The suspect in a car-ramming attack that killed 11 people and injured dozens at a Filipino heritage festival in the Canadian city of Vancouver has been charged with eight counts of second degree murder, prosecutors have said.

More charges were possible against Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, the British Columbia prosecution service said. Investigators ruled out terrorism and said Lo had a history of mental health issues.

Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court and remains in custody, prosecutors said.

Prime minister Mark Carney met with members of the Filipino community on Sunday in the wake of the tragic event, lighting candles and laying bouquets for the victims, including at a memorial near the scene of the attack.

Just two days ahead of a national election, Carney said the attack had left the country “shocked, devastated and heartbroken”. Vancouver’s police chief, Steve Rai, described the carnage as “the darkest day” in the city’s history and told reporters it was “impossible to overstate how many lives have been impacted for ever” by the lone driver.

Some of the injured were in critical condition. As of Sunday evening authorities had not released the names of those killed, but said they were aged between five and 65.

The attack occurred shortly after 8pm on Saturday, when a man drove a black Audi SUV down a street in the city, striking people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival. He was arrested at the scene.

Video of the aftermath showed the dead and injured along the narrow street in South Vancouver lined by food trucks. The front of the driver’s SUV was heavily damaged.

The Lapu-Lapu festival, held on a warm spring day, drew nearly 100,000 people, many of whom were families with young children. The celebration is named after Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous resistance fighter in the Philippines, who orchestrated the defeat of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.

Saturday’s festival was the second annual event for the city and organisers advertised a street parade, artisans, cultural activities, a basketball tournament and local food vendors.

Carney, the Liberal party prime minister and former Bank of England governor who is favourite to win Monday’s election, paused campaigning to address the country on Sunday morning.

“Those families are living every family’s nightmare,” said a visibly emotional Carney. “I know that I join all Canadians in mourning with you. I know that Canadians are united with you.”

Carney referenced “Bayanihan”, the Filipino value of community serving those in need. “This spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time. We will comfort the grieving. We will care for each other. We will unite in common purpose.”

Kris Pangilinan, who brought his pop-up clothing and lifestyle booth to the festival, saw the vehicle enter past the barricade slowly before the vehicle accelerated in an area that was packed with people after a concert. He said hearing the sounds of bodies hitting the vehicle will never leave him.

“And all I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming. It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air.”

Carayn Nulada said that she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the street and used her body to shield them from the SUV. She said that her daughter suffered a narrow escape.

“The car hit her arm and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared,” said Nulada, who described children screaming, and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles. “I saw people running and my daughter was shaking.”

Festival attenders held the suspect until police could arrive.

Video circulating on social media showed a young man in a hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.

Police set up a 24-hour assistance centre to help anyone who had been unable to contact relatives or friends who were at the festival.

Carney cancelled his first campaign event and two major rallies on the final day of the election campaign before Monday’s vote, which has been heavily influenced by the spectre of Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada and a trade war he has launched against his country’s northern neighbour.

Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the city’s total population, according to Statistics Canada.

Associated Press contributed to this report

The vigil on Sunday evening drew a crowd so large that police in Vancouver had to move the crime scene barriers back so that people would not spill out on to the busy traffic along 41st Avenue.

“It’s amazing. It’s really a show of how important the Filipino community is just very broadly,” says Chelsea Brager.

Brager works with a Filipino youth organization called Anakbayan BC that helped organise a candlelight vigil on Sunday evening to remember victims of Saturday’s car-ramming attack that killed 11 people and injured dozens at a Filipino heritage festival in the Canadian city.

Earlier in the day, the nearby Anglican memorial church of St Mary the Virgin was overflowing with members of the Filipino community and others who wished to pay their respects.

Saturday had been intended as a night of celebration for the community – of resilience and of collective resistance. Lapu Lapu Day commemorates the victory in 1521 by Indigenous Filipinos, led by Lapu Lapu, against Spanish colonisers on the island of Mactan.

Members of the Black Eyed Peas had just finished their headlining set in Vancouver’s Sunset neighbourhood, home to the city’s Filipino community, when a driver tore through the crowd.

“Last night, there was a horrible tragedy that occurred at a happy event, and we’re still reeling from it,” said RJ Aquino, the chair of Filipino BC, the organisation behind Saturday’s event, at a press conference. It’s “not lost on us and the people in our team that the spirit of the festival was about resistance, resilience”, as well as courage and strength, “and we’re going to have to call that up in ourselves”, Aquino added.

Brager first knew something was wrong when they, on their way home, noticed others running away from the event. “We didn’t quite know what was happening until we saw the news when we got home,” said Brager.

“I just saw my phone kind of blow up with tons of messages,” said Maki Cairns, with Gabriela BC, a Filipino women’s movement which also helped organise the Sunday evening vigil.

Some were messaging to see if Cairns could contact loved ones they’d had trouble reaching, while others were asking if she was OK. “I remember getting people from the US messaging me as well to make sure I was OK,” Cairns said.

Cairns’ own first call was to her mother, who she was relieved to hear had not been at the event.

‘We’re going to be OK’

In Vancouver, Filipinos have deep roots and a strong sense of community, something Aquino invoked on Sunday.

“Looking at the history of our people, we’ve encountered many tragedies, and we’re going to be OK. It’s OK to not feel OK right now. It’s OK to be sad, be angry, be confused. But as we work through those feelings, we will have each other to do that,” he said.

“We’ll need to make sure to be there for each other to do that. There’s no better time to really live up to the bayanihan spirit and say that we are here to lift each other up.”

“Bayanihan” refers to a community spirit in Filipino culture, and the need to lean into bayanihan was echoed by several others on Sunday.

Brager said it applied both to the origins of Lapu Lapu Day – the collective resistance that led to the victory against the Spanish – and to the response to Saturday night’s tragedy.

Back at the church of St Mary the Virgin, attendees heard a sermon by Father Expedito Farinas, who related the biblical story of the Apostle Thomas, whom he described as being in so much despair after the crucifixion that his faith in Jesus’s resurrection was shaken. They sang hymns, took communion and shared lunch in a parish hall. Inside and outside the church, community members were seen hugging and comforting one another – sharing tears and at times laughter.

Jaela Villegas, from Migrante BC, a Filipino organization fighting for migrant worker rights in British Columbia, said the attendance at the sermon was “overwhelming in a really good way”.

“I didn’t just see my Filipino community. It was also other communities or nationalities, or even other religions. They came to support us, and so that’s very comforting,” Villegas said.

“A Palestinian earlier came up to me and said, ‘Your loss is our loss’. I think that’s so heartwarming.”

