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NEW British Prime Minister Liz Truss and her cabinet stands fully behind King Charles III, Downing Street said on Friday following the death of Elizabeth II.

“The Cabinet was united in their support for His Majesty the King, as he and the United Kingdom continue to mourn the passing of his mother,” a spokesperson said.

King Charles III and the royal family began observing a mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II that will last until seven days after her state funeral.

“Following the death of Her Majesty The Queen, it is His Majesty The King’s wish that a period of Royal Mourning be observed from now until seven days after The Queen’s Funeral,” the palace said in a statement.

“The date of the funeral will be confirmed in due course,” it added.

Royal gun salutes were fired in n Hyde Park and at the Tower of London on Friday at 1pm, with one round fired for each year of the queen’s 96-year-long life.

An online Book of Condolence has been opened on the official royal website, royal.uk. | AFP

Denmark

DENMARK’S Queen Margrethe II has called off some weekend events to mark the 50th anniversary of her accession following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, the palace has said. The Danish queen is Elizabeth’s third cousin.

A scaled-down gala theatre performance A lunch with Nordic royals will go ahead as planned today, as will as a downsized gala banquet at the Christiansborg Palace.this is the second time Margrethe, who acceded to the throne in January 1972, has had to put off her jubilee celebrations, marking the actual anniversary last January with a smaller celebration due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Margrethe is also the only current reigning queen in Europe. | AFP

EU

The governments of the EU’S five big economies said on Friday they would implement a global minimum corporate tax next year by “any possible legal means”, if Hungary does not lift its opposition at the EU level. Hungary blocked the bloc’s adoption of a 15% minimum corporate tax at the last minute in June, preventing a deal that would have turned a global reform into law across the bloc. “Should unanimity not be reached in the next weeks, our governments are fully determined to follow through on our commitment,” finance ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands said in a statement. | AFP

Ukraine

UNITED Nations investigators said they had documented more than 400 arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances by Russian forces in Ukraine, and dozens by Kyiv’s troops. Matilda Bogner, head of the UN Rights Monitoring Mission present in Ukraine since 2014, decried a rise in rights abuses since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February. Speaking from Odessa on Friday, she detailed thousands of civilian deaths, and said her team had verified that Russian forces and affiliated groups had arbitrarily detained or were involved in the disappearance of 416 people in areas they occupy or control. | AFP

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