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Yesterday

Volodymyr Zelensky opposes lowering the conscription age.

Trump to urge Zelensky to lower Ukraine’s conscription age to 18

Ukraine’s conscription age was lowered to 25 last year, but lowering it further is unpopular and Ukraine says it lacks enough weapons to arm its current forces.

  • Isobel Koshiw
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, North Korea, last year.

North Korean secret diary reveals deadly ‘drone bait’ tactic

The written notes of a dead soldier published by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces describe the reckless ploy, along with expressions of love for Kim Jong-un.

  • James Kilner

This Month

European airlines have complained that Chinese carriers have an unfair advantage and are establishing a stranglehold on routes between the two regions.

Chinese airlines rush into Europe as Western carriers retreat

Scandinavian Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have all suspended some routes to the mainland in 2024, citing cost pressures from avoiding Russia.

  • Chan Ho-him and Philip Georgiadis

December 2024

Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma (centre) with their children (from left) Zein, Hafez and Karim outside the Great Mosque of Aleppo in 2022.

No dinner with Putin, but Assad will not lack for luxury in Moscow

Nothing has been seen of the murderous Syrian tyrant since he fled Damascus, but he joins a dubious list of pro-Kremlin former dictators living in Moscow.

  • James Kilner
Pope Francis during the ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica at The Vatican at the weekend.

Australian-based bishop among Pope’s new cardinal picks

At 44 years of age, Mykola Bychokthe, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, is also the youngest cardinal.

  • Nicole Winfield
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Alina Soboleva, 9, has been withdrawn since witnessing the deaths of her mother and grandmother in a shelling in the courtyard of their home.

‘Reindeer’ volunteers bring holiday magic to Ukrainian children

Volunteers travel to damaged cities to deliver gifts and ensure Ukrainian children can celebrate the holiday season.

  • Vasilisa Stepanenko and Evgeniy Maloletka

November 2024

The missiles are flying as both sides escalate ahead of possible negotiations.

West must not flinch in helping Ukraine now

There is something else at stake as Ukraine fights on: the self-respect of the democratic nations that have backed them this far.

  • The AFR View
Left to right: Elon Musk, US President-elect Donald Trump, Donald Trump jnr, Mike Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy enjoy a McDonald’s meal aboard Trump’s private plane.

Trump’s demolition of the US state

You measure a leader by his actions not by his heart. To judge from what Trump has done within a fortnight of winning the presidency, his path is destruction.

  • Edward Luce
The cargo ship was closely followed by the Danish Navy afterwards, said open source intelligence experts.

Chinese vessel spotted where Baltic Sea cables were severed

A Chinese-registered vessel on its way from the Russian port of Ust-Luga to Port Said in Egypt passed close to both the cables around the time each was cut.

  • Richard Milne and Oliver Telling
Marco Rubio with Donald Trump at a rally in North Carolina just before election day last week.

Trump taps China hawks in Beijing’s ‘nightmare come true’

The president-elect is set to choose Marco Rubio as his top US diplomat while Representative Mike Waltz is expected to be his new national security adviser.

  • Updated
  • Nancy Cook
A Trump supporter at the Palm Beach Convention Centre

Trump’s stunning rebuff of his critics

Donald Trump’s return to the White House means the return of an unpredictable president with big plans to Make America Great Again – and fewer restraints on his power.

  • Jennifer Hewett

October 2024

Ukrainian servicemen fire towards Russian positions in Kherson region at the weekend.

Ukraine and Russia in talks about halting strikes on energy plants

An agreement would mark the most significant de-escalation of the war since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

  • Max Seddon, Christopher Miller and Andrew England
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the BRICS summit.

BRICS alliance takes on global payments system

The group of developing nations is attempting to challenge the SWIFT international payments messaging system by setting up its own sanctions-proof one.

  • Jessica Sier
Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia this week. His government’s crackdown has targeted Chinese intellectuals overseas as well as those working in the country.

Xi Jinping tightens stranglehold on China’s academia

Scholars have been fired or ‘disappeared’ as Beijing clamps down on discussion of sensitive topics, including the economy.

  • Joe Leahy, Sun Yu and Kana Inagaki
A local market burns after a Russian strike in Mykolaiv. The Ukraine war is on the agenda for this week’s meetings of the IMF and World Bank.

IMF, World Bank meetings clouded by wars, economy, US election

The elephant in the room will be the potential for an election victory by Donald Trump to upend the international economic system with massive new US tariffs.

  • Updated
  • David Lawder
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Pumping oil in Midland, Texas. Donald Trump has turned his support for fossil fuels into campaign funds.

Trump touts fossil fuel agenda in bid for cash from Texas oil donors

The Republican presidential candidate told donors the US “could not be in a worse position as far as energy security goes”.

  • Myles McCormick
Speakers from 190 countries included 71 heads of state, 42 heads of government, six vice presidents and crown princes, eight deputy prime ministers and 53 ministers.

Leaders depart UN empty-handed, facing wider Middle East war

There was no expectation of major breakthroughs at the annual gathering of presidents, premiers and other leaders. There rarely is. But this year was especially grim.

  • Edith Lederer and Jennifer Peltz

September 2024

Herbert Kickl, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria, centre, celebrates with supporters during an election night rally in Vienna.

Austrian far right wins vote, but won’t form government

Despite the Freedom Party winning the most votes for the first time in a national election, its leader, Herbert Kickl, appears unlikely to play a role in the next cabinet.

  • Marton Eder and Jonathan Tirone
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell.

Did central banks get the inflation crisis right?

Rate-cutting cycles in recent decades – such as in the early 2000s, or during the financial crisis of 2007 – have tended to be associated with steep economic downturns.

  • Sam Fleming, Colby Smith and Olaf Storbeck
Law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt.

‘Free to assassinate Trump’: plot suspect’s message to Iran

The man arrested after apparently plotting to assassinate the former president, wrote a book in which he apologised to Iran for Trump cancelling a nuclear deal.

  • Patricia Mazzei, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Eduardo Medina and Glenn Thrush

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/england-hoe