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Carrier suspends flights to five Russian airports after early findings of investigation into crash on Christmas Day The aircraft that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 people, experienced “external physical and technical interference”, according to preliminary results of an investigation, Azerbaijan Airlines said on Friday.The early findings led the carrier to suspend flights to five Russian airports, citing “potential risks to flight...

Deliveries of vital food and medical supplies will help 200,000 families, say aid groups and local volunteersAn aid convoy has reached a besieged area of Khartoum for the first time since Sudan’s civil war broke out in April 2023, bringing food and medicines in a country where half of the people are at risk of starvation.The 28 trucks arrived in southern Khartoum on 25...

Protests have erupted nationwide after disappearance of boys not seen since they were approached by soldiersThe disappearance of four boys in Ecuador after they came into contact with the armed forces is posing a severe challenge to President Daniel Noboa’s “war on drugs”.The four – all black, aged between 11 and 15, and residents of Las Malvinas, a poor area in the country’s largest...

Removal of acting president Han Duck-soo is part of a rancorous battle for the country’s constitutional futureFor the fourth time this month, South Korea’s parliament has become the arena for a rancorous battle for the country’s political future.Safeguarding the hard-won rights and freedoms South Koreans have enjoyed for almost four decades is a lofty aim – and supported by the vast majority of voters...

Gemfields makes decision over ruby mining after groups ‘took advantage’ of situation to try to invade its siteThe London-listed mining company Gemfields said it had temporarily halted its ruby mining operation in Mozambique after groups “took advantage” of political unrest to set fire and attempt to invade its site, resulting in two deaths.Gemfields, one of the world’s largest miners of coloured gemstones, said more...

Yacht race claims two crew members’ lives on separate boats, while survivor recounts ‘getting thrown down waves’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe first mayday call came late on Boxing Day.Just before midnight, there had been an incident onboard the Flying Fish Arctos, a vessel competing in Australia’s most iconic boat race, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.Sign up for...

Assembly approves motion days after parliament stripped President Yoon Suk Yeol of his powers over martial law orderSouth Korea votes to impeach acting president: live updatesSouth Korea’s parliament has voted to impeach the acting president, Han Duck-soo, plunging the country deeper into a political crisis that has caused policy deadlock and damaged its international reputation. The national assembly approved an impeachment motion introduced on...

Han Duck-soo says he will step aside to avoid further chaos, as finance minister assumes acting presidencyHan Duck-soo who was appointed prime minister by Yoon Suk Yeol. He became acting president after South Korea’s National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon, a conservative, about two weeks ago over his short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3.Han’s time as acting president quickly became mired in...

First of Kim Jong-un’s soldiers to be taken was detained in Kursk region of Russia, according to Ukrainian reports‘I thought it was fake news’: secrecy around North Koreans fighting in KurskSouth Korea’s intelligence agency has reported that a North Korean soldier, believed to be the first captured while supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, has died after being taken alive by Ukrainian forces.South Korea’s spy...

Head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was at Yemen’s international airport when it was hitHouthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the overnight firing of a missile at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport and say they launched drones at Israel’s commercial capital, as well as a ship in the Arabian Sea, according to reports. Here is a report from The...

Supermaxi LawConnect in box seat Friday evening to take line honours for second year runningAs at 5.30pm, 22 yachts from the 104-strong starting fleet had retiredThe Sydney to Hobart yacht race has been left reeling after the deaths of two sailors in wild weather that has forced a fifth of the fleet to retire.Supermaxi LawConnect was in the box seat on Friday evening to...

Georgian Dream government threatens pro-west president with jail if she refuses to leave office on SundayAll eyes in Georgia are fixed on the elegant 19th-century Orbeliani Palace in Tbilisi, where a defining moment looms. Who will occupy its halls on 29 December?On Sunday, Georgia’s pro-western president, Salome Zourabichvili, is supposed to hand over the keys to her successor, Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former football player...

Pressure down to rising costs and weak consumer demand, says report, with firms at ‘critical’ stage soaring 25%Business live – latest updatesMore than 28,000 retailers are facing “significant” financial distress at the end of 2024, driven by rising business costs and weak consumer confidence, according to a report.The number of retailers under the more severe measure of “critical” financial distress jumped 25% to 2,124...

Exclusive: Shelter poll shows housing crisis is causing hardship even for those with jobsNearly two-thirds of workers living in private rented housing struggle to pay their rent, according to a poll that shows how England’s housing crisis is causing financial hardship even for those with jobs.Only 32% of workers said they were able to keep up on their rent payments without difficulty, the poll...

Outgoing minister says combination of more medium-term housing and dedicated staff has dropped average discharge rate to a record low of 20 daysGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA major fall in the number of days National Disability Insurance Scheme participants are staying in hospital is saving the public health system “hundreds of millions of dollars”, the federal government said.NDIS...

Roy Quaden, 55, and Nick Smith, 65, dead after being struck by booms on yachts Flying Fish Arctos and BowlineGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTwo sailors on separate Sydney to Hobart yachts, Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline, have died at sea on the first night of the race. They were fatally struck by booms – a large horizontal pole...

Plant native to Sumatra boasts huge fly-attracting flower that can be sustained for only a few daysIt looks like a giant erect penis, stinks to high heaven and warms up to about the temperature of a human body. This is the inflorescence of the titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum, a plant with a phallus-shaped spike called a spadix that stands up to three metres tall,...

Secondhand tumble dryer and roast beef for vegetarian also in ‘worst present ever received’ pollA burial plot and a toilet seat top the list of the nation’s all-time worst Christmas gifts, according to research that suggests one in five Britons receive an unwanted present in their annual haul.More than 2,000 members of the public were polled by Which? about what they were given at...

Only 2% of steel used in British offshore wind projects in past five years was UK-made, study findsThe UK steel industry has called for the government to promise to buy British as it prepares for a major expansion of offshore wind generation.Wind generation has become a key part of the UK’s energy system, contributing 29% of generated electricity in 2023. However, despite the huge...

Making it easier to get chest X-rays, rather than having to wait for a GP referral, could improve survival rates, finds studyMore people with lung cancer symptoms in the UK should be able to self-refer for tests rather than wait for their GP to request them, experts have suggested.Making it easier for those with symptoms to get chest X-rays could help speed up diagnosis...

About 34,000 Ukrainian children have fled to UK since Russian invasion – yet are unable to study their mother tongueUkraine is lobbying the UK government to give teenage refugees who fled the war-torn country the chance to study a GCSE in Ukrainian, amid reports they are instead being pressed to study Russian.Ukraine’s education ministry has written to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to say...

Temperatures plunged overnight in Victoria’s west as gusty winds swept over blazes that scorched bushland the size of SingaporeGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA cool change has eased conditions for firefighters battling an out-of-control blaze in Victoria’s Grampians following the worst bushfire conditions since 2019’s black summer.But the threat of bushfires was due to continue in the already-scorched region...

Yoon’s legal team will attend the first hearing in impeachment review on Friday, the same day that the acting president also faces an impeachment voteSouth Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s legal team are set to attend court on Friday as the constitutional court begins hearings into his impeachment by parliament over his short-lived imposition of martial law,The court has 180 days to decide whether...

UN secretary general decries escalatory actions on both sides after WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he was just metres from airport strike The United Nations chief has denounced the “escalation” in hostilities between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Israel, calling IDF strikes on targets including at the airport in Sana’a “especially alarming” after it came under attack while the head of the World Health...