Top World News

Dec 8, 2025 - World

Fifteen organisations sign letter expressing deep concern over EHRC guidance being considered by ministersNew rules on access to single-sex spaces could pose a significant risk to the mental health of trans and non-binary people, according to 15 of the UK’s most respected mental charities.Organisations including Samaritans, Mind, Centre for Mental Health and the Royal College of Psychiatrists have written to the equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, to express their “deep concern” about guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) that is awaiting approval from the government. Continue reading...

Dec 8, 2025 - World

From digging trenches and building walls, to learning survival skills, Poland is increasingly aware of risks posed by its eastern neighboursCezary Pruszko still remembers the civil defence training of his Communist-era schooldays – map reading, survival skills, and a sense that the danger of war was real and ever present.“My generation grew up with those threats. You didn’t have to explain why this mattered,” said the 60-year-old Pruszko, as he refreshed those skills at an army base outside Warsaw on a recent frosty Saturday morning. With dozens of other Polish civilians, he toured a bomb shelter, fitted gas masks and practised striking sparks from a flint to start a fire. Continue reading...

Dec 8, 2025 - World

Exclusive: Campaign urges PM to show independence from US and push to rein in development of superintelligenceMore than 100 UK parliamentarians are calling on the government to introduce binding regulations on the most powerful AI systems as concern grows that ministers are moving too slowly to create safeguards in the face of lobbying from the technology industry.A former AI minister and defence secretary are part of a cross-party group of Westminster MPs, peers and elected members of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish legislatures demanding stricter controls on frontier systems, citing fears superintelligent AI “would compromise national and global security”. Continue reading...

Dec 8, 2025 - World

Painting of Enlightenment figure, whose constitution for the island inspired revolutionaries in US, is up for auctionThirty years ago, a painting by the British artist Sir William Beechey was sold as “portrait of a man”.The anonymous buyer, however, knew precisely who the unnamed man in the picture was: Pascal Paoli, the 18th-century Corsican independence leader and icon of the Enlightenment. Continue reading...

Dec 8, 2025 - World

China’s ambassador summoned over alleged weekend incident that saw Chinese J-15 fighter aircraft twice train their radar on Japanese F-15sThe diplomatic dispute between Japan and China appeared to deepen over the weekend after Chinese military planes were accused of locking their radar on to Japanese fighter jets near the Okinawa islands.Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, vowed to “respond calmly and resolutely” to the alleged incident, saying her country would take all possible measures to strengthen maritime and airspace surveillance and closely monitor Chinese military activities. The country’s foreign ministry also summoned China’s ambassador on Sunday. China’s government has roundly rejected Japan’s accusations, instead lodging its own counterprotests. Continue reading...