May
No coal, but $31m energy and other aid package for Ukraine
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says giving Ukraine flexibility about how to spend an energy aid package is better than sending a shipload of coal.
- Tess Ikonomou
Ukraine gets go ahead to strike inside Russia with US missiles
The move marks a shift by Washington after weeks of pressure from Kyiv and its allies and could mark a new chapter in the Ukraine war.
- David E. Sanger and Edward Wong
The Aussie political guru on a UK mission impossible
Tory campaign chief Isaac Levido will need every ounce of his battlefield wiles if he is to lift Rishi Sunak’s party out of the doldrums by July 4. Luckily, he has a plan.
- Hans van Leeuwen
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
‘Hours of attacks’: Russia’s glide bombs target Ukraine city
It was the latest attack in a sustained bombing campaign that has made life increasingly dangerous for civilians in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
- Constant Méheut
Five things about the UK election that would baffle Aussies
Voting isn’t compulsory, it’s first past the post, there are no TV ads, no sausage sizzles. This all means that parties campaign differently than Down Under.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Sunak pledges mandatory national service in UK election ploy
Compulsory work for 18-year-olds would provide “opportunities” and “experience”, the prime minister says, as the Tories try to differentiate themselves from Labour.
- Camilla Turner
G7 finance chiefs back Russian assets plan for Ukraine
The G7 ministers also warned against China’s dumping of cheap exports into their markets, although no concrete actions were decided against China.
- Alan Rappeport
European G7 ministers warn over China trade war risks
Finance ministers from Germany, France and host Italy called for a common front against China’s growing export strength.
- Giuseppe Fonte and Christian Kraemer
- Opinion
- UK election
UK Conservatives on course for the worst result in 100 years
Calling the election is more about saving Tory furniture than victory. And Rishi Sunak wants to call it quits before he breaks records he doesn’t want to hold.
- Michael Turner
- Analysis
- UK election
‘Pick me, I’m duller’: the election pitch to win over UK voters
What Rishi Sunak and his opposite number, Labour’s Keir Starmer, will be selling over the next six weeks is the promise of sobriety and stability.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Sunak stumbles on Rwanda migrant plan as campaign kicks off
The prime minister conceded he cannot introduce promised signature policies on deporting asylum seekers before the July 4 election, as campaigning got under way.
- Michael Holden and Andrew MacAskill
- Opinion
- The AFR View
What will fill the Tory-shaped hole in British politics?
Just as in Anthony Albanese’s blue-collar rhetoric, Brexit has pushed Keir Starmer’s Labour away from Tony Blair’s post-class modernisation and globalism.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- UK election
There is no Blair-mania about UK Labour leader Keir Starmer
The Conservative government – now on its fifth prime minister since 2010 – has been a pointless charade for months now. What exactly a Labour government will mean is much less clear.
- Adrian Wooldridge
- Analysis
- UK election
Drenched Sunak’s gamble to avoid electoral drowning
On the steps of Downing Street, a rain-soaked Sunak was drowned out by Tony Blair’s victory anthem. It was hard to see past these harbingers of imminent defeat.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
British PM Sunak sets July 4 election date
The election has come much sooner than expected, even though the ruling Conservative Party faces a potential landslide loss.
- Hans van Leeuwen
UK inflation falls to 2.3pc, but rate cut hopes dented
While inflation is now at its lowest since 2021, evidence of lingering price pressures is likely to make the Bank of England reluctant to ease rates in June.
- Updated
- Tom Rees and Philip Aldrick
France grapples with cold, hard truths of its place in the world
Macron’s government continues to read from a free trade hymnal. But in foreign policy, as the bloodshed in New Caledonia shows, the stubborn edifice of its colonial past refuses to budge.
- James Curran
Assange wins right to appeal extradition to US
It could be many months until the appeal is heard, and then that decision could be taken to the UK Supreme Court.
- Updated
- Michael Holden and Sam Tobin
‘Coffee badging’ workers’ last stand in war on working from home
Like “showing face” in the House of Lords, “coffee badging” refers to the practice of conspicuously clocking in before sneakily leaving shortly after.
- Lucy Burton