The vigil on Sunday evening drew a crowd so large that police in Vancouver had to move the crime scene barriers back so that people would not spill out on to the busy traffic along 41st Avenue.

“It’s amazing. It’s really a show of how important the Filipino community is just very broadly,” says Chelsea Brager.

Brager works with a Filipino youth organization called Anakbayan BC that helped organise a candlelight vigil on Sunday evening to remember victims of Saturday’s car-ramming attack that killed 11 people and injured dozens at a Filipino heritage festival in the Canadian city.

Earlier in the day, the nearby Anglican memorial church of St Mary the Virgin was overflowing with members of the Filipino community and others who wished to pay their respects.

Saturday had been intended as a night of celebration for the community – of resilience and of collective resistance. Lapu Lapu Day commemorates the victory in 1521 by Indigenous Filipinos, led by Lapu Lapu, against Spanish colonisers on the island of Mactan.

Members of the Black Eyed Peas had just finished their headlining set in Vancouver’s Sunset neighbourhood, home to the city’s Filipino community, when a driver tore through the crowd.

“Last night, there was a horrible tragedy that occurred at a happy event, and we’re still reeling from it,” said RJ Aquino, the chair of Filipino BC, the organisation behind Saturday’s event, at a press conference. It’s “not lost on us and the people in our team that the spirit of the festival was about resistance, resilience”, as well as courage and strength, “and we’re going to have to call that up in ourselves”, Aquino added.

Brager first knew something was wrong when they, on their way home, noticed others running away from the event. “We didn’t quite know what was happening until we saw the news when we got home,” said Brager.

“I just saw my phone kind of blow up with tons of messages,” said Maki Cairns, with Gabriela BC, a Filipino women’s movement which also helped organise the Sunday evening vigil.

Some were messaging to see if Cairns could contact loved ones they’d had trouble reaching, while others were asking if she was OK. “I remember getting people from the US messaging me as well to make sure I was OK,” Cairns said.

Cairns’ own first call was to her mother, who she was relieved to hear had not been at the event.

‘We’re going to be OK’

In Vancouver, Filipinos have deep roots and a strong sense of community, something Aquino invoked on Sunday.

“Looking at the history of our people, we’ve encountered many tragedies, and we’re going to be OK. It’s OK to not feel OK right now. It’s OK to be sad, be angry, be confused. But as we work through those feelings, we will have each other to do that,” he said.

“We’ll need to make sure to be there for each other to do that. There’s no better time to really live up to the bayanihan spirit and say that we are here to lift each other up.”

“Bayanihan” refers to a community spirit in Filipino culture, and the need to lean into bayanihan was echoed by several others on Sunday.

Brager said it applied both to the origins of Lapu Lapu Day – the collective resistance that led to the victory against the Spanish – and to the response to Saturday night’s tragedy.

Back at the church of St Mary the Virgin, attendees heard a sermon by Father Expedito Farinas, who related the biblical story of the Apostle Thomas, whom he described as being in so much despair after the crucifixion that his faith in Jesus’s resurrection was shaken. They sang hymns, took communion and shared lunch in a parish hall. Inside and outside the church, community members were seen hugging and comforting one another – sharing tears and at times laughter.

Jaela Villegas, from Migrante BC, a Filipino organization fighting for migrant worker rights in British Columbia, said the attendance at the sermon was “overwhelming in a really good way”.

“I didn’t just see my Filipino community. It was also other communities or nationalities, or even other religions. They came to support us, and so that’s very comforting,” Villegas said.

“A Palestinian earlier came up to me and said, ‘Your loss is our loss’. I think that’s so heartwarming.”

One morning last August, a troubling message appeared in a social media group for Hongkongers in the UK. It was already a tense time to be an immigrant. Rioters, propelled by false claims online that the man who had murdered children in Southport was an asylum seeker, were descending on hotels housing refugees, trying to burn them alive.

The message alerted the Hongkongers to posts on far-right channels suggesting some new targets. “They all help refugees who come to the UK to take resources,” one of them read.

When Finn Lau saw the message he felt a pulse of dread. Not only was his name on the list of targets but so were two addresses where he had recently lived. In the London office where he works as a chartered surveyor, Lau stared at the posts. They looked like just more examples of the flood of hatred that poured through social media during the riots. But Lau believed this was something more sinister.

Lau, now 31, was among the activists whose role leading Hong Kong’s democracy movement catapulted them into confrontation with China’s authoritarian rulers. Many have fled into exile in the UK, where they continue to campaign. Educated, organised and articulate, they rank among the dissidents Beijing is most determined to crush.

Lau and his fellow activists have been called traitors, with bounties on their heads that are three times what the authorities offer for murderers. Relatives back home have been arrested and intimidated. As he read the posts, Lau suspected a chilling new tactic: an attempt to harness far-right violence.

Working with the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, the Guardian found more than 150 posts from 29 accounts on three days in August 2024 that sought to draw the attention of anti-immigrant groups and the far right to Lau and other Hong Kong exiles. Cybersecurity experts who have reviewed the posts say they exhibited some similarities to a major online influence operation that a Chinese security agency is suspected of orchestrating.

As Keir Starmer courts Beijing in search of economic growth, his security minister, Dan Jarvis, told the Guardian: “National security is the first duty of this government. Any attempt by a foreign government to coerce, intimidate or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, is wholly unacceptable.

“We continue to assess potential threats and work with our partners to counter foreign interference. We will make sure the security services and law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to deter, detect and disrupt modern-day state threats.”

Posts on X inciting attacks on Lau and others were directed at far-right figures, including Tommy Robinson. “They’re even supporting the Muslim minorities too!” read one post denouncing Hongkongers, sent to the Reform UK MP Richard Tice. It gave the date and location of a planned gathering of Hongkongers a few days later. Posts on Telegram appeared in the channels of the leaders of the white nationalist group Patriotic Alternative.

Online incitement appears to represent a novel weapon in the arsenal that projects Beijing’s power. Lau is one of the opponents of the regime – Hongkongers as well as Tibetans, Uyghurs, Taiwanese and campaigners for democracy – subjected to what the US-based advocacy group Freedom House calls “the most sophisticated, global and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world”.

The Guardian has worked with a team of reporters convened by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to document this campaign. The China Targets reporting team has identified 105 victims in 23 countries and catalogued the techniques the regime uses as it pursues its opponents beyond its borders.

There have been abductions, forced renditions and harrowing accounts of China’s “black jails”. Compared with some of the more lethal methods used against opponents of Russian, Iranian, Indian and Saudi authoritarians, China’s model seems subtler, which may make it more effective. It relies on a powerful force: fear.

