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
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
Trump hints at change of heart on TikTok ban
The role of the popular social media app in last month’s election victory may have convinced the president-elect to give parent company ByteDance a reprieve.
- Gram Slattery
Republican revolt shows limits of Trump’s power
The rebellion over the funding bill cast doubt on whether the US president-elect will be able to fulfil his election campaign promises.
- Benedict Smith
Do you know this week’s news? Answer these 10 questions
Have you been paying attention this week? Test your knowledge across politics, business and world news.
- Daniel Arbon
- Updated
- Elon Musk
‘President Musk’ draws first blood as government shutdown looms
The billionaire led the charge to kill a bipartisan deal to avert a freeze on federal funding, leaving Congress with just 24 to avert a government shutdown.
- Updated
- Michael D. Shear and Ryan Mac
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
- Analysis
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
‘A different animal’: Inside Huawei’s new EV business
The Chinese tech giant’s multibillion-dollar unit is setting its sights on becoming a big supplier to the electric car industry despite US sanctions.
- Edward White and Tina Hu
- Opinion
- Trump's America
Why Musk has hit payday even before Trump takes office
The Tesla chief executive and other super-wealthy entrepreneurs could benefit from deregulation with the new president, but some are already reaping rewards.
- Edward Luce
Trump won’t torpedo AUKUS subs deal, says Marles
Despite fears the president-elect will cool on the pact as the US struggles to produce enough submarines, the Australian defence minister says he will back the deal.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
The transformation of Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s intelligence tsar pick
The once rising-star of the Democratic party is now a MAGA champion with unorthodox views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.
- Amy Mackinnon
‘Libel warfare’: ABC payout to Trump sends chill across US media
There are now fears that Trump, who has threatened libel lawsuits against news media for decades, could use presidential power to muzzle the press.
- Anna Nicolaou, Christopher Grimes and James Politi