Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, multiple sources have told the Guardian.

The decision to approve the strikes was made in response to the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine, which UK and US officials warned was a significant escalation of the near three-year conflict.

The Guardian reported earlier this week that the UK would soon approve Storm Shadow missiles for use inside Russia after the US president, Joe Biden, agreed to do the same for the similar American Atacms weapons.

Videos uploaded to social media and circulated by pro-Russian war bloggers indicated that up to 12 missiles struck a target believed to be a command headquarters in the village of Maryno, the first confirmed use of British weapons on Russian soil during the war. Ukrainian media reported that the site may have been used by North Korean and Russian officers.

Unconfirmed images distributed via the Telegram messaging app appeared to show fragments of the missile at a location in the Kursk region. One weapons expert, Trevor Ball, formerly of the US army, said the images circulating did show Storm Shadow fragments, though he could not verify if they were current or old pictures.

There was no official confirmation from the UK, though the defence secretary, John Healey, appeared to hint at developments as he spoke to the Commons as reports of the attack in Kursk began to circulate.

Healey said he had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, on Tuesday. “We’ve seen over recent weeks significant change in the action and in the rhetoric on Ukraine, and Ukraine’s action on the battlefield speaks for itself,” he said.

It marks a rapid turnaround in the UK-Ukraine relationship, following complaints that Kyiv was frustrated by a refusal by London to supply a fresh batch of Storm Shadow. The UK was said to be stung by the criticism and the complaints are partly believed to have contributed to a change of heart.

A second element was a change in policy by the outgoing Biden administration. The Storm Shadow strikes came a day after Ukraine used Atacms missiles to hit targets in the Bryansk region.

Western officials have indicated they are specifically targeting the North Korean buildup in the Kursk region, as well as infrastructure that may be used for a 50,000-strong offensive against a Ukrainian incursion there.

Storm Shadow missiles are an Anglo-French cruise missile with a maximum range of about 155 miles (250km), which so far have been used to strike Russian targets in occupied Crimea, including the naval headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. They are useful for precision targeting of bunkers and ammunition stores.

Vladimir Putin has warned that the use of US and UK-made missiles inside Russia’s borders would be tantamount to Nato entering into a direct conflict with Moscow, though western politicians have dismissed his comments as empty threats.

Western officials have warned that Russia could escalate strikes on critical infrastructure in Ukraine or use other hybrid warfare tactics against targets in Europe and other US allies around the world. British spy chiefs have accused Russia of trying to “generate mayhem” on the streets of the UK with arson and sabotage campaigns, including the secreting of incendiary devices in parcels sent via DHL, one of which caught light in a Birmingham warehouse in July, starting a small fire.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would respond “appropriately” a day after Ukraine fired six of the newly approved Atacms missiles into an ammunition warehouse in the south-western Bryansk region.

Hours earlier, Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons amid warnings from Russian MPs that the US action was bringing “world war three” closer.

Overnight, the Pentagon said it had seen no sign that Russia was planning to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, and accused Russian politicians of engaging in irresponsible rhetoric.

“We’re going to continue to monitor, but we don’t have any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon within Ukraine,” said the Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh.

Earlier on Wednesday, the US announced it had temporarily closed its embassy in Kyiv after receiving warning of a “potential significant air attack”, advising American citizens to be prepared to move immediately to a shelter in the event of an air raid warning.

Such warnings are rare and likely to be based on specific intelligence, prompting a nervous day in Kyiv, where the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, told the public not to ignore the air raid warning that came shortly before 2pm.

City residents gathered in Kyiv’s metro stations and other locations to take shelter, and there was a heightened concern among officials, though one member of the government told the Guardian they were not aware of any particular threat.

“We don’t know exactly what could happen – it could be another major attack like Sunday, when they fired over 200 missiles and drones,” one security official said. “The Americans had some signal intelligence and were acting according to their protocol.”

The state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, later told reporters the embassy was expected to return to normal operations on Thursday.

The US had also reportedly approved the provision of anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine.

In his nightly video address, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the US and Joe Biden for the landmines which he described as “essential … to stop Russian assaults”.

Ukrainian media later on Wednesday announced that Russia had scrambled up to seven Tu-95 long-range bombers over its Engels air force base in preparation for a potential missile strike against Ukraine.

The embassies of Italy, Spain and Greece also closed temporarily on Wednesday after the US announcement.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine can take back Crimea only through diplomatic means. “We cannot spend dozens of, thousands of our people so that they perish for the sake of Crimea coming back … we understand that Crimea can be brought back diplomatically,” the Ukrainian president told Fox News. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. “I was already mentioning that we are ready to bring Crimea back diplomatically,” Zelenskyy said.

• Asked on Fox whether Ukraine might give up territory for peace, Zelenskyy said: “We cannot legally acknowledge any occupied territory of Ukraine as Russian. That is about those territories … occupied by Putin before the full-scale invasion, since 2014. Legally, we are not acknowledging that, we are not adopting that.”

• Russia staged “a massive information-psychological attack” against Ukraine by spreading a fake warning, purportedly from Ukrainian military intelligence, about an imminent mass air attack, Kyiv’s Main Directorate of Intelligence said on Wednesday. “This message is a fake, it contains grammatical errors typical of Russian information and psychological operations.” Ukraine on Wednesday downplayed the threat of any imminent and large-scale missile threat after several foreign embassies in Kyiv closed for a day citing a “potential” strike. “We remind you that the threat of strikes by the aggressor state has unfortunately been a daily reality for Ukrainians for over 1,000 days,” said a foreign ministry statement.

• The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on a state visit in Brazil, said he wanted to see “more voices committed to peace to pave the way for a political solution to the Ukraine crisis”, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

• Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, the Guardian understands from multiple sources. Dan Sabbagh and Andrew Roth write that video circulated by pro-Russian war bloggers indicated that up to 12 missiles struck a target believed to be a command headquarters in the village of Maryno, in the Kursk region where Ukraine holds territory. Ukrainian media reported that the site may have been used by North Korean and Russian officers.