‘Extremely scared’

When the first posts identified by the Guardian appeared on 12 August last year, the targets had every reason to take the threat seriously. After a wave of riots, Starmer had said the government remained on high alert. He had cancelled his summer holiday to oversee the deployment of 6,000 police officers to deter further unrest. “We had Hongkongers in refugee hotels,” says Lau. “Some of them were extremely scared.”

The fake accounts tried to imitate genuine online interaction.

Minutes later, “Curry Curry” replied with a list of UK addresses of Hong Kong pro-democracy groups and activists, including one whose profile was even higher than Lau’s. “Everyone knows what to do now, right? I recommend visiting Nathan Law first!” read a post from an account under the name Declan Dene McFly. This account then posted a screenshot of Apple Maps with the location pointer hanging over an address for Law.

The Chinese regime says Nathan Law is a criminal suspect wanted by Hong Kong police for endangering national security. Law, a leader of the movement that sought to salvage the freedoms promised to Hongkongers when they reverted from British to Chinese control, was imprisoned for months in 2017. He fought on. But when the national security law that Beijing imposed in 2020 meant protesters faced life sentences, Law joined an exodus of 100,000 Hongkongers who have come to the UK since the crackdown.

After Law was granted UK asylum in 2021, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the UK “should immediately correct its mistakes and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs, which are China’s domestic affairs”. After members of the US Congress nominated Law for a Nobel peace prize, Time magazine named him among 2020’s most influential people and Joe Biden invited him to a summit on democracy, an “extremely furious” Hong Kong security chief called Law a “modern-day traitor” who was spreading “lies”.

Boyish, bespectacled but toughened by years of struggle, Law, 31, has endured one of the most testing methods in the regime’s repressive playbook. His mother and brother were detained by Hong Kong police and interrogated in 2023. Though they were released – after his brother denounced him on Instagram – Law and his relatives know the authorities could come for them again.

The detentions came shortly after the Hong Kong government offered a HK$1m (about £100,000) bounty for information leading to the arrest of Law, Lau, and other exiled dissidents. In May 2024, British police disrupted a suspected surveillance operation apparently directed by China. Law and Lau are believed to have been among the targets.

A few months later, the social media posts urging far-right groups to attack Hong Kong activists began. “It’s outrageous,” says Law, “the way they try to incite violence towards me and try to divide society. I hope no one will take them seriously.”

Influence campaign

At first glance, the posts read as though British bigots were calling for attacks on the Hongkongers. But the language was oddly stilted. One read: “There are too many foreigners in my community now, and the security is worse.” Grammatical errors suggested a limited command of English. “They are all helping asylum seeker,” a profile named Yannie posted to Laura Towler, the deputy leader of Patriotic Alternative. Members of this group have since been jailed for offences during the riots.

That post, like many of the others, appeared on Telegram, a Russian-founded app with few restrictions on what users can say. Others were published on X. Patriotic Alternative is banned from Elon Musk’s platform but he has allowed the far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson to return. “HK refugees keeps coming our country attributing to the effort of the following organisations and people,” someone going by MaryAnnie posted to Robinson. There followed a list of four Hong Kong pro-democracy organisations and two addresses for Lau.

One curious aspect to MaryAnnie’s tweet was that it was sent at 3.58am. Dozens more, from this account and others were sent at similar times – during the working day in China. And many of the 29 profiles shared the same image of a list of addresses in a typeface usually used for Chinese. Several of the Telegram accounts have changed their profile names to Chinese characters. Three of the X profiles went on to post in Chinese. One of them follows only one account: China’s vice-minister of foreign affairs.

Experts at Graphika, a New York-based social media analysis company, reviewed the posts identified by the Guardian. The activity “echoes aspects” of a major Chinese online influence campaign that Graphika identified in 2019 and named Spamouflage Dragon, the analysts said.

The Graphika analysts agreed with other experts who said the social media campaign against Hongkongers could not definitively be attributed to Spamouflage Dragon because of differences in the style of posting. But they said posts identified by the Guardian showed “similarities to past activity Graphika and others have attributed to Chinese state-linked influence operations”.

Analysts at the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center say Spamouflage Dragon’s “impact is limited but its ability to rapidly respond to current events and propagate narratives across various platforms highlights its potential to fuel division”. They believe “with high confidence” that it is orchestrated by China’s ministry of public security (MPS), a key agency in the authoritarian system.

In 2023, American prosecutors brought charges against 34 MPS officers in Beijing, accusing them of running “transnational repression schemes” in the US and worldwide. The MPS officers allegedly deployed a troll farm “to target people of Chinese descent who had the courage to speak out against the Chinese Communist Party”.

‘The overseas struggle’

In response to the Guardian’s findings, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in the UK said: “The so-called ‘transnational repression’ by China is pure fabrication. China always respects the sovereignty of other countries and conducts law enforcement and judicial cooperation with other countries in accordance with the law.”

Under Xi Jinping, who since taking power in 2012 has gripped the country more tightly than any leader since Mao Zedong, what politburo members call “the overseas struggle” has been vigorously pursued. The ICIJ team has found China-backed groups monitoring and intimidating human rights activists at the UN in Geneva.

Chinese cyber-attackers – groups of whom have allegedly hacked into US presidential campaigns and critical infrastructure as well as UK parliamentarians’ emails – have been turned on the party’s opponents worldwide. And the posts inciting far-right attacks on Hongkongers matched a pattern identified by the cybersecurity experts who reviewed them. They say social media campaigns believed to be orchestrated by the Chinese regime use a vast network of accounts to give the impression of grassroots support.

At least one other authoritarian regime is suspected of using social media to exploit the UK’s social divisions. A network of Telegram channels with Russian links was recently discovered, offering cryptocurrency payments as rewards for attacks on British Muslims and mosques. Gregory Davis, of Hope Not Hate, said the British far right were “seen as ‘useful idiots’ and a potential tool to destabilise the country on behalf of foreign powers”.

Laura Harth, of Safeguard Defenders, a group that documents the Chinese regime’s abuses, said Chinese troll accounts had been seizing on current events around the world as opportunities to target their victims. “Their aim is to make people afraid but also keep them occupied and distracted,” she said.

Sense of foreboding

The message in the Hongkongers’ social media group alerting them to the posts was accompanied by a few words in Chinese: “Someone on the internet posted these photos and their addresses, and now people are worried about going to visit them and whether they will end up visiting someone else.”

Lau, scrutinising the message in his London office, spotted that it came from an account in the same name as one of those disseminating addresses for him and others to the far right. This convinced him that its purpose was to ensure he and the rest of the targets knew they were in danger.

