More than one in five Swedes voted for the radical anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) party in elections on Sunday. Now the second-largest political party in the country, its anticipated 73 MPs are expected to play a crucial role in supporting a ruling right-wing coalition – if not a formal position in the government itself. It would be the first time the nationalist party has come anywhere close to the levers of power in Stockholm. A focus during the election campaign on issues around immigration and violent crime have put the SD’s agenda at the heart of mainstream Swedish politics like never before. It is a watershed moment for a party founded by Nazi sympathisers, shunned for decades by the mainstream – and now on the cusp of playing a kingmaking role in a country better known for its stable and predictable politics. According to the latest election figures, the SD won 20.6% of votes cast on Sunday – making it the largest in a bloc of right-wing parties now with a collective majority in parliament.(BBC)…[+]
english news
Pakistan floods ‘likely’ made worse by warming
Global warming is likely to have played a role in the devastating floods that hit Pakistan, say scientists. Researchers from the World Weather Attribution group say climate change may have increased the intensity of rainfall. However there were many uncertainties in the results, so the team were unable to quantify the scale of the impact.The scientists believe there’s roughly a 1% chance of such an event happening in any coming year.
In the two months since flooding began in Pakistan, tens of millions of people have been affected, with around 1,500 dying because of the rising waters. The intensity of the downpours saw the river Indus burst its banks, while landslides and urban flash floods swamped many areas. Right from the start, politicians pointed to climate change as having made a significant contribution to the desperate scenes. But this first scientific analysis says the picture is complex. Certainly, the crippling heatwaves that gripped India and Pakistan earlier this year were easier to attribute, with researchers finding that climate change had made them up to 30 times more likely to happen. But extreme rainfall events are hard to assess. Pakistan is located on the edge of the monsoon region where the rainfall pattern is extremely variable from year to year.(BBC)…[+]
PnB Rock: Rapper shot dead in LA waffle house in suspected robbery
US rapper PnB Rock has been shot dead in an apparent robbery at a Los Angeles restaurant. The musician, 30, was with his girlfriend when a gunman reportedly demanded jewellery before opening fire inside a waffle house in the south of the city. Police found PnB with multiple gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead in hospital 45 minutes later. No arrests have yet been made over Monday’s shooting. Los Angeles Police Department Capt Kelly Muniz said a suspect approached a couple inside Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles and demanded they hand over personal items. She told reporters at the scene this led to “some sort of verbal exchange” before the victim was shot several times and fell to the floor. The suspect then “removed items from the victim”, she said, before running to a waiting getaway car and fleeing the scene. US media has said law enforcement sources confirmed the rapper was the target of the attack.(BBC)…[+]
Jean-Luc Godard: Legendary film director dies at 91 by assisted suicide
Film director Jean-Luc Godard, who spearheaded the revolutionary French New Wave of cinema, has died at 91. Godard burst onto the scene with 1960’s À bout de souffle (Breathless), which started a run of acclaimed releases that rewrote the rules of film and influenced directors from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino. A family representative said he died by assisted suicide in Switzerland. French President Emmanuel Macron said Godard “had the vision of a genius”. In a tribute on Twitter, Mr Macron wrote: “He was like an apparition in French cinema. Then he became a master of it. “Jean-Luc Godard, the most iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers, invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We have lost a national treasure, a man who had the vision of a genius.”(BBC)…[+]
Twitter shareholders approve $44bn Musk deal
Twitter’s shareholders have voted to approve a deal with Elon Musk to buy the company for $44bn (£38bn). The decision was made in a short conference call with investors from the company’s San Francisco headquarters. It means Twitter will now try to force Elon Musk to buy the company in the courts. The meeting followed explosive testimony from Twitter’s former head of security Peiter Zatko in front of the US Senate. In April, Twitter agreed to sell the company to the world’s richest person, Elon Musk. However, the deal soured after Mr Musk alleged he was misled by Twitter about the number of spam and bot accounts on the platform. He said he no longer wished to purchase the company in May, but Twitter argues that Mr Musk cannot back out of the deal.(BBC)…[+]
What will Russia’s losses mean for Putin?
