The EU has the world’s most comprehensive digital rulebook covering social media, online retailers and search engines, with plans for more rules this year.

In 2024, the EU adopted a sweeping AI law known as the “AI Act”, but its rules have been introduced in stages.

Here’s what will happen on Sunday:

The EU’s law takes a risk-based approach to the technology.

The higher the risk to Europeans’ rights or health, for example, the greater the obligations of firms to protect individuals from harm.

It also bans AI used for predictive policing, emotion recognition systems in workplaces or schools and AI that manipulates human behaviour.

From Sunday, AI-generated content like deepfakes must be labelled, while firms must ensure their AI systems like chatbots make it clear to users they are AI.

Existing AI systems have until December 2 to adapt to the new rules, and there are exemptions for “artistic, creative, satirical, fictional” work.

On Sunday, European regulators in the AI Office will have the power to enforce the bloc’s rules on the most advanced AI models.

The regulatory body attached to the EU executive will be made up of dozens of tech experts, lawyers and economists.

The AI Office will be able to test the most advanced general-purpose AI models like chatbots to ensure they comply with the law.

Companies must also give the EU access to their models, and in some cases the EU can demand access before they are placed on the market, an EU official said.

The EU will also be able to restrict a model’s deployment in the EU if it has concerns that aren’t addressed by the provider.

The powers arrive at an opportune moment. The EU struggled this year to get access to American AI developer Anthropic’s Mythos model, but the rules kicking in on Sunday mean an issue like that shouldn’t happen again.

National authorities will be able to enforce the rules for smaller AI systems.

If the EU finds companies breaking the rules, it can force them to take action to remedy the breach and fine the firms if they fail to do so.

The stiffest fines are for businesses that allow their systems to conduct banned practices — up to seven percent of a company’s annual worldwide turnover or 35 million euros ($40 million), whichever is higher.

For other violations, companies could be fined up to three percent of their global annual revenue or 15 million euros. They may also be fined if they hinder or fail to cooperate with EU probes.

More rules under the AI Act will be enforceable later this year and beyond.

From December, there will be a ban on artificial intelligence systems generating sexualised deepfakes, introduced following the global outrage over non-consensual nudes produced by Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok.

The EU is also delaying the implementation of some high-risk AI rules concerning models deemed as potentially dangerous to safety, health or citizens’ fundamental rights — to give companies more time to prepare.

The rules will apply for stand-alone high-risk AI systems from December 2027 and in August 2028 for AI tools embedded in other products.

An open letter from the leaders of 22 of the EU’s 27 members demanded the bloc’s interior ministers have a video meeting “as a matter of urgency” to agree a speedy coordinated response, and to “prevent further uncontrolled crossings”.

“We have a duty to effectively deter and relentlessly combat illegal migration,” it said.

Ireland, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said the meeting would take place on Tuesday.

EU foreign policy chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the move, saying the bloc needed “a lessons learned process to improve our European resilience,” while adding that “not a single person reached mainland Spain or the rest of the EU” during the influx.

The EU letter was initiated by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose country has temporarily suspended Schengen-area rules with Spain, and by her Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, who said on Friday that the EU should consider suspending Schengen cooperation with Spain.

Meloni on X wrote that “the line that Italy has long supported is today shared by an ever-growing number of European Nations. Defending the external borders of the Union is not the interest of a single Nation. It is a shared responsibility of Europe.”

Among the other signatories are German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the prime ministers of Hungary, Sweden and Poland, but not the French and Portuguese leaders, whose countries directly border Spain.

“We cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings, the instrumentalisation of migration or other hybrid threats to create the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible,” the letter said. “Such a perception would encourage further attempts, undermine confidence in our common migration policy and have repercussions for all Member States.”

It suggested that “ministers should in particular consider enhanced Frontex support and the effectiveness of EU cooperation with Morocco.”

“We take note that no unauthorized onward movements have been recorded towards Europe,” it added. Spain’s interior ministry said Saturday that nearly all of the 60,000 migrants who breached the border since Wednesday had left and the situation in Ceuta was nearly back to normal.

The agreement extended a decades-long bilateral arrangement that expired on Monday which allows the operation of Baghdad’s only functioning export pipeline, the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline (ITP).

“While our efforts continue toward a new long-term agreement for this pipeline… we have implemented this transit arrangement covering a daily capacity of 750,000 barrels,” the minister said on X.

Bayraktar said he had a “productive” meeting in Ankara with Iraq’s oil minister and his delegation and they signed the one-year deal  between Turkish state energy company BOTAS and Iraq’s state oil companies SOMO and NOC.

The extension allows time for talks on a more comprehensive agreement. Turkiye wants the pipeline, with a capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), to be fully utilised and possibly extended to southern Iraqi oil fields.

The pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan currently carries around 170,000 bpd, according to Turkish data.

Italy does not share a land border with Spain but the measure - which looks certain to anger Madrid - will impact people travelling by plane or boat between the two countries, meaning they will need to show a passport to gain access.

Italy’s interior ministry said in a statement it had also agreed with Paris to strengthen controls along the Franco-Italian land border to try to prevent any undocumented migrants from crossing.

Critics of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government dismissed the move as a symbolic gesture aimed at a domestic political audience, with no evidence that the migrants in Ceuta had any intention of heading to Italy.

The decision to halt the Schengen pact came after Spain said it had reversed the rush of migrants into its enclave in North Africa, with most of the more than 50,000 people who had crossed the border heading back voluntarily.

Meloni’s coalition, which came to power in 2022 promising to reduce illegal immigration, has faced strong pressure from a new far-right party led by former army general Roberto Vannacci, whose anti-migrant rhetoric has resonated with some voters.

With migration once again dominating headlines, the government has sought to demonstrate a tough stance on border security. Centre-left opponents accused it bowing to a populist agenda.

“The problem is that this is a purely demagogic proposal, as usual designed for domestic consumption and to compete with Vannacci, without solving anything at all,” said Piero De Luca, a senior lawmaker with the centre-left Democratic Party.

The Schengen Area allows passport-free travel across 29 European countries, although member states can temporarily reintroduce border controls on security or public-order grounds.

The Italian interior ministry said border police would carry out “targeted, selective checks” on third-country nationals arriving from Spain to verify that they had the documents needed for travel within the European Union.