Scrupulously polite, Lau is at pains to emphasise he bears no ill will towards Britons who, he says, may have been driven to unrest by deindustrialisation, the crime rate or the consequences of the 2008 banking crash. Nonetheless, the menacing social media posts have added to his sense of foreboding.

Lau was already watchful. In 2020, three masked men set on him as he walked along the Thames in west London. His last thought as he passed out was that he was going to die. He feels sure the Chinese regime had a hand in the attack. The police classified it as a hate crime but no charges have been brought.

Lau moves house often. By the time of the social media posts in August 2024, he was no longer at either of the addresses that were published. But he could not know whether his current address would also be posted. He has since moved again.

Although there are no reports that the online incitement succeeded in triggering physical attacks, Lau and at least one of the others targeted in the posts reported them to the Metropolitan police.

The force said it did not comment on “matters of protective security in relation to any specific individuals”, but it added: “Counter-terrorism policing remains alive to any attempts from across borders to target or threaten individuals who are in the UK and we continue to work extremely closely with our intelligence and security partners in the UK and abroad to combat any such activity.”

As far as the Hongkongers know, the force has taken no action in their cases. They are left to wonder who, if anyone, is protecting them.

Lau hopes that the police will look again at the attempted incitement. “I have become extremely cautious when I am on the street,” he said. “That’s the direct consequence. I keep looking round.”

US President Donald Trump has said he thinks Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, despite his Ukrainian counterpart’s previous assertions on the Black Sea peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey on Sunday a day after meeting with Zelenskyy at the Vatican, Trump said “Oh, I think so,” in response to a question on whether he thought Zelenskyy was ready to “give up” the territory.

Zelenskyy said last week that Ukraine could not accept US recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, after Trump accused him of intransigence on the issue. Zelenskyy on Friday insisted the territory was the “property of the Ukrainian people”. He did not immediately respond to Trump’s latest comments.

Two sets of peace plans published by Reuters on Friday showed that the US is proposing Moscow retain the territory it has captured, including the strategic Crimean peninsula.

German defence minister Boris Pistorius on Sunday said the US proposal for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia was “akin to a capitulation”.

In an interview with the broadcaster ARD, he said that Kyiv knew that a peace agreement may involve territorial concessions.

“But these will certainly not go … as far as they do in the latest proposal from the US president,” Pistorius said. “Ukraine on its own could have got a year ago what was included in that [Trump] proposal, it is akin to a capitulation. I cannot discern any added value.”

Despite the comments on Crimea, the US president expressed newfound sympathy for his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday, saying he “wants to do something good for his country” and “is working hard”.

Reflecting on his conversation with the Ukrainian president, the US president also said that he was “surprised and disappointed, very disappointed” that Russia had bombed Ukraine after discussions between Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and Trump’s peace envoy, Steve Witkoff. “I was very disappointed that missiles were flying, by Russia,” the US president said.

Trump said that Zelenskyy “told me that he needs more weapons, but he’s been saying that for three years”.

Asked what he wants Putin to do, Trump replied: “Well, I want him to stop shooting. Sit down and sign the deal. We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it.”

“Do you trust President Putin?” Trump was asked.

“I’ll let you know in about two weeks,” Trump said. Pressed to elaborate on what he expects to happen in two weeks, Trump evaded the question. “Two weeks or less,” he said, vaguely, “but you know they’re losing a lot of people. We have 3, 4,000 people dying every week.”

Trump also said that his relationship with Zelenskyy was improved by the face-to-face at the Vatican: “Look, it was never bad. We had a little dispute, because I disagreed with something he said, and the cameras were rolling and that was OK with me.”

“Look, he’s in a tough situation, a very tough situation. He’s fighting a much bigger force, much bigger,” Trump added. The president then repeated his frequent false claim that the United States had given Ukraine $350bn to aid its defense from the Russian invasion.

“I see him as calmer,” Trump said, comparing the Zelenskyy he met at the Vatican with the one he confronted in the Oval Office in February. “I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal.”

The president also claimed that there had been “a little bit” of progress in trade talks with China, talks that Chinese officials have said are not taking place. “They want to make a deal, obviously,” Trump said. “Now, they’re not doing any business with us, you know, because, not because of them, because of me. Because at 145%, you can’t do business,” he said, in reference to the import tariff rate he imposed this month. “But something’s going to happen, that’s going to be possible.”

North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it has sent troops to fight for Russia in the war with Ukraine under the orders of the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, who described the soldiers as “heroes”.

The acknowledgment comes amid claims by the Kremlin – contested by Ukraine – that North Korean forces helped recapture Russia’s Kursk region.

After months of silence over the deployment, which has been widely reported in the western media, Russia also confirmed the presence of North Korean soldiers.

In a statement released on Monday, the North’s KCNA state news agency quoted the ruling party as saying that the end of the battle in Russia’s Kursk region showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.

Russia claimed last week that Ukrainian forces had been expelled from the last Russian village they had been holding. Kyiv has denied the claim, however, and said Ukrainian troops were also still operating in Belgorod, another Russian region bordering Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Sunday that Ukraine’s army was still fighting in Russia’s Kursk despite Moscow claiming the “liberation” of its western region.

“Our military continues to perform tasks in the Kursk and Belgorod regions – we are maintaining our presence on Russian territory,” he said in his evening address. In a statement earlier on Sunday, he conceded that the situation remained difficult in many areas, including Kursk.

The central military commission of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ party said Kim made the decision to deploy troops under the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty he signed with Putin in June 2024.

“Under the order of the head of state, the sub-units of the armed forces of the Republic regarded the territory of Russia as the one of their country and proved the firm alliance between the two countries,” KCNA cited the commission as saying.

North Korea “regards it as an honour to have an alliance with such a powerful state as the Russian Federation,” KCNA added.

The agency quoted Kim as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”

North Korea sent an estimated total of 14,000 troops, including 3,000 reinforcements, to replace those killed, injured or captured, Ukrainian officials have said. With no armoured vehicles or drone warfare experience, they took heavy casualties but adapted quickly, the officials added.

Russia confirmed on Saturday for the first time that North Korean soldiers had been fighting alongside Russians in Kursk. Neither Russia nor North Korea had previously either confirmed or denied the deployment.

The US state department said it was concerned by North Korea’s direct involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine and that Pyongyang’s military deployment must end.

“We continue to be concerned by [North Korea’s] direct involvement in the war. [North Korea’s] military deployment to Russia and any support provided by the Russian Federation to [North Korea] in return must end,” a state department spokesperson said in an email, adding that third countries such as North Korea “bear responsibility” for the war.

