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Ferocious fight among Brazil’s supreme court erupts on eve of presidential election

Brazil’s supreme court has been thrust into what experts consider the greatest crisis since the return of democracy in the 1980s, as two rival judges lock horns on the eve of the presidential election with unpredictable consequences for Latin America’s largest democracy. The politically charged dispute exploded into public view on Tuesday as judges traded insults and accusations during a heated supreme court hearing that was livestreamed into millions of Brazilian homes. During one of the most ferocious exchanges, one of the judges at the eye of the storm, Alexandre de Moraes, berated his rival, André Mendonça: “You’re at the service of a political group that tried to launch a coup in this country!” “It’s a lie!” Mendonça cried back. Minutes later, a third judge, Gilmar Mendes, angrily accused Mendonça of weaponizing the court’s work to cause political chaos and influence October’s presidential election. “Don’t point your finger at me, Minister Gilmar! Don’t point your finger! You’re not talking to any old person! Show some respect to this court!” Mendonça warned Mendes, who shot back: “Respect is earned, not given.” The courtroom drama – in many ways a proxy for the electoral battle between the leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his far-right rival, Flávio Bolsonaro – pits Moraes, a pugnacious shaven-headed martial arts practitioner, against Mendonça, a Presbyterian pastor who is the only openly evangelical member of the 11-seat court. Moraes was appointed almost a decade ago by rightwing president Michel Temer. But the 57-year-old judge is widely associated with Lula thanks to his successful prosecution of Flávio Bolsonaro’s father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro, for plotting a botched coup after losing the 2022 election to the leftwing veteran. Mendonça, meanwhile, was named during Jair Bolsonaro’s 2018-23 presidency and leftwingers widely view him as a stooge for the disgraced ex-president, who is serving a 27-year sentence for his failed power grab. With less than three weeks to go until the election, the two judges have gone to war, as Brazil’s biggest-ever banking scandal has snowballed into a judicial and political crisis of similarly shocking proportions. The Banco Master scandal began last November when the playboy owner of that collapsed bank, Daniel Vorcaro, was arrested by federal police as he prepared to board a private jet from São Paulo to Malta. Investigations uncovered apparent links between the jailed banker and an astonishing panoply of figures from Brazil’s political and judicial elite, foremost among them Flávio Bolsonaro and Moraes. Other members of the supreme court and their relatives have also been linked to Vorcaro. Mendonça has been accused of deliberately fast-tracking the investigation into Moraes, while stalling the inquiry into Vorcaro’s ties to the Bolsonaros and the banker’s bankrolling of a film about Jair Bolsonaro. Earlier this month, Mendonça unsealed an explosive police dossier relating to the Banco Master investigation that contained compromising WhatsApp exchanges apparently between Vorcaro and Moraes as well as a copy of a $25m contract between Banco Master and the law firm of Moraes’s wife. In one text message, sent two days before his arrest, Vorcaro asked Moraes: “Do you think … I need to get out [of the country]?” Moraes hit back on the eve of Tuesday’s hearing, claiming he was being smeared with politically-motivated “criminal lies” as part of a revenge attack by the rightwing forces behind the coup attempt that culminated in the January 2023 riots in Brasília. Moraes also alleged that the attacks on him involved “external actors” and were part of a possible foreign attempt to interfere in Brazil’s election. The Moraes/Mendonça tussle reached a crescendo on Tuesday as supreme court judges convened in Brasília to decide whether an investigation should be opened into Moraes’s conduct. Moraes has demanded an investigation into Mendonça. The judicial scandal has exploded just as Brazil’s election campaign is coming to a head, with polls suggesting a dead heat between Lula and Bolsonaro, who are likely to face off in a second-round run-off on 25 October. “The timing is awful. We are just a few weeks away from elections that already look to be challenging for a democracy that has been struggling to deal with extremist and anti-democratic groups that continue to be an important political force in the country. So I think we have a perfect storm here,” said Eloísa Machado, a constitutional law professor who follows the supreme court. Machado said Lula had “absolutely nothing to do” with the scandal engulfing Moraes and the supreme court, noting how the leftwing president had not appointed the judge. Even so, the crisis looks likely to hurt Lula’s chances of winning a historic fourth term, given the widespread public association between him and Moraes because of the judge’s involvement in Jair Bolsonaro’s jailing. In a social media video posted as Tuesday’s hearing played out, Flávio Bolsonaro blamed the judicial scandal on Lula’s administration but made no mention of his own alleged ties to Vorcaro. “This [is happening] because the current government ... is part of this decaying system and we are now seeing this rotten system reveal itself before the eyes of the entire nation,” Bolsonaro said, claiming Lula had “shared power” with Moraes. Thomas Traumann, a political analyst, predicted the scandal would accelerate the election campaign’s descent into a carnival of mudslinging, as both sides battled to convince voters of their rival’s sins. “This campaign is going to get dirtier much faster than we had expected,” he said.

