The body of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was taken from Buckingham Palace Wednesday to Westminster Hall, where she will lie in state for four days ahead of her funeral. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide last week was the lowest reported in the pandemic since March 2020, marking what could be a turning point in the years-long global outbreak.

At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world has never been in a better position to stop COVID-19.

“We are not there yet, but the end is in sight,” he said, comparing the effort to that made by a marathon runner nearing the finish line. “Now is the worst time to stop running,” he said. “Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap all the rewards of our hard work.”

In its weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said deaths fell by 22% in the past week, at just over 11,000 reported worldwide. There were 3.1 million new cases, a drop of 28%, continuing a weeks-long decline in the disease in every part of the world.

Still, the WHO warned that relaxed COVID testing and surveillance in many countries means that many cases are going unnoticed. The agency issued a set of policy briefs for governments to strengthen their efforts against the coronavirus ahead of the expected winter surge of COVID-19, warning that new variants could yet undo the progress made to date.

“If we don’t take this opportunity now, we run the risk of more variants, more deaths, more disruption, and more uncertainty,” Tedros said.

The WHO reported that the omicron subvariant BA.5 continues to dominate globally and comprised nearly 90% of virus samples shared with the world’s biggest public database. In recent weeks, regulatory authorities in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere have cleared tweaked vaccines that target both the original coronavirus and later variants including BA.5.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said the organization expected future waves of the disease, but was hopeful those would not cause many deaths.

Meanwhile in China, residents of a city in the country’s far western Xinjiang region have said they are experiencing hunger, forced quarantines and dwindling supplies of medicine and daily necessities after more than 40 days in a lockdown prompted by COVID-19.

Hundreds of posts from Ghulja riveted users of Chinese social media last week, with residents sharing videos of empty refrigerators, feverish children and people shouting from their windows.

On Monday, local police announced the arrests of six people for “spreading rumors” about the lockdown, including posts about a dead child and an alleged suicide, which they said “incited opposition” and “disrupted social order.”

Leaked directives from government offices show that workers are being ordered to avoid negative information and spread “positive energy” instead. One directed state media to film “smiling seniors” and “children having fun” in neighborhoods emerging from the lockdown.

The government has ordered mass testing and district lockdowns in cities across China in recent weeks, from Sanya on tropical Hainan island to southwest Chengdu, to the northern port city of Dalian.
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Belarusian journalist Dzyanis Ivashyn has been sentenced to 13 years and one month in prison on a high treason charge.

The Hrodna regional court in the country’s west also ruled on September 14 that Ivashyn must pay a fine and compensation to nine unspecified victims.

Ivashyn’s trial started in mid-August behind closed doors.

Ivashyn was arrested in March last year by the Belarusian KGB and charged with high treason, though his colleagues say the arrest was connected with his publications about former Ukrainian Berkut members employed by the Belarusian police.

The arrest came amid a crackdown on independent journalists, opposition politicians, and rights activists following unprecedented mass protests challenging the results of an August 2020 presidential poll that announced authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko as the winner.

Rights activists and opposition politicians say the poll was rigged to extend Lukashenko’s rule.

Thousands have been detained during countrywide protests and there have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people have died during the crackdown.

Many of Belarus’s opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, while Lukashenko has refused to negotiate with the opposition.

Belarusian human rights organizations have recognized Ivashyn as a political prisoner.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenko as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the police crackdown.
…

As Russia faces further isolation from the West after its invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will meet in Uzbekistan, a gathering that should indicate the strength of the cooperation between the two countries. Marcus Harton narrates this report from the VOA Moscow Bureau.
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Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II is taken from Buckingham Palace to London’s Westminster Hall where she will lie in state at parliament. King Charles III walks behind the carriage carrying the queen’s coffin. His sons, William and Harry, and his siblings, Anne, Andrew and Edward join him. Large crowds are seen along the route, with tens of thousands of people travel to Westminster to pay their respects.
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Armenia and Azerbaijan reported nearly 100 troop deaths Tuesday in their worst fighting since a 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. 

The last wave of fighting over Azerbaijan’s tense Armenian-populated enclave ended in a fragile truce brokered by Russia.  

But on Tuesday, the defense ministry in Baku said, “50 Azerbaijani servicemen died as a result of Armenia’s large-scale provocation,” while Armenia earlier reported the deaths of at least 49 of its soldiers. 

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of violating the cease-fire after a night of clashes that renewed fears of another all-out conflict between the historic foes. 

Russia said it had reached a cease-fire between the warring parties that brought several hours of relative calm, but Azerbaijan later accused Armenian forces of “intensely” violating the agreement. 

“Despite the declaration of a cease-fire since 9 (Moscow time, 0600 GMT), Armenia is intensively violating the cease-fire along the border by using artillery and other heavy weapons,” Baku’s military said. 

Armenia appealed to world leaders for help after the fighting broke out, accusing Azerbaijan of trying to advance on its territory. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the leaders of both countries Tuesday, with his spokesman saying Washington would “push for an immediate halt to fighting and a peace settlement” between the neighbors. 

French President Emmanuel Macron called his Azerbaijan counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday to express “great concern” and urge a “return to respecting the cease-fire.” 

He also called for intensified negotiations and offered to contribute along with the European Union, the Elysee said. 

The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had earlier spoken with Macron, as well as calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Blinken to demand a response to “Azerbaijan’s aggressive acts.” 