• Zelenskyy thanked the US and Joe Biden for the provision of landmines to Ukrainian troops, calling it “essential … to stop Russian assaults” in a video address on Wednesday. In addition to the landmines, the latest $275m US aid package includes drones, Himars rockets and artillery.

• The US decision to send anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine – criticised by rights groups – was triggered by a change in Russian battlefield tactics favouring infantry over mechanised units, said the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin. “They lead with dismounted forces who are able to close and do things to kind of pave the way for mechanised forces,” he said, adding that the Ukrainians “have a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians”.

• US and Ukrainian officials confirmed Ukraine has used US-made Atacms missiles to strike targets within Russia. The Kremlin said six missiles were launched at the town of Karachev, with one reportedly causing a significant explosion.

• The Netherlands has handed the final two of 18 promised F-16 fighter jets to a training facility in Romania, where Ukrainian pilots and ground staff are being taught to fly and maintain them in battle, the Dutch defence ministry said.

• The Biden administration has moved to forgive about $4.7bn in US loans to Ukraine, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday, as outgoing officials seek to do what they can before leaving office to bolster Ukraine in its war against Russia. A funding bill passed by Congress in April included just over $9.4bn of forgivable loans for economic and budgetary support, half of which the president could cancel after 15 November.

• Italy will continue to provide support to Ukraine in its war against Russia, the defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said on Wednesday. “The government’s position has not changed, we believe it is necessary to continue providing support to Ukraine in line with what we have done so far in order to achieve … the conditions for a just and lasting peace,” Crosetto told parliament.

Moscow has threatened to retaliate for the decision taken by the US and the UK to allow their long-range missiles to be used in strikes inside Russian territory, and warned that nothing is off the table. Earlier this week, the Kremlin announced a formal change in its nuclear doctrine which specifically envisages a possible nuclear response to Nato-assisted strikes on Russian soil. So, how far is Vladimir Putin prepared to go?

Russia has transferred more than 70 animals, including an African lion, two brown bears and 45 pheasants to a zoo in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

The animals transferred from Moscow Zoo, were “a gift from Vladimir Putin to the Korean people”, the government said. The delivery also included two domestic yaks, 40 mandarin ducks and five white cockatoos.

Alexander Kozlov, Russia’s natural resources minister, oversaw the relocation of the animals, which were transported by plane to the Pyongyang Central Zoo accompanied by veterinarians from the Moscow Zoo.

“Historically, animals always have played a special role in relations between states. They have been given as a sign of support, kindness and care,” he said.

Ties between Russia and North have strengthened during the Ukraine war, with North Korea recently sending 10,000 troops to bolster Russian forces. This June the two countries signed a mutual defence pact that includes a clause requiring the countries to come to each other’s aid if either is attacked.

During that trip North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave Putin a pair of Pungsan dogs, a local breed. The two also took turns driving each other around in a Russian-built Aurus limousine.

The pact has magnified western concerns about potential Russian aid for North Korea’s missile or nuclear programmes.

Pictures published by the Russian government on Wednesday showed a white cockatoo travelling in a crate and Kozlov receiving a tour of the Korean zoo from local officials.

North Korean state media KCNA reported on Thursday that rare animals had been received as gifts from Putin.

On Thursday the two countries signed a protocol on cooperation after meetings covering trade, the economy, science and technology in Pyongyang, according to North Korean state media KCNA.

There were few details in the KCNA report, but Russia’s Tass news agency said on Tuesday that the countries agreed to increase charter flights following the meeting, citing Russia’s ministry of natural resources.

Between January and September, the number of tourists travelling between Russia and North Korea amounted to over 5,000 people, with more than 70% travelling by air, it said.

With Reuters

Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest men, has been indicted in New York over an alleged multi-billion-dollar scheme to pay $250m in bribes and conceal the scheme from US investors.

Prosecutors charged the chair of Indian conglomerate Adani Group and two other executives of a renewable energy company with securities fraud and conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud.

The US attorney’s office in Brooklyn accused the executives of agreeing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of bribes to Indian government officials between 2020 and 2024, in a bid to obtain solar energy supply contracts expected to yield $2bn in profits over 20 years.

Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US’s top markets watchdog, charged Adani, 62, and two other executives over conduct it said had arisen out of a “massive bribery scheme”.

Adani Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In early trading in Asia on Thursday, Adani dollar bonds slumped, with prices down 3-5c on bonds for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone. The falls were the largest since the Adani Group came under a short-seller attack in February 2023, after allegations of “brazen stock manipulation”, “accounting fraud” and “money laundering” were published by the short seller investment firm Hindenburg Research last year.

Adani denied the Hindenburg claims, which it dismissed as a “malicious” mix of “selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”.

Breon Peace, US attorney for the eastern district of New York, said the defendants “orchestrated an elaborate scheme” to bribe India’s officials to secure contracts, and lied about the scheme while raising funds.

Lisa Miller, deputy assistant attorney general, said: “This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250m in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice.

“These offenses were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors.”

Gautam Adani is the 18th richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg, with a personal fortune of $85bn.

Prosecutors alleged that, on several occasions, Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the bribery scheme.

The executives are accused of having frequently discussed efforts to further the scheme, including via a messaging app. One of the defendants, Sagar R Adani, tracked “specific details of the bribes offered and promised to government officials” on his phone, according to prosecutors.

The House ethics committee was deadlocked on releasing a report examining allegations of sexual misconduct against Matt Gaetz, the former Republican representative and Donald Trump’s choice to lead the US justice department, after the panel met behind closed doors on Wednesday.

Emerging from the meeting after roughly two hours, most members of the panel declined to offer details on their discussion, but the Republican chair, Michael Guest, told reporters that there was “not an agreement by the committee to release the report”.

Susan Wild, the top Democratic representative on the ethics committee, told reporters that the panel did hold a vote on the matter, but there was “no consensus”. Wild implied that the committee, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, broke along party lines and thus could not reach a decision. The panel plans to reconvene on 5 December, Wild added.

