Top World News

Feb 13, 2026 - World

Union urges Leonard Blavatnik to scrap Channel 13 deal, saying it is part of Netanyahu plan ‘to capture the media’Israeli journalists have appealed to a British billionaire not to proceed with the sale of a stake in an Israeli television channel, which they warn would represent a severe blow to the independence of the country’s media.Sir Leonard Blavatnik, listed by the Sunday Times as the UK’s third richest person, is selling a nearly 15% share in Channel 13, a commercial channel that has run critical news coverage of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in recent years, including investigations into the prime minister’s financial dealings. Continue reading...

Feb 13, 2026 - World

European leaders divided over how far to accommodate Trump’s ‘wrecking ball’ politics and foreign policyUS Democrats will use a security summit this weekend to urge European leaders to stand up to Donald Trump, with the continent divided over how to keep the unpredictable US president on side.Democrats at the annual Munich Security Conference will include some of Trump’s most outspoken critics, such as the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Arizona senator Ruben Gallego and the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Continue reading...

Feb 13, 2026 - World

This blog is now closedNew opposition leader Taylor wants to stop ‘bad immigration’ but says Liberals aren’t ‘One Nation lite’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSo far we know that Jane Hume and Dan Tehan will run for the deputy, but there are other names that are being floated.One of those was Tim Wilson (who’s often made light of one day leading the party), but he ruled himself out this morning.It brings none of us any joy to challenge Sussan. She has tried her very best. She has a very long and successful political career. As I say, this very difficult times, and I really did feel for her yesterday … I’m not going to engage in disparagement of Sussan this morning, I’ve spoken before about the fact that we were not traveling well, and things have gone from bad to worse. We’re simply not competitive.I’m really hoping that under Angus leadership, we will move very quickly to show what we stand for in terms of our migration policy, housing and of course, education. Continue reading...

Feb 13, 2026 - World

Kremlin’s repeated targeting of infrastructure has left thousands without heating, reliant on shelters and desperate home hacksNatalya Pavlovna watched her two-year-old son, Danylo, play with Lego. “We are taking a break from the cold,” she said as children made drawings inside a warm tent. Adults sipped tea and chatted while their phones charged. The emergency facility is located in Kyiv’s Troieshchina district, on the left bank of the Dnipro River. Outside it was -18C. There was bright sunshine and snow.“Russia is trying to break us. It’s deliberate genocide against the Ukrainian people. Putin wants us to capitulate so we give up the Donbas region,” Natalya said. “Kyiv didn’t use to feel like a frontline city. Now it does. People are dying of cold in their homes in the 21st century. The idea is to make us leave and to create a new refugee crisis for Europe.”Natalia and Danylo near the ‘resilience point’ in Troyeshchyna district Continue reading...

Feb 13, 2026 - World

Destined to a perilous life with no right to an education or to vote, state recognition ‘gives them hope’, campaigners sayThrough the decades that the Daulatdia brothel in Bangladesh has existed, children born there have been invisible, unable to be registered because their mothers were sex workers and their fathers unknown. Now, for the first time, all 400 of them in the brothel village have their own birth certificates.That milestone was reached after a push by campaigners who have spent decades working with Bangladesh’s undocumented children born in brothels or on the street. It means they can finally access the rights afforded to other citizens: the ability to go to school, to be issued a passport or to vote. Continue reading...