Tuesday’s escalation came as Yerevan’s closest ally Moscow, which deployed thousands of peacekeepers in the region after the 2020 war, is distracted by its six-month-old invasion of Ukraine. 

Armenia’s defense ministry said clashes had subsided after the cease-fire but that the situation on the border was still “extremely tense.” 

The defense ministry in Yerevan said the clashes started early Tuesday, with Armenian territory coming under fire from artillery, mortars and drones in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk and Jermuk. 

“The enemy is trying to advance” into Armenian territory, it said in a statement. 

Azerbaijan, however, accused Armenia of “large-scale subversive acts” near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin, and said its armed forces were taking “limited and targeted steps, neutralizing Armenian firing positions.” 

Baku’s long-standing political and military sponsor Turkey blamed Armenia and urged it instead to “focus on peace negotiations.” 

Iran, which shares a border with both countries, urged “restraint” and a “peaceful resolution” to the fighting. 

The EU and the United Nations expressed concerns over the escalation and called for an end to the fighting. 

Before the cease-fire was announced, Armenia’s security council asked for military help from Moscow, which is obligated under a treaty to defend Armenia in the event of foreign invasion. 

Armenian political analyst Tatul Hakobyan said the escalation in fighting was a consequence of the “deadlock” in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. 

“Azerbaijan wants to force Armenia to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan,” he told AFP. “The war in Ukraine has changed the balance of forces in the region and Russia, which is a guarantor of peace in the region, is in a very bad shape.  

“In this situation, Azerbaijan wants to get concessions from Armenia as soon as possible,” he added. 

Last week, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing one of its soldiers in a border shootout. 

In August, Azerbaijan said it had lost a soldier and the Karabakh army said two of its troops had been killed and more than a dozen wounded. 

The neighbors fought two wars — in the 1990s and in 2020 — over the region. 

The six weeks of brutal fighting in autumn 2020 ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire. 

Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Moscow deployed about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce. 

During EU-mediated talks in Brussels in May and April, Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed to “advance discussions” on a future peace treaty. 

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives. 

 
…

From the world’s second-smallest state, Monaco, to the most populous country, India, representatives from more than 20 governments and international organizations on Monday condemned the Taliban’s policies of shutting down secondary schools and denying other fundamental rights to Afghan girls and women.

Even Pakistan, the purported benefactor of the Taliban, voiced concern at a United Nations dialogue on human rights in Afghanistan about the denial of education for Afghan girls. The dialogue was part of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 51st session, which opened Monday in Geneva.

Russia and China notably did not join in the criticism. A Russian diplomat pointed to progress made for women’s rights under the Taliban.

“We note efforts by the new Afghan government to ensure the rights of women and girls in the areas of marriage and property inheritance,” a Russian representative told the U.N. event, adding that more than 130,000 women are employed in the health and education sectors.

No Taliban representative was present at the event because the U.N. does not recognize the Taliban’s so-called Islamic Emirate as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Instead, diplomats of the former Afghan government are still accredited as Afghan representatives at U.N. headquarters in New York and Geneva.

The Russian diplomat further said that some schools were closed because the Taliban could not afford to set up segregated classrooms for girls. He blamed the United States and other Western donors for freezing aid to Afghanistan and imposing sanctions on the Taliban which, according to the Russian diplomat, have adversely affected the Afghan education sector.

“We call on the U.S. and the U.K. and their satellites — instead of issuing new demands to the Taliban, to begin fulfilling their own obligations for the past conflict,” he said, adding that the current crisis in Afghanistan was a result of the past two decades of U.S. intervention there.

While calling for the return of girls to secondary schools in Afghanistan, a Chinese representative also avoided criticizing the Taliban’s policy.

“We call on the countries concerned to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and to lift unilateral sanctions,” the Chinese representative said.

Monday’s statement was the strongest that any Russian official has made in support of the Taliban.

“The Russian representative’s statements in Geneva aren’t consistent with what Russia has said before in other settings about Afghanistan,” John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA.

“As recently as this June, Russia agreed to a strongly worded statement by the U.N. Security Council about Afghanistan in which the Security Council as a bloc, including Russia, called on the Taliban to let girls go to school.”

Even the Taliban have not said that Western sanctions and the resulting economic problems have forced them to shut secondary schools for girls. Taliban officials have offered religious and cultural justifications for their decision against secondary education for girls.

“We recognize that the economic crisis is impacting the humanitarian situation. We agree about that. But the idea that it’s responsible for the fact that [the] Taliban do not let girls go to secondary schools is absurd. It is preposterous. It is a lie,” said Sifton.

Women ‘erased’

The U.N. and human rights groups accuse the Taliban of implementing policies that are aimed at erasing women from the public spheres.

“There is no country in the world where women and girls have so rapidly been deprived of their fundamental human rights purely because of gender,” Richard Bennett, U.N. special rapporteur on Afghanistan, told the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 51st session.

“Do you know what that feeling is, to be erased?” Mahbouba Seraj, an Afghan women’s rights activist, asked the same session. “I’m erased, and I don’t know what else to do. … How many times am I supposed to yell and scream and say, ‘World, pay attention to us. We are dying’?”

The Taliban have defended their policies toward Afghan women while accusing the U.N. and rights activists of spreading “malicious propaganda” against their de facto government.

