Voters in Chile have overwhelmingly rejected a new constitution which was due to replace the one drawn up under Gen Augusto Pinochet’s military rule. In a referendum, almost 62% voted against the progressive draft. The margin of the defeat is much larger than opinion polls had suggested. Chile’s President Gabriel Boric, who had backed the new constitution, said he would work with Congress and civil society to come up with a “new constitutional process”. “We have to listen to the voice of the people” who, he said, had clearly not been satisfied with the proposal put forward by the constitutional convention. He said he would continue working to reach a proposal that would “fill us with confidence and unite us all”. The process to replace Chile’s military rule era constitution started three years ago after mass protests rocked the nation, which is normally seen as a haven of stability in the region.(BBC)…[+]

Gas prices have soared on concerns over energy supplies after Russia announced it would not reopen its main gas pipeline to Europe. The Dutch month ahead wholesale gas price, a benchmark for Europe, was up as much as 30% in early trading on Monday. The Nord Stream 1 pipeline had been due to reopen on Saturday after being shut for three days. But Russia’s state-owned energy firm Gazprom said it had found a leak. Europe has accused Russia of using gas supplies to blackmail European countries because of the Ukraine conflict, which Moscow denies. A Kremlin spokesman said on Monday: “Pumping problems arose because of sanctions imposed against our country and against a number of companies by Western states, including Germany and the UK.(BBC)…[+]

Kenya’s Supreme Court has ruled that William Ruto was properly elected president, dismissing several petitions seeking to annul the result of the 9 August election. His rival, Raila Odinga, and others had alleged that massive fraud, including tampering with results forms, had taken place. Mr Ruto garnered 50.5% of the vote in the closely fought election. The 55-year-old will be sworn in as the country’s fifth president next week.

The UN’s Food Prices Index has fallen for the fifth month in a row, in a sign that one of the main pressures pushing up the cost of living around the world could ease. The index fell to 138 in August and is now lower than it was before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The countries were both major exporters of crops including sunflower oil, corn and wheat. The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation says July’s UN backed deal to re-open Ukrainian ports has eased cereal and vegetable oil prices. That has meant more supplies have been able to reach international markets.(BBC)…[+]

FBI agents found dozens of empty folders marked as classified during a search of Donald Trump’s home last month, a court document shows. The document, made public by a Florida court, provides an inventory of the contents of 33 boxes recovered from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate. It also shows top secret files were recovered from his personal office. Mr Trump, who is being investigated over his handling of classified records, denies wrongdoing. Previous court filings have confirmed the ex-president held classified records in storage areas at Mar-a-Lago, but the document unsealed on Friday showed dozens of files were found in Mr Trump’s office. Among the items recovered from that room during the unprecedented 8 August search were: 3 documents marked confidential

Members of the G7 have agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil in a bid to hit Moscow’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine. Finance ministers said the cap on crude oil and petroleum products would also help reduce global energy prices. The cap will be set at a level based on a range of technical inputs. “We will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” the G7 said. Russia said it would stop selling oil to countries that imposed price caps. “Companies that impose a price cap will not be among the recipients of Russian oil,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The G7 (Group of Seven) consists of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. The group is an organisation of the world’s seven largest “advanced” economies, which dominate global trade and the international financial system.(BBC)…[+]

Japan’s digital minister has “declared war” on floppy disks and other retro tech used by the country’s bureaucrats. Around 1,900 government procedures still require businesses to use the storage devices, plus CDs and mini-discs, Taro Kono said. He said regulations would be updated to allow people to use online services. Despite its reputation for innovative high-tech gadgetry, Japan is notorious for clinging to outmoded technology through its office culture. Floppy disks – so-called because the original products were bendable – were created in the late 1960s, but were falling out of fashion three decades later thanks to more efficient storage solutions. More than 20,000 typical disks would be needed to replicate an average memory stick storing 32GB of information. But the legacy of the square-shaped device can still be witnessed to this day, as their visual appearance inspired the traditional “save” icon. A Japanese government committee has discovered about 1,900 areas in which businesses are required to use storage media like floppy disks when making applications or holding data.(BBC)…[+]

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s last leader, the Kremlin has confirmed. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin’s work schedule would not permit him to attend the event on Saturday. He said the Russian leader had paid his respects at the Moscow hospital where Gorbachev died on Tuesday, aged 91. Gorbachev’s reforms helped end the Cold War, but saw the demi se of the Soviet Union, which Mr Putin has lamented. Warning: some readers may find the video below distressing. In 2005, the Russian president said the break-up of the USSR was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] Century”.(BBC)…[+]

People in southern Pakistan face yet more devastation after record floods blamed on climate change submerged a third of the country, killing more than 1,100 people. A surge of water is now flowing down the Indus river, threatening communities in southern Sindh province. Local officials say 1.2 million people have been displaced in Dadu district in Sindh, where hundreds of villages are submerged – and there is still more water coming.

Mudslides and flood waters are travelling down from the mountains towards villages in this district. The military is evacuating the stranded by plane and many others by boat. Thousands more are still on the flood path and need to be moved – but there isn’t much time. An official who is part of the operations on the ground tells me they’ve been working in the region for a month now.(BBC’)…[+]

A Mexican woman who served time in jail for her links to drug trafficking is suing Netflix and TV channel Telemundo. Sandra Ávila Beltrán argues that the TV series Queen of the South is based on her life, her lawyer told the Mexican newspaper Milenio. Ávila Beltrán says her story was used without her consent and is demanding that she be paid 40% of the royalties. As well as the TV series, there have been narco ballads written about her by Tigres del Norte and other bands. Ávila Beltrán, 61, was infamous in Mexico even before the Netflix series was broadcast. Known as Queen of the Pacific, her life story certainly reads like the script of a telenovela – the hugely popular Latin American soap operas with many plot twists and turns. Her uncle is Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, one of the founders of the powerful Guadalajara drug cartel. At 21, she married a policeman who allegedly became corrupt and did deals with the local drug lords. He was assassinated shortly after their son was born.(BBC)..[+]