Kim, whose material support for Putin could earn the North access to Russian satellite and military technology to boost its nuclear missile programme, said a monument would soon be built in the capital Pyongyang to honour his soldiers’ “battle feats”.

The North has also provided Russia with vast quantities of ammunition, artillery shells, ballistic missiles and other weapons. South Korea, the US and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring hi-tech weapons technologies for use in its nuclear weapons programme. North Korea is also expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia.

Kim’s reference to “the tombstones of the fallen soldiers” is seen as public confirmation by the regime that North Korean troops had been killed in combat.

Zelenskyy has put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though US estimates are lower, at about 1,200.

The country must “take important national measures to specially honour and care for the families of war veterans,” Kim said.

Experts said Moscow and Pyongyang are likely to have agreed in advance to publicly disclose the deployment.

“The two countries agreed to disclose the deployment because they judged that the benefits of compensation for the troop deployment outweighed the potential damage to their international image,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told Agence France-Presse.

By promising state benefits to the deployed troops, North Korea could also “sufficiently ease internal backlash,” Yang said, adding that the move reflected Pyongyang’s growing confidence.

“North Korea likely aimed to showcase that victory was achieved thanks to their involvement, thereby securing greater rewards from Russia,” he added.

• Germany’s defence minister on Sunday said Ukraine should not cede all territory occupied by Russia in a peace deal proposed by Donald Trump, as the US president pressures Moscow and Kyiv to end fighting. “Ukraine has, of course, known for some time that a sustainable, credible ceasefire or peace agreement may involve territorial concessions,” Boris Pistorius said in an interview with the broadcaster ARD. “But these will certainly not go … as far as they do in the latest proposal from the US president,” Pistorius said. “Ukraine on its own could have got a year ago what was included in that [Trump] proposal, it is akin to a capitulation. I cannot discern any added value.”

• President Donald Trump urged Russia on Sunday to stop its attacks in Ukraine while his top diplomat said the US might walk away from peace efforts if it does not see progress. Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, Trump said he was disappointed that Russia has continued to attack Ukraine, and said his one-on-one meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican on Saturday had gone well.

• Trump said that his relationship with Zelenskyy had been improved by the face-to-face meeting. “Look, it was never bad. We had a little dispute, because I disagreed with something he said, and the cameras were rolling and that was OK with me.” He added, “I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump said of Zelenskyy.

• Russia launched a sweeping drone assault and airstrikes across Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least four people, officials said. Three people died and four were wounded in airstrikes on Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Another person died and a 14-year-old girl was wounded in a drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, Gov. Serhii Lysak said.

• US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the Trump administration might abandon its attempts to broker a deal if Russia and Ukraine do not make headway. “It needs to happen soon,” Rubio told the NBC programme “Meet the Press.’” “We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it’s not going to come to fruition.”

• Trump also said on Sunday said he thought Zelenskyy was ready to give up Crimea, in direct contradiction to the Ukrainian leader’s statements on the peninsula annexed by Russia. “Oh, I think so,” said Trump in response to a question on whether he thought Zelenskyy was ready to “give up” the territory that Russia occupied in 2014.

• Zelenskyy said on Sunday Ukraine’s army was still fighting in Russia’s Kursk despite Moscow claiming the “liberation” of its western region. Kyiv had hoped it could use land in the Kursk region as a bargaining chip in future peace talks with Russia. “Our military continues to perform tasks in the Kursk and Belgorod regions – we are maintaining our presence on Russian territory,” he said in his evening address Sunday. In a statement earlier Sunday, he conceded that the situation remained difficult in many areas including Kursk.

• North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it has sent troops to fight for Russia in the war with Ukraine under the orders of leader Kim Jong-un. The end of the battle in Russia’s Kursk region showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia, the North’s KCNA state news agency cited the ruling party as saying.

• A Moscow court on Sunday ordered remanded in custody a Ukrainian citizen facing terrorism charges over the killing of a senior Russian military officer near Moscow, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. The committee, which deals with serious crimes in Russia, claimed the suspect had pleaded guilty to killing Yaroslav Moskalik in a car bomb attack on Friday and had said he was recruited by Ukraine’s security services.

Israel will come under sustained legal pressure this week at the UN’s top court when lawyers from more than 40 states will claim the country’s ban on all cooperation with the UN’s Palestinian rights agency Unrwa is a breach of the UN charter.

The five days of hearings at the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague have been given a fresh urgency by Israel’s decision on 2 March to block all aid into Gaza, but the hearing will focus on whether Israel – as a signatory to the UN charter – acted unlawfully in overriding the immunities afforded to a UN body. Israel ended all contact and cooperation with Unrwa operations in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem in November, claiming the agency had been infiltrated by Hamas, an allegation that has been contested.

Unrwa supplies food, schooling and medical services to 2 million people in Gaza. The UN World Food Programme said on Friday it had run out of stocks for kitchens serving hot food inside Gaza. The Unrwa commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, accused Israel of engineering a human-made famine, and even the US president, Donald Trump, said he had urged Israel to allow food into Gaza.

A total of 45 countries and organisations, including the UN itself, have requested an advisory opinion from the 15-strong judging panel on Israel’s actions. The only countries likely to defend Israel in court are the US and Hungary.

Israel has submitted a written defence, but is not due to make an oral submission this week.

The hearings represent the biggest test of Israel’s defiance of international law since the ICJ’s landmark rulings in January, March and June of 2024 that ordered it to take immediate steps to allow aid to enter Gaza unhindered. In July 2024, the ICJ also found Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories was unlawful.

Israel has largely refused to comply with the advisory orders attached to these rulings, adding to the crisis of confidence in the credibility of the international legal system.

The Palestinian rights group Al-Haq said it was “imperative” that Israel’s seat at the UN general assembly be withdrawn if Israel ignored another ICJ advisory opinion, saying the public’s faith in international law “hangs in the balance”.

The legal challenge arose from a 137 to 12 vote at the UN general assembly in December to seek an ICJ advisory opinion on whether Israel, as a signatory to the UN charter, was violating the immunities and privileges that member states are required to give to UN bodies such as Unrwa.

The agency does not just supply aid to Palestinians, but also runs medical services and schools in Gaza, West Bank and neighbouring states. Six Unrwa schools in East Jerusalem have already been shut, the subject of a separate domestic court challenge brought by Adalah, a Palestinian legal rights group.

The UN’s legal claim is backed by more than 1,500 pieces of documentation, including proceedings of the UN security council, the general assembly and UN agencies setting out Unrwa’s genesis, its status within the UN structure and its 1967 operational agreements with Israel.

