Transgender women have been banned from international women’s cricket, it has been announced.

The International Cricket Council said its “priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players”.

It said the new policy was based on protecting the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion.

It means any male-to-female participants who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to take part in the international women’s game regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken.

The new gender eligibility regulations were formed after a nine-month consultation, with the final decision taken by the ICC board, which features England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Richard Thompson.

The regulations will be reviewed within two years.

ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said: “The changes to the gender eligibility regulations resulted from an extensive consultation process and is founded in science and aligned with the core principles developed during the review.

“Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players.”

Read more from Sky News: Transgender footballer quits after ‘rival teams refuse to play against her’

The rules only relate to international women’s cricket with gender eligibility domestically left for each national cricket governing body to determine.

The current England and Wales Cricket Board position is that transgender women “should be accepted in the gender with which they identify”.

But there is a “disparity policy” which can be applied when safety concerns are raised about a difference in speed, strength or skill between players.

The new international cricket policy reflects World Athletics’ decision in March to bar competitors who have gone through male puberty from female world ranking events.

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Ukraine’s pro-democracy, pro-Europe demonstrations in Maidan square a decade ago marked the “first victory” in its war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared on the anniversary of the popular protest movement.

Nearly 100 civilians died in violent clashes with security forces when Ukrainians took to the streets of the capital in 2013, demanding to move Ukraine out of the orbit of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and “join” the family of European democracies to which it “historically belongs”.

The “Revolution of Dignity” protests ultimately led to the ouster of Kremlin-backed President Victor Yanukovych and gave space to the rise of a new generation of anticorruption, pro-democracy movement leaders.

“The first victory in today’s war took place. A victory against indifference. A victory of courage. The victory of the Revolution of Dignity,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Tuesday.

He praised his country’s progress towards gaining membership in the European Union since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February of last year.

“Year after year, step by step, we do our best to ensure that our star shines in the circle of stars on the EU flag, which symbolises the unity of the peoples of Europe. The star of Ukraine,” he said.

His comments come as Russian forces chip away at Ukraine’s sovereignty and continue their full-on invasion of their smaller neighbour.

Show of support

A number of foreign leaders made trips to Kyiv in a show of solidarity. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius arrived by train for an unannounced visit to reaffirm Berlin’s backing for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s troops.

“I am here again, firstly to pledge further support, but also to express our solidarity and deep bond and also our admiration for the courageous, brave and costly fight that is being waged here,” he said laying flowers at Maidan square in central Kyiv.

Also in Kyiv on Tuesday, European Council President Charles Michel, shared a post on the social media platform X, saying it was “Good to be back in Kyiv – among friends”. He posted a picture of himself shaking hands with the EU ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova.

Moldova’s President Maia Sandu arrived in Kyiv early on Tuesday to join Zelenskyy in honouring the memory of those who died during the Revolution of Dignity, her office said on X.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday “to meet with Ukrainian leaders and reinforce the staunch support of the United States for Ukraine’s fight for freedom”, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The United Kingdom’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, visited Ukraine last week to underline British support for Kyiv amid its ongoing war with Russia. He told Zelenskyy the UK would support Ukraine for “however long it takes”.

Bitter rival?

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on the anniversary of Maidan protests by blaming Ukraine and the West for the current war in which nearly 10,000 people have lost their lives.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova questioned what the dream of Europe had brought Ukraine.

“From a prosperous, industrially developed, densely populated ex-Soviet republic, Ukraine has turned into an impoverished, dying territory,” she said, according to comments published on the Foreign Ministry website.

Ukraine had lost its independence as a result of the Maidan events, she said. “Western colonisers determine its domestic and foreign policy.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also made statements saying Russia cannot coexist with the “regime” in Ukraine.

“The current regime is absolutely toxic, we do not see any options for co-existence with it at the moment,” Russian ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik said on Tuesday.

He further stated that in order for the war to end, Ukraine must be “de-militarised and de-nazified” so as not to be deemed a threat to Russia.

More than 1.7 million people are in need as torrential rains destroy homes and livelihoods in Horn of Africa.

The death toll from flash flooding caused by torrential rains in Somalia has risen to 50, with nearly 700,000 people driven from their homes, according to a government official.

With more heavy rains starting on Tuesday, the plight of people in the country is expected to worsen, he said.

“Fifty people died in the disaster … while 687,235 people were forced to flee their houses,” Mohamud Moalim Abdullahi, the director of the Somali Disaster Management Agency, said at a news conference on Monday.

“The expected rains between 21st and 24th of November … may cause more flooding which could cause death and destruction.”

The Horn of Africa region is experiencing heavy downpours and floods linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon, killing dozens of people and causing large-scale displacement, including in Somalia, where the rains have destroyed bridges and inundated residential areas.

The floods and extreme rains have resulted in “catastrophic” consequences for hundreds of thousands who have lost their homes and properties, or their animals and crops, the International Rescue Committee said in a statement on Monday, adding that more than 1.7 million people are in “urgent need”.

“With above-normal rainfall expected to persist until the end of 2023, this will exacerbate the already grave humanitarian situation, whereby 4.3 million people, a quarter of the population are expected to face crisis-level hunger or worse by the end of 2023,” the aid agency added.

NGO World Vision said the current floods have destroyed homes, schools and roads, leaving children without basic needs such as shelter, food and drinking water.

“The floods have made life extremely difficult for children. Ongoing flooding has destroyed homes forcing children and their families to leave their homes, some of whom are now sheltering in makeshift structures in the open. As they move, they are at increased risk of illness,” Kevin Mackey, the organisation’s Somalia country director, said in a statement on Monday.

On Saturday, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said the number of people displaced by heavy rains and floods in Somalia “has nearly doubled in one week”.

“In addition, roads, bridges and airstrips have been damaged in several areas, affecting the movement of people and supplies and leading to increased prices of basic commodities,” OCHA said.

British charity Save the Children on Thursday said more than 100 people, including 16 children, had died and hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia due to flash flooding.

The Horn of Africa is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events are occurring with increased frequency and intensity.

The region is emerging from the worst drought in four decades after multiple failed rainy seasons that left millions of people in need and devastated crops and livestock.

Humanitarian groups have warned that the situation is only likely to worsen and called for urgent global intervention as El Nino is expected to last until at least April 2024.