The Spanish government’s representative in Ceuta said 57 bodies had been recovered on the Spanish side of the border and that there could be additional casualties on the Moroccan side. It said some drowned and some were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater that holds the border fence.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said around 50,000 people had crossed the border since Thursday morning, and estimated that 48,300 had returned by 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Friday. Juan Jesus Vivas, head of Ceuta’s local government, said as many as 60,000 people had pushed across over the past couple of days.

Moroccan forces beat back crowds with batons and tear gas at the gates to Ceuta, trying to prevent more from entering the tiny Spanish territory that juts on a spit of sandy land into the Mediterranean from Morocco.

The rush on the border caused division in Europe, where leaders of fellow EU states called for Spain to ensure that the incident was contained.

Italy said it was suspending the European Union’s border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain, a measure set to affect people travelling by plane or boat between the two countries. Madrid said the move violated EU treaties.

‘i’m going back’

Reuters at the enclave’s border saw Moroccan police in riot gear using tear gas to disperse some of the people amassed near the fences. Water cannon trucks were deployed and the charred remains of a bus and seven cars could be seen from clashes with the crowds.

On the other side, Spanish military vehicles lined up along sections of the border as dozens of migrants watched from a hilltop in Morocco, unable to cross.

Several hundred people could be seen returning to Morocco through border posts and holes in the fence, with some saying they could not find food or shelter in Ceuta.

“Honestly, I don’t even know why I came, and now I’m going back,” a young Moroccan man, who said he was from Tangier, told Reuters. “I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday, even though I brought some money with me … What we’re doing is neither good nor enjoyable.” Ayman, a 20-year-old hairdresser from the port city of Larache who only gave one name, told Reuters he had crossed on Wednesday after a five-hour swim. “There was no food inside Ceuta and we were kicked out badly by the (Spanish) army,” he said.

Unprecedented scale of crossings

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez travelled to Ceuta on Friday, where he was greeted with insults from protesters. He called the mass crossing “a violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty” and said authorities were speeding up the repatriation of those who had entered illegally, with full cooperation from Morocco.

Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish autonomous cities in northern Morocco, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. Both periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe, but the scale of Thursday’s rush appeared unprecedented.

Right-wing parties around the continent blamed the incident on Spain’s comparatively lax migration policies, including an amnesty granted to hundreds of thousands of unauthorised migrants this year.

Spain summoned the Italian ambassador to protest earlier comments by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who claimed Spain’s amnesty policy had “encouraged human trafficking”.

US President Donald Trump, a long-time critic of Spain’s Socialist-led government, told a cabinet meeting the Ceuta crossings “look like an invasion”, adding: “That same thing’s going to happen to us if the Republicans don’t get elected, except worse,” referring to upcoming midterm elections.

Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police presence on the Spanish border would be quintupled by Saturday, while reinforcing aerial surveillance and patrols on trains. EU countries are normally barred from conducting checks at internal frontiers of the bloc’s Schengen zone, though checks can be reimposed temporarily under exceptional circumstances.

In a post on X, Spain’s Guardia Civil police association AUGC said there had been too few police in place to monitor the fence during the surge on Thursday, making them unable to stop the rush.

Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres said that among factors contributing to the surge may have been a ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court earlier this month that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily rejected at the border. Experts say that still does not prevent their expulsion.

On the Moroccan side of the border, thousands of migrants streamed into the town of Fnideq overnight despite a reinforced deployment of security that foiled most attempts to cross. Some began leaving again later on Friday.

Although the crossing appeared blocked, groups moved along the coast seeking routes around the fence.

“I was late,” said Brahim, 32, who gave only one name. He said he had arrived from Tangier hoping to cross through the gate but found it effectively shut.

The ​region is home to a Lukoil-owned oil ​refinery. Five people are seeking medical help after the ⁠attacks, Bocharov added on Telegram.

In the neighbouring ​southern region of Rostov, a woman was injured ​after a drone attack in the town of Gukovo, regional governor Yuri Slyusar said on the messaging app.

Drone strike near Suez Canal raises new security threat

Ukraine ​has recently stepped up attacks on Russian logistics ​hubs, such as those of top online retailer Wildberries, as ‌it ⁠keeps up strikes on energy facilities that have triggered a supply crisis across most of Russia.

Wildberries, with a few of its warehouses hit as ​recently as ​Thursday, said ⁠on Telegram it had paid a second tranche of financial support to ​nearly 100,000 sellers whose goods were damaged.

Ukraine, ​with ⁠its own cities under constant Russian attack, says its strikes deep inside the neighbour are “long-range sanctions” designed ⁠to sap ​Moscow’s war-fighting capacity and ​force it to end the 4-1/2-year conflict.

The mayor of Fermoselle, where the fire started on Wednesday, gave the number of hectares and told AFP the village faced “hell” and a “tunnel of flame” in the blaze, which follows days of larger wildfires west of Madrid.

Emergency services for the Castilla y Leon region said 800 people were evacuated from the path of the new blaze.

Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) was deployed to the Level 2 fire – a classification that triggers extra support from the central government.

Raul de la Fuente, a senior fire official in the Castilla y Leon regional government, said the fire was burning through a ravine and threatening to reach another village, with strong winds forecast.

“We are focusing our efforts in stopping that from happening,” he told reporters.

Two other Level 2 fires - at Val de la Loba and San Cipriano del Condado – were active in the same Zamora province, in the Castile and Leon region which has already been hit by the largest fire in Spanish history since record-keeping began.

That fire in the Avila area has burned approximately 50,000 hectares (125,000 acres) of land.

The attacks come as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy returns from the United States, where he said President Donald Trump agreed to give Ukraine licences for Patriot missiles.

Air raid alerts sounded across most regions of Ukraine, with a Reuters witness saying explosions were heard in Kyiv.

A few non-residential sites caught fire, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.

One person was killed and two more injured in the capital, emergency services said, with six more, including two children, killed in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava.

In Zelenskiy’s hometown, the central city of Kryvyi Rih, two girls aged 5 and 12 were among six killed, with eight injured in what Oleksandr Vilkul, the city’s defence council head, said was a direct strike by a Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile.

Kyiv hit with missiles; Russia and Ukraine both report civilians killed in strikes

“A dark night,” Vilkul said on Telegram, adding that the missile, launched from Russia’s Voronezh region, struck the home of a large family, and warned the death toll could increase as emergency workers clear away rubble.