The panel has previously said it was investigating claims that Gaetz “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift”.

Guest told reporters before the meeting on Wednesday that he had “some reservations” about releasing the report when it had not yet gone through a review process.

“That is something that we will be talking about today, and that’s another reason I have some reservations about releasing any unfinished work product,” Guest said.

The justice department launched its own inquiry into accusations that Gaetz engaged in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, but the department closed its investigation last year without filing charges. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations.

Two women testified to congressional investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex and that he was seen having sex with the 17-year-old, a lawyer for the women has said.

As the ethics committee is evenly split between the two parties, it would take only one Republican siding with every Democrat on the panel to have the report released. But prominent Republicans, including the House speaker, Mike Johnson, have cautioned against releasing the report on Gaetz, who resigned his seat immediately after Trump announced his nomination as attorney general.

“I think that would be a Pandora’s box,” Johnson told CNN on Sunday. “I don’t think we want the House ethics committee using all of its vast resources and powers to go after private citizens, and that’s what Matt Gaetz is now.”

Gaetz was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with the vice-president-elect, JD Vance, meeting with some of the senators who will decide his fate. After his conversation with Gaetz, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump loyalist, indicated he was open to supporting the attorney general nominee and condemned the “lynch mob” raising concerns about the sexual misconduct allegations.

“My record is clear. I tend to defer to presidential cabinet choices unless the evidence suggests disqualification,” Graham said in a statement. “I would urge all of my Senate colleagues, particularly Republicans, not to join the lynch mob and give the process a chance to move forward.”

Other Republicans, including Senator Markwayne Mullin, have suggested the report should be at least made available to the senators who will vote on confirming Gaetz’s nomination.

“I believe the Senate should have access to that,” Mullin told NBC News on Sunday. “Now, should it be released to the public or not? I guess that will be part of the negotiations. But that should be definitely part of our decision-making.”

Democrats have appeared open to the idea of releasing the report. Nearly 100 House Democrats signed a letter requesting the ethics committee’s findings be released, noting that there was some precedent for issuing reports on former members who resigned amid scandal.

Representative Sean Casten, who led fellow Democrats in signing the letter, indicated on Wednesday that he would introduce a privileged resolution to require a full House vote on releasing the report. Casten would need the support of only a handful of Republicans to get the resolution approved in the House, where Gaetz has made enemies on both sides of the aisle.

Democratic members of the Senate judiciary committee, which will hold Gaetz’s confirmation hearings, have also requested the FBI’s file on the attorney general nominee.

“The Senate has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on presidential nominees, and it is crucial that we review all the information necessary to fulfill this duty as we consider Mr Gaetz’s nomination,” the Democrats wrote on Wednesday in a letter to the FBI director, which was obtained by Politico. “The grave public allegations against Mr Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government.”

RThe representative Susan Wild, the top Democratic representative on the ethics committee, said on Monday that she supported the report’s release, echoing comments made over the weekend by a fellow Democrat on the committee, Rthe representative Glenn Ivey.

“It should certainly be released to the Senate, and I think it should be released to the public, as we have done with many other investigative reports in the past,” Wild told reporters, peraccording to NBC News. “There is precedent for releasing even after a member has resigned.”

If the ethics committee report is released, it could further damage Gaetz’s prospects of Senate confirmation, but Trump has floated the idea of installing his nominees via recess appointment to circumvent the confirmation process.

Donald Trump is likely to choose the Johns Hopkins surgeon and writer Martin Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Makary raised concerns about a number of public health issues during the Covid pandemic, touting the protection from natural immunity and opposing Covid vaccine mandates.

The FDA is the world’s most influential drug regulator with a more than $7bn budget. It is responsible for approving new treatments and ensuring they are safe and effective before entering the biggest and most lucrative market. It has regulatory authority over human and veterinary drugs, biological medicines, medical devices and vaccines.

The agency is also responsible for maintaining safety standards for the food supply, tobacco, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.

Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, said he would not speculate on or get ahead of any announcement.

As FDA commissioner, Makary would report to the head of the Department of Health and Human Services.

To lead HHS, Trump has nominated Robert F Kennedy Jr, an environmental activist who has spread misinformation about the safety of vaccines and one of several unconventional Trump picks for top administration jobs.

As a doctor, Makary was a co-developer of the Surgery Checklist, a routine for surgeons that improved patient outcomes and has been spread around the globe by the World Health Organization.

His most recent book, Blind Spots, was published in September. In interviews promoting the book, he spoke against what he called “massive overtreatment” in the US that he called “an epidemic of inappropriate care”.

He has advocated for re-examining the use of hormone replacement treatment in menopausal women, reducing overuse of antibiotics and reforms to medical education.

Makary, who lives in Baltimore, has served as an adviser to the conservative healthcare thinktank Paragon Health Institute in Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would succeed Dr Robert Califf, a cardiologist and researcher who also held the role of FDA commissioner in the Obama administration.

In his second term, Califf revamped the agency’s food operations and inspections processes and tried to combat misinformation.

Sarah McBride, the incoming congresswoman and first openly transgender person elected to the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday shared a statement on social media in response to the House banning trans people from using single-sex bathrooms on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity.

Earlier in the day, the House speaker, Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson, issued a statement “regarding facilities throughout the US Capitol complex”.

Johnson said: “All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings – such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms – are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.”

He added: “It is important to note that each member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol. Women deserve women’s only spaces.”

McBride is due to be sworn in in January to represent Delaware after handily winning the seat in the election earlier this month, having been the first openly trans person elected to the state senate seat there in 2020.

She had initially pushed back over proposed restrictions by saying the argument was a far-right-driven distraction from issues such as housing, healthcare and childcare.

But on Wednesday, after Johnson’s announcement, McBride responded with a post on X: “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms, I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families. Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them. This effort to distract from the real issues facing this country hasn’t distracted me over the last several days.”

