North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has apologised for the “unexpected” and “unfortunate” killing of a South Korean official this week after he drifted across the countries’ maritime border, possibly in an attempt to defect.

In a message to the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, Kim said he was “very sorry”, adding that the incident, which has raised tensions between the two countries, “should not have happened”, according to media reports.

The message said the official had been shot as part of measures to prevent people from bringing the coronavirus into the country, the South’s national security director, Suh Hoon, said in a briefing on Friday.

Kim reportedly apologised for having “disappointed” Moon, adding that he hoped the incident would not harm ...

The Trump administration has announced it will move forward with a plan to roll back regulations protecting millions of acres in America’s largest national forest from logging, sparking an outcry from environmental advocacy organizations, Alaskan tribal nations, and fishermen.

More than half of the Tongass national forest – a 16.7m-acre old-growth temperate rainforest in south-east Alaska – has been protected for the last two decades by the so-called “Roadless Area Conservation Rule”, which prohibits development in designated wild areas. The US Forest Service is expected to release a final environmental impact statement on Friday which would allow for the Tongass to be exempt from the rule, moving one step closer to ending the protections entirely.

Supporters of the...

Senator Bernie Sanders has returned to the campaign trail by calling for an independent election commission to stop Donald Trump defying the will of the people and plunging the US into a constitutional crisis.

The independent senator also urged social media companies to “get their act together” and news media to prepare the American people to understand that “there is no longer a single election day”.

Sanders, whose losing campaign against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in 2016 left wounds on both sides, has earned praise this time for rallying his army of progressive supporters around Joe Biden, who defeated him in this year’s nominating contest.

In Washington on Thursday, at his first in-person event since suspending his campaign in the spring, Sanders...

The Trump administration has stopped vital technical assistance to pro-democracy groups in Belarus, Hong Kong and Iran, which had helped activists evade state surveillance and sidestep internet censorship.

The Open Technology Fund (OTF) has had to stop all its operations in Belarus, and many of its activities supporting civil society in Hong Kong and Iran, because a congressionally-mandated grant of nearly $20m has been withheld by a new Trump appointee, Michael Pack.

The OTF is a small non-profit organisation which develops technologies for evading cyber-surveillance and for circumventing internet and radio blackouts imposed by authoritarian regimes...

Leading Republicans have sought to quell fears that Donald Trump could stoke violence in an attempt to cling to power if he loses the US presidential election – though they stopped short of rebuking Trump directly.

The president sparked fresh anger and disbelief on Thursday after he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday evening, before renewing a baseless complaint about mail-in ballots.

“Get rid of the ballots and we’ll have a very peaceful … there won’t be a transfer, frankly – there’ll be a continuation,” he said, referring to voting by mail instead of in person during the pandemic, and his chances of re-election.

It was one of Trump’s m...

Donald Trump was greeted with jeers and boos on Thursday as he visited the late supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s flag-draped coffin in Washington.

The crowd at the bottom of the steps to the famous supreme court building near the US Capitol, gathered to honor the liberal justice as she lies in repose, had a seemingly visceral reaction as the president turned up.

Ginsburg died last Friday at the age of 87.

Trump, wearing a black face mask and accompanied by Melania Trump, stood near the casket at the marble court building amid clearly audible, loud booing from many assembled.

As the president and the first lady paused at Ginsburg’s casket, the crowd yelled, “Vote him out!”

The moment highlighted the public flashpoint Ginsburg’s death has become ahead of the ...