Russia was fighting intense battles yesterday against thousands of Ukrainian troops as deep as 20 km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region after Ukraine’s biggest attack on Russian sovereign territory since the start of the war in 2022.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned yesterday that UK authorities must “stay on high alert” in the coming hours and days, amid fears of further far-right riots in English towns and cities.

The United Nations yesterday said the dissolution of Thailand’s main opposition Move Forward Party was “deeply troubling” and seriously impacted fundamental freedoms.

Russia was battling a major cross-border incursion from Ukraine for a second day yesterday, with authorities evacuating several thousand civilians due to fighting, officials said.

A Russian missile attack on the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine damaged a medical clinic and injured at least five people yesterday, the governor of the Kharkiv region said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said violent protesters who had targeted Muslim communities would swiftly face the “full force of the law” as he sought to quell days of anti-immigration rioting.

Russia said yesterday its armed forces seized the village of Novoselivka Persha in eastern Ukraine, the latest in a string of frontline advances Moscow has claimed in recent weeks.

The head of Niger’s military-run government on Saturday accused France of wanting to “destabilise” the country -- seven months after driving out French soldiers engaged in the fight against jihadism.

A French strategy to boost its medal count after years of sporting underachievement has begun to pay dividends at the Paris Olympics as rapturous home crowds propel its athletes up the medals table, although keeping up the pace may prove hard.

The Kremlin yesterday confirmed that Vadim Krasikov, freed by Germany in Thursday’s prisoner swap deal with the West, is an operative with Russia’s FSB security service.

The Kremlin said yesterday that any F-16s delivered to Ukraine would be shot down and have little impact on the battlefield, in response to reports that the first fighter jets have arrived.

Ukraine’s air force said yesterday it repelled one of Russia’s largest long-range drone attacks of the war overnight, shooting down all 89 drones launched at Kyiv, the surrounding region and other areas.

Italian researchers have noted the first case of “virgin birth”, or reproduction without fertilisation, in an endangered shark species, a scientific journal reported this week.

Russia yesterday began large-scale military drills involving every part of its navy not engaged in the Ukraine offensive, the defence ministry said.

Donald Trump on Monday called the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris a "disgrace," after its creators came under fire for what some said was a show gone too far

Fibre-optic cables in several parts of France have been “sabotaged”, police said yesterday, three days after the rail system was hit by attacks that halted trains across the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday threatened to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States confirmed its intention to deploy missiles to Germany or elsewhere in Europe.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday he “does not listen” to what he called Ukraine’s contradictory statements on peace talks.

French rail officials warned of travel chaos for hundreds of thousands of people throughout the weekend after saboteurs following a meticulous plan paralysed much of the train network Friday as the Olympic Games started

Saboteurs struck France’s TGV high-speed train network yesterday in a series of pre-dawn attacks across the country, causing travel chaos and exposing security gaps ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony later in the day.