You can normally expect Russian state TV’s flagship weekly news programme to trumpet Kremlin successes. But yesterday’s edition opened with a rare admission. “On the frontlines of the special operation [in Ukraine], this has been the toughest week so far,” declared sombre-looking anchor Dmitry Kiselev. “It was particularly tough along the Kharkiv front, where following an onslaught by enemy forces that outnumbered ours, [Russian] troops were forced to leave towns they had previously liberated.” For “liberated”, read “seized”. Moscow had occupied those areas months ago, but after a lightning counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army, the Russian military has lost considerable territory in north-east Ukraine. Still, Russian state media are putting a brave face on things. Officially, what happened in Kharkiv region isn’t being referred to here as a “retreat”. “The Russian defence ministry dismissed rumours that Russian troops fled in disgrace from Balakliya, Kupiansk and Izyum,” claimed the latest edition of the government paper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “They didn’t flee. This was a pre-planned regrouping.”(BBC)…[+]
Charles III: Antigua and Barbuda plans vote on King’s role as head of state
Antigua and Barbuda will vote on whether to become a republic following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the country’s prime minister has said. Gaston Browne said a referendum could take place within three years – but emphasised that the move was “not an act of hostility”. He made the comments after confirming Charles III as King and head of state of the Caribbean nation. Mr Browne said he intended to introduce the referendum if re-elected next year. While he expects to win that election – his party holds 15 of the 17 seats in the House of Representatives – he accepted that there hadn’t been any major demand to hold a vote among citizens. “I think most people haven’t even bothered to think about it,” Mr Browne told ITV News. Earlier, Australia ruled out a similar vote within the next four years. The Queen’s death has reignited Australia’s monarchy debate, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was elected in May, is a republican. But he ruled out a poll in his first term and told Sky News that “the bigger questions about our constitution are not ones for this current period”. “This is a period in which we are sharing the grief that so many Australians are feeling at the moment, showing our deep respect and admiration for the contribution of the Queen to Australia,” Mr Albanese said.(BBC)…[+]
Japan could lift cap on foreign tourists to lift economy
Japanese officials may further relax border controls for foreign travellers as a way to boost its economy, local reports say. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara told local TV a weak yen was “most effective in attracting inbound tourism”. The yen slid to its lowest point against the US dollar in 24 years last week, dropping as much as 1.7 percent. He said a cap on daily entries could be lifted in the “not so distant future”. Japan has barred most foreign visitors for the last two years amid measures to slow the spread of Covid. Last year, overseas visitors were even banned from the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. However earlier this month the number of foreign tourists allowed to enter the country was raised to 50,000 per day from 20,000, and tourists were no longer required to travel with a guide.(BBC)…[+]
France clamps down on delivery depot ‘dark stores’
France has taken steps to outlaw so-called dark stores – city-centre food depots used for instant home deliveries ordered over the internet. Faced by growing protests from local people as well as city authorities, President Emmanuel Macron’s government has decreed that the stores be classified as warehouses, rather than as shops – meaning that in Paris and other cities most will probably be forced to close. Run by half a dozen competing companies such as Gorillas, Cajoo, Getir, Flink and Gopuff, “dark stores” have proliferated in France as elsewhere over the last two years after Covid confinement popularised internet food shopping. Advertising in Paris urges householders to get their food delivered in less than 10 minutes – or “quicker than a double by Benzema”, referring to the French football star. A campaign by Cajoo shows “Alex” doing his shopping by smartphone while sitting on the lavatory.(BBC)…[+]
Ukraine has retaken 1,000 square kilometres in a week – Zelensky
Ukraine claims to have retaken more than 1,000 sq km (385 sq miles) of territory in its south and east from Russia in the last week. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the area had been “liberated” as part of a counter-offensive since 1 September. More than 20 villages in the Kharkiv region have also been recaptured, another general claims. Russian forces have disputed some of the advances, which if confirmed would mark a significant victory for Ukraine. Kyiv has liberated “dozens of settlements” near the north-eastern Kharkiv region so far this month, President Zelensky said in his nightly address on Thursday. In a separate Facebook post Ukraine’s army claimed that in the last three days alone its troops had advanced 50km (31 miles). (BBC)…[+]