In Lviv, close to Poland, rescue workers were scrambling to clear rubble to reach those trapped after Russian missiles damaged two apartment buildings and injured 26, officials said.

Earlier, Zelenskiy had warned a massive Russian attack was likely, saying the safety of Ukrainians depended on the willingness of allies to provide anti-missile defences.

“It is important that our partners fully understand what is happening and that the protection of people’s lives depends directly on their willingness,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday its forces struck what it called military facilities across Ukraine, in areas from the capital Kyiv to Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk, as well as three cargo ships.

Poland, a member of the European Union and NATO, scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace amid Russian air strikes, its armed forces said on X.

Polish police in the Lublin region close to Ukraine’s border said on X they received a report of a loud bang heard in Bilgoraj county and discovered a crater and scattered debris from an unidentified object in a field.  

Attacks continue on Russia’s top online retailer

A warehouse of Russian top online retailer Wildberries caught fire in the western city of Penza after Ukraine’s drone attack, regional governor Oleg Melnichenko said on Telegram.

One person was injured and about 200 people evacuated from the site, he added, just a day after the company, which has become a frequent target of Ukraine’s attacks, evacuated another facility in central Russia.

Another of its facilities, in Sarapul in Russia’s Udmurtia region, also caught fire after a drone attack, the company said separately on Thursday.

Its losses pile on the pain for ordinary Russians, some of whom have made online sales their main source of income, as Ukraine continues hitting energy facilities and refineries, deepening the fuel crisis in the world’s largest country by area.

Drone strikes have damaged nearly a dozen Wildberries warehouses recently, destroying about 10% of storage capacity and inflicting losses on tens of thousands of small businesses using the platform, the company and local authorities say.

Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, has warned it may have to boost loan-loss provisions as attacks on Wildberries hit the finances of online retailers and their suppliers.

Russia downed a total of 258 drones overnight, its defence ministry said.

That figure covers Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war following Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

“Today I believe we are closer to that final objective” of “defeating the fire”, Sanchez told reporters in televised comments at a command centre in the town of Navalcarnero near the fire zone.

“Things are progressing favourably, with the greatest of caution,” he added.

“I believe the next 12 hours will be very important – they will be decisive for consolidating the work that has been done” by firefighters.

Emergency services have been working since last Thursday to put out the blaze in the Madrid region, and another in the nearby province of Avila which officials said is the worst in Spain’s recent history.

The blazes forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, many of whom have now been allowed to return home.

Sanchez said he hoped to announce “in the coming hours” that more residents, mainly in Avila, “will be able to begin returning to their homes”.

The wildfires have burned nearly 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) overall, according to authorities.

The talks come as both Kyiv and Moscow intensify long-range strikes and US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war remain stalled more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Relations between Zelensky and Trump have warmed since the start of the US president’s second term, with Trump this month offering Kyiv licenses to produce Patriot air defense missiles and suggesting Ukrainian strikes inside Russia could help end the war.

Zelensky is pushing for fresh supplies of anti-ballistic missiles, and a discussion on ways to revive diplomacy, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Our number-one priority is anti-ballistic defense and strategic cooperation with America. Peace needs to be brought closer,” Zelensky said on X after arriving in the United States.

Last month was the deadliest for Ukraine civilians since April 2022, according to the United Nations, as Russia increased its use of difficult-to-intercept ballistic missiles.

“It is crucial that Washington approve the purchase of a package of Patriot missiles. That is super important,” the Ukrainian official said.

Zelensky also plans to attend a memorial ceremony for senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Ukraine supporter who died unexpectedly this month at age 71.

‘Amazing job’

Since returning to power early last year, Trump has ended direct deliveries of US arms to Kyiv in favor of a program allowing European countries to buy weapons for Ukraine.

Washington nevertheless remains a major ally, supplying intelligence and access to the Starlink satellite system used for battleground communications.

Relations between the two leaders have recovered since their extraordinary Oval Office confrontation in February 2025, when Trump accused Zelensky of ingratitude and “gambling with World War III.”

At their latest meeting in Turkey this month, Trump praised Zelensky for doing “an amazing job” and offered Kyiv licenses to manufacture Patriot missiles.

Zelensky spoke last week with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about how to “reinvigorate diplomacy” after the Middle East war pushed Ukraine talks down Washington’s agenda.

Previous US mediation efforts foundered over Ukrainian territory claimed by Russia.

Sanctions push

After the White House meeting and Graham memorial, Zelensky was expected to address senators at 6:00 pm (2200 GMT), shortly before an initial procedural vote on a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill.

Graham had spent more than a year championing the measure and reached an agreement with the White House on revised legislation shortly before his death.

The bill has 62 Senate co-sponsors, but some Democrats are uneasy about provisions that would expand Trump’s power to impose tariffs on countries buying Russian energy.

Supporters hope a strong bipartisan vote will speed final passage and increase pressure on the House of Representatives, where the legislation faces deeper divisions.

The visit therefore presents Zelensky with an unfamiliar task: persuading Democratic skeptics after previous trips were dominated by hardened Republican opposition to aid for Kyiv.

That resistance has not disappeared. Last week, 76 House Republicans supported an unsuccessful attempt to cut off all US security assistance to Ukraine.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have meanwhile cooled since Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last August.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Monday that talks on an aerial ceasefire were underway and has warned that increased Ukrainian attacks inside Russia will prolong the war.

Ukraine has recently stepped up strikes on Russian oil depots, refineries and shipping, contributing to fuel shortages.

Hours before Zelensky’s meeting with Trump, Kyiv launched hundreds of drones at Russia, including Moscow.

Russia, meanwhile, fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight and has continued attacking the port of Odesa and ships carrying Ukrainian agricultural exports.

The lifting of the order means “residents can begin returning to their homes,” the ministry told AFP, without specifying how many residents were affected.

At a Civil Guard checkpoint near Chapineria and Navas del Rey – two villages that were fully evacuated several days ago –  a queue of more than 20 vehicles quickly formed after authorities announced the measure, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

Spain’s government declared a national emergency last week over wildfires that have forced some 60,000 people to flee their homes and consumed 77,000 hectares (190,000 acres) – an area almost the size of New York City.

The move came as authorities reported encouraging developments in the battle against fires that remain uncontrolled in parts of central and eastern Spain.

“We are at the stage of containing the fire,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters at the command centre in Navalcarnero.

“Our concern is to continue consolidating the fire and reach stabilisation,” he said, warning of a “difficult” weather situation as temperatures were expected to rise from Tuesday.