Her statement on X continued: “Serving in the 119th Congress will be the honor of a lifetime, and I continue to look forward to getting to know my future colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Each of us were sent here because voters saw in us something that they value. I have loved seeing those qualities in the future colleagues that I’ve met and I look forward to seeing those qualities in every member come January. I hope all of my colleagues will seek to do the same with me.”

On Monday Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican representative, had introduced a bill to ban transgender people, including congressional members, officers and employees, from using single-sex bathrooms and other facilities on Capitol Hill that correspond to their gender identity.

Mace told reporters that McBride “does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop” and called her a biological man, insisting that McBride “doesn’t get a say”, CNN reported.

Mace’s bill comes as Republicans have attacked transgender people as part of a broader political culture-war strategy, limiting what bathrooms they can use and the youth sports teams they can play on. Fourteen states currently have laws that prohibit transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ rights group.

Donald Trump leaned into such politics vigorously during the presidential election campaign.

On Wednesday afternoon, Wisconsin representative Mark Pocan, chair of the congressional equality caucus, issued a statement saying: “Speaker Johnson’s holier-than-thou decree to ban transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their identity is a cruel and unnecessary rule that puts countless staff, interns, and visitors to the United States Capitol at risk.

He added: “How will this even be enforced? Will the Sergeant at Arms post officers in bathrooms? Will everyone who works at the Capitol have to carry around their birth certificate or undergo a genetic test? This policy isn’t going to protect anyone – but it is going to open the door to rampant abuse, harassment, and discrimination in the Capitol. Republicans … turn to using these cruel attacks to distract from their inability to govern.”

LPac, a political action committee that endorses select LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary candidates for office, and had endorsed McBride, criticized a “smear campaign” to dehumanize trans people and called McBride “an incredible, kind, and compassionate human being who tirelessly” works towards improving people’s lives and a more equitable future for all. The organization said trans women “aren’t a threat” and that transgender people are disproportionately vulnerable to violence themselves.

The statement then counterattacked with: “If this was truly about creating safe spaces for women, why isn’t there more of an uproar from Nancy and her colleagues about the fact that a man found liable of sexual abuse is our president-elect, and that several of his high-level appointees have been accused of sexual assault?”

Joe Biden marked his 82nd birthday on Wednesday as Democrats began searching for a younger generation of party leaders following Kamala Harris’s morale-sapping defeat in this month’s presidential election.

Any birthday celebrations planned by the US president will probably be muted as he returned to Washington from the G20 summit in Brazil a seemingly diminished figure, awaiting the return to power of Donald Trump, who is expected to dismantle many of his achievements in the past four years.

The Bidens also seemed unlikely to be joined by many of the president’s fellow Democrats, who were reportedly too engaged in seeking replacements for the octogenarian leadership represented by him and 84-year-old Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker who was recently re-elected to a 20th term as a member of Congress and continues to wield much influence.

Pelosi was instrumental in pressing Biden to stand aside as the Democrats’ presidential nominee in July amid concerns about his advanced age and mental acuity following a disastrous debate performance against Trump the previous month.

New leadership may also be on the horizon in the Senate, where the Democrats’ leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, is 73 and recently oversaw the loss of the party’s single-seat majority to the Republicans, who have just replaced their 82-year-old leader, Mitch McConnell.

At 54, Hakeem Jeffries, Pelosi’s successor as the party’s leader in the House, is less vulnerable to challenge on age-related grounds, but youth – at least in relative terms – is on Democrats’ minds as they contemplate the road to recovery from a catastrophic reversal at the polls.

“It is a huge problem in the Democratic party that we have such an ossifying class of leadership that it needs to become a crisis before they leave,” Politico quoted one Democrat as saying.

The party is looking at a younger generation of state governors to emerge as presidential candidates in four years’ time, many of whom would have been in the mix had Biden passed the torch earlier and had there been an open primary or had he not immediately endorsed Harris when he finally stepped aside. They include Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, 51, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who is 53, Gavin Newsom, 57, of California, 49-year-old Jared Polis, the governor of Colorado, and Andy Beshear, 46, the governor of Kentucky.

Future leadership may also be available in the person of Pete Buttigieg, 42, the transportation secretary, who has been notably effective in arguing the Democrats’ case in conservative forums like Fox News.

Age is once again an issue as the party seeks a new chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the strategic head of the national party, to lead its rebuilding project in the wake of Trump’s victory, even though the Republican president-elect is the oldest person ever voted into the presidency.

Declared candidates so far are Ken Martin, 51, chair of the Minnesota Democrats, and Martin O’Malley, 61, a former Maryland governor, who both said they were running this week.

Rahm Emanuel, 64, the US ambassador to Japan and a former White House chief of staff under Barack Obama has also been speculated upon as a possible candidate.

However, the spotlight is being shone on younger potential contenders amid widespread calls for “a new generation of leadership”.

Those touted include Ben Wikler, 43, chair of the Democrats in Wisconsin, and Mallory McMorrow, 38, a Michigan state legislator, who told Politico she would run if given sufficient encouragement.

“If enough people ask, I’m leaving myself open to all kinds of opportunities,” she said.

David Hogg, a gen-Z gun rights activist who runs a political action committee dedicated to recruiting young people for office, has also said he was considering running for the DNC’s vice-chair’s role.

“[It is about] a state of mind … when your political sort of awakening came in. When did you get engaged in politics? When did you show up into this?” the Democratic insider told Politico about the need for younger leaders.

The call for a generational shift comes as Biden has played a decidedly low-key role in his visits to Brazil and Peru, where he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit before flying to Rio de Janeiro for the G20.

The outgoing president avoided journalists and stuck to behind-closed-doors meetings on the two trips, likely to be his last as an active statesman on the international stage.

He even missed the first leaders’ photo call on Monday in what seemed like a symbol of fading relevance, although the White House said it had been caused by “logistical reasons” and that he attended a later photo session.

