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World leaders have descended on London this weekend ahead of Monday's funeral of Queen Elizabeth II who died on 8 September. US President Joe Biden is among the world leaders already in the British capital. The fifty-six Commonwealth countries, who were held in special affection by the Queen, will all be fully represented, most of them by their heads of state or prime ministers. Monday's funeral will be culmination of days of public events to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession to the throne of her son King Charles III. Tributes for Queen Elizabeth have come from across the UK, the Commonwealth and the rest of the world, with most highlighting the Queen's extraordinary sense of duty and service, served with commitment over the seventy years of her reign.  Tens of thousands of people queued for many hours to pass by the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II which has been laying in state at London's Westminster Hall, a reflection of the very solid bond that the Queen had forged with her people during her long reign.

Fighting on the border between the Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on Friday (16 September) killed at least 24 people, wounded dozens and prompted a mass evacuation. Both sides blamed each other for responsibility for the incidents. Kyrgyzstan’s Health Ministry said early Saturday that the bodies had been delivered to hospitals in the Batken region that borders Tajikistan. An additional 87 people were wounded, the ministry said. Clashes on the border that began earlier this week grew into large-scale fighting Friday involving tanks, artillery and rocket launchers. As part of the shelling, Tajik forces struck the regional capital, Batken, with rockets. Kyrgyzstan’s Emergencies Ministry said 136,000 people were evacuated from the area engulfed by the fighting. Kyrgyzstan's president, Sadyr Zhaparov, and his Tajik counterpart, president Emomali Rakhmon, were both in Samarkand in nearby Uzbekistan on Friday, participating in the Summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, and are reported to have met on the margins of the main event.