A similar easing of restrictions had already taken place in the eastern area of Castellon, where the municipality of Vall d’Uixo lifted a confinement order for residents on Tuesday morning.

Vorobyov accompanied his post with a photograph of a tall building with blown-out windows and black smoke rising from its top floors.

There were no casualties, Mikhail Sobakin, Chekhov’s mayor, said separately on Telegram later. Defences downed a few dozen drones elsewhere in the region, including in Podolsk, Domodedovo and Kolomna, Vorobyov said.

Three Chinese injured in drone attack on Moscow

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that over 390 drones were heading towards the region between late Monday and early Tuesday, of which 81 were downed close to the Russian capital city.

In Ukraine, Russian strikes killed one person and wounded seven others, local authorities said. In Rostov-on-Don, a major export hub near the Sea of Azov, a couple from the same family was killed and another five people were wounded, including two of whom were in critical condition, regional governor Yuri Slyusar said in a Telegram post.

Falling drone debris caused fires at a number of locations, including warehouses, and windows were blown out in a residential apartment building, he added.

In Belgorod, which, like Rostov-on-Don is close to Ukrainian border, a drone attack wounded 12 people, including two children, and caused a fire in a residential building, regional authorities said separately on Monday.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia regional governor Ivan Fedorov said a guided aerial bomb and drone attack killed one person and wounded two in the southern city, which has been under heavy bombardment in recent months.

Kyiv hit with missiles; Russia and Ukraine both report civilians killed in strikes

In Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, a Russian guided aerial bomb attack wounded five people, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said on Telegram.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war launched by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

It came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had carried out long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea against vessels transporting military cargo involving Iran, underscoring the increasingly international dimensions of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Zelenskyy has attacked an Iranian commercial vessel, killing a sailor,” Araghchi said on X, describing it as “a blatant UN Charter violation done at Israel’s behest to drag Europe into its war”.

He added that, during calls with the European Union’s Kaja Kallas and Russian top diplomat Sergei Lavrov, he “made clear that what the freeloader in Kyiv did CANNOT GO UNANSWERED”.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the attack caused the ship “to explode, killing one sailor and injuring several others”.

The Islamic republic “has never intervened in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine”, the ministry said in a statement.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media that armed forces had achieved “very strong results with long?range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship”.

Ukraine’s intelligence services, for their part, reported on Telegram that drone attacks had been carried out against “cargo vessels under international sanctions that were used to transport military cargo between Iran and Russia”.

According to Iranian state television, the foreign ministry summoned the Ukrainian charge d’affaires in Tehran on Saturday to protest this “hostile and criminal act”.

Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer, who announced he was stepping down last month, had a fraught relationship with Trump, who criticised him due to differences over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, immigration, energy ​and tech regulation.

While Trump initially described Starmer’s successor as “extremely liberal”, he said ​this week he had a “very good conversation” with Burnham, who became ⁠Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade on Monday.

In his first major interview ​since taking office, BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg asked Burnham if he was willing ​to call out Trump if he thought it was the right thing to do.

“All leaders have to do that. You have to defend your own national interest before anything else. That’s what ​you’re required to do if you’re to do this job properly,” he said.

The ​prime minister also said he would not call a general election before 2029.

“I’m going to ‌rule it ⁠out. Yeah, there’s no early general election. I don’t think people want it,” he said.

On Britain’s national defence, Burnham said he was “absolutely committed” to what was promised to NATO partners.

Burnham becomes PM vowing 10-year plan for Britain

“The first challenge facing us both is to ensure that the ​defence investment plan is ​fully funded, and ⁠that’s the thing that’s right in front of us, and we need to work that through as we go towards ​the budget later this year”, he said.

Burnham’s newly appointed Chancellor ​John Healey ⁠resigned as defence minister in the previous government after saying that, unless a commitment was made to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, Britain would not ⁠be safe.

“We’ve ​got to work out the way of doing ​that,” Burnham said when pressed on the 3% of GDP commitment.

The full interview will air on the ​BBC’s Panorama programme on Monday.

Berlin, july 2026 — Christopher street day

One ​person was killed and 17 others injured, several of them critically, after a vehicle ploughed into a ‌crowd near Berlin’s Pride celebrations on Saturday evening. Police were searching for the perpetrator or perpetrators, while the circumstances and possible motive remained unclear.

Leipzig, may 2026 — central pedestrian zone

Two people were killed and three others seriously injured when a car drove into a central ​pedestrian zone in Leipzig. Police arrested a 33-year-old German man, and Saxony’s premier said the suspect may have ​been suffering from mental health problems.

Mannheim, March 2025 — city centre crowd

Two people were killed and ⁠11 others injured when a 40-year-old man drove a car into a group of pedestrians in Mannheim. Prosecutors said ​there were indications the act was deliberate but found no evidence of a political or religious motive, adding that the ​suspect may have been mentally unwell.

Munich, February 2025 — labour union demonstration

A 24-year-old Afghan national allegedly drove a car into a labour union demonstration in Munich, killing a woman and her 2-year-old daughter and injuring dozens of others. German federal prosecutors have charged him with two counts ​of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, saying the attack was motivated by extremism. The suspect is ​currently on trial.

Magdeburg, december 2024 — Christmas market

Six people were killed and more than 200 injured when a car ploughed into a Christmas ‌market ⁠in Magdeburg. A Saudi national was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2026. Prosecutors said he acted out of frustration linked to a civil dispute and cited anti-Islamic views and far-right sympathies.

Bberlin, june 2022 — shopping district

A 29-year-old German-Armenian man drove into a crowd in a busy Berlin shopping district, killing a teacher and injuring 14 of her students after ​mounting the pavement. Prosecutors later ​said evidence found during a ⁠search of his home pointed to suspected paranoid schizophrenia.

Trier, December 2020 — pedestrian zone

Five people, including a 9-week-old baby, were killed and up to 15 injured when a drunken 51-year-old German ​drove through a pedestrian area in the western city of Trier.

Volkmarsen, February 2020 — carnival ​parade

A man drove ⁠his car into a carnival parade in the western town of Volkmarsen, injuring dozens of people, including 20 children. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment after a court found he had acted deliberately and with the intention to kill.

Berlin, december ⁠2016 — breitscheidplatz ​christmas market

Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked ​a truck, killed its driver and then drove it into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens. He ​was shot dead by police in Italy four days later.

