US President Joe Biden says he will consider personal sanctions on President Vladimir Putin if Russia invades Ukraine, as Western leaders stepped up military preparations and made plans to shield Europe from a potential energy supply shock. The rare sanctions threat on Tuesday came as NATO placed forces on standby and reinforces eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets …

Tens of thousands of climate activists have marched through the Scottish city hosting the UN climate summit, physically close to the global negotiators inside but separated by a vast gulf in expectations, with frustrated marchers increasingly dismissive of the climate talks and demanding immediate action instead to slow global warming. The mood at the protest in Glasgow on Saturday was …

The Global Methane Pledge, which was first announced in September, now includes half of the top 30 methane emitters accounting for two-thirds of the global economy, according to the official. Among the new signatories to be announced on Tuesday is Brazil – one of the world’s five biggest emitters of methane. China, Russia and India, also top-five methane emitters, have …

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has taken advantage of an opportunity to say ‘G’day Emmanuel’ to the French president and shake his hand. The pair crossed paths on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome for the first time since Australia outraged France by scrapping a $90 billion submarine deal. “I said g’day, I said g’day,” Mr Morrison told …

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been handed a one-year prison sentence by a Paris court after being found guilty of illegal campaign financing over his failed 2012 re-election bid. Sarkozy, 66, is unlikely to go to jail. He is expected to appeal against the sentence, a move that will in effect suspend it, and the judge said on Thursday …

Thousands of people have fled their homes on the Greek island of Evia as wildfires burned uncontrolled for a sixth day, and ferries were on standby for more evacuations after taking many to safety by sea. Fires that had threatened northern suburbs of Athens in recent days died back. But the blaze on Evia, a large island east of the …

The world’s seven largest economies have pledged to help poorer countries move away from coal-fired power stations and cut emissions. During the three-day summit in the British county of Cornwall, G7 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to “jointly mobilise $US100 billion ($A130 billion)” a year to help poorer countries cut carbon emissions and cope with global warming, The funds, which will come from …

A Greek Orthodox priest has been shot and badly wounded at a church in the French city of Lyon by an assailant who then fled, police and witnesses say. The priest was fired on twice at about 4:00pm (local time) as he was closing the church, and was being treated for life-threatening injuries, the police source said. Witnesses said the …

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he can understand why Muslims were shocked by controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. But, in an interview with broadcaster Al Jazeera, he said he could never accept the issue justified violence. It comes after Thursday’s deadly knife attack on a church in Nice, the third suspected Islamist attack in the country in little more …

Pope Francis has thrown his support behind civil unions for same-sex couples, calling for a new law that protects their right to have a family. His remarks were a shift away from the Vatican’s disapproval of any “legal recognition of homosexual unions”, as specified in the church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “Homosexual people have a right to …