Ukrainian drones struck an arms depot in Russia’s western Tver region early yesterday, sparking a massive blaze that led to the evacuation of nearby residents, a Ukrainian security source said.

France’s budgetary situation is “very serious”, Prime Minister Michel Barnier told AFP yesterday, saying more information was needed to gauge the “precise reality” of French public finances.

Eight migrants died early yesterday when their overcrowded vessel capsized while trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French authorities said, less than two weeks after the deadliest such disaster this year.

In the castle gardens of Muskauer Park, which straddles both banks of the German-Polish river border, caretakers have mounted a fightback against the impacts of climate change.

The US and British top diplomats yesterday vowed to work together for Ukraine’s victory as they discussed further easing rules on firing Western weapons into Russia, whose alleged acquisition of Iranian missiles has raised new fears.

Russia shot down three drones over its northern Murmansk region on Wednesday, more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) from Ukraine, the regional governor said.

Russia has received ballistic missiles from Iran and will likely use them in Ukraine within weeks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday, warning that cooperation between Moscow and Tehran threatens wider European security.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday warned the United States against trying to outgun Moscow in Asia as Russian and Chinese warships held joint drills as part of the biggest Russian naval exercises since the Soviet era.

The French are largely satisfied with the appointment of the centre-right Michel Barnier as prime minister, but believe he will not last long in his new post, a poll said yesterday.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen yesterday urged President Emmanuel Macron to hold a referendum on key issues such as immigration, suggesting that giving the French a direct vote might help break the political deadlock.

Thousands of people took to the streets across France yesterday to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to appoint centre-right Michel Barnier as prime minister with left-wing parties accusing him of stealing legislative elections.

CIA Director Bill Burns and UK MI6 chief Richard Moore yesterday warned that the world order was “under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the cold war”.

US tech titan Google employs “anti-competitive practices” with regards to online advertising, Britain’s competition watchdog concluded yesterday in provisional findings of a two-year long investigation.

The 2024 northern summer saw the highest global temperatures on record, beating 2023’s high and making this year likely Earth’s hottest ever recorded, the EU’s climate monitor said yesterday.

At least 12 migrants died yesterday after their boat capsized on its way across the Channel to Britain, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said, adding that rescue operations were underway to find people still missing. 

Children under the age of two should be kept away from digital media and television completely, the country's Public Health Agency said

Russia yesterday said that it had thwarted a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack by downing 158 drones across 15 regions, including two over the capital Moscow.

Voters in two former East German states yesterday began casting ballots in elections expected to deal a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government and deliver big gains for the far-right AfD.

The UN has published a draft on climate financing due to be presented at the COP29 in November, laying out the conflicting positions from which the main country blocs will try to clinch the next climate deal.

Record wildfires in 2023 bumped Canada into the top four greenhouse gas-emitting countries in the world that year, according to a study Wednesday that also cast doubt on its forests’ future ability to capture and store significant amounts of CO2.