“Today, nothing threatens the lives of women in Afghanistan, and no woman or her loved ones die in the war or raids,” said a Taliban statement issued in response to Bennett’s report. “There are 181 public and private universities open for men and women in the country, and thousands of women work in education, higher education, public health, passport and national identification bureaus, airports, police, media, banks and other sectors.”

Such statements, however, are viewed with deep skepticism outside Taliban circles.

The Taliban have become increasingly authoritarian, clamping down on freedom of expression and denying people their civic and political rights, the U.N. has reported.

At the U.N. event, representatives from many countries called for stronger international pressure on the Taliban to respect women’s rights.

“Anyone seeking to participate in the international system must respect [women’s rights]. If we don’t all insist on that, then shame on us,” said Michèle Taylor, U.S. representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

In April, the U.N. General Assembly suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council because of the country’s reported atrocities in Ukraine.
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The coffin of Queen Elizabeth is flown to London from the Scottish capital of Edinburgh after lying in St. Giles’ Cathedral. In London, her coffin will be driven to Buckingham Palace, her official home.
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The European Union wants to enact tougher rules for media groups seeking to acquire smaller rivals on whether their deals ensure media pluralism and safeguard editorial independence, according to draft EU rules seen by Reuters.

The Media Freedom Act (MFA), which the European Commission will present later this week, comes during concerns about media freedom in Poland, Hungary and Slovenia.

The EU is also worried about the allocation of some countries’ state advertising to pro-government outlets to influence the media.

The rules will apply to TV and radio broadcasters, on-demand audiovisual media services, press publications and very large online platforms and providers of video-sharing platforms.

They will need to be thrashed out with EU countries and lawmakers before they can become law in a process likely to take a year or more.

The concerns around media freedoms have grown ahead of European Parliament elections in 2024.

“It should be considered whether other media outlets, providing different and alternative content, would still coexist in the given market(s) after the media market concentration in question,” the document said.

Editorial independence safeguards should consider undue interference by owners, management or governance structures, it added.

The proposed rules also require regulators to examine whether the merging companies would remain economically sustainable if there was no deal.

The EU executive and a new European Board for Media Services can offer their opinions on whether the two criteria have been met.

State advertising to media service providers should be transparent and non-discriminatory, the document said.

The proposed rules set out the right of journalists and media service providers not to be detained, sanctioned, subjected to surveillance or search and seizure by EU

governments and regulatory bodies.
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In addition to fighting on the front lines, Ukrainians are fighting on the economic battlefront. Businesses are trying to survive, and with a bit of help, succeed. A new online platform helps them do just that. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Andre Sergunin.
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Fresh clashes broke out Tuesday between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with each side reporting casualties and blaming the other for the violence.

Armenia said Azerbaijani forces attacked several points near the border, killing 49 Armenian soldiers.

Azerbaijan said Armenian forces fired on its positions, leaving an unspecified number of casualties.

The two countries have had a decades-long conflict involving the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inside Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

A six-week war in 2020 killed more than 6,600 people and saw Azerbaijan reclaim territory in and around the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the two sides to “end any military hostilities immediately,” saying in a statement that there is no military solution to the conflict.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the conflict through political and diplomatic means.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Members of the public paid their respects Tuesday to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, with many waiting overnight for a final opportunity to file past the queen’s coffin before it is flown to London. 

Princess Anne is due to accompany the coffin on the flight back to London later Tuesday. 

The queen’s body will be taken to Buckingham Palace first, then transferred in a public procession led by King Charles III to the 11th-century Westminster Hall, where she will lie in state for four days. The hall will be open 23 hours a day for visitors. It will be guarded by soldiers from the royal household.  

Tens of thousands of people are expected to travel to Westminster to pay their respects.   

A solemn procession

Elizabeth died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands, a place she cherished.  

King Charles III, Princess Anne and their siblings Prince Andrew and Prince Edward held a silent vigil Monday in St. Giles’ Cathedral, bowing their heads as they stood at the four sides of their mother’s coffin. 

The body was brought to the cathedral in a solemn procession through the streets of Edinburgh, where thousands of people turned out to pay their respects to the late monarch.

After the procession reached St. Giles’ Cathedral, members of the royal family along with political leaders attended a service inside for the queen.      

“And so, we gather to bid Scotland’s farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate. And whose love for Scotland was legendary,” the Rev. Calum MacLeod said.   

New monarch speaks to Parliament

Earlier Monday, King Charles III spoke to both houses of Parliament in London for the first time as the monarch.   

His brief address to approximately 1,000 lawmakers and their guests at London’s Westminster Hall came after the lawmakers offered their condolences on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II during a ceremony filled with pageantry.  

Charles said of his mother who served as monarch for 70 years: “She set an example of selfless duty which, with God’s help and your counsels, I resolved faithfully to follow.”    

Residents line streets for glimpse, goodbye      

The hearse carrying the queen’s body set off on Sunday from Balmoral Castle, the beginning of her long and final journey.   

The convoy, which included royal officials and security personnel, tracked slowly through the majestic Scottish hills, a landscape treasured by the late monarch, where she spent her final peaceful weeks of life. In years past, the queen was frequently seen visiting these remote Scottish villages when she resided at Balmoral Castle.   

Residents gathered on the roadside to glimpse her for the last time and to say goodbye.    

Some onlookers threw flowers as the hearse passed; many in the crowd shed tears. Gentle ripples of applause followed as the convoy continued southward.     

