World

This September was the hottest on record across the globe, scientists have found. Surface temperatures worldwide were 0.05C higher than 2019, making it the hottest September since records began, according to the EU Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Europe also experienced its hottest September ever – beating the previous record set in 2018 by around

The developers of a potential COVID-19 antibody treatment have moved trials to a third phase, hailing “rapid achievement” with no safety concerns to date. The world’s largest vaccines player, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Vir Biotechnology said their trial programme was also to be expanded across new sites in North America, South America and Europe. The pair

Hundreds of thousands of people with mental health problems, including children as young as ten, are forcibly chained up in cages and kept in appalling conditions without medical help. The practice known as ‘shackling’ is commonplace in 60 countries across the world, and sees adults and children as young as 10 restrained or locked up

Ireland could enter a second national lockdown after the country’s health service recommended it moved to Level 5 of its coronavirus plan. Prime Minister Micheál Martin and the leaders of his two coalition partners will meet the chief medical officer ahead of a cabinet meeting this morning, two government sources have said. Under Level 5,

Azerbaijan’s second largest city has been attacked by missiles from Armenia as the conflict ramps up, an aide to the Azerbaijani president claimed. The development marks a sharp escalation in the war that broke out a week ago in the South Caucasus despite calls from Russia, the US, France and the EU to call a

Around 1,000 firefighters, four military helicopters and troops have been mobilised in France to help search for at least eight people still missing in a mountainous south-eastern region after devastating floods that killed two people in neighbouring Italy. Floods washed away houses and destroyed roads and bridges surrounding the city of Nice on the French

US President Donald Trump is “not yet out of the woods” but those treating him remain “cautiously optimistic”. Mr Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Thursday evening and was taken to hospital a day later. In a Saturday night update, his physician Dr Sean Conley said the president is free of fever and improving,

Donald Trump is said to be doing well as he is treated in hospital for coronavirus – but what happens if his condition worsens and he becomes seriously ill? The 25th Amendment of the US Constitution can be invoked whenever a president is, for any reason, unable to carry out their duties, including being incapacitated.

American presidential election watchers are always primed for what they call the “October surprise”.  This year’s was dropped by Donald Trump in a 1am bombshell tweet that has thrown the race for the White House into chaos. First and foremost, Americans will want to know the running of the country is in safe hands after

Donald Trump’s positive test result for coronavirus has immediately prompted speculation around his chances of suffering severe illness from the disease. Based on his age and the results of his most recent physical tests, the 74-year-old president is considered to be at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more

Two of India’s leading opposition politicians have been arrested as they tried to visit the family of a young woman who died after being gang-raped, their party has said. Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi, brother and sister and leaders of the main opposition Congress Party, were held as they made their way to the victim’s home

Around 2.5 million young girls are at risk of early marriage by 2025 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a charity has warned. Save the Children described the numbers as the greatest surge in child marriage rates in the last 25 years, reversing progress made towards ending the practice. This year, an estimated 500,000 more girls

China’s president has said the world needs to work together to balance economic development and the destruction of the natural world. It comes just a week after Xi Jinping promised China – the world’s worst polluter and an economic super power – would be carbon neutral by 2060. In another landmark speech, he told the

Timothy Ray Brown, the first person known to be cured of HIV, has died from cancer. “It is with great sadness that I announce that Timothy passed away… this afternoon surrounded by myself and friends, after a five month battle with leukaemia,” his partner, Tim Hoeffgen, said in a post on Facebook. He said Mr Brown

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden began the first presidential debate with heated exchanges over coronavirus and health care. The two men frequently interrupted each other with angry interjections, with Mr Biden eventually snapping at his opponent: “Will you shut up, man?” As the discussion about the Supreme Court quickly turned to coronavirus,

Heilongjiang province, on the edge of Siberia, is China’s rust belt. Abandoned factories and container ports crumble away, testament to how other provinces have taken its old place as the centre of Chinese industry. Battered nodding donkey oil pumps diligently bob up and down, scrounging what’s left of the riches beneath the earth. Image: China