All the international news you might have missed this week

It may be hard to believe it but there has been some other news this week.

While the death of Queen Elizabeth II was always going to dominate headlines at home – though it is still a daily surprise by just how much if you turn on the television – that hasn’t stopped other notable events from happening overseas.

Ukraine’s advances in its war against Russia have been so important that they have even managed to punctuate the blanket of news that is laying heavily on the UK. As important as Kyiv’s gains are, the signs of dissent in St Petersburg and Moscow are equally of interest.

The rise of the far-right across Europe seemingly continues, with stunning gains in Sweden by the Sweden Democrats party at the weekend. And the ideas of right-wing parties continue to make headlines. Denmark, like Britain, is trying to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and inched closer to a deal with the African government at the weekend. And populist Hungary has announced that it is moving to tighten its abortion rules, for the first time since 1956.

Elsewhere, all-out conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan threatens in the Caucasus again, with 49 Armenian soldiers killed earlier this week, a potential war that could draw in major powers, including Russia, and a wildfire started in France, during September.

The UN claimed 50 million people are trapped in poverty, Zimbabwe is struggling with a looming food crisis due to the failure of maize crops and in the UAE there was a mass sacking of journalists merely for reporting rises in fuel prices.

In Hong Kong, five people were jailed for publishing children’s books, Pakistan was still trying to recover from recent ruinous floods, religious tensions continued in India, and China’s leader is to meet Vladimir Putin.

In America, disgraced conspiracy-ranter, Alex Jones, was up in court again for telling grieving Sandy Hook parents that their children weren’t actually gunned down at school but it was all a hoax. Steve Bannon was indicted for alleged fraud, Jair Bolsonaro slipped further in the polls as the Brazilian presidential election inched closer. And rumours over the fate of Donald Trump following the FBI raid on his Florida home grew.

It may have gone unnoticed in a country with its head bowed for the past few days but real life continues elsewhere.

Yours,

David Harding

International editor