This Month
- 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
- Opinion
- Terror charges
Why did Germany’s bizarre terrorist send me angry messages?
Little did I know that the sender would end up being the main suspect in Friday’s Christmas market attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
- Updated
- James Jackson
Musk supports far-right German party ahead of election
The world’s richest man endorsed a group with ties to neo-Nazis. The party’s youth wing is classified as “confirmed extremist”.
- Updated
- Christopher F. Schuetze and Mark Landler
Two dead, 60 injured after car ploughs through German Christmas market
The suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who moved to Germany in 2006. He has been practising medicine in Bernburg, about 36 kilometres south of Magdeburg.
- Ebrahim Noroozi, Chris Stern and Geir Moulson
On the brink: What’s going on in Germany, Canada and South Korea?
As Germany heads towards a caretaker government, Canada’s Trudeau faces a grave challenge and South Korea’s president is realising how much trouble a handbag can carry.
Germany in crisis as government collapses
Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote, triggering an election in a new era of unstable politics in Germany amid a series of crises across Europe.
- Christopher F. Schuetze and Jim Tankersley
‘We need time’: Syrians in Europe resist calls to return home
Those who fled the 13-year civil war pointed to the political uncertainty after a rebel offensive swept into Damascus over the weekend.
- Laura Pitel, Eleni Varvitsioti and Amy Kazmin
Angela Merkel’s autobiography is a ‘stunning disappointment’
The former German chancellor provides only the most superficial explanations for her controversial actions and decisions, particularly those to do with Vladimir Putin.
- John Kampfner
Trump to attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening in Paris
The US president-elect will meet French President Emmanuel Macron during his first foreign visit. The pair have had a fraught relationship.
- Maggie Haberman
Why this ‘extraordinary’ global CEO was axed
Carlos Tavares was forced from major carmaker Stellantis, which has brands like Jeep, Peugeot and Maserati, as global EV sales slump and cost-cutting ramps up.
- Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli, Kana Inagaki and Ian Johnston
November
Germany to hold early elections after government collapses
The federal ballot will be brought forwards to February 2025 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister, triggering a collapse of the ruling coalition.
- Michael Nienaber
Germany’s government at risk of collapse over economic policy
The main political parties are already laying out their campaign positions, and coalition leaders are barely talking.
- Steven Erlanger and Christopher F. Schuetze
Can struggling behemoth Volkswagen survive?
Europe’s largest car maker is at war with workers and politicians as it tries to cut costs, navigate a painful EV transition, and stay successful.
- Patricia Nilsson, Olaf Storbeck and Kana Inagaki
October
Why Europe’s car crisis is mostly made in China
The once-lucrative market is now highly competitive and more Chinese EVs are being exported, compounding slower sales at home.
- Kana Inagaki, Edward White and Sarah White
- Updates
- Middle East conflict
Australia condemns Israel’s ban on UN aid agency UNRWA
Australia has joined international condemnation of Israel over its efforts to nobble top UN body that looks after almost 6 million Palestinian refugees.
- Updated
- Andrew Tillett
- Opinion
- Middle East conflict
Netanyahu’s fight to be tested in a dangerous world
The risk of greater conflagration in the Middle East is keeping the world on edge, and Australia is no exception.
- Jennifer Hewett
Germany ‘reopens old wounds’ with border checks
There are fears for the future of Schengen and the freedom of movement it symbolises – regarded by EU citizens as one of the greatest accomplishments of European unity.
- Guy Chazan, Laura Dubois and Raphael Minder
The ordinary Germans turning to the far-right
It’s not disillusioned old people hankering back to Germany’s past, but overwhelmingly young people who want a future free of multiculturalism.
- Judith Woods
September
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
AUKUS was part of plan to punish Macron, says Boris Johnson
Writing in his upcoming memoirs, the former UK prime minister accused the French president of being a “positive nuisance” during talks to leave the EU.
- Updated
- Daniel Martin