More pointedly, Biden ignored invitations to talk from reporters travelling with him about his message to international leaders on the incoming administration.

Maurizio Cattelan’s viral artwork involving a banana duct-taped to a wall has sold at auction for US$5.2m, besting initial estimates of between US$1m and US$1.5m.

One of three editions for the 2019 work, titled Comedian, made its auction debut on Wednesday evening at Sotheby’s New York, as part of its contemporary art auction.

In a competitive and fast-moving auction in which cryptocurrency bids were accepted, bidding started at US$800,000 and quickly leapt beyond the initial estimates, as bids flew fast within the room at Sotheby’s Upper East Side location as well as over the phone and online.

“I never thought I’d say ‘$5 million for a banana’,” auctioneer Oliver Barker quipped as the bidding approached its climax. The banana displayed at Sotheby’s was reportedly purchased for 35c earlier that day.

Jen Hua from Sotheby’s China office placed the winning bid on behalf of Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who will pay US$6.2m including the buyer’s premium.

In return, Sun will receive a banana and a roll of duct tape, as well as a certificate of authenticity and instructions on how to install the work – including how to replace the banana, should they want to.

“This is not just an artwork, it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community,” Sun said in a statement to Sotheby’s. “I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”

Sun said he plans to eat the banana, as a way of “honouring its place in both art history and popular culture”.

Described by the auctioneer as a “viral sensation”, Comedian debuted at Art Basel Miami fair in 2019 as an edition of three, where its US$120,000 price tag made headlines worldwide and prompted debates about the nature and value of art.

It subsequently went viral when New York performance artist David Datuna removed and ate the banana, which was then replaced. This spawned a copycat stunt in May 2023, in which a South Korean art student removed and ate the banana from an edition of Comedian on display in Seoul.

Cattelan, an artworld provocateur whose previous works include a solid gold, fully functioning toilet titled America, has said that Comedian “was a sincere commentary and a reflection on what we value”, telling the Art Newspaper: “At art fairs, speed and business reign, so I saw it like this: if I had to be at a fair, I could sell a banana like others sell their paintings. I could play within the system, but with my rules.”

Maurizio Cattelan’s viral artwork involving a banana duct-taped to a wall has sold at auction for US$5.2m, besting initial estimates of between US$1m and US$1.5m.

One of three editions for the 2019 work, titled Comedian, made its auction debut on Wednesday evening at Sotheby’s New York, as part of its contemporary art auction.

In a competitive and fast-moving auction in which cryptocurrency bids were accepted, bidding started at US$800,000 and quickly leapt beyond the initial estimates, as bids flew fast within the room at Sotheby’s Upper East Side location as well as over the phone and online.

“I never thought I’d say ‘$5 million for a banana’,” auctioneer Oliver Barker quipped as the bidding approached its climax. The banana displayed at Sotheby’s was reportedly purchased for 35c earlier that day.

Jen Hua from Sotheby’s China office placed the winning bid on behalf of Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who will pay US$6.2m including the buyer’s premium.

In return, Sun will receive a banana and a roll of duct tape, as well as a certificate of authenticity and instructions on how to install the work – including how to replace the banana, should they want to.

“This is not just an artwork, it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community,” Sun said in a statement to Sotheby’s. “I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”

Sun said he plans to eat the banana, as a way of “honouring its place in both art history and popular culture”.

Described by the auctioneer as a “viral sensation”, Comedian debuted at Art Basel Miami fair in 2019 as an edition of three, where its US$120,000 price tag made headlines worldwide and prompted debates about the nature and value of art.

It subsequently went viral when New York performance artist David Datuna removed and ate the banana, which was then replaced. This spawned a copycat stunt in May 2023, in which a South Korean art student removed and ate the banana from an edition of Comedian on display in Seoul.

Cattelan, an artworld provocateur whose previous works include a solid gold, fully functioning toilet titled America, has said that Comedian “was a sincere commentary and a reflection on what we value”, telling the Art Newspaper: “At art fairs, speed and business reign, so I saw it like this: if I had to be at a fair, I could sell a banana like others sell their paintings. I could play within the system, but with my rules.”

The US has vetoed a UN security council push to call for a ceasefire in Gaza that Washington said would have emboldened Hamas.

The resolution demanded “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in the war between Israel and the Palestinian group, along with “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.

The UN security council voted 14-1 in favor of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the US veto.

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said the resolution “was not a path to peace, it was a road map to more terror, more suffering and more bloodshed.

“Many of you attempted to pass this injustice. We thank the United States for exercising its veto.”

Robert Wood, deputy ambassador to the UN, said that the US position remained that there had “to be a linkage between a ceasefire and the release of hostages”.

The war was triggered by the assault on Israel by Hamas militants on 7 October 2023, a cross-border raid that killed 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The health ministry in Gaza said the death toll from the resulting war had reached 43,985 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

Of 251 hostages seized during the 7 October attack, 97 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Almost all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the war, which has caused a humanitarian catastrophe.

Hamas condemned Washington as a “partner in the aggression against our people …

“It is a criminal, kills children and women and destroys civilian life in Gaza.”

Since the beginning of the conflict, the security council has struggled to speak with one voice, as the United States has used its veto power several times, although Russia and China have as well.

“China kept demanding stronger language,” said a US official who also claimed that Russia had been “pulling strings” with the countries responsible for pushing the latest resolution.

The few resolutions that the United States has allowed to pass by abstaining stopped short of calling for an unconditional and permanent ceasefire.

In March, the council called for a temporary ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but this appeal was ignored by the warring parties.

And in June, the 15-member body pledged support for a US resolution that laid out a multistage ceasefire and hostage release plan that ultimately went nowhere.

“We regret that the council could have incorporated compromise language the UK put forward to bridge the existing gaps … With that language, this resolution should have been adopted,” Wood, the US envoy, said following the vote.

Ondina Blokar Drobic, Slovenia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, said “we regret the veto was cast, even more since this war, with its humanitarian impact and spillover effect, amounts to a serious threat to international peace and security”.

