World

Europe is heating up faster than any other continent, according to the European State of the Climate Report for 2025, which describes a region being reshaped by accelerating change. Across the Mediterranean, the Alps and up to the Arctic Circle, the shifts are no longer faint, slow-moving or far off on the horizon. The fallout is rippling through Europe’s environment, its economy and the ecosystems that support both. Hotter air, warming seas, vanishing ice, parched soils and ecosystems under strain are sending unmistakable…

James Comey is facing new criminal charges after a North Carolina grand jury indicted the former FBI director on allegations he threatened US President Donald Trump, reviving a legal fight that returns just five months after an earlier case against the longtime Trump critic was dismissed. The indictment centres on an Instagram post Mr Comey, 65, shared in May last year showing the numbers "86 47" arranged in seashells. In an interview with Fox News at the time, Mr Trump said "86" was slang for kill and that "47" referred to…

A diplomatic dispute over control of key canal ports has prompted a show of support for Panama from across the Americas, with the US, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago backing the country's sovereignty and warning that China is trying to turn maritime trade into a political weapon while encroaching on the independence of governments in the hemisphere. "We are monitoring with vigilance China's targeted economic pressure and the recent actions that have affected Panama-flagged vessels," the…

The United Arab Emirates has announced it will withdraw from the OPEC and OPEC+ oil alliances, a dramatic move that lands a significant blow on the producers' bloc as an extraordinary energy crisis sparked by the US-Israeli war on Iran lays bare growing rifts across the Gulf. The departure of the UAE, a longtime OPEC member, threatens to erode the group's influence. OPEC has typically worked to project unity even when disputes over geopolitics and output targets have simmered beneath the surface. UAE Energy Minister Suhail…

A dispute over allegedly looted Ukrainian grain has pushed Kyiv and Israel into a sharp diplomatic clash, opening another front in the international fallout from Russia’s war. Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, has for months accused Russia of shipping out agricultural goods taken from occupied areas seized after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion. "Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a statement on…

A new indictment has thrust former FBI director James Comey back into the legal and political spotlight, accusing him of threatening US President Donald Trump’s life just five months after an earlier case against the longtime Trump critic was dismissed. Handed up by a grand jury in North Carolina, the indictment centers on an Instagram post Mr Comey, 65, shared in May last year showing the numbers "86 47" arranged in seashells. At the time, Mr Trump told Fox News that "86" was slang for kill and that "47" pointed to his…

Australia is moving to tighten the screws on the world’s biggest tech companies, unveiling draft laws that would tax Meta, Google and TikTok unless they voluntarily reach payment agreements with local news publishers. The proposal lands as traditional media organisations worldwide fight to stay afloat while audiences increasingly turn to social media for headlines, updates and breaking news. Canberra’s position is straightforward: if major digital platforms share articles that help draw users to their services, local…

South Sudan is sliding deeper into a hunger emergency, with nearly two-thirds of the population — about 7.9 million people — facing acute food insecurity as fighting flares again between government and opposition forces. The heaviest violence has gripped Jonglei State, where troops loyal to President Salva Kiir have been fighting militias aligned with his longtime rival, Riek Machar, since December. The renewed clashes have uprooted hundreds of thousands of people in a nation already ranked among the poorest and most corrupt…

A courtroom fight with sweeping implications for the future of artificial intelligence gets underway today, as billionaires Elon Musk and Sam Altman face off over OpenAI’s transformation from a nonprofit venture into a profit-driven powerhouse valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Opening statements in Mr Musk's civil case against OpenAI and Mr Altman are set for federal court in Oakland, California, after nine jurors were selected yesterday. Mr Musk alleges that Mr Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI's chief executive…

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) has accused Israeli authorities of systematically denying Gaza’s population the water needed to survive, describing the policy as a form of “collective punishment” against Palestinians. The medical charity said the widespread destruction of civilian water systems across the enclave, combined with restrictions on access, forms “an integral part of Israel’s genocide”. In its report, "Water as a Weapon", MSF said this “engineered scarcity” is unfolding in parallel with the…