Carney says Canada will pursue ‘unique economic alliance’ with EU amid US trade spat

Mark Carney said Canada will pursue a “unique security and economic alliance” with Europe as he positions his country as a base to build in the “new global economic order”. Speaking to investors, company executives and government ministers at the inaugural Canada Investment Summit on Tuesday, the prime minister pitched Canada as a “safe harbour” and lucrative home for foreign capital as his government looks to reduce its reliance on trade with the United States. Over the last 18 months, the relationship with the US has fractured, leaving Canada searching for ways to avert economic devastation. “The world is becoming more divided and dangerous. Sovereignty and openness are now in tension. Economic integration is being weaponised. Tariffs are used as leverage,” Carney said – a nod to the Donald Trump’s penchant for trade levies. “Canada recognised the rupture earlier than most. Our response reflects the two lessons we have taken from it: First, we must take care of ourselves, and second, we must take care of each other. Taking care of ourselves means building our strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad.” While Carney has referred to the trade spat as a “war”, there was a duelling sense of optimism at the summit among senior Canadian officials that the country’s more global perspective could usher in hundreds of billions in fresh investment into the country. That shift has been exemplified in recent weeks by Carney’s effort to strengthen Canada’s economic and political ties to the EU. Noting in his remarks at the summit that Canada is the only non-European member of Europe’s defence procurement initiative, the prime minister said his government will pursue a “unique” relationship with the bloc. He mused about the range of possibilities, including the prospect of visa-free travel and work between the two that has been raised in recent days, but said Canada and the EU were in early stage of talks. Carney will be the guest of honour at the European parliament’s plenary meeting in Strasbourg this week. He will attend European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s annual state of the union speech on Wednesday, where she is expected to sketch out new areas for EU-Canada cooperation. On Thursday, Carney will address MEPs in von der Leyen’s presence. The commission president hastily changed her plans to stay in Strasbourg, after being criticised over her initial “unacceptable” decision to skip Carney’s speech and return to Brussels. European officials are seeking to bring Canada as close as possible to the EU short of membership. But it will not be called associate membership, as the EU seeks to maintain a clear distinction between members and nonmembers. The long experience of Brexit negotiations cemented the EU’s preference not to split the four freedoms of its single market – free movement of people, services, goods and capital – so any deepening of the Canada relationship will be built around this red line. More immediately, the EU hopes to improve ties on raw materials and energy. Javier Moreno Sánchez, a Spanish socialist MEP, who leads the European parliament’s Canada delegation, said he wanted to hear “concrete steps” from von der Leyen on how to improve the EU-Canada relationship, calling for greater mobility for professionals, more student exchanges, joint work on defence and artificial intelligence. “Canadians are the most European people outside Europe and that is the key point for the development of our relationship,” he said. “Due to the difficult geopolitical geoeconomic situation in the world and the difficult relationship we have, both Canada and the European Union, with our traditional partner, the United States, I think it is the moment to have a closer relationship with Canada.” The EU and Canada already have a wide-ranging relationship, including a free-trade agreement and separate deals on digital cooperation, raw materials, research and a shared green alliance. Earlier this year, Canada became the first non-European country to join the EU’s €150bn defence loans scheme, meaning greater opportunities for Canadian defence firms to supply Europe. But irritants persist. Ten EU member states, including France, Italy and Poland, have not ratified the landmark EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) nearly a decade after it was signed, meaning parts of the deal are yet to enter into force. French lawmaker Valérie Hayer, Emmanuel Macron’s ally in the European parliament, acknowledged the problem. “In the French parliament this agreement has yet to be ratified, notwithstanding the [trade] figures which are extremely good. That is why I call on political leaders [in France] to do their bit to act responsibly as elsewhere to make sure that we [the EU] can count for more in world affairs.” Hayer’s centrist Renew group, only the fifth-largest in the European parliament, is calling on EU member states and the commission to speed up Ceta ratification and launch an awareness-raising drive so European and Canadian companies have better knowledge of the trade opportunities. But ahead of a year of big elections – in France, Italy and Poland – progress on ratifying the 10-year-old agreement looks uncertain. EU-Canada’s trade in goods and services hit €130bn in 2025, an 80% increase since 2016 when Ceta was signed. But this pales in comparison to trade with the US, which is worth nearly US$880bn. Despite a deliberate push to increase global trade, Carney acknowledged the geographic realities of Canada’s proximity to its southern neighbour, and the reality, which most economists concede, that the US will remain Canada’s largest trading partner. “We will always be neighbours, and Canada will continue to be the US’s most important partner in many key areas,” he said. These arrangements work when we engage as true partners that respect each other’s traditions and sovereignty.” In recent weeks, Trump has both