India: ‘A broken country, a country in torment’

Provocative weakness shown in US troop withdrawal, a former security adviser to Dick Cheney says.

Ingrida Simonyte, the prime minister of Lithuania, has criticised Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s statement about diverting a flight to Minsk on Sunday. “It is so complicated for anyone who believes in the rule of law, institutions and the Western democracies to believe in anything Mr Lukashenko is saying,” she told BBC World News. “I think…

Around the world different coronavirus variants are dominating and scientists are updating their jabs to tackle them more effectively. Vaccine research scientist Dr Paul McKay explained to BBC World News why the Delta variant, which was first identified in India, is now the dominant strain in the UK, how vaccines are updated and how long…

Hamas is willing to have a ceasefire but Israel is abstaining from accepting it, the secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative has said. Dr Mustafa Barghouti told BBC World News that a ceasefire meant both sides would not shoot, but if Israel continued to conduct airstrikes it could not expect the Palestinians to stop…

The UK, US and Australia have announced a special security pact to share advanced technologies including nuclear-powered submarine know-how. The partnership, labelled Aukus, aims to “defend our shared interests in the Indo-Pacific”, the leaders of the three nations said in a joint statement. US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and UK PM…

Australia is one of the countries already seeing an increase in the number of extremely hot days because of climate change, with places like Sydney experiencing temperatures around 50C. The intense heat has led to unusually strong bushfires and some indigenous species dying en masse. As the BBC’s Life at 50 degrees season continues, this…