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Hans van Leeuwen

Yesterday

A protester speaks at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

No-shows and early exits make climate talks a sideshow

The world leaders who skipped Baku last week are all in Brazil now. While COPs are always fraught and fractious, this one feels at risk of sliding into irrelevance.

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This Month

Palestine supporters march through Amsterdam. It looked a bit like a standard outbreak of European soccer hooliganism. It also looked and sounded a lot like a pogrom.

The meaning of Amsterdam’s ‘Jew Hunt’

Recent street violence in Amsterdam reveals profound changes in how the left and right deal with antisemitism. For European Jews, it’s a strange new world.

The British public is riled up about pollution and overspills.

Moody’s downgrades Macquarie’s UK water company to junk

The ratings agency said Southern Water’s poor performance made it especially vulnerable to political, regulatory and financial pressures on the wider sector.

Fortescue executive chairman Andrew Forrest at COP29 in Baku.

Forrest makes ‘dollars and cents’ appeal to climate sceptic Trump

The US president-elect has already reached out to the Fortescue boss, who has switched from environmental rhetoric to the language of economic rationalism.

Farewell, Macquarie … A plane takes off from Aberdeen Airport.

Macquarie makes 50pc gain in $3b British airport sell-off

The asset manager was forced to sell off three UK airports as it winds down a closed-end fund. It joins a slew of recent transactions in the frothy sector.

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‘Gift of God’ … Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev extols his country’s natural resources.

Oil and gas are ‘a gift of God’: COP29 leader

The Azerbaijan president’s opening speech was a striking start to the climate summit, already marred by uncertainty and absenteeism.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

Archbishop of Canterbury quits in scandal over ‘prolific abuser’

The spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide has stepped down, after a report found he had failed to act on allegations against John Smyth.

Sanjeev Gupta bought the Whyalla steelworks in South Australia in 2017 after previous owner Arrium went into administration.

Sanjeev Gupta strikes deal to stay afloat. For the fifth time

The embattled industrialist and Whyalla steelworks owner has offered his creditors yet another term sheet – one he says is necessary to save his UK operation.

TV chef Jamie Oliver has withdrawn his new children’s book ‘Billy and the Epic Escape’.

Jamie Oliver’s editors should have seen this scandal coming

British publishers are scratching their heads as to how Penguin Random House UK could have left the celebrity chef’s kids’ book exposed to an A-grade furore.

COP29 isn’t looking likely to be a high-visibility climate summit.

Why no one is turning up to this year’s climate summit

COP29 is meant to land a $US1 trillion deal to fund poor nations’ fight against climate change. But political and business leaders are a widespread no-show.

Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelinsky.

What Trump has in store for six global hotspots

Capitals around the world are dusting off the old briefing books from Donald Trump’s first term, but this time could be a mix of the old and the totally unexpected.

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Sanjeev Gupta.

Gupta ‘has reached the end of the road’ on $300m debt, court told

San Francisco investment giant White Oak Global Advisors has given the Whyalla steelworks owner 10 weeks to reach a settlement. He says he’s confident he can.

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The Bank of England is hoping for a soft landing for the UK economy.

Bank of England cuts interest rates again, keeps counsel on Trump

The BoE boss warned that the inflation fight wasn’t won, and said it was too early to tell how Trump’s presidency might shift the global economy.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has his work cut out to keep trans-Atlantic ties on track.

Starmer, like Albo, faces a tricky task with Trump

Both left-wing leaders have to ensure political divergence does not disturb the US alliance. But Sir Keir has a particular problem: his name is Nigel Farage.

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in 2017.

How Trump’s win could reshape the world’s biggest war zones

“I’m going to stop wars,” the president-elect said in his victory speech. In Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East, reactions ranged from wary optimism to a truculent shrug.

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Kemi Badenoch speaks after being elected as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party.

Britain’s first black party leader is an anti-woke warrior

Kemi Badenoch won the protracted Conservative Party leadership contest, and has until 2029 to craft a pitch to defeat Labour.

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Does Putin want Trump to win?

The Russian leader was probably joking, or bluffing, when he said he supported Kamala Harris. But the second coming of Donald Trump won’t be easy either.

Australian financier Lex Greensill has scuttled a project to buy a 502-acre tract of park and farmland next to his home in Saughall, England.

Lex Greensill scuttles English farm project

The fallen financier says he is – for now – no longer buying a 502-acre tract of park and farmland in his home village, Saughall, amid an entrenched local rift.

October

British Chancellor Rachel Reeves and her red box, heading to parliament to deliver the budget.

UK Labour budget smashes record for highest tax take in modern history

A blockbuster $79 billion taxation slug indicates Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s hope that ailing public services can be fixed before the 2029 election.

China Southern will start new flights between Beijing and Sydney and Melbourne in December.

Why these super-cheap flights to Europe could be under threat

Australians are prime beneficiaries of Chinese airlines’ ultra-low airfares to Europe. But the European carriers want Brussels to level up the playing field.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/hans-van-leeuwen-h159q1