The ICJ, as the UN’s top court responsible for inter-state disputes, sets store by UN findings. The UN will be represented by its new legal counsel, Elinor Hammarskjöld, a Swedish lawyer and diplomat.

At issue are two Knesset bills passed on 28 October that declared Unrwa harboured terrorists, and instructed the government to end all cooperation and contact with the organisation, including the supply of visas to Unrwa international staff. It has become part of a wider Israeli threat to withhold visas to staff of NGOs that criticise Israel.

On 2 March, Israel, independently of its decision to freeze out Unrwa, suspended the supply of all aid into Gaza in a bid to crush Hamas. France, Germany and the UK last week condemned as unacceptable remarks by the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, linking the supply of aid to political pressure on Hamas.

In a version of the Israeli government’s defence, UK Lawyers for Israel said in a paper last week that Israel had a right to terminate its agreement with Unrwa and to ban the UN and its agencies from carrying out activities on its sovereign territory, especially in wartime. Moreover, Israel was free to choose how to comply with its obligations to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population, and was not required to do so under the auspices of Unrwa, the paper claimed.

The group also claims that the ICJ does not have the capacity, or neutrality, to determine a case that largely turns on disputed facts, including whether Unrwa had been fatally infiltrated by Hamas, and whether alternatives to Unrwa such as the WFP can deliver aid.

In what looked like a shot across UN’s bows before the case, the US justice department told the New York district court on Thursday that Unrwa and its staff did not enjoy immunity in the US courts, reversing the Biden administration’s view. The move, in theory, opens the way for victims of Hamas terrorism to seek compensation from Unrwa officials.

In a measure of the existential crisis facing Unrwa, the UN has appointed a former British diplomat, Ian Martin, to undertake a review of the agency’s future role and finances.

China and the Philippines have displayed their national flags in competing photo opportunities on a disputed sandbank in the South China sea, ratcheting up longstanding regional tensions between the two countries.

The dispute played out at Sandy Cay, which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, and comes days after the US and the Philippines launched their annual joint military drills called “Balikatan”, or “shoulder to shoulder”, which this year will include an integrated air and missile defence simulation for the first time.

The latest confrontation appears to have emerged on Thursday, when Chinese state media reported the Coast Guard landed on the disputed reef two weeks ago, unfurled a flag and “exercised sovereign jurisdiction”.

On Sunday, China’s coast guard then accused six Filipino personnel of “illegally boarding” Sandy Cay, which Beijing calls Tiexian Reef, earlier that day despite “warnings and dissuasion” from the Chinese side.

Spokesperson Liu Dejun said coast guard personnel then “boarded the reef and investigated and dealt with it in accordance with the law”.

“We urge the Philippines to immediately stop its infringement,” Liu said, adding that the actions “violated China’s territorial sovereignty”.

Sandy Cay is just a few kilometres from Thitu island, where the Philippines maintains a military outpost.

There do not appear to be any signs that China has permanently occupied the reef or has built a structure on it.

On Monday Philippines officials disputed China’s claim that it had gained control.

“The facts on the ground belie their statements,” National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said. “It is not to the benefit of any nation if these things are happening, nor it is to the benefit of any nation if such irresponsible announcements and statements are released to the public and to the world.”

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV published a photograph of five black-clad people standing on the uninhabited reef as a dark inflatable boat bobbed in the nearby water. The group also “cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wooden sticks and other debris and garbage on the reef”, the broadcaster reported.

Philippines Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said on Sunday that its navy, coast guard and police personnel had deployed to Sandy Cay in four rubber boats and had “observed the illegal presence” of a Chinese Coast Guard vessel and seven China maritime militia vessels.

Posting footage of their own flag being displayed, Tarriela added: “This operation reflects the unwavering dedication and commitment of the Philippine government to uphold the country’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea.”

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries in the region as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis.

At the opening ceremony in Manila for the joint US-Philippines military drills, which began on Monday last week, US Marine Corps Lieutenant General James Glynn said the two sides would “demonstrate not just our will to uphold our mutual defence treaty in existence since 1951 but our matchless capability to do so”.

“Nothing builds bonds more quickly than shared adversity,” he said, without specifying a common threat.

Beijing said the military manoeuvres “undermine regional strategic stability” and accused Manila of “collusion with countries outside the region”.

With Agence France-Presse

China and the Philippines have displayed their national flags in competing photo opportunities on a disputed sandbank in the South China sea, ratcheting up longstanding regional tensions between the two countries.

The dispute played out at Sandy Cay, which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, and comes days after the US and the Philippines launched their annual joint military drills called “Balikatan”, or “shoulder to shoulder”, which this year will include an integrated air and missile defence simulation for the first time.

The latest confrontation appears to have emerged on Thursday, when Chinese state media reported the Coast Guard landed on the disputed reef two weeks ago, unfurled a flag and “exercised sovereign jurisdiction”.

On Sunday, China’s coast guard then accused six Filipino personnel of “illegally boarding” Sandy Cay, which Beijing calls Tiexian Reef, earlier that day despite “warnings and dissuasion” from the Chinese side.

Spokesperson Liu Dejun said coast guard personnel then “boarded the reef and investigated and dealt with it in accordance with the law”.

“We urge the Philippines to immediately stop its infringement,” Liu said, adding that the actions “violated China’s territorial sovereignty”.

Sandy Cay is just a few kilometres from Thitu island, where the Philippines maintains a military outpost.

There do not appear to be any signs that China has permanently occupied the reef or has built a structure on it.

On Monday Philippines officials disputed China’s claim that it had gained control.

“The facts on the ground belie their statements,” National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said. “It is not to the benefit of any nation if these things are happening, nor it is to the benefit of any nation if such irresponsible announcements and statements are released to the public and to the world.”

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV published a photograph of five black-clad people standing on the uninhabited reef as a dark inflatable boat bobbed in the nearby water. The group also “cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wooden sticks and other debris and garbage on the reef”, the broadcaster reported.

Philippines Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said on Sunday that its navy, coast guard and police personnel had deployed to Sandy Cay in four rubber boats and had “observed the illegal presence” of a Chinese Coast Guard vessel and seven China maritime militia vessels.

Posting footage of their own flag being displayed, Tarriela added: “This operation reflects the unwavering dedication and commitment of the Philippine government to uphold the country’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea.”

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries in the region as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis.

At the opening ceremony in Manila for the joint US-Philippines military drills, which began on Monday last week, US Marine Corps Lieutenant General James Glynn said the two sides would “demonstrate not just our will to uphold our mutual defence treaty in existence since 1951 but our matchless capability to do so”.

