Everything you need to know about the Russian elections

The pro-Putin ​ruling United Russia party retained its decisive majority in the national parliament, near-complete election results showed on ‌Monday, while the anti-war Yabloko party appeared to have won a tiny foothold in one regional parliament.

The background

• Vladimir Putin had cast the three-day election to the State Duma – the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022 – as a test of support for the war.
• Elections for ​some regional parliaments and governors were held at the same time.
• In a tightly controlled political system, which critics ​say does not tolerate genuine dissent, few surprises were ⁠expected.

A closer look at the results

With over 95 per cent of the vote counted, Ella Pamfilova, chair of the Central Electoral Commission, said United Russia had won a resounding victory with 57.83 per cent, up from the 49.8 per cent that it won in the last parliamentary election, in 2021.

• United Russia was set to control 355 ​seats or nearly 80 per cent of the 450-seat Duma, a total that includes results in individual constituencies.
• That would maintain its constitutional ​majority – enabling it to pass laws and initiate amendments to the constitution without support of other parties.
• Pamfilova said three other parties had ‌made it ⁠into parliament – the Communists with 13.81 per cent, the ultra-nationalist LDPR with 8.98 per cent, and the New People party with 7.96 per cent.

read the i paper’s latest analysis

What Putin’s paranoia will lead him to do next

“Stalin knew how to run Russia and how to get respect. Vladimir Putin could learn something from him.”

The BBC has removed several sketches from That Mitchell and Webb Look on iPlayer after deciding some of the comedy show’s material “no longer works today”.

The sketch comedy show, starring comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb, originally ran for four seasons between 2006 and 2010.

However, some material has been removed, including scenes featuring war re-enactors in Blackface, a joke about Jimmy Savile and a sketch about a contestant on a makeover show wearing a burka, reported.

What did the BBC say?

This is a 20-year-old sketch ; in consultation with the programme makers, we have included the ones  still work today  not the ones  don’t.

bbc spokesperson

Flights disrupted across north of UK – what you need to know

Flights across the UK – particularly Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England – are facing disruption due to a “technical issue” with air traffic control.

Here is everything you need to know – including the airports affected.

What caused the problem?

Nats, which runs air traffic control, has said the issue at its Prestwick centre in Ayrshire is “now fixed”, and that it is working to “safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can”. It said the glitch was a “connectivity issue with part of our systems network”.

This is the second failure at Nats in less than a fortnight.

But it said this most recent disruption has “nothing to do” with the software defect that led to the cancellation of 2,000 flights across the UK earlier this month.

EasyJet said this “once again calls into questions the resilience of Nats’ systems”.

Airports report disruption

Airports across the UK have reported varying degrees of disruption. They include:

• and – Arrivals and departures.
•  – Issue causing some delays.
• – Experiencing “some delays”.
• – Urging passengers to contact their airline.
• – Experiencing some delays and cancellations similar to other airports.
•  – Experiencing “some disruption” and “working closely” with Nats to resolve the issue.
• – Warns that there “will be disruption” to both arrivals and departures.

Cindy Crawford’s son Presley Gerber dies in rehab aged 27

Presley Gerber, the son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, has died at the age of 27.

The former model died on Sunday at a rehab facility, according to the Los Angeles county medical examiner. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

A closer look at the detail

Gerber, who was the eldest child of the celebrity couple, and brother of model Kaia Gerber, had spoken openly about his mental health and drug use in recent years.

His sister mentioned his “decade-long struggle with drug addiction” in the September 2026 issue of .

Mental health struggles

Having struggled with mental health, depression and some other things that come along with that, I think that whether I help one person or a hundred people get out of that place that I was in at one point in my life, that’s all I need to do.

Speaking to podcast in 2023, Gerber hoped that sharing his story would help others suffering with mental health issues. 

Life in the limelight

• Gerber had been a model like his mother and younger sister Kaia, making his runway debut for Italian label Moschino aged just 16.
• He went on to model for brands including Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, and Bottega Veneta.
• Gerber posted a video about undergoing drug withdrawal treatment in the months before his death, though the cause of his death was not disclosed.

Family asks for privacy

• Allie Jenkins, a representative for Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber, told : “The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time.”

Badenoch pledges to bring back tax-free shopping for tourists

Kemi Badenoch has promised to revive a tax-free shopping scheme for tourists by reversing a post-Brexit rule change.

The decision to scrap the VAT refund scheme for international visitors in 2021 left the UK “less competitive” than many other European holiday destinations as the country left the EU, the Tories said.

Business chiefs hail ‘pro-growth’ policy change

Badenoch said the policy was letting down businesses.

Business chiefs, including the bosses of Fortnum & Mason and Paul Smith, hailed the policy change as “pro-growth” and “pro-jobs”.

Losing out to ‘rival cities’

We have iconic retailers, inventive designers and brilliant manufacturers, but they are being let down by a tax policy that is chasing their customers away. Holidaymakers are choosing rival cities in other countries for the simple reason that it saves them money.

Kemi badenoch, lEADER OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY

A closer look at the detail

• Spending by visitors remains 8 per cent lower than before the pandemic – despite numbers returning to pre-Covid levels, according to 2024 estimates from tourism agency VisitBritain.

Treasury: ‘UK visitors can claim VAT’

Almost every European country offers tax-free shopping for tourists, except the UK – although the minimum spend varies.

A Treasury spokesperson said “visitors can still claim VAT relief where the items purchased are shipped directly to their home country as exports” and that it is working to “welcome 50 million international visitors a year to the UK by 2030”.

All the latest Earl Spencer revelations as royal row continues

A war of words has broken out after Earl Spencer made a series of damning claims about the King in a new memoir about his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is due to be published on Tuesday. Here are some key claims made in excerpts from the book released so far.

Spencer claims he and Charles argued over arrangements for his sister’s funeral in 1997 and the King told him: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”.

Spencer has also said he believes the relationship between the press and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “echoes” the way the media treated his sister.

Other key claims made

• Spencer has written of how Charles’s phone call following the car crash in 1997 “sounded strangely matter-of-fact”.
• “[Charles] sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time,” Spencer writes.
• In another extract, Spencer told of his memories of the funeral, and his concern for Harry, after he observed a “lack of obvious care”.

While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.

Buckingham Palace spokesman

King accused of gaslighting

Spencer has accused the King of gaslighting him and called his response a “rather poor imitation of the ‘recollections may vary’ quote” – the late Queen’s response to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s allegations in their Oprah Winfrey interview, The Mail on Sunday reports.

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