This Month
Scholz alliance humbled as populists surge in regional votes
With a year to go until Germany’s national election, the results are punishing for Olaf Scholz’s federal coalition.
- Updated
- Michael Nienaber and Arne Delfs
REA mulls $8.5b bid; Vegan chain collapses; Shemara’s next big move
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
June
Le Pen’s far-right party set to come first in French vote
The National Rally was projected to get between 33 per cent and 34.2 per cent of the vote, putting them in pole position for a second-round run-off.
- Updated
- Ania Nussbaum, Samy Adghirni and William Horobin
June
EU capitals to back new term for Ursula von der Leyen
The former German defence minister who was an unheralded choice for the post in 2019, received a boost last week from the bloc’s three most powerful members.
- Henry Foy
- Updated
- Russia-Ukraine war
Ukraine peace summit seeks consensus on Russia rebuke
China’s absence from the meeting and the attendance of lower-level diplomats from the BRICS states cast a shadow over efforts to win over the Global South.
- Updated
- Thomas Escritt and Sabine Siebold
- Opinion
- World elections
Starmer will be centrism’s last chance
Voters need to see normal politics working for them again. Keir Starmer not only carries the dreams of a country demanding change but the hope of all who fear what follows if he fails.
- Robert Shrimsley
EU to impose multibillion-euro tariffs on Chinese electric cars
The European Commission is set to tell carmakers that it will provisionally apply additional duties of up to 25 per cent on imported Chinese EVs from July.
- Andy Bounds
Markets hit after Macron calls snap French election
The euro fell and European markets tumbled after far-right parties made big gains in EU elections, prompting French PM Emmanuel Macron to call a snap poll.
- Updated
- Raf Casert and Lorne Cook
May
Macron, Scholz plan joint push to boost European air defence
The initiative is one of several policy areas, including capital markets reform, that the two European leaders were scheduled to discuss.
- Ania Nussbaum and Michael Nienaber
Russia plotting sabotage across Europe, intelligence agencies warn
Russia has begun to more actively prepare covert bombings, arson attacks and damage to infrastructure on European soil, directly and via proxies, officials say.
- Sam Jones, John Paul Rathbone and Richard Milne
April
Albanese out, Pope in for G7 summit
Despite Australia being a regular fixture in recent years, Anthony Albanese is off the guest list for the June leaders’ summit of the world’s most advanced economies.
- Andrew Tillett
Why China’s spies are being caught all over Europe
A flurry of arrests this week reflect the continent’s newly toughened response to Beijing’s espionage activities and political meddling.
- Andrew Higgins and Christopher F. Schuetze
Risk of wider conflict as Israel weighs its response to Iran
Facing pressure from all sides, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly looking for non-lethal options to retaliate against Tehran’s weekend missile fusillade.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
Australia locks in $1b defence deal with Germany
The manufacturing deal will create at least 600 jobs in Queensland but was thrown into doubt last year after Labor snubbed the company involved for its own defence contract.
- Updated
- Hannah Wootton
March
Netanyahu defies Western allies over Gaza strategy
The Israeli prime minister vowed to resist the intensifying international pressure, especially from the White House, to delay an offensive into the city of Rafah.
- Mehul Srivastava
Germany to probe Russia leak of secret missile talks
Senior German air force officers appeared to discuss supplying missiles to Ukraine in a recording of a phone call.
- Guy Chazan
February
Wider Ukraine war ‘inevitable’ if NATO sends troops, Kremlin warns
Moscow’s warning comes after France’s Emmanuel Macron opened the door to sending Western forces to the war. But Germany’s leaders poured cold water on the idea.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Russian victories shake global leaders’ faith in Ukraine war prospects
Statespeople, diplomats, military brass and spies fear war is tilting in Moscow’s favour.
- Guy Chazan
Leaders hail Navalny as hero, blame Putin for his death
Australian political leaders have labelled Alexei Navalny a “courageous force for democracy”, joining the global outcry over the Russian opposition leader’s reported death.
- Updated
- Dasha Litvinova and Steven Deare
January
- Opinion
- US election
Voters want visionary leaders, not managers with a plan
Populists are thriving in the huge gulf between what the masses want for their countries, and what elites think they should have.
- Alexander Downer