Hours after the apparent attack many details remained unclear, but police said the vehicle struck multiple people after charging into the city’s central Tiergarten park close to the Brandenburg Gate. They later said they had identified as a suspect and were seeking his arrest.

“According to our latest information, the vehicle drove … into the ​Tiergarten around 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), injuring several people in the process, and then came to a standstill after hitting a tree here in ​the Tiergarten,” a police spokesperson at the scene said.

“It was empty, which is why we are currently working intensively to ⁠track down the perpetrator or perpetrators.”

Eight seriously injured

Among the injured, eight had serious injuries and of those, three were in life-threatening condition, a fire brigade spokesperson ​said.

“We have now identified a suspected perpetrator. Measures against this suspected perpetrator, who has not yet been arrested, are underway. However, this suspected perpetrator is known ​to the police as a member of the Islamist scene here in Berlin,” the police spokesperson told reporters.

The police said the vehicle was white, describing it as possibly a car or minivan or minibus. Tabloid newspaper Bild cited a witness as saying it was a van and that a man emerged from it and fled on foot.

Angry questions in Germany after Christmas market attack

Hundreds of thousands of people ​had gathered peacefully in the German capital for the annual Christopher Street Day celebrations, one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ events, before the apparent attack brought ​it to an abrupt end.

A large number of emergency service vehicles were at the scene.

“It’s one of the worst days for the queer community and a day I personally hoped ‌I’d never ⁠have to experience… I’m shocked,” said Julian Miethig, who attended the event.

Christopher Street Day draws hundreds of thousands of people to the German capital each year. The event commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York and combines a parade with political demands for equality, inclusion and protection against discrimination.

Series of car attacks

First held in West Berlin in 1979, the CSD has grown from a small demonstration into a major fixture of the city’s cultural and political calendar. The parade ​is the centrepiece of the CSD, ​but it is accompanied by a ⁠range of political, cultural and party events held across the city.

Germany has in recent years suffered a series of incidents in which a car has charged into a crowd, causing deaths.

In May, a man believed to have mental health issues drove ​his car into a central pedestrian zone of the eastern German city of Leipzig, killing two people and seriously ​injuring three.

Last year, two ⁠people were killed in the western city of Mannheim when a 40-year-old man whom authorities described as psychologically unwell drove a car into a group of pedestrians.

Germany says Christmas market attack toll rises to 5 dead, over 200 injured

Weeks before that, an Afghan national suspected by prosecutors of having carried out a similar attack on a trade union demonstration in Munich, killing two and injuring more than ⁠40, including ​children.

French President Emmanuel Macron asked the army on Friday to mobilise to help contain the worst wildfire the country has ever seen after seeking European Union help, as a local official warned the blaze was heading towards Bordeaux.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of towns near Bordeaux “as a precaution” against the approaching inferno, while traffic information website Bison Fute urged drivers to avoid roads in the area to free up access for emergency services.

Around 44,000 people fled the up-market Cap Ferret peninsula south of Bordeaux, with the only road threatened by flames.

Boats moved hundreds of people away from the fires, while others drove off the peninsula, known for its millionaire residences. More than 50 houses there have been destroyed.

Spain declares emergency as fires force thousands of evacuations in France

At least 141,000 people have been evacuated in southwestern France and 25,000 in the Madrid region, among them more than 1,200 elderly and disabled people, French and Spanish officials said. 

Madrid and Paris have called in EU help as flames whipped up by strong winds and boosted by drought tore through tinder-dry forests.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said France had never before seen such fires on this scale and pledged to “do everything” to protect Bordeaux.

Madrid fire ‘at its peak’

Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, said the wildfire near the capital was “at its peak and is currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain”.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will go to the zone early Saturday to visit the emergency coordination centre there.

His French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu called a crisis meeting of key ministers late Friday and said a total of 1,000 military personnel will be deployed to confront the flames, which have already ravaged 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres).

In addition, “1.5 million FFP2 masks will be delivered as of tonight to Gironde in order to protect the personnel involved and the populations exposed to smoke that is harmful to health,” he said on X, referring to the department where Bordeaux is located.

About 40 of the 1,000 firefighters battling the Cap Ferret blaze have been injured, authorities said. Three firefighters have died in wildfires in France and Italy this week.

Trump says he told Carney that Canada must get wildfires under control

Two of the three major wildfires west of Madrid have merged into one, threatening a suburban town, said officials.

Some European regions have suffered at least two heatwaves since May. And drought blamed on human-fuelled climate change has heightened the threat from wildfires this year, the World Weather Attribution group said in a study published this week.

Emergency shelters were set up in schools and gymnasiums in southwestern France for tourists and residents left wondering what they would return to.

In the village of Andernos, Maria Lalanne, a 90-year-old from Lege Cap Ferret, sat on a camp bed in a gym without her glasses or hearing aid, which she had left behind.

“I have heart disease, high blood pressure and problems with my eyes,” she said. “I don’t know how long all this will last. I don’t know how my house is, whether it has burnt.”

EU help

Firefighting reinforcements have been sent from across France and, following appeals for assistance, the European Commission said it was sending four water-bombing planes to Spain and three to France.

The fires burning around Madrid are the worst in the region’s history, regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso said as she announced more evacuations.

Two fires west of Madrid had merged and were heading for the town of Navas del Rey, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital.

The new blaze was close to combining with another wildfire in neighbouring Castilla y Leon region, officials said.

“The smoke was incredibly thick,” Jose Cobos, who fled his home southwest of Madrid with his wife and three dogs, told Antena 3 television. “You couldn’t breathe.”

Wildfires in southern Spain kill 12, emergency agency says

Spain has been hit by a series of wildfires in recent weeks.

The largest active fire was still burning in Guadalajara province, around 100 km north of Madrid, where it has scorched about 32,000 hectares.

The French fires at Cap Ferret and around the town of Biscarrosse have already burned more than 13,500 hectares while another 6,000 hectares has been lost in the Madrid region.

Italy has also been battling wildfires this week with dozens burning on the island of Sicily in recent days. One of the firefighter victims was killed in Sicily. Two others died tackling a fire near Bordeaux airport.

Ukraine’s Emergency Services said its crews had completed rescue operations at the site north of the capital.

Pictures posted online by the Emergency Services showed teams sifting through piles of rubble at the site, adjacent to several houses.