“We’ve known (her) for all our lives. So, it’s been the one constant thing in the whole of our lives — the queen,” said Stephanie Cook, a resident of the village of Ballater, close to Balmoral.      

After a six-hour journey, the hearse crossed the River Forth toward Edinburgh.    

Fiona Moffat traveled from Glasgow to witness the moment. She fought back tears as she described her emotions.  

“A very historic moment. I am quite speechless actually,”  Moffat said to The Associated Press.  “She was a lovely lady. Great mother, grandmother. She did well. I am very proud of her.”

Elaine Robertson, visiting Edinburgh from her home in Ayr on Scotland’s west coast, was also in tears. “I think it is just important to be here. Just important to say goodbye,” Robertson said. “She has been on the throne for a long time. So, yes, it means a lot.”  

The funeral is scheduled for September 19 at Westminster Abbey. The coffin will then be taken to Windsor for the committal service, where the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, was laid to rest in April 2021.    

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
…

Ukraine claimed Monday it had recaptured several more villages in the northeastern part of the country, pushing some Russian forces back to the border between the two nations.     

After months of only incremental territorial gains and losses by Kyiv’s and Moscow’s forces, Ukrainian leaders exulted in the sudden advance since the beginning of September in the Kharkiv region.   

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address to the nation Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken more than 6,000 square kilometers of territory since the offensive began this month.   

“The movement of our troops continues,” he said.  

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there has been “significant progress by the Ukrainians, particularly in the Northeast,” citing both support from the United States and other allies and “the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ukrainian people.” 

“This is early days still,” Blinken said. “So, I think it would be wrong to predict exactly where this will go, when it will get there and how it will get there.” 

The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged over the weekend it was pulling back forces, saying they were regrouping them in the eastern Donetsk region.   

Oleh Syniehubov, the Ukrainian governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, said, “In some areas of the front, our defenders reached the state border with the Russian Federation,” with Russian troops chaotically retreating.   

“The Russians were here in the morning. Then at noon, they suddenly started shouting wildly and began to run away, charging off in tanks and armored vehicles,” Dmytro Hrushchenko, a resident of recently liberated Zaliznychne, a small town near the eastern front line, told Sky News.   

“Making progress”

The general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said Monday its troops had recaptured more than 20 settlements within the past day. The British Defense Ministry said that, in recent days, Kyiv’s forces had reclaimed territory at least the size of the London metropolitan area.   

A senior U.S. military official said Monday Ukrainians are “making progress” in their efforts to reclaim territory in the south and the east and said Russian forces around Kharkiv have ceded ground to Ukraine.  

The official said the Russian pullback was “indicative” of morale issues, among other factors, and said Ukraine has presented Russian forces with “multiple dilemmas.” Many of the Russian forces who have ceded ground have moved across the border to Russia, according to the official.  

Analysts say the war is likely to continue into 2023, but the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Monday that “Ukraine has turned the tide of this war in its favor” through its effective use of Western-supplied weapons like the long-range HIMARS missile system and strategic battlefield maneuvers. “Kyiv will likely increasingly dictate the location and nature of the major fighting.”     

In Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said power and water that had been cut off by Russia were restored to about 80% of the region’s population.   

In Russia, some complaints were voiced, even on state-controlled television, about the setbacks its forces were sustaining.   

“People who convinced President [Vladimir] Putin that the operation will be fast and effective … these people really set up all of us,” Boris Nadezhdin, a former parliament member, said on an NTV television talk show. “We’re now at the point where we have to understand that it’s absolutely impossible to defeat Ukraine using these resources and colonial war methods.” 

Death, destruction continues

But the war’s death toll continued to mount, with Ukraine’s presidential office reporting that at least four civilians were killed, and 11 others wounded in a series of Russian attacks in nine regions of the country. Even in liberated Kharkiv, a police station in the city’s center was hit by a missile, setting part of it on fire and killing one person, a regional police chief said.       

Russia also shelled Nikopol across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, damaging several buildings there. The last operational reactor in that plant has been shut down to prevent a radiation leak.   

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press. 
…

Near final results in Sweden’s election Sunday show that a bloc of right-wing parties was expected to defeat a left-wing bloc headed by Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. The conservative group includes a populist anti-immigration party that made its best showing. 

However, the result was so close that the election authority said it would not be known before Wednesday when some uncounted votes, including those cast abroad, have been tallied. 

According to the early count, Andersson’s ruling left-wing Social Democrats won 30.5% of the vote, more than any other party. However, a bloc of four left-wing parties appeared to fall short as a whole of winning a majority of votes in the 349-seat parliament, or Riksdag. 

Exit polls had initially predicted a narrow victory for Andersson’s camp but as the evening wore on, and the vote count supplanted the exit poll, the results tipped in favor of the conservatives. 

Early Monday, the conservatives appeared to have 176 seats to 173 for the center-left. 

In a speech to her supporters, Andersson said that while the results were unclear, it was obvious that the social democratic movement, which is based on ideals of creating an equal society and a strong welfare state, remains strong in Sweden. 

The biggest winner of the evening was the populist anti-immigration party, the Sweden Democrats, which had a strong showing of nearly 21%, its best result ever. The party gained on promises to crack down on shootings and other gang violence that have shaken a sense of security for many in Sweden. 