“Nothing builds bonds more quickly than shared adversity,” he said, without specifying a common threat.

Beijing said the military manoeuvres “undermine regional strategic stability” and accused Manila of “collusion with countries outside the region”.

With Agence France-Presse

China’s proposed “super-embassy” in London would require additional police officers to deal with any large protests involving thousands of people, the Metropolitan police have said before a decision by ministers.

Despite having dropped its official objection to the proposals, the Met “maintains concerns” that large protests of more than 500 people outside the embassy would impede traffic and “require additional police resource”, said the deputy assistant commissioner Jon Savell

In a letter sent to the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith and to the Home Office earlier this month, Savell said the Met continued to have concerns about the impact the embassy would have on the area near Tower Bridge.

Two large protests were held at the proposed embassy site in February and March. Savell said these involved between 3,000 and 5,000 people, well over the 500 that the force believes can safely assemble at the front of the site. Another demonstration is being organised for early May.

China wants to build a new embassy covering 20,000 sq metres of land at Royal Mint Court, an 18th-century Grade II-listed complex. Tower Hamlets council rejected the proposals in December 2022 but China resubmitted them last summer shortly after Labour came to power.

Ministers have taken the decision out of the council’s hands and held a local inquiry, which heard concerns from residents and campaign groups. The final decision rests with Angela Rayner, the secretary for housing, communities and local government.

In December, the Met said that if more than 100 people congregated at the site they would spill out into the road, threatening public safety and risking causing disruption across the capital.

The following month, however, the force dropped its objection, saying it had re-examined a three-year-old technical document commissioned and paid for by China. The document claimed up to 2,000 protesters could be safely accommodated around the site.

The Met’s decision to withdraw its formal objection cleared the way for the proposals to be approved. Tower Hamlets council restated its opposition in December on the basis of the police evidence but has since said the withdrawal of the Met’s objection meant it could no longer rely on that evidence.

At the local inquiry in February, the lawyer representing residents argued that ministers had “sought to influence” the Met in favour of the proposals.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, have publicly signalled their support for the embassy plan. In a joint letter in January, they highlighted “the importance of countries having functioning diplomatic premises in each other’s capitals”.

The two ministers wrote at the time that the Met was “content” that there was sufficient space for demonstrations, while admitting that there “remain differences of opinion on where protesters would most likely congregate”.

Getting a green light to build the embassy has become a diplomatic priority for China at a time when the UK government is pursuing closer ties with the country.

Savell’s letter to Duncan Smith was sent after a meeting with members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), which has been critical of the embassy proposal and which campaigns for a tougher stance towards Beijing.

Savell wrote that the road junction adjacent to Royal Mint Court would “require additional police resource for larger assemblies to balance the safety of those who wish to assemble/protest and the safe free-flow of traffic, as has been borne out from the two recent large-scale protests”.

Duncan Smith said he would respond to the Met, asking the force to make its concerns known to ministers. “If the national security and interference arguments aren’t enough, then perhaps the fact that Tower Bridge junction will be regularly shut down and officers drafted in from all over London to ensure safety will help the government to do the right thing and refuse this application,” he said.

Savell’s letter said the Met “remains impartial to the proposed development outside of any implications on policing”.

Blair McDougall, a Labour MP and member of the foreign affairs committee, said: “The Met’s assessment is clear: there is inadequate space for protest outside the Royal Mint Court, where not only would protester safety be jeapordised but gatherings would require significant policing resources and lead to major road disruption. As long as the right to protest is non-negotiable, the embassy must be in a location where that right can be safely upheld.”

Luke de Pulford, the executive director of Ipac, said: “A huge amount of public money has already been wasted policing large protests at the site. It isn’t safe, and there isn’t space. Large protests will continue until permission for this wrong-headed embassy is denied. It shouldn’t have taken MPs, residents and thousands of campaigners to turn up for the police to admit the obvious, but I’m glad they have.”

Footage of Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap allegedly calling for the death of British MPs is being assessed by counter-terrorism police.

Video emerged of the band at a November 2023 gig appearing to show one person from Kneecap saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”

Earlier in the week, footage emerged of another gig last year in November which seemed to show a band member shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at a performance at the Kentish Town Forum, and a Hezbollah flag being displayed.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah are banned in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.

On Sunday, a Metropolitan police spokesman said: “We were made aware of a video on April 22, believed to be from an event in November 2024, and it has been referred to the counter-terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.

“We have also been made aware of another video believed to be from an event in November 2023.”

He also said the force “are assessing both to determine whether further police investigation is required”.

The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) is a national counter-terrorism policing unit based within the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command which is dedicated to identifying terrorist and extremist material online.

Police will carry out an investigation if they believe the material may breach UK law.

In the last decade, two MPs have been murdered. Labour MP Jo Cox’s death in 2016 led to additional security measures to all members of parliament.

A further review took place in 2021 after Conservative Sir David Amess was stabbed to death following him holding a surgery in his Southend West constituency.

A UK government spokesman said: “We unequivocally condemn threatening remarks made towards any individual.

“Political intimidation and abuse must have no place in our society. We recognise the chilling effect that harassment and intimidation of elected representatives can have on our democracy.

“All reports of intimidation, harassment and threats are taken extremely seriously. We work with the police and parliament to do everything in our power to crack down on threats to elected officials.”

Following former The X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne calling for Kneecap’s US work visas to be revoked over their support for Palestine amid the Gaza war at US festival Coachella, the band was dropped by its now-former sponsor and booking agent Independent Artist Group (IAG).

The visas held by the band members are understood to no longer be valid and they are in the process of securing a new sponsor ahead of its sellout October tour in North America.

At Coachella, Kneecap displayed messages which read: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people”, “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes” and “Fuck Israel. Free Palestine”.

On Tuesday, Osbourne called the images at Coachella “projections of anti-Israel messages and hate speech”.

The music manager and wife of Black Sabbath star Ozzy Osbourne wrote on X: “As someone of both Irish Catholic on my mother’s side and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage on her father’s side and extensive experience in the music industry, I understand the complexities involved. I urge you to join me in advocating for the revocation of Kneecap’s work visa.”

Kneecap, made up of Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, alleged on social media they have “faced a co-ordinated smear campaign”, saying their shows have previously “called out” the conflict in Gaza.

They also appeared to suggest they would be taking legal action against the “malicious efforts”.

Earlier in the week, Kneecap’s manager Daniel Lambert said the band had received “severe” death threats after Coachella.

Consuming large amounts of ultra-processed food (UPF) increases the risk of an early death, according to a international study that has reignited calls for a crackdown on UPF.

