Six months on from the deadly earthquakes, thousands are still living in tents and makeshift camps.

Eleven people are missing after a fire broke out in a holiday cottage welcoming disabled people in eastern France, in the town of Wintzenheim, local authorities said on Wednesday. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said there were likely several casualties after the fire ravaged 300 square meters of the 500-square meter building. Rescue operations were still ongoing, he said. Seventeen people were evacuated, one of which was sent to hospital, the local prefecture said, adding that the eleven missing were adults, from a group of people from Nancy, also in eastern France. The fire broke out at 0630 am (0430GMT) and fire brigades quickly put out the fire, the prefecture said. More to follow... Read More Europe wildfires map shows where devastating blazes are sweeping Portugal and Italy Amazon nations seek common voice on climate change, urge action from industrialized world 22% of UK employees report facing discrimination in workplace, survey finds

Former president Donald Trump’s hour-long appearance at a CNN town hall ended with the indicted former president having repeatedly lied about the 2020 election, refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to successfully drive out Russian forces from its territory, and praising the rioters who attacked police officers and damaged the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. Mr Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and whose supporters rioted Congress, was immediately pressed on the election he still claims to have won by moderator Kaitlan Collins during his first appearance on the network since 2016. “Unless you are a very stupid person you see what happens…most people understand what happened, it was a rigged election and it was a shame we had to go through it,” he said. The former president attempted to cite “True the Vote,” a conservative vote monitoring organisation, and claimed the group had “found millions of votes on government cameras where they were stuffing ballot boxes”. “It is a sad thing for our country and for the world,” he added. There is no evidence that the 2020 election was rigged in any way. Multiple recounts in numerous states have confirmed that Mr Biden won the election. Yet Mr Trump steadfastly refused to acknowledge that fact despite multiple corrections from Collins, who covered his former administration for CNN and previously at the conservative Daily Caller website. Mr Trump’s refusal to accept reality confirmed the fears of Democrats and many media figures who believed that CNN’s decision to platform the disgraced former president would allow him to spew untruths with abandon. Michael Fanone, the ex-Washington DC police officer who was attacked during the January 6 riot and is now a CNN analyst, said in a Rolling Stone essay that he felt a “sucker punch” when he learned his current employer would be hosting the man whose supporters left him hospitalised on January 6. He wrote that treating the ex-president “like a normal candidate who didn’t get people killed in the process of trying to end the democracy he’s attempting to once again run,” would only serve to normalize his actions today and for future candidates. After the town hall, Mr Fanone told HuffPost: “It’s worse than I could have ever imagined. It’s an absolute disaster. There’s no way to fact-check this guy in real time. He’s a volcano of bulls***.” One anonymous CNN on-air personality told The Daily Beast that Mr Trump’s performance validated the network’s critics. “It is so bad. I was cautiously optimistic despite the criticism. It is awful. It’s a Trump infomercial. We’re going to get crushed,” the CNN employee reportedly said. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez added that CNN should be “ashamed”. “This falls squarely on CNN. Everyone here saw exactly what was going to happen. Instead they put a sexual abuse victim in harm’s way for views. This was a choice to platform lies about the election & Jan 6th w/ no plan but to have their moderator interrupted without consequence,” she wrote on Twitter. On MSNBC, Ms Ocasio-Cortez added: “I think it was a profoundly irresponsible decision. I don’t think I would be doing my job if I did not say that what we saw tonight was a series of extremely irresponsible decisions that put a sexual abuse victim at risk, that put that person at risk in front of a national audience and I could not have disagreed with it more. It was shameful.” Mr Trump also refused to acknowledge that the riot in January 2021 was, in fact, a riot and an attempt by his supporters to prevent a peaceful transfer of power to the Biden administration. The ex-president, whose actions leading up to January 6 are the subject of two separate criminal investigations, spoke glowingly about the day when his supporters stormed the steps of American democracy and fought with police while screaming threats, insults, and slurs. “It was a beautiful day,” he said, adding that his fans “were there with love in their hearts” when they left dozens of police officers with injuries and chanted death threats targeting lawmakers as they marched through the Capitol. He also promised to pardon most of the rioters and refused to rule out issuing pardons for members of white nationalist and extremist groups who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy as a result of their participation in the Capitol attack. The former president also refused to tell attendees at the town hall that he supports Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russian forces from its territory following the February 2022 invasion. He was repeatedly asked by Collins if he backed Ukraine in its 15-month conflict with Vladimir Putin’s forces, and repeatedly dodged the question. “I don’t think in terms of winning and losing, I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people and breaking down this country,” he told Collins when asked about his support for Ukraine. She then asked him again if he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the conflict. “I want everyone to stop dying. They are dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying,” he replied. Mr Trump also repeated his bogus claim it would take him one day in the Oval Office to end the conflict. You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell ya Donald Trump attacks Kaitlan Collins “I’ll have that done in 24 hours, you need the power of the presidency to do it.” And he added: You know what, I will say this, I want Europe to put up more money. They should equalise, they have plenty of money.” The ex-president’s performance at the CNN town hall was consistent with the belligerent way he conducted himself during his term in the White House under questioning from the press. He repeatedly lied about the investigation into whether he unlawfully retained classified documents at his Florida home after the end of his term, telling Collins that he had the right to take such documents under the Presidential Records Act. That law, which was signed by Jimmy Carter after the government had a dispute with Richard Nixon over that disgraced ex-president’s White House records, states that all presidential records are property of the United States — not any former president. At one point, the cross-talk became so intense that Mr Trump attacked the CNN moderator. “Do you mind?” Mr Trump said. “I would like for you to answer the question. That’s why I asked it,” Ms Collins said. “You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell ya,” Mr Trump said, which elicited applause from the GOP-leaning audience. Read More CNN Trump town hall — live: Network under fire for ‘shameful’ platforming of Trump disinformation Trump refuses to say he wants Ukraine to win war with Russia Biden takes aim at Trump town hall with searing one-line critique Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