The party has its roots in the white nationalist movement but years ago began expelling extremists. Despite its rebranding, voters long viewed it as unacceptable and other parties shunned it. But that has been changing, and its result in this election show just how far it has come in gaining acceptance. 

“We are now the second-biggest party in Sweden, and it looks [like] it’s going to stay that way,” party leader Jimmie Akesson told his supporters. 

“We know now that if there’s going to be a shift in power, we will be having a central role in that,” he said. “Our ambition is to be in the government.” 

The conservative bloc was led during the campaign by the center-right Moderates, who won 19%. It was previously the country’s second largest party. 

Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson told his supporters that he stands ready to try to create a stable and effective government. 

Regardless of the election outcome, Sweden is likely to face a lengthy process to form a government, as it did after the 2018 election. 

Andersson, a 55-year-old economist, became Sweden’s first female prime minister less than a year ago and led Sweden’s historic bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
…

Experts say Ukraine has dealt its opponent a major operational defeat with a surprise counteroffensive in the country’s northeast, sending shockwaves through the invading Russian army. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine looks at the likely impact of the Ukrainian military gains on the war.
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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday recommended a COVID-19 booster designed to combat the currently circulating Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants, days after endorsing a pair of boosters tailored to target the older BA.1 Omicron variant.

The latest recommendation is for a so-called bivalent vaccine developed by Pfizer PFE.N and BioNTech 22UAy.DE, which targets BA.4/5 as well as the strain of the virus that originally emerged in China in December 2019 targeted by earlier COVID vaccines.

The EMA recommendation is to authorize the retooled booster shots for people aged 12 and above who have received at least primary vaccination against COVID. The final go-ahead will be subject to European Commission approval, which is expected to come shortly.

If authorized, the BA.4/5-tailored booster will be available in days to all 27 EU member states, Pfizer said in a statement on Monday.

While existing coronavirus vaccines provide good protection against hospitalization and death, their effectiveness, particularly against infection, was reduced as the virus evolved.

Earlier this month, the EMA endorsed both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s MRNA.O vaccines updated for BA.1.

EU officials signaled in recent months they were open to initially using boosters targeting the older BA.1 variant, given those specifically targeting the newer, now dominant Omicron BA.4/5 offshoots are further behind in development.

In contrast, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration insisted it was only interested in vaccines targeting BA.4/5. Last week, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna secured U.S. authorization for those despite limited available clinical data.

Given BA.1’s earlier emergence, data from human trials testing those redesigned vaccines has been submitted to EU regulators. For the BA.4/5 adapted vaccines, regulatory submissions are largely based on lab and animal studies.

Using animal and lab data to solicit regulatory approval is done regularly for flu vaccines that are revamped each year to combat the latest circulating strains.

On Monday, the EMA said its backing of the Pfizer-BioNTech updated BA.4/5 shot relied partly on data from human clinical trials available on the companies’ BA.1-tailored vaccine.

A clinical trial testing the Pfizer-BioNTech BA.4/5 vaccine in humans was initiated in early September, and data should be available later this autumn. Meanwhile, human trial data on Moderna’s BA.4/5 shot is expected by later this month or early October.

EU officials have encouraged member states to roll out boosters of the established original vaccines and the bivalent shots — whatever is readily available — for the vulnerable and elderly following a rise in summer infections, as protection waned due to the domination of BA.4 and especially BA.5.

Uptake could be limited, as people have become less worried about the disease, thanks in large part to the success of the first generation of shots. Experts also worry that the public may be suffering from vaccine fatigue and less likely to seek the boosters, which could be a fourth or fifth COVID shot for some.
…

Britain’s King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, join his siblings – Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward – when the coffin of his mother Queen Elizabeth II is taken in a solemn procession from the royal Palace of Holyroodhouse to St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. Members of the public will be able to pay their respects.
…

Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada al-Nashif highlighted the growing desperation of millions of people trapped in a never-ending cycle of human rights violations, violence, and political instability in dozens of countries around the world.

She addressed the worsening situation in numerous countries in Africa, including Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, and Mali. She offered a rare glimmer of hope regarding the nearly two-year old conflict in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray province.

“Following the recent resumption of hostilities in northern Ethiopia, I am encouraged by the announcement yesterday by authorities in Tigray of their readiness to abide by an immediate cessation of hostilities and to participate in a robust peace process under the auspices of the African Union. I urge the parties to take immediate steps to end the violence once and for all, and to opt for constructive and genuine dialogue,” she said.

She dwelled at length on the unbearable levels of violence and human rights abuses by heavily armed gangs in Haiti. She called on the international community to help contain the scourge of violence in that country.

However, she made only passing reference to China’s incarceration of more than a million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in so-called vocational centers. This is despite growing demands by human rights activists for a special debate on this issue at the Council.

“On 31 August, my Office published its assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, with recommendations to the Government and other stakeholders,” she said.

Acting High Commissioner, al-Nashif, was more robust in her criticism of Russia’s actions aimed at quelling domestic opposition to its war in Ukraine.

“In the Russian Federation, the intimidation, restrictive measures and sanctions against people voicing opposition to the war in Ukraine undermine the exercise of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms… Pressures against journalists, blocking of internet resources and other forms of censorship are incompatible with media pluralism and violate the right to access of information,” she said.