Each 10% extra intake of UPF, such as bread, cakes and ready meals, increases someone’s risk of dying before they reach 75 by 3%, according to research in countries including the US and England.

UPF is so damaging to health that it is implicated in as many as one in seven of all premature deaths that occur in some countries, according to a paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

They are associated with 124,107 early deaths in the US a year and 17,781 deaths every year in England, the review of dietary and mortality data from eight countries found.

Eduardo Augusto Fernandes Nilson, the lead investigator of the study, from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil, said that additives such as sweeteners and flavourings harm health not just UPFs’ high levels of fat, salt and sugar.

The authors found “a linear dose-response association between the ultraprocessed food consumption and all-cause mortality” when they examined official surveys previously undertaken in the UK and US, as well as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile and Mexico.

While 4%, 5% and 6% of premature deaths in Colombia, Brazil and Chile respectively are “attributable to UPF consumption”, the equivalent percentage is 10.9% in Canada, 13.7% in the US and 13.8% in England – the highest proportion among the eight countries.

“Premature deaths attributable to consumptions of ultraprocessed foods increase significantly according to their share in individuals’ total energy intake. A high amount of UPF intake can significantly affect health,” the researchers concluded.

Death rates are highest in the countries where the population gets the largest amounts of total energy from eating UPF.

In England that is 53.4%, according to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey undertaken in 2018-19. But it is even higher in the US – 54.5%.

“We first estimated a linear association between the dietary share of UPFs and all-cause mortality, so that each 10% increase in the participation of UPFs in the diet increases the risk of death from all causes by 3%,” said Nilson.

“UPFs affect health beyond the individual impact of high content of critical nutrients – sodium, trans fats and sugar – because of the changes in the foods during industrial processing and the use of artificial ingredients, including colourants, artificial flavours and sweeteners, emulsifiers and many other additives and processing aids, so assessing deaths from all causes associated with UPF consumption allows an overall estimate of the effect of industrial food processing on health.”

While the burden of ill-health from UPF is highest in high-income countries, it is growing in low- and middle-income nations, added Nilson.

The authors urged governments worldwide to introduce bold measures to tackle UPF, including tighter regulation of food marketing and the sale of food in schools and workplaces, and also taxes on UPF products to reduce sales.

The findings add to the growing body of evidence linking UPF to a higher risk of both specific illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease, and a increased risk overall of dying before 75. However, they found an association between UPF and early death, not that one definitely causes the other.

For example, US research published last year in the BMJ found that people who consume the most UPF have a 4% higher risk of death overall and a 9% greater risk of dying from something other than cancer or heart disease. It identified processed meat, sugar and ultra-processed breakfast foods, such as cereals, as the unhealthiest UPF products.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have already taken action to end the targeting of junk food adverts to children, across TV and online, and we have handed local authorities stronger powers to block applications for new takeaways near schools.

“We are also commissioning research to improve the evidence on the health impacts of ultra-processed foods. Through our Plan for Change, we will shift the focus from sickness to prevention, reducing the burden of obesity on public services and the NHS.”

She is remembered as the ultimate reclusive film star, following her shock retirement at the height of her success. But the enduring image of Greta Garbo is being challenged by a new documentary, which will show that, far from withdrawing from life – as in her most famous line, “I want to be alone” – she lived it to the full, partying with close friends.

The British film-maker Lorna Tucker has been given access to previously unseen behind the scenes footage in which the star, once described as “the most alluring, vibrant and yet aloof character ever to grace the motion picture screen”, can be seen larking about and laughing.

The footage shows a relaxed, silly, funny person,” Tucker said. “We see that the most famous woman in the world was actually very silly, very normal. But she also hungered for privacy to live out her life.”

The footage has come from one of Garbo’s Swedish friends.

Tucker has also been given access to more than 200 unpublished letters by Garbo’s grand-nephew, Scott Reisfield, who welcomed the documentary for showing another side to the star in her later life.

He said: “The whole ‘Garbo is a recluse’ meme was a media creation. Sure, she was private. But not in a JD Salinger kind of way … Yes, she did sometimes hold her hand up to ruin the shot, but that became the shot. Paparazzi sold the idea of Garbo hiding because it made them more money.”

The documentary, titled Garbo: Where Did You Go?, is an artistic exploration of the myth and mystique of an actor revered for her ethereal screen presence and described by the actor-director Orson Welles as “the most divine creature”, although she was insecure about her looks.

Born Greta Gustafsson, her beloved father was an itinerant labourer who died when she was a teenager and she grew up in poverty in a Stockholm slum.

After getting a scholarship to the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, she was cast in 1924 in the silent epic The Saga of Gösta Berling, whose director, Mauritz Stiller, gave her the name Garbo and got her a Hollywood contract. She went on to make classic films including Mata Hari, Queen Christina, Anna Karenina and Ninotchka.

She had gone to Hollywood wanting to send money back home to her mother and sister, whose early death from cancer was to devastate her. Disillusioned with the film industry, she suddenly announced she was retiring in 1941, aged 35. She never acted again.

She withdrew from public life, relying on close and protective friends, including her long-term lover, George Schlee, and the comic actor and film-maker Charlie Chaplin. When she was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1955, she did not attend the ceremony. She died in 1990.

Tucker said Garbo became wary of people selling stories about her: “She had to become very private and trust her instincts of who she let in, and that came across as frosty. But also it’s about how the press weave a narrative. They take a picture of her looking sad or covering her face and say, ‘She’s hiding, this woman who never goes out.’ She did go out. She partied all the time, but just at friends’ houses. She was having a wild time, but in private.

“[The press] create a narrative and then, sadly, that becomes the narrative … [They were] offering so much money to … her poorer friends to tell stories, so then they ended up getting cut out of her life and, just before she died, she was pretty much alone because she couldn’t trust anyone.”

Reisfield only recently had the letters translated and he is drawing on them for his forthcoming book, Greta Garbo and The Rise of the Modern Woman.

Mostly dating from the 1940s and 1950s, Garbo had sent the letters to his grandmother, Peggy, a former nurse who married Garbo’s brother, Sven Gustafson.

They reflect Garbo’s bid for privacy. In one letter, she wrote from Wisconsin: “Nobody recognises me here.” In another, planning to visit Palm Springs in California, she advised: “If you would like to write to me … write in Swedish, because they might open the envelope.”

The documentary is produced by Embankment, an independent film company whose productions include The Father, the Oscar-winning drama starring Anthony Hopkins. It airs on 14 May on Sky Arts, Freeview and the streaming service Now.