World

BBC This has been one of the most eventful years since I began covering global security for the BBC in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks in 2001. The sudden toppling of Syria’s President Assad, North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia. British and US missiles sent to Ukraine and…

Getty Images US officials say hackers linked to the Chinese government are responsible for breaching security at major telecommunications companies and US agencies. The latest hack, announced on Monday, targeted the US Department of the Treasury, which called the infiltration a “major incident”. Officials said the hackers were able to…

Ivory Coast has announced that French troops will withdraw from the West African nation, further reducing the military influence of the former colonial power in the region. In an end-of-year address, Ivory Coast’s President, Alassane Ouattara, said the move was a reflection of the modernisation of the country’s armed forces….

The FBI says it has discovered more than 150 bombs during a raid on a farm in Virginia – thought to be the largest such cache seized by the law-enforcement agency in its history. Brad Spafford was arrested on 17 December in Isle of Wight County, 180 miles (290km) south…

Anshul Verma Sushila Meena has gone viral for her swift bowling action Until a few days ago, 10-year-old Sushila Meena lived an ordinary life, far from the public eye, in a small village in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan. But everything changed when legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar shared a…

Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine are to end on Wednesday, when a five-year deal between Ukraine’s gas transit operator Naftogaz and Russia’s Gazprom expires. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would not allow Russia to “earn additional billions on our blood” and had given the EU a…

Police in New York City have named the woman who was set on fire and burned to death on a subway train in Brooklyn. Authorities on Tuesday identified Debrina Kawam, 61, of New Jersey as the victim of the seemingly random 22 December attack that burned her body beyond recognition….

Puerto Rico was plunged into darkness early Tuesday morning by a nearly island-wide blackout. The cause of the blackout is under investigation, but preliminary findings pointed to a fault in an underground line, according to Luma Energy, the island’s main power distributor. Fully restoring service could take between 24-48 hours,…

Getty Images The couple met in 2004 and got married in 2014 Arguably the modern era’s biggest A-list couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married for two years – but it has taken eight years since announcing their divorce to finally reach a deal. Why did it take four…

Sana Ahmed al-Sharaa (centre) and the leaders of Syria’s new ‘joint force’ Syria’s new leaders are reported to have given some foreign Islamist fighters senior official posts in the country’s armed forces. The army is being re-organised by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the Islamist group that is now effectively…