Katty Kay: 'It's been a privilege to sit in this chair'

Overview of the Earthquake A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck Southern California early this morning, causing widespread damage and panic across the region. The epicenter of the quake was located near the city of Los Angeles, with tremors felt as far away as San Diego, Las Vegas, and even parts of Arizona….

Israel’s military was trying to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza, but Hamas was effectively using Palestinian civilians as human shields, the Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson has said. “Hamas, purposely embeds its military infrastructure within the civilian population creating an almost impossible situation where they are using Palestinian civilians as their human shields while they fire…

Three astronauts took off for China’s new space station in the country’s longest crewed mission on Thursday. Astrophysicist Dr Megan Argo, told BBC World News the mission would involve checking out the systems on-board the core module and getting the space station ready for habitation and the next phases of construction.

President Ashraf Ghani was “gutless” to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban advanced to take power, the former Afghan MP Elay Ershad has said. She told BBC World News: “He left his people behind and he left his country behind. He could have stayed. I am so angry I don’t have words to explain it.” Mr…

Amid growing international concern about China’s human rights record, an unofficial tribunal in London is due to announce its findings on whether Chinese actions in the Xinjiang region amount to genocide. Erbakit Otarbay is one of an estimated one million Kazakhs, Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities held as part of a mass incarceration programme. He…

A leading campaigner for women’s rights in Afghanistan was evacuated from Kabul last week, after going into hiding.