This Month
IMF warns Australia; Rich Lister charged; Families sell $180m hotel
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
- Opinion
- World politics
Why the world’s leading democracies are in crisis
The majority of G7 governments are now so burdened with domestic political problems that they are incapable of steering their own countries – let alone the free world.
- Gideon Rachman
Biden commutes sentences for 37 out of 40 inmates on federal death row
The move will frustrate Donald Trump’s plan to expand executions. Unlike executive orders, clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president’s successor.
- Updated
- Nandita Bose
ASX rebounds; News Corp sells Foxtel; Packer’s $400m Toorak project
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
The 11 wild trades of 2024: Booms, busts and a 2900pc windfall
As the trading year draws to a close, here are the biggest ups and downs, as told by reporters from all corners of world markets.
- Bloomberg News
- Opinion
- Inflation
The Fed’s humiliating reversal is toxic for stocks
The US central bank’s belated acknowledgement of re-accelerating inflation and the risks flowing from Donald Trump’s policies could trigger a sustained market downturn.
- Updated
- Christopher Joye
- Opinion
- Inside China
China’s staggering manufacturing muscle needs to be seen to be believed
Since Trump was last in office, Beijing has doubled down on its efforts to gain global supremacy in electric cars, robots and rare materials. America could be toast if it doesn’t respond.
- Thomas Friedman
US funding bill passes hours before government shutdown
Hours before a midnight US government shutdown, the House approved a new plan that would temporarily fund federal operations.
- Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri and Matt Brown
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Political class must heed lessons of Trump’s comeback
Will our leaders heed the warning that the best defence against populism is to take the hard decisions needed to restore the prosperity most Australians seek?
- The AFR View
Bassel was right about the Assads. It couldn’t save him
The 27-year-old had a Fulbright Scholarship and the future was bright. This is the story of one man’s pursuit of freedom for Syria.
- Andrew Burke
How long will Donald Trump’s dream run last?
The president-elect returns to Washington with a huge stock of political capital and a big to-do list.
- Matthew Cranston
The Year of Brilliant Jerks: Rear Window’s year in review
Trump, Ellison, White, Adgemis, Gupta and that Rinehart portrait. For Rear Window, the end of shame and pretense added up to a ripping year of stories.
- Myriam Robin and Mark Di Stefano
Denholm on Musk: He’s entitled to his opinion, I’m entitled to mine
Robyn Denholm rose from obscurity to become the highest-profile Australian in business. But overseeing the world’s richest man as Tesla chair is no easy thing.
- Paul Smith
- Analysis
- Trump's White House
Autocrats rise as Trump scorches the land of the free
Strongman leaders have lit a bonfire of the orthodoxies: the role of the state, neoliberalism, globalisation and the international “rules-based” order.
- James Curran
- Opinion
- Government debt
I’m the guy Barron’s called the Bond King. Here’s why US debt is a problem
There is the real possibility of a quasi-default by the Treasury and few are likely to be spared from the resulting upheaval.
- Jeffrey Gundlach
- Opinion
- Global economy
Inflation risk crashes into political risk
Market tantrums and the fall in the Australian dollar in response to the US Fed show that next year is likely to be even more volatile.
- Jennifer Hewett
Trump torpedoes funding bill, triggering government shutdown fears
The president-elect has intervened in a bipartisan deal to continue government funding for programs, raising the odds of a federal shutdown before the holidays.
- Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking
‘What choice do they have?’: US CEOs bend the knee to Trump
From Hollywood to Silicon Valley and Wall Street, senior executives have been bending over backwards to meet Donald Trump since he won the election.
- James Politi and James Fontanella-Khan
As meme coins and bitcoin surge, NFTs have been left behind
While bitcoin has surged to fresh highs in the Trump crypto rally, the price recovery of Bored Apes and other NFT art collections has been much less pronounced.
- Tess Bennett
- Opinion
- World politics
Trump should present Iran with a choice – and a dare
The end of Bashar al-Assad’s wretched regime in Syria unlocks many doors for the United States across Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Iran.
- Bret Stephens