House Republicans are insisting on spending cuts before they will agree to raise the nation's debt ceiling past $31 trillion.

Pope Francis told a young transgender person that “God loves us as we are”, comments that are being seen as his latest outreach to members of the LGBT+ community. The pope’s comment was in response to Giona, a young Italian individual “torn by the dichotomy between (their Catholic) faith and transgender identity”. The pope was responding to audio messages from young people in a podcast organized ahead of a Catholic youth festival in Portugal, which he is set to attend next week. The pontiff said “the Lord always walks with us.... Even if we are sinners, he draws near to help us. The Lord loves us as we are. This is God’s crazy love.” Pope Francis’s position on the LGBTQ community and gay marriage has been a subject of interest and discussion since he became the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in 2013. While the pope has emphasised the importance of treating LGBTQ individuals with respect, dignity, and love, he upholds the traditional Catholic teaching that marriage is a sacred between a man and a woman. He garnered praise from the LGBTQ community in 2013 when he was asked about a gay priest in 2013 and he replied, “Who am I to judge?” During the course of his pontificate, he has met individually and in groups with transgender people. But at the same time, he has strongly opposed the so-called “gender theory” and upheld the teachings that hold that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered”. In 2021, Pope Francis authorized the release of a Vatican document asserting that the Catholic Church is unable to bless same-sex unions because it is believed that "God cannot bless sin". In an interview with Associated Press, he declared that laws criminalising homosexuality were “unjust” and that “being homosexual is not a crime”. He later clarified that he was merely referring to official Catholic moral teaching that teaches that any sexual act outside of marriage is a sin. In a note in Spanish, Francis reaffirmed that homosexuality “is not a crime,” adding that he spoke out “in order to stress that criminalisation is neither good nor just.” “When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin,” he said. Read More Vatican abuse investigators begin their audit of secretive Peru-based Catholic society The pope's Ukraine peace envoy heads to Washington with the plight of children top of his agenda Pope says he knows what non-binary means, welcomes LGBT people to church: ‘All persons are children of God’ Vatican abuse investigators begin their audit of secretive Peru-based Catholic society Jesuits confirm expulsion of priest artist and lament Vatican norms preclude further sanction Vatican is moving ahead with plan to reunite Ukrainian children taken to Russia with their families

The U.S. military, employers and economic development specialists have been raising alarms about the implications of American students' low math scores for the country's competitiveness and national security

Unlike in the UK, grades were still boosted to reduce the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

An onscreen headline on Fox News Channel called President Biden a “wannabe dictator” who sought to have his political rival arrested

By Dave Sherwood and Matt Spetalnick BEJUCAL, Cuba Just outside the sleepy Cuban village of Bejucal, a winding

With Pixie the Chihuahua curled nearby and studio walls covered in mementos, Jeff Katz leans into the radio microphone and delivers a rather less cozy message to his conservative audience: Joe Biden...

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned Russia’s “terror” attacks on his hometown of Kryvyi Rih that left four people, including a 10-year-old child, dead. “Regions of Ukraine are being shelled by the occupiers, who continue to terrorise peaceful cities and people,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Twitter. “Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded. There may be people under the rubble. My condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones because of Russian terror.” The deputy head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Oleksiy Kuleba also confirmed one person had been killed in Kherson, claiming an attack by Moscow. Calling for revenge, Mr Kuleba wrote on the Telegram messaging app: “The enemy is hitting settlements and cities. This is terror due to the despair and defeat of the Russian Federation at the front. This is terror to intimidate and break Ukrainians. Both sides reported casualties on Monday amid heavy fighting, as Ukraine reported it had recaptured nearly 15 square km (5.8 square miles) of land from Russian troops in the east and south over the last week. The Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said that two people had been killed and four injured in Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk city, the regional capital. Read More War is returning to Russia, Zelensky warns, as Moscow rocked by drone attacks Russian anti-war activists hold protest after activists face entry, residence problems in Serbia I have a frozen embryo in Russia called Tallulah – the war in Ukraine means it’s trapped there Dramatic moment shows explosion hit Russian administration building in Donetsk

By Poppy McPherson and Devjyot Ghoshal BANGKOK A rebel alliance has overrun parts of northern Myanmar, including areas