threatened Canada’s economy and mused about a North America under the umbrella of an expanded US. Event host Erik Schatzker told attendees that Canada was neither a “bystander nor a victim” in the dramatic geopolitical shifts that have defined the Trump era. “Canada is a protagonist. Canada has agency. Canada is defining its own future.” Carney said foreign investment has dramatically increased and the federal government was on track to balance the operating budget one year ahead of schedule, an announcement that received applause from the crowd. He announced a corporate tax “mega-deduction” that would help compete with similar incentives in the US allowing companies to immediately deduct 100% of the cost of new investment across more assets than previously permitted. Carney also confirmed Canada would open four of its major airports to foreign investment in order to “unlock their true value”. The prime minister also said his government would “apply [the] lessons” of instances in which allowing partial private investment had failed. But that theme – soliciting hundreds of billions in foreign investment while also reshoring domestic capability – has frustrated some. Ahead of the summit, thousands gathered in downtown Toronto for the Many vs the Money counter protest. Organisers said public money should not be used to reduce the risks of private investment while communities are left to shoulder the social and environmental costs of these projects. “Mark Carney’s here selling Canada to the international community,” said Stephen Hill, a lone protester standing outside the hotel as key figures arrived to the prime minister’s speech. “I’m Canadian. We’re an Aboriginal-led investment coalition. We want in. But you can’t get a returned email. You can’t get a returned phone call. You can’t get through to his ministers. So I’m here from British Columbia to try and get his attention and to tell him to think of Canadians first.” Ahead of Tuesday’s summit, the prime minister’s office announced nearly C$500bn in new domestic investment. “Canada has what the world wants,” Carney said during media availability late Tuesday morning. “The difference, this week, is that we didn’t cross an ocean to make our case. The world came to us … but what matters most is what we do for ourselves.”

People from ethnic groups feel racial equality is worsening, UK study shows

Many Britons feel inequality is worsening and that discrimination has become more common, according to a thinktank study. The report by British Future has found that people across ethnic groups believe racial equality is worsening in Britain. One in six people are from ethnic minority backgrounds. “Most ethnic minorities in Britain feel there was a positive change against racism in our lifetimes yet now fear that progress being reversed,” said the thinktank’s director, Sunder Katwala. The research found nearly half of ethnic minority respondents had faced racial or nationality prejudice over the past year, with the problem notably higher among those aged 18 to 24. Prejudice was most often reported in public spaces, followed by on social media and in the workplace. The research found that 62% of ethnic minority Britons saw racial inequality as a serious problem, a view supported by 57% of the white population. White respondents were less likely to see structural barriers in education, work and public services and more likely to believe minority communities received equal or preferential treatment. The report, part of a three-year study funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found a growing polarisation over perceptions that minorities received preferential treatment. Among white respondents, 37% felt ethnic minorities were treated better than white British people, while 33% disagreed. Among ethnic minorities, 23% agreed and 48% disagreed. The report found divisions by age and politics were deeper than those relating to ethnicity. “In both the white and ethnic minority surveys, gaps between rich and poor are seen as the most important divide impacting the UK,” the report said. The research was driven by two online surveys of 2,009 white adults and 3,014 ethnic minority adults between 30 March and 29 April. It was supplemented by information from 12 focus groups. The study noted a difference within ethnic minority attitudes, finding Black respondents were frequently more positive about the UK making progress on racial equality. By contrast, Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage respondents were found to be more pessimistic, with heightened anxiety seemingly linked to the 2024 riots. “Women, particularly ethnic minority women, are also more pessimistic than men throughout,” the report said. The study found that ethnic minority Britons would like to see more effort to promote equal pay and tackle disparities in essential services and unequal treatment in media reporting. This was brought into “sharp focus”, the report said, by the intense media scrutiny on Jason Arday, a Cambridge University professor who died at his London home after allegations of plagiarism. The report, which criticised successive governments for having “rarely held” a sustained focus on race, laid out 10 recommendations for the government, including challenging zero-sum thinking, supporting grassroots activities and pushing the watchdog Ofcom on compliance against online racism. Overall, it found low trust among political parties. While the Green party and Labour led narrowly in terms of treating people of different backgrounds fairly (+15 and +13 in net trust scores respectively), Reform UK had a net score of -31 (16% trust/47% distrust). Katwala said leaders should “counter the sense of a zero-sum contest over race equality: that fairness for ethnic minorities comes at the expense of the white majority, or vice versa”. He added: “The antidote to that is to pursue a broad and proactive fairness agenda – with the confidence and tools to tackle racism and discrimination where it is most needed.”