Al-Nashif said the war in Ukraine continues and the suffering of the civilian population continues. She noted the serious socio-economic consequences of the war also persist. This, she said, has resulted in severe fuel shortages and threats to food security in some of the world’s poorest countries.

She added the devastation caused by the war in Ukraine will be discussed later in the session.
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Xi Jinping will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

The trip, Xi’s first abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, shows he is confident about both his grip on power as he heads for a third term in office and about his role as a world leader at a time of renewed great power friction.

Against a backdrop of Russia’s confrontation with the West over Ukraine, the crisis over Taiwan and a stuttering global economy, Xi is due on a state visit to Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

China’s president will then meet Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Kremlin said. China confirmed the trip on Monday.

Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters last week that the Russian president was expected to meet Xi at the summit. The Kremlin declined to give details on their talks.

The meeting will give Xi an opportunity to underscore his clout while Putin can demonstrate Russia’s tilt towards Asia; both leaders can show their opposition to the United States just as the West seeks to punish Russia for the Ukraine war.

“It is all about Xi in my view: he wants to show just how confident he is domestically and to be seen as the international leader of nations opposed to Western hegemony,” said George Magnus, author of “Red Flags,” a book about Xi’s challenges.

“Privately I imagine Xi will be most anxious about how Putin’s war is going and indeed if Putin or Russia are in play at some point in the near future because China still needs an anti-western leadership in Moscow.”

Russia suffered its worst defeat of the war last week, abandoning its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine.

The deepening “no limits” partnership between the rising superpower of China and the natural resources titan of Russia is a geopolitical development the West is watching with anxiety.

Once the senior partner in the global Communist hierarchy, Russia after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union is now a junior partner to a resurgent Communist China which is forecast to overtake the United States as the world’s biggest economy in the next decade.

Though historical contradictions abound in the partnership, there is no sign that Xi is ready to drop support for Putin in Russia’s most serious confrontation with the West since the height of the Cold War.

Instead, the two 69-year-old leaders are deepening ties. Trade soared by nearly a third between Russia and China in the first 7 months of 2022.

The visit “shows that China is willing to not only continue ‘business as usual’ with Russia but even show explicit support and accelerate the formation of a stronger China-Russia alignment,” said Alexander Korolev, senior lecturer in politics and international relations at UNSW Sydney.

“Beijing is reluctant to distance itself from Moscow even when facing serious reputational costs and the risks of becoming a target of secondary economic sanctions.”

Xi supreme

Xi is widely expected to break with precedent at a Communist Party congress that starts on October 16 and secures his third five-year leadership term.

While Xi has met Putin in person 38 times since becoming China’s president in 2013, he has yet to meet Joe Biden in person since the latter became U.S. President in 2021.

Xi last met Putin in February just weeks before the Russian president ordered the invasion of Ukraine which has left tens of thousands of people dead and sown chaos through the global economy.

At that meeting at the opening of the Winter Olympics, Xi and Putin declared their no limits partnership, backing each other over standoffs on Ukraine and Taiwan with a promise to collaborate more against the West.

China has refrained from condemning Russia’s operation against Ukraine or calling it an “invasion” in line with the Kremlin which casts the war as “a special military operation.”

“The bigger message really isn’t that Xi is supporting Putin, because it’s been pretty clear that Xi supports Putin,” said Professor Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

“The bigger signal is that he, Xi Jinping, is going out of China for the first time since the pandemic in the run-up to the party congress. If there were going to be plottings against him this is when the plottings would happen. And he’s clearly confident that the plottings are not going to take place because he is out of the country.”

Xi, the son of a communist revolutionary, last left China in January 2020, before the world went into COVID lockdown.

Kremlin chief

After the West imposed on Moscow the most severe sanctions in modern history due to the war in Ukraine, Putin says Russia is turning towards Asia after centuries of looking to the West as the crucible of economic growth, technology and war.

Casting the West as a declining, U.S.-dominated coalition which aims to shackle – or even destroy — Russia, Putin’s worldview chimes with that of Xi, who presents China as an alternative to the U.S.-led, post-World War II order.

Putin aide Ushakov said the Xi-Putin meeting would be “very important.” He did not give further details.

As Europe seeks to turn away from Russian energy imports, Putin will seek to boost energy exports to China and Asia.

Putin said last week that a major gas export route to China via Mongolia had been agreed. Gazprom has for years been studying the possibility for a major new gas pipeline — the Power of Siberia 2 — to travel through Mongolia taking Russian gas to China.

It will carry 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year, around a third of what Russia usually sells Europe — or equivalent to the Nord Stream 1 annual volumes.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia, China, India, Pakistan and four Central Asian states, is due to admit Iran, one of Moscow’s key allies in the Middle East.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that her government will not be pursuing any moves toward changing New Zealand to a republic following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Ardern said she thought New Zealand would eventually become a republic, and it would probably happen within her lifetime, but that there were more pressing issues for her government to pursue.

Her comments represent the first time she has spoken about the New Zealand republic debate since Elizabeth’s death, and reflect previous comments she has made on the issue. Ardern has also previously expressed her support for the country eventually becoming a republic.

Under the current system, the British monarch remains New Zealand’s head of state, represented in New Zealand by a governor-general. The governor-general’s role is these days considered primarily ceremonial.

Still, many people argue New Zealand won’t be able to fully step out from the shadows of its colonialist past and become a truly independent nation until it does become a republic.