Some diplomats have expressed optimism that following Donald Trump’s election win, Joe Biden might be more flexible in his few remaining weeks in power.

They hoped for a repeat of December 2016 when then-president Barack Obama’s second term was finishing and the council passed a resolution calling for a halt to Israeli settlement building in the occupied territories, a first since 1979.

The United States refrained from using its veto then, a break from traditional US support for Israel on the sensitive issue of settlements.

“Once again, the US used its veto to ensure impunity for Israel as its forces continue to commit crimes against Palestinians in Gaza,” Human Rights Watch said.

The resolution vetoed on Wednesday calls for “safe and unhindered entry of humanitarian assistance at scale”, including in besieged northern Gaza, and denounces any attempt to starve Palestinians.

Majed Bamya, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said Wednesday that “there’s no justification whatsoever for vetoing a resolution trying to stop atrocities”.

China has renewed efforts to curry favour in Pacific island nations, a new report has found, after charting a “resurgence” in Beijing-backed aid and infrastructure funding.

Over the past decade, China has lavished billions of dollars on Pacific island nations, part of ongoing efforts to build influence in competition with the US and its allies.

Having cut back on Pacific aid at the height of the Covid pandemic, China’s commitments have climbed in recent years, Australia’s Lowy Institute said in a new study.

“Beijing has emerged from a pandemic-induced lull with a more competitive, politically targeted model of aid engagement,” the thinktank said in its annual Pacific aid report on Wednesday.

“The uptick in Chinese spending has been accompanied by a resurgence in new Chinese project commitments, signalling a revival in its ambition to engage in major infrastructure works in the Pacific.”

Australia – traditionally the Pacific’s partner of choice – remained the largest donor.

But US funding now narrowly trails that of China, the second-largest bilateral donor in the region, authors Alexandre Dayant and Riley Duke said.

In 2022, the most recent year with complete data, China spent US$256m – up nearly 14% from three years earlier.

Australia spent $1.5bn, and the US spent $249m – both figures falling after a sharp increase the previous year.

There had been a noticeable shift in the way China engages throughout the region, the report found. Instead of splashing cash in a broad-brush approach, Beijing was increasingly zeroing in on a handful of friendly Pacific states.

Solomon Islands and Kiribati were singled out for school upgrades, new roads and government vehicles after severing diplomatic links with Taiwan in 2019.

Papua New Guinea, which signed a security agreement with the US in 2023, saw development funding from China dwindle.

The former billionaire investor Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday over the collapse of Archegos Capital Management, which cost Wall Street banks more than $10bn.

Hwang was sentenced by US district judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan, where a jury convicted Hwang in July on 10 criminal charges including wire fraud, securities fraud and market manipulation.

Archegos’s March 2021 implosion took less than a week, stunning Wall Street and Hwang’s lenders.

The US attorney’s office in Manhattan sought a 21-year prison term for Hwang – unusually long for a white-collar case – and for him to forfeit $12.35bn and make restitution to victims.

“It stands among a rare class of cases that truly could be described as a national calamity,” prosecutor Andrew Thomas said at the sentencing hearing before Hellerstein.

Hwang, 60, set up Archegos in New York as a family office in 2013, the year after his former hedge fund, Tiger Asia Management, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in an insider-trading case.

Prosecutors accused Hwang of lying to banks about Archegos’s portfolio so he could borrow money aggressively and make concentrated bets on media and technology stocks such as ViacomCBS, now called Paramount Global.

While Archegos eventually managed $36bn, Hwang’s borrowing helped him amass $160bn of exposure to stocks.

His downfall occurred when Hwang was unable to meet margin calls, as the prices of some of his favorite stocks began falling and various banks unloaded stocks that had backed his so-called total return swaps.

More than $100bn of market value in Hwang’s stocks was wiped out. Several banks suffered losses, including Credit Suisse, which lost $5.5bn, and Nomura Holdings. Credit Suisse is now part of UBS.

Hwang’s lawyers’ request for no punishment also cited Hwang’s Christian faith and his non-profit Grace and Mercy Foundation, which has since 2006 donated at least $600m to combat homelessness, poverty and human trafficking, among other causes.

Hwang’s lawyers have said his net worth has fallen to “at most” $55.3m.

The former billionaire investor Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday over the collapse of Archegos Capital Management, which cost Wall Street banks more than $10bn.

Hwang was sentenced by US district judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan, where a jury convicted Hwang in July on 10 criminal charges including wire fraud, securities fraud and market manipulation.

Archegos’s March 2021 implosion took less than a week, stunning Wall Street and Hwang’s lenders.

The US attorney’s office in Manhattan sought a 21-year prison term for Hwang – unusually long for a white-collar case – and for him to forfeit $12.35bn and make restitution to victims.

“It stands among a rare class of cases that truly could be described as a national calamity,” prosecutor Andrew Thomas said at the sentencing hearing before Hellerstein.

Hwang, 60, set up Archegos in New York as a family office in 2013, the year after his former hedge fund, Tiger Asia Management, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in an insider-trading case.

Prosecutors accused Hwang of lying to banks about Archegos’s portfolio so he could borrow money aggressively and make concentrated bets on media and technology stocks such as ViacomCBS, now called Paramount Global.

While Archegos eventually managed $36bn, Hwang’s borrowing helped him amass $160bn of exposure to stocks.

His downfall occurred when Hwang was unable to meet margin calls, as the prices of some of his favorite stocks began falling and various banks unloaded stocks that had backed his so-called total return swaps.

More than $100bn of market value in Hwang’s stocks was wiped out. Several banks suffered losses, including Credit Suisse, which lost $5.5bn, and Nomura Holdings. Credit Suisse is now part of UBS.

Hwang’s lawyers’ request for no punishment also cited Hwang’s Christian faith and his non-profit Grace and Mercy Foundation, which has since 2006 donated at least $600m to combat homelessness, poverty and human trafficking, among other causes.

