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Russia launched a large drone attack on Kyiv overnight, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy warning the attack shows his capital needs better air defences.Ukraine's air defence units shot down 50 of 73 Russian drones launched, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries as a result of the attacks. Russia has used more than 800 guided aerial bombs and around 460 attack drones in the past week.Warning that Ukraine needs to improve its air defences, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: "An air alert has been sounded almost daily across Ukraine this week"."Ukraine is not a testing ground for weapons. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state. "But Russia still continues its efforts to kill our people, spread fear and panic, and weaken us."Russia did not comment on the attack. It comes...

On a beach just outside the Azerbaijani capital Baku, a pair of deserted swings creak back and forth in the wind.They were built to be close to the water of the Caspian Sea. Now the ground beneath them is parched, and they are just relics of what once was there.Less than 20 years ago, the land beneath them under the water of the "Mother Caspian", as they call it here.It is the world's largest inland body of water and the lifeblood of the five countries that surround it.But the whole sea is shrinking, and on this sliver of land in the Absheron national park, the shoreline is now 200 metres away. "It is sad… even heartbreaking sometimes," said Elana Alizade, who used to play on other beaches around Baku."This is the place where as a kid we first discovered what bi...

Routine domestic activities could expose people to a cloud of plastic particles so small that they can be inhaled deep into the lungs, according to research seen exclusively by Sky News.The study at the University of Portsmouth found a fitness workout on a synthetic carpet could result in up to 110 plastic fibres or fragments being breathed in every minute. Folding clothes made from fabrics such as polyester, and even just sitting down on a foam-filled sofa, also produced a plume of microscopic particles in the surrounding air.The researchers say the findings underline the urgency of talks by the United Nations this week to agree a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution. Image: There is no direct evidence that microplastics cause ill health...

The body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in Abu Dhabi has been found, Israel has said.Zvi Kogan, the Chabad representative in the United Arab Emirates, went missing on Thursday. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Sunday said Mr Kogan was murdered, calling it a "heinous antisemitic terror incident"."The state of Israel will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death," it said.On Saturday, Israeli intelligence agency Mossad said it was investigating the disappearance.The Emirati government gave no immediate acknowledgment that Mr Kogan had been found dead.The rabbi lived in the UAE with his wife Rivky, who is a US citizen.Mr Kogan's disappearance comes as Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the t...

Ireland's Taoiseach Simon Harris says he is setting aside "significant funds" to protect the country from any economic shock under Donald Trump's presidency.But the Fine Gael leader, whose party is seeking a historic fourth consecutive term in Friday's general election, remains hopeful of retaining good trade relations. President-elect Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on EU imports and appointed a commerce secretary who has vowed to entice US multinationals back from Ireland. In the first of Sky News' leader interviews ahead of the election, Mr Harris said: "I think president Trump does mean what he says in terms of his position in relation to trade and tariffs. "And I think president Trump has received a very large mandate in terms of the outcome of the US presidential election....

Russia is prepared to launch a wave of cyber attacks on Britain - and can "turn the lights off for millions of people", a minister will warn.Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden will tell a NATO conference next week allies must "not underestimate" the threat Moscow poses in its "hidden war". Russia has targeted British energy infrastructure and "won't think twice" about taking aim at businesses, he will say, as part of an attempt to degrade states supporting Ukraine."With a cyber attack, Russia can turn the lights off for millions of people. It can shut down the power grids," he will say in remarks first reported by The Sunday Telegraph."Be in no doubt: the United Kingdom and others in this room are watching Russia. "We know exactly what they are doing, and we are countering t...

The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all - one about money. Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries like the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live w...

A man in his 60s has had his leg amputated after becoming "wedged" between rocks while kayaking in Tasmania.The tourist, who had been kayaking with friends on the Australian island, was partially submerged in the Franklin River when he became stuck on Friday afternoon, police said. A distress call was made through a smartwatch about an hour later, with multiple emergency services including police, paramedics, the charity Surf Life Saving Tasmania and the Tasmania Fire Service attending the scene. Several attempts to successfully free him were made during the afternoon and overnight as the man was "made as comfortable as possible".Police said a medical assessment the following morning "determined the patient's condition was deteriorating" and after a consultation "the decision was made to a...

In Paris, protesters gathered in their thousands to deliver one message: violence and sexual violence against women must stop."It's a sexist and misogynistic country but we are starting to speak out," Miranda tells me. "Stopping the violence against women is a fight we need to make every day," another one woman adds. Image: Miranda said France is a 'sexist and misogynistic country' Among the crowd, people hold banners reading: "My body, my choice, my right."Many demonstrators have been inspired to speak out following several high-profile trials, in particular that of Gisèle Pelicot. Image: Gisèle Pelicot arrives to attend the trial of Dominique Pelicot. Pic: Reuters ...

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will start mass-producing a new hypersonic, non-nuclear ballistic missile it fired at Ukraine on Thursday.In a televised address last night, President Putin said the intermediate-range missile, which he called Oreshnik, the Russian word for hazel tree, had been used in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in response to US and UK weapons being used by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia. Mr Putin, whose land, air and sea invasion of its smaller neighbour reaches the three-year mark in February, boasted about the missiles, saying "no one in the world has such weapons".He said Moscow would start producing them on a mass scale, while acknowledging other countries could get hold of them "sooner or later".What do we know about Putin's new weapon? Intermediate...