“There’s been a debate, probably for a number of years,” Ardern said. “It’s just the pace, and how widely that debate is occurring. I’ve made my view plain many times. I do believe that is where New Zealand will head, in time. I believe it is likely to occur in my lifetime.

“But I don’t see it as a short-term measure or anything that is on the agenda any time soon,” Ardern said.

She said that becoming a republic was not something her government planned to discuss at any point.

“As I say, in large part actually because I’ve never sensed the urgency,” Ardern said. “There are so many challenges we face. This is a large, significant debate. I don’t think it’s one that would or should occur quickly.”

Many people in New Zealand have speculated in the past that the republic debate would gather momentum only after the death of Elizabeth, given how beloved she was by so many.

Ardern said she didn’t link the two events: “I’ve never attached it in that way,” she said.

Ardern also announced Monday that New Zealand would mark the death of Elizabeth with a public holiday on September 26. The nation will also hold a state memorial service on the same day in the capital, Wellington.

Ardern said Elizabeth was an extraordinary person and many New Zealanders would appreciate the opportunity to mark her death and celebrate her life.

“As New Zealand’s queen and much-loved sovereign for over 70 years, it is appropriate that we mark her life of dedicated public service with a state memorial service and a one-off public holiday,” Ardern said.

Ardern said she would be leaving this week for Britain to attend Elizabeth’s funeral.
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People who want to pay final respects to Queen Elizabeth II as she lies in state at the Houses of Parliament in London need to be prepared for a long wait. 

The government has published guidelines for people wishing to file past the late queen’s closed coffin as it lies in state at the Palace of Westminster from 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) Wednesday until 6:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Sept. 19. Thousands are expected to want to pay tribute to the only monarch that many in the United Kingdom have ever known. 

The rules were made public a day after thousands of people lined roads and bridges Sunday as a hearse carried the queen’s coffin across the Scottish countryside from her beloved Balmoral Castle to Edinburgh. 

Lines, delays expected

“If you wish to attend the Lying-in-State, please note that there will be a queue, which is expected to be very long. You will need to stand for many hours, possibly overnight, with very little opportunity to sit down as the queue will be continuously moving,” the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in its guidelines. 

The closed coffin of the monarch who died Thursday at 96 will rest on a raised platform called a catafalque in Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament. 

“Large crowds are expected, and there are likely to be delays on public transport and road closures around the area,” the ministry warned. 

Visitors will have to pass through airport-style security and can only bring one small bag with one zipper opening. Larger bags can be stowed at a special facility — but only if there is space available. 

Officials say to prepare

The ministry advises people to bring essentials for a potentially long wait exposed to whatever elements an early fall day in London can throw at them — an umbrella or sunscreen, a cell phone power bank and any needed medication. 

No food or liquids will be allowed past security screening at the Houses of Parliament. Nor will flowers or other tributes such as candles, toys or photographs. 

“Please respect the dignity of this event and behave appropriately. You should remain silent while inside the Palace of Westminster,” the advice says, adding that people must dress appropriately and turn off their mobile phones before going through security. 

Included in a list of things not to do: “Film, photograph, use mobile phones or other handheld devices in the security search area or within the Palace of Westminster.”

Mourners also are advised not to “bring or erect gazebos or tents…light barbecues and fires.” 

The long list of prohibited items includes fireworks, smoke canisters, flares, whistles, laser devices and other items that could be used to cause a disturbance as well as any banners, placards, flags, advertising or marketing messages. 
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Britain’s King Charles will fly to Edinburgh to join his siblings Monday when the coffin of his mother Queen Elizabeth is taken in a solemn procession from one of her Scottish palaces to the city’s historic St. Giles cathedral. 

The new monarch will also join senior royals for a vigil at the church where the coffin will lie at rest before being flown to London Tuesday. 

Since Elizabeth’s death at age 96 at Balmoral Castle, her Scottish holiday home, a carefully choreographed series of plans to mourn Britain’s monarch of 70 years has been put into operation. 

On Sunday, her oak coffin, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland with a wreath on top, was taken by hearse on a six-hour journey from Balmoral through the picturesque Scottish countryside, villages, small towns and cities to Edinburgh.’ ”

‘I just thought she’d live forever’

Tens of thousands of well-wishers lined the roads to pay their respects, while huge crowds, some in tears, gathered in Edinburgh to greet the cortege. 

“It’s just very sad,” said Rachel Lindsay, 24. “I don’t think we expected it to ever happen. I just thought she’d live forever. I didn’t think it was real until I saw it.” 

Before setting off for Scotland, Charles, 73, who automatically became king of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms including: Australia, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, will travel to the British parliament for another traditional ceremony. 

At Westminster Hall, lawmakers from both the House of Commons and the upper House of Lords will express their condolences for the death of his mother, and the new king will deliver a response. 

He will then fly to Edinburgh with his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, to join his sister Anne, and brothers Andrew and Edward. 

The queen’s children will then walk in a procession behind the hearse as the coffin of their mother is taken to St Giles’ Cathedral, flanked by soldiers.   

Crown of Scotland 

When it arrives at the church, the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, the premier Scottish peer, will place the Crown of Scotland on the coffin.   

After a service, the coffin will rest at the cathedral for 24 hours to allow people to pay their respects. A continuous vigil will be mounted by soldiers from the Royal Company of Archers – the sovereign’s ‘Bodyguard in Scotland.’ 