Hwang’s lawyers have said his net worth has fallen to “at most” $55.3m.

New Zealand’s gangs will need to hide their gang patches or face prosecution after a new law banning gang insignia in public came into force on Thursday – a move critics believe could risk breaching the Bill of Rights and do little to reduce gang membership.

At midnight, it became illegal for gang members to display signs, symbols or patches – large insignia sewn on to jackets, for example – anywhere in public. This includes displaying insignia on their clothing or vehicles.

Breaches of the ban carry a sentence of up to six months imprisonment or a $5,000 fine, and insignia would have to be forfeited and destroyed.

Three minutes after the ban came into effect, a Mongrel Mob member based in Hastings was arrested for displaying a large Mongrel Mob sign on the dashboard of his car, the police confirmed to the Guardian. He was issued a summons to appear in court and the sign was confiscated, police said.

“The free ride for gangs is over,” said Paul Goldsmith, the minister for justice. “Gangs in our country think they’re above the law and can choose which laws they comply with, and this government does not accept that.”

The ban forms part of the government’s wider “crackdown” on gangs, including non-consorting orders and police being given the power to stop gangs from associating and communicating.

Greater weight will also be given to gang membership at sentencing, enabling courts to impose more severe punishments, Goldsmith said.

Those who have been prosecuted for breaching the gang patch ban three times will also be banned from wearing the patch at home, and police will have increased powers to search homes if they suspect members still have insignia.

Police have been meeting with gangs ahead of the law changes and said they will actively enforce any breaches.

“Gangs are well aware that once this law comes into effect, they are not allowed to wear a gang patch in public,” said Paul Basham, assistant commissioner and controller of the nationwide operation to enforce the law.

“If we come across anyone wearing gang insignia in public, we won’t be taking the excuse of ignorance as a defence.”

Gangs have existed for decades in New Zealand and hold a complex space in society: while they can be linked to violence and crime, they can also act as forces for good within their communities. Police figures provided to the Guardian puts membership at roughly 9,384.

Members of the country’s largest gang, the Mongrel Mob, are a familiar sight in many provincial towns and cities, and it is common for members to have insignia, including bulldogs, tattooed on their faces. Tattoos and coloured clothing have been excluded from the ban.

Black Power gang life member and community advocate, Denis O’Reilly, told RNZ there will be a “spectrum of response” from gang members to the law changes, including resistance.

“The main advice gang leaders are providing their members is that of Minister Goldsmith’s: don’t get caught,” he said. “But in the main, I think people will use subterfuge, they’ll wear patches inside out, they’ll wear cloaks…to try and get around the law.”

Mongrel Mob members who held a meeting on Wednesday in Ōpōtiki, in the North Island’s Bay of Plenty region, told Stuff many would not surrender their patches.

“We’re all backing one another on this, we’re all together on this. We die for our patch. We’ve said that forever, from day one.”

Others said the ban was a human rights issue: “it’s taking away our freedom. I don’t go tell [you] what to wear.”

Critics of the ban say the legislation is vague and could risk infringing the Bill of Rights, while doing nothing to alter gang membership.

In an open letter to Goldsmith in August, the Law Society said the law allowing authorities to search homes for insignia was an “incursion into private life” that could raise Bill of Rights concerns.

The society said the law could result in a person being held criminally liable for being proximate to someone in possession of gang insignia, while the definition of gang insignia could – when taken literally – include “printed reproductions of gang insignia, making it a criminal offence to possess a newspaper with a gang symbol in it, or certain books”.

“The residential ban could extend to insignia never intended to be displayed in public – such as a gang member having their father or grandfather’s patch as a memento,” it said.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins told media it was unlikely the law changes would lead to a reduction in gangs.

“This is a measure by the government to look tough on crime. The reality here is it is not going to lead to one single person leaving a gang.”

Melbourne teen Bianca Jones has died in a Thai hospital, a week after a suspected methanol poisoning incident in neighbouring Laos that affected her and her best friend.

Anthony Albanese confirmed the 19-year-old’s death on Thursday, after her parents travelled to Thailand to be with her.

“Our first thoughts at this moment are with her family and friends who are
grieving a terrible and cruel loss,” the prime minister told parliament

The Jones family told the Herald Sun that she was “surrounded by love”.

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news that our beloved daughter and sister, Bianca Jones, has passed away,” the statement said.

“She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us.

“We want to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we’ve received from across Australia.

“The kindness shown to our family during this unimaginable time has been truly humbling.”

Jones and her best friend, Holly Bowles, both aged 19, had been staying at a hostel in Vang Vieng, north of the Laos capital Vientiane while on a “dream getaway” when they fell critically ill.

Bowles remains fighting for her life in a Thai hospital.

On Thursday, a US Department of State spokesperson also confirmed an American had died in the town – just days after Danish authorities said two of its citizens had died in Laos.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and providing consular assistance,” the US state department spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson did not link the death to methanol, and said local authorities were “responsible for determining the cause of death”.

While confirming two deaths in Laos, Denmark’s ministry of foreign affairs did not link them to methanol.

Earlier on Thursday, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said her thoughts were with the families of Bowles and Jones.

“This is just heartbreaking to have your beautiful, young adults head off on an exciting adventure,” Allan told reporters on Thursday morning.

“For that exciting adventure to end in these awful, tragic circumstances is really heartbreaking for the families and obviously too for the many people in our community who love these two young women.”

Jones’ parents on Wednesday said they hoped authorities worked out exactly what happened “as soon as possible”.

Jones’s mother is employed by News Corp’s Herald and Weekly Times. Penny Fowler, chair of the HWT, told staff on Tuesday that the teenagers had fallen victim “to an apparent case of methanol poisoning”.

The location of the suspected poisoning has not been confirmed by authorities.

The pair had been travelling through Asia on a “dream getaway” at the time of the incident, the Jones family has previously said.

They had played Australian rules football together at the Beaumaris football club, which on Wednesday extended its “love, best wishes and unconditional support to Holly and Bianca in their hour of need”.

