. ]The coast guard, aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said it would investigate the assault. “The location of the tanker has been determined, and work is under way to monitor…