#United Nations

Strikes hit Shevchenkivskiy district of Ukraine capital, says mayor Vitali Klitschko; G7 leaders to discuss energy and food crisis at Bavarian retreat

Boris Johnson said the United Nations’ plan to get the grain out of Ukraine is a “non-starter” because Vladimir Putin will continue to use food supply as a bargaining chip to ease sanctions.The prime minister argued that allies need to now consider “plan B”, as he pledged British expertise to help de-mine the Black Sea and provide further weapons.Mr Johnson wants to offer insurance for commercial vessels to help free the 23 million tonnes of grain trapped by the Russian president’s blockade.The UN is trying to alleviate a global food crisis by calling on Nato member Turkey and Russia to...

Boris Johnson will use G7 and Nato summits to urge France and Germany to provide more military support to Ukraine and warn them against any attempt to push president Volodymyr Zelensky into a “bad” peace deal.This week’s conferences in Germany and Spain offer the beleaguered prime minister – battling to stave off a new leadership challenge at home – the chance to talk about strong British backing for Kyiv. Mr Johnson said he is not worried about rebel Tory MPs plotting to oust him while he is out of the country until Thursday – rejecting calls to come home and...

The day for which the far right has pined for 50 years has arrived. With Roe overturned, GOP-controlled state legislatures can now enforce laws requiring women to complete pregnancies against their will. But like the dog that caught the car, they will soon realize the senselessness of their plan. Cruel...

World powers on Sunday agreed to ban gold exports from Russia, in new concerted action to cut off Moscow's financial lifeline as G7 leaders met in southern Germany to lock down new support for Ukraine. According to the White House, Russia accounted for about five percent of all gold exports in 2020 and 90 percent of Russia's output went to G7 countries -- mostly to Britain.

James Nesbitt’s latest troubled detective got lost in neo-noir gloom, an excellent documentary exposed the UN’s seedy side, Lenny Henry celebrated cultural diversity, and a new sketch show sparkled

Residential buildings and a kindergarten hit in centre of Ukrainian capital before planned Nato summit on Tuesday

As humans encroach on the natural world, more deadly pandemics are likely to follow COVID. Why? Here's everything you need to know:. Nearly all of them start with animal-to-human transmission of a virus or bacteria to which people have no immunity. Animal pathogens are the source of about 60 percent of known infectious diseases and 75 percent of those that appear for the first time in humans. About 250 known diseases have made the leap from animals to humans, but a 2020 United Nations report estimates that as many as 850,000 viruses lurk within the bodies of mammals and birds. Zoonotic diseases have wreaked havoc throughout human history. The bubonic plague, which wiped out up to 60 percent of the population of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa in the 14th century, was caused by the Y. pestis bacteria transmitted from rodents via fleas. The 1918 flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 50 million people, is believed to have originated in poultry and wild birds. "Spillover" events appear to be getting more common. HIV and Ebola can be traced back to primates in Africa; the original SARS virus is believed to have jumped from bats to humans by way of a mammal called a civet. COVID is caused by a bat virus, SARS-CoV-2, that recent research has found most likely spilled over from animals sold at a wet market in Wuhan, China, in 2019, although some believe Chinese scientists modified the virus and accidentally let it escape.

Germany is hosting this year’s meeting of G7 leaders in the Bavarian resort of Elmau, and it wants to keep the focus on the environment. Before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia triggered a cascade of crises over food, energy and international security, the meeting was meant to put the spotlight on climate change.