Giorgia Meloni looks set to become Italy's first woman prime minister at the head of its most right-wing government since World War Two after leading a conservative alliance to triumph at Sunday's election.

Concerts by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters were cancelled by a venue in the Polish city of Krakow, organisers said yesterday, after the artist’s comments on the war in Ukraine caused a storm of criticism.

Italians voted yesterday on whether to usher in the country’s first government led by the far right since World War II, bringing eurosceptic populists to the heart of Europe.

Ukraine yesterday said that the southern port city of Odessa was attacked by Iranian-made drones overnight, two days after a Russian attack with such a weapon killed two civilians.

The official death toll has doubled to 35 in a crackdown by Iran’s security forces on more than a week of protests that erupted after the death of a young woman in custody. 

Hilary Mantel, the first British novelist to win the Booker Prize twice and who sold millions of books around the world, has died aged 70.

Sensitive information about almost 10 million Australian telecoms subscribers may have been compromised by a massive hack of the country’s second-largest provider, the firm revealed yesterday.

Gusts of 100 miles an hour and driving rain buffeted Bermuda early yesterday, leaving thousands without power and fearing coastal damage as Hurricane Fiona, a powerful Category 3 storm, slid past the Atlantic island.

The head of the World Health Organization on Thursday tempered his assertion that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic was near, warning that declaring the crisis over was “still a long way off”.

The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its gaze away from the deep universe towards our home Solar System, capturing an image of a luminous Neptune and its delicate, dusty rings in detail not seen in decades, says Nasa.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev yesterday said that any weapons in Moscow’s arsenal, including strategic nuclear weapons, could be used to defend territories incorporated in Russia from Ukraine.

Apple farmers in the north of Italy are using natural refrigerators carved under a hillside to store their harvest in a controlled environment that remains at a constant temperature in all seasons.

France said on Monday that there would not be a better offer for Iran to revive a nuclear deal with world powers and it was up to Tehran to decide now with the EU coordinator for the talks saying he saw little chance of progress this week.

A lack of international collaboration risks undermining efforts to decarbonise polluting sectors and could lead to decades of delay on the road towards net zero emissions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday.

The laying to rest of Queen Elizabeth II, whose 70-year reign witnessed the aftermath of World War II, the Cold War and dizzying technological change, marks a further step in a leave-taking with the 20th century.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, who died on September 8 aged 96 and whose funeral was taken place yesterday, never gave an interview during her 70-year reign, but her regular public speeches sometimes gave an insight into her private thoughts.  Here is a selection of extracts from speeches, addresses and contributions to documentaries given by the queen:

The European Union’s executive branch recommended Sunday that the bloc suspend around 7.5 billion euros (dollars) in funding to Hungary over concerns about democratic backsliding and the possible mismanagement of EU money.

Alain Robert, the free climber dubbed the “French Spiderman”, scaled a 48-storey skyscraper in Paris on Saturday, fulfilling a goal he had set for himself once he reached the age of 60.

6:30 am (0530 GMT): The lying-in-state ceremony formally ends at Westminster Hall and the doors close to the public, ready for the transfer of her coffin to nearby Westminster Abbey.

Britain’s new Queen Consort Camilla paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II yesterday for carving her own role as a “solitary woman” in a world dominated by men.