Houthis threaten more Saudi strikes as UN warns of humanitarian crisis in Yemen

Saudi cities faced the threat of a second day of Houthi attacks as fighting across Yemen led the UN to warn of a humanitarian crisis with 100,000 Yemenis already displaced. As oil prices remained well over $100 (£74) a barrel, Qatar warned of a catastrophe if the Iran-backed Houthi militants won full control of the Bab al-Mandab strait, the narrow waterway at the bottom of the Red Sea dominating the key naval route to Asia. The strait has become vital to Saudi crude oil exports as the wider Middle East war chokes the strait of Hormuz in the Gulf. An emergency meeting of the UN security council in New York heard repeated calls for Houthi forces to show restraint. In a sign that Iran is still seeking a broader solution, its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, travelled to Beijing to discuss China’s possible role in solving the related strait of Hormuz dispute. The future of the strait of Hormuz – through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas transited in peacetime and which the US and Iran are now mounting blockades of – is the diplomatic key to unlocking the conflict between the US and Iran, and to a lesser extent the related conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. Oil prices rose sharply after Reuters reported that ⁠loadings at Saudi Arabia’s ⁠Red ⁠Sea port of Yanbu had ⁠been suspended, citing shipping industry sources. The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose nearly 3% to $108 a barrel. Prices have risen this week after the ⁠world’s biggest crude ‌oil exporter, Saudi Aramco, ‌closed its East-West ‌pipeline due to an attack by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis. Aramco had increased ⁠use of the Yanbu terminal since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February. Qatar, acting as a mediator in the Iran war, is still trying to revive a postponed meeting planned for Monday between Iran and most Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The planned talks in Oman were delayed at the insistence of Saudi Arabia in protest at what it regarded as Iranian-inspired Houthi attacks on Saudi cities. The Houthis had claimed responsibility for a new “large-scale” attack using “dozens of ballistic missiles and drones” against King Khalid airbase in Khamis Mushait, southern Saudi Arabia, on Monday. Air raid sirens were activated in six governorates including Jeddah on Tuesday. The warnings were lifted relatively quickly, but reflect an unprecedented new state of insecurity across Saudi Arabia. The Oman meeting had been organised with the intention of reaching a regional agreement on an authorised route for commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke with Oman’s foreign minister, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, on Tuesday amid US concern that Oman will cede excessive control of the waterway to Iran. The prospect of the Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab straits both being under the long-term control of anti-western forces would be a significant strategic reversal for the US and Europe. The Qatar foreign ministry official Ibrahim al-Hashmi told reporters: “The world is suffering enough with the closure of the strait of Hormuz, so we cannot also afford to add the Bab al-Mandab into that equation.” He added that the closure of the southern entrance to the Red Sea would be “catastrophic for the entire world … and we are already seeing the consequences”. The strait of Hormuz remained largely closed for commercial traffic on Monday and Tuesday, with a Qatar ship disabled by Iran and only four ships recorded as crossing the strait on Monday compared with a prewar average of about 130 ships. So far Donald Trump has rejected Saudi pleas to join the fight to drive the Houthis back north up the coast of the Red Sea. Houthi leaders have also spoken to the US vice-president, JD Vance, reassuring the White House that their forces are seeking only to hinder Saudi-owned shipping, and that their overall goal is to end what they regard as a Saudi blockade of Houthi-controlled areas. The Houthis have signed a ceasefire agreement with the US, but are still subject to US sanctions. The UK is unlikely to offer direct military, as opposed to political, support to Saudi Arabia unless there is a clear instruction from Washington to do so. Inside Yemen the next military engagement is likely to focus on the city of Marib where Saudi air raids have been trying to weaken Houthi formations. Yemen’s ministry of foreign affairs and expatriates said: “If the world wants stability and calm in the region, it must tell the Saudis: enough interference in the Yemeni affair.” Rather than giving direct military help, western governments are providing intelligence, including targeting advice as well as strategic help in the task of trying to integrate the disparate anti-Houthi forces in Yemen. But Maysaa Shuja al-Deen from the Sana’a Center thinktank said: “Any renewed military campaign must be accompanied by a serious reassessment of past mistakes, meaningful reform of the Yemeni government, stronger coordination among anti-Houthi forces, and a more balanced relationship between Yemeni actors and their regional partners.” She added: “In many cases, the Saudis choose Yemeni figures who are weak, easily manipulated, and willing to follow their orders. If they instead chose competent, strong actors who could implement a shared agenda, they would also gain the respect of other competent Yemeni figures. “This approach contrasts with the Iranian and Emirati models, which have generally given their local allies more room to manoeuvre while building relationships around specific objectives and clearer mandates.” Due to the weakness of the UN-recognised government in Yemen, various militias with different ideological or regional loyalties operate alongside the official national army. Together on paper, the number of anti-Houthi forces could reach as many as 500,000 troops but in practice not all these forces cooperate or are willing to fight outside their area. Saudi Arabia gives support to Yemen’s Homeland Shield Forces while the United Arab Emirates had backed both the 80,000-strong Southern Transitional Council’s Giants Brigade and a 20,000-strong force led by Tareq Saleh. But the UAE, after backing separatist forces in the south, has now pulled out of Yemen.

