Kremlin say Russian air defences were repelling attacks while plane was trying to land – but stops short of admitting Russian forces shot plane

Italian police said on Saturday that they were investigating cyberattacks claimed by a pro-Russian group targeting several websites including Milan’s airports and the foreign ministry.

The websites of the ministry, Malpensa and Milan-Linate airport, and the transport systems in Siena and Turin were hit, according to national cybersecurity police spokesman Marco Valerio Cervellini, Reuters reports.

Biographer says government departments give contradictory refusals to requests and accuses them of ‘cover up’

Researchers have called for greater transparency from the Foreign Office over the files it holds on the Duke of York. Officials responding to freedom of information requests have given a variety of reasons why the files cannot be released.

Andrew Lownie, an author who is researching a biography of Prince Andrew, was told that the files could not be made public until 2065, and implied there was a general rule that papers relating to members of the royal family must remain closed until 105 years after their birth.

Billionaire Trump adviser said his ‘significant investments’ in the country justified his wading into German politics

The tech entrepreneur and close adviser to Donald Trump Elon Musk has taken a stunning new public step in his support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), publishing a supportive guest opinion piece for the country’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper that has prompted the commentary editor to resign in protest.

The commentary piece in German was launched online on Saturday ahead of being published on Sunday in the flagship paper of the Axel Springer media group, which also owns the US politics news site Politico.

Court found 51 men guilty including Dominique Pelicot, who was given a 20-year prison sentence

At least 15 of the men found guilty of raping or sexually abusing Gisèle Pelicot have appealed against their convictions and will be given a second trial.

All 51 men, including her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, were convicted and given prison sentences of between three and 20 years before Christmas after a trial lasting three and a half months. Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years.

Birmingham City University thinktank imagines new approach to urban areas and land use across the region

“When I show people this, they think it’s Mordor,” says landscape architecture professor Kathryn Moore with a smile.

She is pointing at a map of the West Midlands. But instead of buildings, roads and a sprawling canal network, this map shows the natural hills and undulations that lie below the human-made architecture.

Kirsty Carless, 33, charged after death of Louis Price, 31, on Christmas Day

A 33-year-old woman has been charged with murder after the death of a man on Christmas Day in Staffordshire.

Officers were called to a property in Norton Canes, near Cannock, at about 3.25am on Wednesday, where Louis Price, 31, was in cardiac arrest. Despite medical efforts, Price died a short time later.

Call for illicit market to be taken out of hands of criminals as numbers continue to fall drastically due to poaching

International trade in rhino horns should be legalised, a leading wildlife expert has urged.

Writing in the research journal Science, Martin Wikelski argues only carefully monitored, legitimate transactions in horns can save the world’s remaining species of rhinoceros.

Two tankers were hit by storm in Kerch strait on 15 December, causing one to sink and another to run aground

Russia has warned of severe environmental damage from a huge oil spill in the Black Sea caused when two tankers were hit by a storm near Crimea, which has declared a state of emergency.

One tanker sank and another ran aground on 15 December in the Kerch strait between Russia and the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula.

Feud flared up when president-elect chose Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born entrepreneur, as his AI adviser

Bitter in-fighting has broken out between the tech billionaire Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s hardline Make America great again (Maga) base after the US president-elect chose an Indian-born entrepreneur to be his adviser on artificial intelligence.

The row has pitted Musk and his fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy against diehard supporters including the far-right activist Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz, the former Congress member and abortive nominee for attorney general. The spat threatens to open up a chasm among Trump’s supporters over immigration, a key issue in his election victory.

Golden Globe-winning actor ‘lived a life full of passion, love and dedication to the arts’, says family in statement

Olivia Hussey, who starred as a teenage Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, garnering her a Golden Globe, died peacefully at her home on Friday at age 73, her family has announced.

“Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” her family said in a statement posted to her Instagram account. “Olivia lived a life full of passion, love, and dedication to the arts, spirituality, and kindness towards animals.