At the time of the incident, the women were staying at the Nana Backpacker Hostel. It’s manager, Duong Duc Toan, said the women had joined more than 100 other guests for free shots of Lao vodka offered by the hostel as a gesture of hospitality, the Associated Press has reported.

He said hostel staff were told by other guests that the women were unwell after they failed to check out as planned on 13 November, and they arranged transport to a hospital for them.

He said no other guest reported any issue, adding the women had then gone for a night out, returning in the early hours of the morning.

Australia’s Smartraveller website urges tourists to be on the lookout for methanol poisoning, saying as little as one shot can be fatal.

It warns symptoms appear similar to drinking too much but can be “stronger”, leading to vision problems including blindness or death.

The council of a town in Canada’s Yukon territory has been locked for weeks in bureaucratic standstill after its members refused to swear a mandatory oath of allegiance to King Charles, citing the crown’s tarnished relations with Indigenous peoples in the region.

The standoff, which threatens to cost them their seats, reflects a complicated view of the country’s head of state, who lives thousands of miles away, and increasingly serves as a reminder to a history of violence and broken promises

In mid-October, residents of Dawson City – notorious as the birthplace of the “Sour Toe” cocktail which included a mummified human toe – voted to replace the town’s mayor and council, turning the page on an administration gripped by scandal and legal wrangling.

But since then the council has been in procedural limbo.

“We can’t do anything legally required of us … So we are sort of, kind of council, and I’m sort of, kind of the mayor,” the mayor-elect, Stephen Johnson, told the Canadian Press. “It’s a bit of a sticky situation.”

Under Yukon’s Municipal Act, elected officials are required to take the oath of allegiance and an oath of office.

But shortly before the incoming council was due to take office, councillor-elect Darwyn Lynn, a member of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation, told colleagues he wasn’t comfortable pledging allegiance to the crown due to its troubled history with Indigenous peoples.

Councillors took the oath of office on 5 November, but have refused to swear or affirm they “will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III” and his “heirs and successors according to law”.

Johnson said the council decided to refuse the oath of allegiance in solidarity with Lynn, acknowledging a colonial history of displacement for the people living and using the lands for generations before the arrival settlers.

The town of Dawson – known as the “Paris of the North” – is located on the former site of Tr’ochëk, a valuable hunting and fishing camp at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers.

When the Klondike gold rush brought nearly 17,000 outsiders to the region at the end of the 1800s, the Tr’ondek Hwech’in, or people of the river, were displaced. Even though the gold rush soon ended, prompting an exodus from the northern community, Tr’ochëk never returned as a fishing and hunting camp. Nowadays, about 2,400 people live in Dawson City.

“This is being done with no disrespect to His Majesty King Charles. And also we’re not doing this to go, ‘Rah, rah, look at us,’ to poke everybody across Canada, to get rid of the crown,” Johnson told the Canadian Press. “It was just something we wanted to do together to show solidarity in what we do here in this town.”

The row over the pledge is rare, but not the first time elected officials have questioned the requirement they pledge allegiance to Canada’s head of state.

In 2022, Quebec passed legislation ending elected officials’ required oath to King Charles. At the time, the provincial lawmaker Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois called it “a relic from the past”.

At the same time, some Indigenous leaders point to treaties signed with the crown as solemn agreements that represent a trust both nations can live peacefully side by side.

The territorial government says it is considering alternative options around the oath to ensure all council members feel included and respected within the governance structures while still complying with legislative requirements.

But if an alternative cannot be reached by 10 December, a byelection is required and the mayor and councillors would forfeit their seats.

The mayor of a small town in Sardinia has said thousands of Americans keen to escape Donald Trump have expressed an interest in moving there after he offered homes to them for as little as €1.

Francesco Columbu, the mayor of Ollolai, has staged similarly enticing initiatives in the past as a way to combat depopulation. He released more homes for sale after sensing he was on to a winner when Trump clinched a second term as US president in elections earlier this month.

On Tuesday, Columbu launched a website mainly targeted at disgruntled Americans, inviting them to start planning their “European escape in the splendid paradise of Sardinia”.

Colombu said: “Within a day, we had 30,000 requests [from would-be residents] and over 156,000 visitors to the site.” . He said the objective was not to interfere in US political issues but to create investment and jobs in Ollolai, a town in the mountainous Barbagia region of the Italian island with a population of roughly 1,150.

The project is open to other nationalities too, although US applications would be fast-tracked, he added.

Ollolai claims to be the “birthplace of the global €1 homes phenomenon”, having first offered dilapidated homes for sale in 2018. The scheme attracted a flurry of buyers who then spent thousands on doing the properties up, but rarely do the owners take up year-round residency.

A project to lure digital nomads called Work from Ollolai has been more successful in that respect, with 10 American professionals moving to the village last year and paying just €1 a month in rent. Americans were also picked on that occasion because of the village being the birthplace of a former Mr Universe who was a close friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Columbu is hoping that the latest plea for new residents will attract more people able to work remotely. As part of the deal, Ollolai will offer three types of accommodation: free homes to certain categories of digital nomads, €1 properties in need of renovations and habitable ones for up to €100,000 (£83,230).

A team of experts would be on hand to help guide people through the process of buying a property, dealing with paperwork or finding contractors for renovation works.

“The whole point is to revitalise the town and improve the life of inhabitants,” Columbu said. “We are a population of mostly elderly people in a town which is depopulating and we need to invest in our future. We can’t resolve the issue with these initiatives, but at least we are creating a bit of activity.”

Surrounded by nature and blessed with plenty of sunshine, Columbu said any new resident to Ollolai “would want for nothing”. What’s more, the village is part of an area in Sardinia designated a “blue zone” – one of five regions of the world where people live much longer than average.

On top of that, Columbu said the village boasts great culture and delicious food. He joked that if Trump wanted to invest in the village, he would be welcome, although that might defeat the object of his plan.