Emma Bonino obituary

In 1974 the Italian feminist activist and later politician Emma Bonino, who has died aged 78, became pregnant. A doctor had told her that she was “sterile”. She attempted to get an abortion and found a doctor in Florence who was willing to help her – for a fee. Bonino felt humiliated and angry – all abortions were illegal in Italy at the time – and became involved with the Radical party, an organisation interested in civil and human rights, and the growing feminist movement. She and other militants set up a network of centres “for sterilisation and abortion” (CISA) across Italy that challenged the law by providing safe and free abortions. A magistrate in Florence issued an arrest warrant for her and others for the crime of “organising abortion”. In June 1975 she went to vote in regional elections in her home town of Bra, outside Turin. She asked the president of the polling station – who had once been her teacher – to have her arrested after voting. Outside the Carabinieri station, Bonino, smiling, held up her hands in the feminist “triangle” symbol. The crowd applauded. The photo made all the front pages. Bonino said that she did not want any other woman to go through what she had. The press reported in 1976 that thousands of abortions had been arranged this way through the CISA networks – all of them classed as crimes. Bonino spent time in prison in the forbidding Le Murate complex in Florence. Along with the other militant prisoners, she asked not to be released. Her imprisonment was a powerful political weapon. She was then released and in 1976 elected to the chamber of deputies for the Radical party. For complicated political and legal reasons, the whole process with regard to Bonino dragged on for years, right into the 1990s. She was never actually sent to trial, although others were, and were cleared, after decades. At this time an extraordinary political movement emerged in Italy around civil and political rights and the growing feminist movement. The mechanism of the referendum had been inserted into the Italian constitution in 1948: a referendum to abrogate laws could be held if 500,000 signatures could be collected. Using this device as well as non-violent direct challenges to the law, the Radical party pushed for reforms that made divorce, abortion and contraception legal in just a few years. These changes were confirmed through huge victories in referendums, which had come up against the full force of the Christian Democrat party and the Catholic church. Bonino was one of the key leaders of this movement. Born in Bra, Emma was the daughter of Catterina (nee Barge) and Filippo Bonino, and grew up partly on a farm, something which she described later as “deeply boring”. She studied modern languages and literature at the elite Bocconi university in Milan (1967-72). Her thesis analysed Malcolm X’s autobiography – a sign of the times. There were many facets to the 1968 movement, many of them interested in the use of violence, and calling for “revolution”. The Radical party, on the other hand, was deeply practical and also connected to the politics of personal life. It stood outside the major, more traditional and conservative parties on the left and the right, and was a natural ally of the feminist movement. In the Radical party Bonino formed an unlikely partnership with the bear-like, charismatic, flamboyant and unpredictable leader Marco Pannella. However, the two later fell out and there was no rapprochement before Pannella’s death in 2016. It was under the pressure of referendums in 1978 that two extraordinary reforms were passed in a short period of time. Italy’s infamously slow-moving political system had been forced into action. First, in May that year, in response to the threat of a referendum, Law No 180 called for an alternative to psychiatric hospitals and led to an entirely new system of mental health care. Then the Law No 194 legalised abortion, and was confirmed with a huge vote after a referendum was organised by those opposed to it in 1981. The abortion law was by no means perfect – Bonino saw it very much as a compromise – but it has survived to this day. Feminists and radicals also set up local health centres where women could go for advice around contraception and pregnancy. It was the victorious culmination of the campaigns that had seen Bonino’s arrest in 1975. Bonino’s campaigns continued into parliament. In 1978 she called for the resignation of the Italian president, Giovanni Leone, after allegations of corruption appeared in a book by the journalist Camilla Cederna. Leone did resign. But in 1998 Bonino publicly apologised to him after many of the accusations proved to be unfounded. The issue of miscarriages of justice became a central one for the Radicals, who took up the shocking case of the popular TV presenter Enzo Tortora, arrested in 1983 over false “supergrass” allegations that he was linked to drug trafficking and the Camorra. He was elected as a Radical party member of the European parliament in 1984, gaining immunity until his trial and sentence to 10 years’ imprisonment in 1985, overturned on appeal in 1987. In 1994 Bonino and the Radicals backed Silvio Berlusconi’s first government, and her appointment as European Commissioner for four years from 1995 was seen as a quid pro quo for this support. For many on the left, this was a deep betrayal, and it blackened the reputation of the Radical party, which went through a bewildering number of name changes and alliance choices, confusing those who had seen Bonino as firmly part of the 70s movements for change. In 1999 Bonino was a candidate for the presidency of the republic: in the event, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was elected by parliament with a huge majority. However, her “Bonino list” surprisingly won more than 8% of the vote in that year’s European elections, electing seven MEPs, though this success