Charles, who will also visit the Scottish parliament and meet Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, will later mount a vigil at 7.20 p.m. (1820 GMT) along with other royals. 

On Tuesday, the coffin will be flown to London where on Wednesday it will begin a period of lying in state on a raised platform called a ‘catafalque’ at Westminster Hall. It will remain there until her funeral which is scheduled for Monday, September 19. 

It will be guarded constantly by soldiers or by Yeoman Warders – known as beefeaters – from the Tower of London. 

Members of the public will be allowed to process past the coffin, which will be covered by the Royal Standard with the sovereign’s Orb and Scepter placed on top, for 24 hours a day until 6.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Sept. 19. 

“Those wishing to attend will be required to queue for many hours, possibly overnight,” the government said in a statement. “Large crowds are expected and people are encouraged to check ahead, plan accordingly and be prepared for long wait times.” 

Meanwhile thousands of people are continuing to gather at royal palaces across Britain, bringing bouquets of flowers. In Green Park near London’s Buckingham Palace, where some of the tributes are being taken, long lines of bouquets now snake around the park allowing mourners to read the tributes. 

Other well-wishers have attached their messages of condolence to trees. 

Britain last saw such a display of public mourning in 1997 following the death of Charles’s first wife, Princess Diana, after she was killed in a car crash in Paris. 

“It reminds me of Diana 25 years ago,” Helen Soo, 59, said. “I was much younger in those days; I slept overnight in Hyde Park, and this is multiplied by 100 probably.”  
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Scaled-down celebrations took place Sunday in Denmark marking 50 years on the throne by Queen Margrethe, whose reign is now Europe’s longest following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Dampened celebrations were ordered Friday by the 82-year-old Margrethe — now also the only female monarch in the world — in respect for Britain’s late queen, who died Thursday at 96.

Margrethe asked her court to adjust Saturday’s and Sunday’s anniversary program at short notice, canceling — among other things — her appearance on the Amalienborg Palace balcony to greet throngs of well-wishers as well as a ride through the Danish capital of Copenhagen in a horse-drawn carriage.

Sunday’s events included a church service and a lunch hosted by Margrethe on board the Danish royal ship Dannebrog for the royal couples and presidents from the fellow Nordic countries of Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

A music and theater gala honoring the Danish monarch took place Saturday evening and a gala dinner at Christiansborg Palace — the seat of the Danish Parliament — was taking place late Sunday.

Margrethe was proclaimed queen Jan. 15, 1972, a day after her father King Frederik IX, died following a short illness.

The 50th anniversary jubilee for the Danish queen was initially scheduled for January but most events were canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The body of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has been taken from Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she died Thursday, to Edinburgh. Over the coming days, members of the public will have the opportunity to visit the coffin and pay their respects to Elizabeth, who held the British throne for seven decades.  

The hearse, accompanied by royal officials and security personnel, left Balmoral Castle shortly before midday Sunday, the beginning of Elizabeth’s long and final journey to lay in peace.   

Balmoral

The convoy tracked slowly through the majestic Scottish hills, a landscape treasured by the late monarch, where she spent her final peaceful weeks of life. In years past, the queen was frequently seen visiting these remote Scottish villages when she resided at Balmoral Castle, an area she loved – and she was well loved in return. 

Residents gathered on the roadside to glimpse her for the last time and to say goodbye. The silence spoke of the shock that is still felt at her passing – and the respect in which the late queen was held in communities across Britain.   

Some onlookers threw flowers as the hearse passed by; many in the crowd shed tears. Gentle ripples of applause followed as the convoy continued southward.  

Emotional farewell

“We’ve known (her) for all our lives. So, it’s been the one constant thing in the whole of our lives – the queen,” said Stephanie Cook, a resident of the village of Ballater, close to Balmoral.  

After a six-hour journey, the hearse crossed the River Forth toward the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. Along the Scottish capital’s Royal Mile, thousands waited to see the cortege.   

Fiona Moffat traveled from Glasgow to witness the moment. She fought back tears as she described her emotions.   

“A very historic moment. I am quite speechless actually. She was a lovely lady. Great mother, grandmother. She did well. I am very proud of her,” Moffat told The Associated Press.  

Elaine Robertson, visiting Edinburgh from her home in Ayr on Scotland’s west coast, was also in tears. “I think it is just important to be here. Just important to say goodbye. She has been on the throne for a long time. So, yes, it means a lot,” Robertson said.  

Lie in state

The coffin will lie in Edinburgh’s St. Giles Cathedral, where members of the public will be invited to pay their respects.  

On Tuesday, the queen’s body will be flown to London. It will first be taken to Buckingham Palace, and then transferred in a public procession led by Elizabeth’s son, King Charles III, to the 11th-century Westminster Hall, where she will lie in state for four days. The hall will be open 23 hours a day for visitors. It will be guarded by soldiers from the royal household.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to travel to Westminster to pay their respects.

“She has been an exemplary head of state in terms of her devotion to her people and to her job,” said royal historian and author Robert Lacey. “And then I think the other thing to take away, which is inevitable in all these crowds and expressions of emotion, it’s the enduring command that the British monarchy holds over the emotions of people in Britain,” Lacey told The Associated Press.  

The funeral is scheduled for Monday, September 19 at Westminster Abbey. The coffin will then be taken to Windsor for the committal service, where the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, was laid to rest in April 2021. 
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