“Of course, the cause of this attack is Russian missiles, nothing but Russian terror,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

“However, we have said a thousand times that under these wartime conditions, with such an enemy, it is absolutely unacceptable to hold any weapons exhibitions with large crowds of people, especially near residential buildings.”

The event, hosted by a drone manufacturers’ association, was taking place in an area a short drive from the outskirts of the capital.

Also read: Russian ballistic missiles rock Kyiv, one killed, officials say

A spokesperson for the military’s general staff said the event took place at a site not under its jurisdiction, but added that any such event required “maximum security measures”.

The acting governor of Kyiv region, Ruslan Oliynyk, said that a day of mourning would be observed on Saturday in the region.

The Ukrainian Council of Defence Industry said that a missile strike hit a site where representatives of Ukraine’s defence industry were present.

It said it was not an organiser of the event.

Valerii Borovyk, founder of Ukrainian drone company First Contact, told Ukrainian media that a missile struck a training ground where a defence industry exhibition was being held.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, said that a criminal case had been opened on possible failure to perform official duties during the organisation and conduct of the event.

In eastern Ukraine, a Russian aerial bomb attack killed five people and injured nine in the city of Sloviansk, Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Friday.

He later said that a new Russian strike on the city in the evening injured 16 people and damaged residential buildings.

French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot busy for the summer season, as smoke and flames drew closer to homes. About 63,000 people were evacuated from the area, many brought to safety by boat, officials said.

Close by, in the town of Biscarrosse, another large fire also forced residents to leave their homes.

“From our home, we had a view of the fires … We could see the clouds becoming darker and darker,” said Yoan Urien, 26, who left late on Thursday after police told everyone in his neighbourhood to leave.

“I was able to find somewhere to take shelter with my pets, but … it’s quite a shock,” he told Reuters.

Wildfires in southern Spain kill 12, emergency agency says

Flames close in on access road

A fire that began in Saumos, north of Cap Ferret, is threatening to cut off the only road out of the peninsula and is the largest so far this season in France, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told local television.

It has torn through 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of land and burned 80 homes, completely destroying about 50 of them, he said.

In Spain, more than 10,000 people were evacuated from towns in the mountains west of the capital, Madrid, as firefighters sought to prevent three fires in the region and neighbouring Avila province from joining, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.

The area, where many residents from the capital have second homes, is densely populated.

That played a role in the government decision to declare a national emergency, allowing it to better coordinate the response, Grande-Marlaska said, adding that the aggressive nature of the fires and hot, windy weather also prompted the move.

It was the first time such a measure has been taken due to a wildfire. The last time Spain declared the same level of emergency alert was during a massive nationwide power blackout last year.

Spain has also sought assistance from the EU, the Interior Ministry said.

‘Never seen anything like it’

In Navaluenga in Avila province, local residents wearing masks because of the smoke stood watching firefighting helicopters scoop up water from the town’s river.

“I’ve lived here for 36 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. Nor did I expect it. I thought they were going to get it under control last night, but it was already late, and it was all out of control,” local resident Javier Martin told Reuters.

More than 270 emergency personnel and 40 ground units have been deployed in the affected areas, alongside several Military Emergency Unit (UME) contingents, Spanish officials said.

It is the second consecutive year that Spain has faced a particularly destructive fire season.

More than 29 major fires have broken out in Spain so far this year, damaging a surface area five times greater than at the same stage in 2025, when a record area was destroyed, Environment Minister Sara Aagesen said in a social media post.

Heat hits crops, nuclear plant cooling

French President Emmanuel Macron said he had asked for firefighting support from the EU to help tackle the Cap Ferret blaze, which has already devastated 8,700 hectares (21,500 acres).

Several specialist aircraft from other European countries should soon be on their way to help, Macron said on X.

After a short reprieve over the weekend, average temperatures in France are expected to rise sharply again next week, according to Global Forecast System data compiled by LSEG.
The high temperatures are expected to warm French rivers that are used to cool nuclear reactors and could lead to further restrictions, as the reactors reduce output to comply with environmental protection measures.
The Golfech 2 nuclear reactor in southern France has remained offline since July 7 due to heat-related restrictions, operator EDF’s data showed.

Weeks of hot weather are also taking a toll on the condition of the maize crop in France, the EU’s largest grain producer, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday.

“The situation remains extremely tense with the fires hitting our country, particularly in Gironde,” wrote Macron on X.

“France has requested the activation of the European Union’s civil protection mechanism.

We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,“ he added.

More than 10,000 people were evacuated overnight in southwestern France as a rapidly spreading wildfire ripped through at least 2,400 hectares of land west of the city of Bordeaux, officials said on Thursday.

The EU fined the US giant 460 million euros for illegally favouring the company’s own services — for example, Google Flights or Google Hotels — over rivals in search results.

The second fine worth 430 million euros was because Google did not allow app developers to show consumers offers, free of charge, outside of its Google Play store, the European Commission said in a statement.

The meeting lasted over half an hour, it added.

Lavrov and Rubio planned to discuss issues relating to the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.

There are two children among the injured, Crimean governor Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram.

The governor of the Ulyanovsk region east of Moscow said that Ukrainian drones had attacked an energy facility, adding it had caught fire.

Ukrainian drone attacks kill seven warehouse workers in Russia, spark fire at Moscow region oil depot

Civilian sites were attacked in Russia’s Voronezh region during the night, governor Alexander Gusev said, adding that some people were injured. Air defence units downed 223 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russian news agencies said, citing the Defence Ministry.

“The meeting will be useful in any case. It’s good to ask questions and get answers,” Lavrov told reporters on Wednesday.

He said the meeting would take place on Thursday morning on the sidelines of an ASEAN gathering of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in the Philippine capital.

Moscow has condemned Washington’s fresh strikes on its key ally Iran.

US-led talks on ending the war in Ukraine have stalled, with its attention turning to the Middle East and as Russia sticks to its hardline demands for Ukraine to cede territory.

Rubio, who said he spoke briefly with Lavrov at a gala dinner, told reporters in Manila the two would discuss Ukraine on Thursday when asked if he planned to press Lavrov on the subject.

“The war in Ukraine, I think, has in many ways impeded the ability of Russia and the United States to find areas of agreement on other topics,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t seek to find other areas of potential cooperation.”

“But by the same token… we’d like to see that war come to an end,” he added.