was short-lived. Bonino would later mark her distance from Berlusconi on a number of issues, and was made a minister for European affairs in Romano Prodi’s centre-left administration (2006-08), as well as holding the high-level institutional position of vice-president of the Senate. In 2013 she was briefly foreign minister in another centre-left administration. An inspiration to many activists and feminists, Bonino was a pioneer for women in politics. When she was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 she often appeared with different and beautiful headscarves. She never spoke about her private life in any detail, although it later emerged that she had been entrusted with two young children for a time in the 70s. In interviews she told how difficult it was to “give back” these children to their natural families. A convinced internationalist, Bonino was a strong believer in European identity and the EU. She took part in protests around – for example – genital mutilation and the war in Yugoslavia. She was seized by the Taliban for a few hours in the 90s while campaigning for women’s rights in Afghanistan and moved to Cairo for a number of years in the 2000s. There she learned Arabic and campaigned, as ever, on civil rights. There was even an extraordinary and unlikely encounter with Pope Francis in her flat in Rome in 2024, with both in wheelchairs. Never boring, always active, never free of deep contradictions, Bonino was one of the most exceptional political figures in postwar Italy. Her death has led to a huge debate in the country over her legacy, and the continuities and breaks between her activism in the 70s and her long political and institutional involvement. She was certainly an inspiration for women both inside and outside the institutions, despite all the inconsistencies of her political career, which she finished as senator for Rome (2008-13 and 2018-22). She is survived by her siblings Domenica and Giovanni. • Emma Bonino, activist and politician, born 9 March 1948; died 11 September 2026

Russian warship fires flares at Danish helicopter as Nato jets shoot down drone over Lithuania

A Russian warship fired two emergency flares at a Danish helicopter in the Baltic Sea and an Italian Nato fighter jet shot down a drone carrying an explosive device over Lithuania in what the EU described as “reckless and dangerous” Russian behaviour. Poland also scrambled fighter jets “due to the activity of Russian jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory”, the day after Polish security forces retrieved a suspected Russian drone adrift in its waters. German authorities, meanwhile, were searching for more debris on Tuesday from a drone believed to have crashed on Monday near Lake Steinhude in the Hanover region, a little more than half a mile from the German Bundeswehr’s airbase in Wunstorf. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the incidents in Denmark and Lithuania were not isolated but “part of a broader pattern of Russian aggression and provocation against Europe testing our readiness and our resolve”. She added: “Russia will find our resolve only growing stronger.” The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, also condemned “reckless action from Russia towards Denmark’s military”, adding: “Russian actions are meant to intimidate and divide. They will not succeed. We will not waver.” Denmark’s armed forces said in a statement that one of its air force’s Fennec helicopters “was fired at with flares during a routine photographic operation of a Russian frigate” which was in international waters off southern Denmark. The frigate had fired “two flares towards the helicopter” on Monday, the military’s statement said. “One of the flares passed at close range to the helicopter.” No warning or radio contact was given before the flares were fired and they came within “a matter of metres” of the helicopter, the Danish defence minister, Jeppe ‌Bruus, said. He said the ‌helicopter had been following standard procedures to photograph the vessel, an operation carried out “many times” in the past. The Danish foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said on Tuesday he had summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident. “Russia is gradually shifting the boundary for what they consider acceptable behaviour,” he said. “This is completely unacceptable and could have put human lives at risk. That is something we cannot accept,” he said. The Danish straits are the main sea route in and out of the Baltic Sea for commercial and military shipping. Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, said it was “not the first time” Danish helicopters had “carried out dangerous manoeuvres near Russian warships”, accusing this one of “provocative actions” against the Russian frigate. The Lithuanian president, Gitanas Nausėda, said early on Tuesday a drone “that just entered Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by Nato fighter jets”, adding: “With Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region.” The drone fell near the village of Pratkūnai, about 60 miles (100km) west of the capital, Vilnius, and near the Kaunas reservoir, and had most likely entered the country’s airspace form Belarus, Lithuania’s national crisis management centre said. The centre’s head, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, told LRT public radio the drone had remained in Lithuanian airspace for about 30 minutes and had flown along the outskirts of populated areas before being intercepted. Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said it “most probably” came from Russia and his Lithuanian counterpart, Robertas Kaunas, said an explosive device had been “discovered and subsequently neutralised” during a search of the site, near a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant. Lithuania’s foreign minister, Kęstutis Budrys, said Nato allies had been informed about the incident and discussions were under way “both in the EU and Nato, because it is obvious that we all still have a lot of homework to do”. