International

Death of Queen Elizabeth II: What happens next?

AFP | by Alice RITCHIE

As preparations build for next week’s state funeral and with a procession of the coffin along Edinburgh’s Royal Mile on Monday: here is how the UK plans to say goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II.

Monday, September 12

King Charles III and his wife Camilla, now Queen Consort, visit parliament, to receive condolences from the speakers of the lower and upper houses, before delivering a reply.

The royal couple fly to Edinburgh and at the Palace of Holyroodhouse the king will take part in the Ceremony of the Keys, where he will symbolically receive — and then return — the keys to the city.

In the afternoon, the king and other royals take part in a procession to convey the queen’s coffin along Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to St Giles’ Cathedral, before a religious service.

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After his first audience with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and a visit to the Scottish parliament, Charles III returns to St Giles’ to take part in a vigil over the coffin — known as the Vigil of the Princes — with other family members.

From 5:30 pm (1630 GMT) until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, members of the public can file past to pay their respects as the coffin lies at rest guarded by the Royal Company of Archers.

The king and his wife will be joined in Scotland — and on his tour of Northern Ireland and Wales — by Prime Minister Liz Truss, Downing Street said.

“It’s not a requirement,” Truss’s spokesman told reporters.

“But the prime minister believes it’s important to be present for what will be a significant moment of national mourning around the United Kingdom.”

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Tuesday, September 13

The queen’s coffin is flown by the Royal Air Force from Edinburgh to RAF Northolt near London, accompanied by the queen’s only daughter Anne, the Princess Royal, and driven to Buckingham Palace, to rest in the Bow Room.

Charles III and his wife fly to Belfast, where he will meet Northern Ireland’s party leaders and receive a message of condolence led by the speaker of the devolved assembly.

The king meets leaders from all the major faiths in Northern Ireland before attending a prayer service at St Anne’s Cathedral and returns to London.

Wednesday, September 14

The king leads the procession behind the gun carriage carrying the queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to parliament’s Westminster Hall.

It is then placed on a catafalque, a raised platform, and during the lying-in state another “Vigil of the Princes” involving the queen’s children and other senior royals, will take place.

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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will conduct a short service after the coffin arrives, attended by the king.

The late queen will lie in state until the funeral, with huge crowds expected as members of the public pay their respects.

Friday, September 16

Charles III and his wife visit Wales where a service is held at Cardiff’s Llandaff Cathedral and Charles receives a message of condolence at the Senedd, the Welsh national assembly building.

The visit to Wales completes trips to all four nations that make up the United Kingdom.

Monday, September 19

The queen’s coffin is taken in procession to Westminster Abbey for a state funeral at 11:00 am expected to be watched by millions around the world.

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Political leaders and heads of state including US President Joe Biden are expected to attend, sparking a major security operation.

After the funeral, the coffin is taken to Windsor, for a televised committal service at St George’s Chapel, with a private interment planned for later in the evening.

The queen will be interred at the King George VI memorial chapel, alongside her husband, Prince Philip, the ashes of her sister Princess Margaret, their mother, also called Elizabeth, and father, George VI.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra dies in campaign road accident

Presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra, representing the Partido de los Trabajadores y Emprendedores (PTE) in Peru, died in a traffic accident while traveling to a campaign event, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Becerra, who also served as president of the centrist political party, ranked among the lowest in opinion polls in a crowded field of more than 30 candidates competing in the presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Recent surveys place Rafael López Aliaga at the top of voter preferences.

The accident occurred near the town of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, when the vehicle carrying the candidate overturned for reasons that remain under investigation.

“The candidate Becerra has died,” Balvin Huamani, mayor of the district of Pilpichaca, told RPP radio.

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According to Huamani, he personally transported the 61-year-old candidate to a local health center, where doctors confirmed his death.

The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) expressed condolences over Becerra’s passing and wished a speedy recovery to the three people who were traveling with him and were injured in the crash.

International

Noboa intensifies anti-cartel crackdown as violence persists in Ecuador

A close ally of Washington, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued a hardline security strategy against cocaine cartels for more than two years, yet homicide, disappearance and extortion rates remain high across the country.

Between Sunday night and the morning of March 31, Ecuador’s armed forces will launch a “very strong offensive” with “advisory support” from the United States, Interior Minister John Reimberg announced Tuesday.

The government has kept details of the operation confidential and has not confirmed whether U.S. troops will be deployed on Ecuadorian soil, as has occurred at times during Noboa’s administration.

As part of the security measures, residents in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro will be subject to a nightly curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for the next two weeks.

“We are in a war,” Reimberg said, urging citizens to remain indoors. “Do not take risks. Stay home and allow the security forces and our allies to do the work that must be done.”

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Although Ecuador does not produce cocaine, it has become a major departure point for drugs heading to the United States. Meanwhile, the violence associated with trafficking has increasingly affected the local population.

Bordering the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has gone from being considered a relatively peaceful country to recording one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America—52 killings per 100,000 inhabitants—according to the **Observatory of Organized Crime.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.