“So we’ll raise it, and… the US remains open and willing to play a constructive role in bringing that war to an end.”

US President Donald Trump has backed a Ukrainian campaign of long-range counter-strikes on Russian energy facilities as an escalation that could lead to the end of the war.

The strikes have caused fuel shortages across Russia – one of the world’s top oil producers.

Burnham, who replaced Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Monday, announced he was cutting value-added tax (VAT) on consumer electricity bills – his first significant policy announcement as UK leader.

But a Starmer loyalist, one of several to be culled from ministerial positions by Burnham, questioned how the Labour government would fund the cut, suggesting the new premier’s call for party unity may go unheeded.

From October 1, electricity bills will be VAT free, saving an average household around £45 ($61) a year, the government said in a statement.

In opening remarks to his cabinet in front of media before the private meeting, Burnham told ministers that they must give the public “a sense that help is coming”.

“We need to be a cost-of-living government, getting that cost of living down, looking at all possible ways of doing that,” he added.

But he also stressed “we’ve got to show fiscal discipline” and vowed to always “show how we’re going to pay” for policies.

The tax cut will cost the government about £850 million ($1.143 billion) in the current UK financial year.

The government said it would be funded by cancelling Starmer’s plan for a digital ID scheme that would have cost the taxpayer £1.8 billion.

But in a post on X, former minister Darren Jones said the ID program had been “unfunded”.

“The government will have to set out how it will pay for its new policies at the budget,” he wrote.

Burnham, parachuted into No. 10 by Labour MPs after they lost confidence in Starmer, insisted during the cabinet meeting that he would always “show how we’re going to pay” for policies.

He is currently mulling rent control measures and caps to bus fares.

Burnham became Britain’s seventh prime minister in just over a decade Monday and signalled a new left-ward direction for the Labour government during his first speech outside No. 10.

He pledged to re-industrialise the country, push through greater public control of utilities and build more public housing, vowing to unveil a 10-year-plan later this year.

Burnham also intends to decentralise power away from London to other cities and regions.

Despite vowing to end factionalism in Labour, one of his first acts as prime minister was to cull most of Starmer’s supporters from his new 23-member cabinet.

Rachel Reeves was axed as finance minister, replaced by John Healey, while David Lammy left his role as deputy prime minister, as Burnham promoted his own allies and reshuffled the existing pack.

Ed Miliband became foreign minister, Wes Streeting – who abandoned plans to run against Burnham for the Labour leadership – was named defence minister, and left-wing figurehead Angela Rayner returned to government.

The new cabinet has 12 women, and 11 men, although women have been cut from two of the top posts.

Challenges

On Monday’s busy afternoon, Burnham also held calls with numerous foreign leaders, including US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French leader Emmanuel Macron.

Burnham, a long-time critic of Starmer’s more centrist approach to governing, only returned to parliament four weeks ago following a nine-year stint as Greater Manchester mayor.

Labour MPs hope his down-to-earth persona can stem support for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, before the next general election, due in 2029.

But Burnham faces multiple challenges, not least an anaemic economy, high government borrowing costs, a ballooning welfare bill and irregular migrants arriving in small boats.

Unpredictable energy prices due to the US-Iran war and volatile relations with Washington under Trump also threaten to buffet his premiership.

Burnham, an MP between 2001 and 2017, has little room to manoeuvre amid high public debt and strict financial rules requiring him to balance government spending against tax revenue.

His swift appointment as Labour leader, and prime minister by virtue of Labour’s huge parliamentary majority, came without him putting forward a clear plan for how he will achieve his aims.

Farage has questioned Burnham’s mandate and called for a snap election.

He immediately got to work after replacing Keir Starmer in Downing Street, holding calls with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky before appointing his ministerial team.

Burnham, 56, pledged to re-industrialise Britain and end sleeping rough on the streets after he met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace to become the head of government following Starmer’s departure.

Britain needed to show the world it could “regain stability”, he said outside his new official residence at 10 Downing Street, vowing to create “a new political model” and “build a new economy”.

Burnham underlined his “commitment to defence and security” in his first call with Trump, a UK government spokesperson said.

To Zelensky, Burnham reaffirmed “his and the UK’s resolute commitment” to Ukraine in its defence of Russia’s invasion, Downing Street said.

Accompanied by his wife Marie-France van Heel, Burnham was met at Downing Street by resounding applause from supporters and acknowledged he was the country’s seventh prime minister since the start of 2016.

He worked swiftly to stamp his authority on the new government by sacking several Starmer loyalists from his cabinet and reshuffling other ministers who served under the previous regime.

Ex-defence secretary John Healey replaced Rachel Reeves as finance minister while Ed Miliband leaves his energy brief to become foreign minister.

Shabana Mahmood was reappointed interior minister to see through her hardline reforms of Britain’s asylum system.

And David Lammy left his role as deputy prime minister.

In his brief speech outside Downing Street, Burnham said he would “bring forward a new plan for Britain, a 10-year plan”, without giving specifics.

Starmer had similarly talked of his intention to lead a “decade of national renewal” before Labour MPs ditched him last month in favour of Burnham, who only returned to parliament four weeks ago.

‘Stronger and fairer’

Burnham promised to “give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living”, which he said he would start to announce on Tuesday.

He also said his first instruction would be a pledge to “end rough sleeping”, a measure he attempted to implement as a regional mayor in northern England, although it was not fully successful.

Other announcements included a vague promise to re-industrialise Britain through public procurement and to build more public housing.

He repeated his belief that “in the 1980s Britain took some wrong turns”, as he pledged to decentralise power away from Westminster and “put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable”.

Starmer departed Downing Street with his wife earlier, insisting his two years in office had made Britain “stronger and fairer”.

He leaves a host of challenges for Burnham, including a tepid economy, high government borrowing costs, a ballooning welfare bill and irregular migrants arriving in small boats that have fuelled support for the hard-right Reform UK party.

Unpredictable energy prices due to the US-Iran war and volatile relations with the United States under Trump also threaten to buffet his premiership.

Burnham has little room to manoeuvre amid high public debt and strict financial rules requiring him to balance government spending against tax revenue.

Starmer led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024 after 14 years of Conservative rule, but his premiership became characterised by a string of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns.

Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester nicknamed the “King of the North”, has been parachuted in by the Labour Party, after Starmer resigned on June 22, with MPs viewing him as the party’s best chance of reining in Reform, led by Nigel Farage.