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – all of which are Nato members and share a border with Russia – have regularly reported drone incursions since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A Nato fighter shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia in May. European officials have said Russia has been diverting Ukrainian drones meant to strike industrial facilities and oil terminals in the St Petersburg region on the Gulf of Finland. Poland said early on Tuesday it had launched “aviation operations” in its airspace because Russian jet-powered drones were “conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory”. The operations were “preventive” and concluded without any violation of Polish airspace being observed, it later said. They came after the country’s defence minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said on Monday that the military had located ⁠and recovered a Russian drone from the Baltic Sea near the beach in Rusinowo, close ‌to the coastal town of Jarosławiec. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has repeatedly said Nato countries should expect an increase in provocations from Moscow. A Russian drone hit ‌a passenger train on Ukraine’s border with Poland on Sunday, shortly after the former British prime minister Boris Johnson and other foreign diplomats had used the same line. In the Netherlands, train services were severely disrupted by deliberate ⁠acts of sabotage in more than 30 places around the country, the national rail infrastructure operator said, adding that it was not yet known who was responsible. The Dutch rail infrastructure operator, ProRail, said lengths of steel pipe had been “deliberately” attached to railway tracks in more than 30 locations, mainly in ⁠rural areas in the middle and the east of the country. “We are classifying this as sabotage of railway infrastructure,” ‌a ProRail spokesperson, Joke ‌van der Cruysen, said. All trains in the vicinity of the track blockages were halted, while there were also serious disruptions elsewhere, including to international services ‌to Germany. The Dutch intelligence agency, AIVD, said it was investigating the incidents, which were uncovered hours before King Willem-Alexander opened a ‌new session of parliament on Tuesday with a speech setting out the government’s 2027 budget plans. Angry farmers set hay bales and tyres alight alongside several main roads later on Tuesday, forcing authorities to close them and seriously affecting traffic. The militant Farmers Defence Force said it was not responsible for the railway sabotage, but could not rule out farmers taking action individually. Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report • This article was amended on 15 September 2026. Kęstutis Budrys is Lithuania’s foreign minister, not defence minister as stated in an earlier version.

Explosive device found on drone shot down in Lithuania, says minister - as it happened

And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today. A drone shot down in Lithuania last night was carrying an explosive device, Lithuanian defence minister Robertas Kaunas said (15:32). The drone crossed into Lithuanian airspace from Belarus (13:05) and was downed near a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant in Kruonis, minister confirmed. The drone was shot down by Italian fighter jets operating as part of a Nato mission (10:25), with the Italian defence minister saying it “most probably” came down from Russia (14:33). Meanwhile, Denmark summoned the Russian ambassador to Copenhagen after a Russian warship fired two emergency flares at a Danish army’s helicopter in the Baltic Sea in the latest of incidents attributed to Moscow (9:58). Russia denied responsibility for the incident, blaming Denmark (12:25, 12:45). The EU (15:07) and Ukraine (12:37) offered their support to Denmark. Separately, The Dutch authorities are investigating who could be behind a series of suspected sabotage attacks that disrupted the operation of its railways, including on a number key transport routes across the country (10:03, 11:40, 13:26). The final results of the Swedish parliamentary election are now not expected before Thursday, with a higher-than-usual number of votes yet to be counted (10:30). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Imran Khan’s sons accuse Pakistani army chief of vendetta against imprisoned father

The sons of Imran Khan have accused Pakistan’s powerful army chief of a “personal vendetta” against the incarcerated former prime minister and expressed fears their father is being “slowly killed” in jail, as international pressure mounts over his prison conditions. Kasim Khan, 27, and Sulaiman Khan, 29, have become strong advocates for the release of their father, who has been held in Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since his arrest in 2023, and is serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges. They have not been allowed to speak to Khan for more than six months and have been prevented from travelling from the UK to Pakistan to lobby for his release. On Wednesday, the supreme court will rule on a case alleging the Pakistan government has been in contempt of court by denying Khan private hospital treatment for a worsening eye condition and preventing family from visiting him or speaking with him in jail for more than six months, in violation of a court order. Khan is being held in solitary confinement, in a cell alleged to be 6ft by 8ft. Later this month, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – the political party Khan founded in 1996, four years after retiring from international cricket – is planning a nationwide march demanding his release. Speaking to the Guardian from London, Khan’s