Spain’s government yesterday sacked the country’s spy chief as part of a widening scandal over the hacking of the mobile phones of the prime minister and Catalan separatist leaders.

The New York Times won three Pulitzer Prizes and was named as a finalist five more times on Monday, while its rival the Washington Post took the public service award and Reuters claimed the prize for feature photography.

Head of state Queen Elizabeth II missed yesterday’s ceremonial opening of the UK parliament for the first time in nearly 60 years, handing the duty to her heir Prince Charles in a clear sign of the looming transition of power.

The world faces a 50 percent chance of warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, if only briefly, by 2026, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday.

The World Health Organization's European chief said on Tuesday that at least 3,000 people had died in Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February because they had been unable to access treatments for chronic diseases.

Four Russian regional governors resigned on Tuesday as the country braces for the impact of economic sanctions.

Pfizer Inc will pay $11.6 billion to buy migraine pill maker Biohaven Pharmaceutical, marking the biggest deal by the cash-rich drugmaker since 2016 to beef up its portfolio ahead of patent losses for some cancer drugs.

Members of the World Health Organization's European region passed a resolution on Tuesday that could result in the closure of Russia's regional office and the suspension of meetings in the country in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa - who resigned as prime minister after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters and sparked a day of violence - will not flee the country, his son told AFP.

Britain's heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and Prince William took centre stage amid the pomp and pageantry of the opening of parliament on Tuesday, replacing the 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth who missed the grand set-piece event with health issues.

The New York Times won three Pulitzer Prizes and was named as a finalist five more times on Monday, while its rival the Washington Post took the public service award and Reuters claimed the prize for feature photography.

More than three quarters of people in Finland now support joining Nato, a new poll showed yesterday, after opinion on the military alliance flipped following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday insisted Russia was defending the “motherland” by its war in Ukraine, as Moscow staged a show of force at a military parade marking the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany.

Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian near the barrier with the West Bank and another was killed after infiltrating a Jewish settlement inside the occupied territory with a knifeon Sunday, the Israeli army said, stoking worries a wider conflict may loom.

Nine African heads of states attended yesterday’s opening session of the UN’s COP15 talks to fight desertification and land degradation that have devastated large swathes of the continent amid climate change.

At least 44 migrants drowned on Sunday when their boat capsized off the coast of the Western Sahara, migrant aid agency Caminando Fronteras said.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr was headed for a stunning victory in the Philippines’ presidential election yesterday with double the votes of his nearest rival, putting the son of the notorious late dictator on the cusp of a historic political fightback.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace yesterday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “mirroring fascism”, as the country held an annual Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr looked on course for a huge victory in the Philippines presidential election on Monday, after an unofficial tally of two thirds of the votes showed the son of the notorious late dictator surging ahead of his nearest rival.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used a major patriotic holiday Monday to again justify his war in Ukraine but did not declare even a limited victory or signal where the conflict was headed, as his forces continued to pummel targets across the country with few signs of significant progress.