‘New momentum’

But his swift “coronation” as Labour leader without a contest, and now prime minister by virtue of Labour’s huge parliamentary majority, has raised questions about how he will achieve his aims.

Burnham, an MP between 2001 and 2017, is also facing calls from opposition politicians to call a snap election.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she looked forward to working with Burnham “to strengthen the EU-UK partnership”, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited him to visit Berlin to mark “the deep bond between us”.

French President Emmanuel Macron also sent congratulations, and urged him to “give new momentum to the partnership between the United Kingdom and the European Union”.

Accompanied by his wife Marie-France van Heel, Burnham earlier met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace to become the head of government after Keir Starmer resigned.

Burnham, 56, arrived at Downing Street to resounding applause from supporters and acknowledged he was the country’s seventh prime minister since the start of 2016.

Britain needed to show the world it could “regain stability”, he said, vowing to offer “a new political model” and “build a new economy”.

In foreign policy goals, he told broadcasters earlier his first calls would be to US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, to whom he will offer reassurance that “I will be with him 100 percent”.

In his brief speech outside Downing Street, the new Labour leader said he would “bring forward a new plan for Britain, a 10-year plan”, without giving specifics.

Naming short-term goals, he promised to “give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living.”

He also said his first instruction would be a pledge to “end rough sleeping”, a measure he attempted to implement as a regional mayor in northern England, although it was not fully successful.

Other announcements included a pledge to reindustrialise Britain through public procurement and to build more public housing.

‘Stronger, fairer’

Starmer departed Downing Street earlier, insisting his short time in office had made Britain a better place.

“I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago,” Starmer told reporters in his farewell speech outside Downing Street.

“I go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” he added.

Burnham will face an in-tray overflowing with challenges with little time to make his mark with a nationwide election due in 2029.

In an interview with The Times published late Sunday, Burnham said he wanted to draw a line under a decade of political turmoil.

“What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working. That’s the way I see it,” he said.

“I am going to try and do things in a different way.”

The focus now turns to his senior cabinet appointments, with all eyes on who will replace Rachel Reeves as finance minister.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester, nicknamed the “King of the North”, has been parachuted in by the Labour Party, after Starmer resigned last month, with MPs viewing him as the party’s best chance of reining in Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party.

‘Bigger, bolder’

Among Burnham’s most urgent challenges will be a tepid economy, high government borrowing costs, a ballooning welfare bill and irregular migrants arriving in small boats that have fuelled support for Reform.

Unpredictable energy prices due to the US-Iran war and volatile relations with the United States under Trump also threaten to buffet his premiership.

Burnham told The Times he would take a “different approach to public spending, and to running the economy – more focused on early investment, early intervention, setting people up for success, and much less paying for failure.”

Starmer led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024 after 14 years of Conservative rule.

He announced that he would resign as prime minister and Labour Party leader in June after a string of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns blighted his leadership.

But Burnham, who only returned as a member of parliament four weeks ago, has little room to manoeuvre amid sluggish economic growth, high public debt and strict financial rules requiring him to balance government spending against tax revenue.

Burnham was an MP between 2001 and 2017, serving as a minister in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He has since reinvented himself as a man of the people, melding a relaxed, folksy style with slick social media videos.

But Burnham’s swift “coronation” as Labour leader and now prime minister has raised questions on how he will achieve his aims.

EU chief Antonio Costa congratulated Burnham on taking up the job, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited him to visit Berlin to mark “the deep bond between us”.

After Keir Starmer makes his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street and formally tenders his resignation to King Charles, the monarch will receive Burnham to ask him to be prime minister.

Then the hard work begins for the 56-year-old who, as mayor of ​Greater Manchester, earned the nickname ‘King of the North’.

Once he has unveiled his cabinet - already the subject of much ​debate in the ruling Labour Party - he will have a long list of problems ranging ⁠from underperforming utility firms to anaemic economic growth.

Burnham to lay out new government path

Burnham will use his first speech to set ​out a path for “a more stable and responsible politics”, his office said in a statement.

Presenting his appointment as a ​moment of “reflection”, he will say it is time to be honest about Britain’s challenges, and that only political stability can deliver improvements.

On Friday, Burnham described his election to become Labour leader as “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years”.

He promised to radically change the political system to quickly ​raise living standards and help a country hungry for change become one where “life is more affordable and all people and places are ​lifted from where they are now”.

UK’s Burnham drops digital ID scheme

He directed that message at Labour lawmakers, who see him as one of the few politicians capable of tackling the threat from ‌veteran Brexit ⁠campaigner Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK - something they doubted the unpopular Starmer could do.

Burnham’s first challenge will be the appointment of his cabinet team and especially his finance minister. Friction in this crucial partnership at the heart of government has led to the downfall of previous administrations.

An early frontrunner for the position, energy security and net zero minister Ed Miliband, has been the object of some hostile ​briefing and interior minister Shabana ​Mahmood now appears to ⁠be favourite for the job.

Burnham urged his party on Friday to ignore “speculation” and said he had not yet decided on his team.

His early policy decisions will also face scrutiny.

On Sunday, plans were scrapped for all ​employees to be required to hold a digital identity document, a scheme designed to tackle illegal migration ​but deemed a “fiasco” ⁠by a cross-party committee of lawmakers.

More attention will be paid to decisions on taxation and spending, oil and gas, and underperforming utility companies, for which Burnham wants stronger public control.

Thames Water, Britain’s largest water company, is weighed down by debt and under fire for frequent sewage ⁠leaks.

On Sunday, Deputy ​Labour Leader Lucy Powell, Burnham’s ally, suggested Thames Water could be brought under “special measures”, meaning it would ​operate under government control.

Andy Burnham elected new Labour leader, now set to be UK PM

“He wants to refocus and reprioritise the government’s resources, the government’s attention onto his priorities of tackling the cost of living, ​really rewiring the way the country, the economy works,” she told Sky News.

North Korean troops helped Russia repel a major Ukrainian incursion into its western Kursk region in 2024.

Under a mutual defence pact between the two countries, North Korea sent some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Kursk. Ukrainian forces smashed across the border in August 2024 and held on to substantial pockets of territory for months.

Russia, North Korea agree ‘long-term’ military cooperation

Choe said in the meeting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had recently reaffirmed the Asian nation’s commitment to the comprehensive development of relations with the Russian Federation, according to the Kremlin.