sons – from his first marriage to Jemima Goldsmith – said they were “deeply, deeply concerned” about their father’s health, and that the conditions he was being kept in amounted to “a form of mental and physical torture”. “The reality is that he is locked in a tiny 6x8ft cell without human contact,” said Sulaiman. “He hasn’t been allowed new books for months and he’s not been allowed to see or speak to his family or a neutral doctor. He has an eye condition which was neglected for months and has meant he’s probably almost lost sight in one eye.” Late last month, Sky Sports aired an interview with Khasim and Sulaiman during its coverage of a test match between England and Pakistan. The Pakistan Cricket Board, which has close links to the government and whose chair is also the interior minister, made a formal complaint to Sky Sports after the broadcast and the Pakistani team threatened to refuse to return to the field after the lunch break. “It shows how out of touch they are with the rest of the world, that they thought they could silence media like they do at home,” Sulaiman said of the complaint. “It just exposed them for the authoritarian regime that they are.” The UN has said Khan’s prolonged detention violates international law and the UN’s special rapporteur on torture said his solitary confinement and detention conditions could amount to psychological torture. Sulaiman said the family had been told their father, 73, had also been diagnosed with high blood pressure. “More than anything, we just want to speak to him and make sure he’s OK,” he said. Khan’s sons said they were particularly concerned that the “cruel” treatment was being driven by a “personal grudge” by Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of defence forces and army chief. When Khan was the prime minister, he unceremoniously demoted Munir, and the bad blood between them was well known. When Munir was made army chief in 2022, the persecution of Khan increased notably. “It’s very clear this is being driven by personal grudge and that’s one of the reasons he’s being treated so harshly, on the orders of Asim Munir,” said Sulaiman. Munir’s powers expanded over the past year as he established himself as a close ally of Donald Trump, who referred to him as “my favourite field marshal”. Last month, the supreme court ruled that Khan should be taken to a private hospital for treatment for a blood clot in his retinal vein, believed to have destroyed 85% of the sight in his right eye because of a prolonged lack of medical attention. Khan was instead taken briefly to a government hospital, where he was given several injections and ruled fit to return to prison, prompting outrage from his family and political party. “There’s still been no light shed on our father’s real condition from an unbiased, neutral physician,” said Kasim. “We believe they’re trying to slowly kill him in there. Just as soon as there’s less pressure, we are sure they will put even harsher restrictions on him and try to finish him off. “The one with the real vendetta here is the army chief Asim Munir.” In a statement, the Pakistan government called the allegations around Khan “fake propaganda” and said he was being kept in adequate conditions, with access to home-cooked food, nuts, bottled water, exercise equipment, family visits and regular medical examinations. “The government of Pakistan categorically rejects allegations that the convicted prisoner is being subjected to punitive solitary confinement, cruelty or deprivation,” the statement said. It was widely acknowledged that Khan came to power in 2018 with the backing of Pakistan’s military, widely referred to as the “establishment”, which has long held an oversized role in the country’s governance. Khan had promised to build a “naya Pakistan” (new Pakistan), which would end corruption and follow the rule of law. However, his time in power was plagued by allegations of corruption, press censorship and persecution of his opponents. He was toppled in 2022 after falling out with his military benefactors. He then began a campaign calling for the generals to be kept out of government. By 2023, as his accusations against the military grew, Khan turned from alleged persecutor to the persecuted. He was arrested and charged with more than 100 crimes, including alleged corruption and sedition, which he claims are trumped up to keep him out of power. Despite his toppling and imprisonment, Khan still remains popular. “They want to do everything they can to sideline him and disappear him from public life,” Kasim said. Sulaiman said that while it was “clear the establishment think they can get away with it without any kind of repercussions”, it was also evident the government had been rattled by international coverage of Khan’s case. Khan’s sons said that while they were keen to travel to Pakistan, their visas had still not been granted more than nine months after applying. They emphasised they had no interest in entering politics in Pakistan or leading Khan’s PTI party in his absence. “We definitely don’t want to get involved in politics in Pakistan in the long term,” said Sulaiman. “Our father always said that one of the biggest problems with Pakistani politics is this dynastic nepotism; that power’s been held by just two families for the last 40 years. It’s a sign of what’s wrong with the political system in Pakistan.” Speculation has abounded on whether Khan would strike a deal with the military to secure his release. Khan’s closest aide, Zulfi Bukhari, said: “There is only one deal Khan would ever accept: the restoration of democracy, the rule of law and the people’s mandate in Pakistan. If they’re genuinely willing to do that, then fine – let’s talk.” Kasim and Sulaiman said they did not believe Khan would give up his politics to secure his release. “He’s a very single-minded person,” said Kasim. “I don’t think there’s a chance that he’d ever give it up.”