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    Latest

    Joe Biden remains under pressure to reconsider his bid for the White House.

    COVID-infected Biden says doctor could make him quit

    Californian congressman Adam Schiff became the highest-profile Democrat to demand the incumbent president step aside in the 2024 race for the Oval Office.

    • 1 hr ago
    • Matthew Cranston
    President Joe Biden speaking in Las Vegas earlier this week.

    Nearly two-thirds of Democrats want Biden to withdraw, new poll finds

    The survey also found that only about three in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that Joe Biden has the mental capability to serve effectively.

    • Darlene Superville, Amelia Thomson-Deveaux and Emily Swanson

    Trump tells Taiwan to expect a higher price tag for US defence

    “I think Taiwan should pay us for defence,” Trump said in an interview. “You know, we’re no different than an insurance company.”

    • Chris Buckley

    Fewer aristocrats: Starmer lays out left-wing vision

    The supposedly cautious UK PM is proposing taxpayer funds for green energy, nationalising the railways and rolling out new workers’ rights.

    • Updated
    • Hans van Leeuwen

    Waller says Fed getting ‘closer’ to cutting rates

    Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller has added to a growing chorus of officials who have signalled that they are moving closer towards a rate cut.

    • Craig Torres and Steve Matthews

    Paris mayor dives into Seine river to prove it’s safe

    The big question on French lips is not whether the chronically polluted river will host Olympic events, but whether Emmanuel Macron will also take the plunge.

    • Hans van Leeuwen

    Opinion & Analysis

    How Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley funded J.D. Vance’s sudden rise

    Donald Trump’s VP pick was a venture capitalist bankrolled in business and politics by billionaire investors. His ties to PayPal’s co-founder go way back.

    Tabby Kinder, George Hammond and Alex Rogers

    Contributor

    How toxic talk turns too easily to assassin’s bullets

    A more centrist political culture doesn’t make Australia immune to the language that has inflamed American politics in recent times.

    Georgina Downer

    Robert Menzies Institute

    Georgina Downer

    Russia’s vast stocks of Soviet-era weapons are running out

    The much-vaunted offensive against Kharkiv in the north that began in May is fizzling out. Advances elsewhere have been strategically trivial and at huge cost.

    The Economist

    Contributor

    The deep source of Trump’s appeal to Americans

    The problem with adopting all-explaining identity politics is that it undermines democracy. If others are evil and out to get us, then persuasion is for suckers.

    David Brooks

    Contributor

    From the Financial Times

    caption

    How Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley funded J.D. Vance’s sudden rise

    Donald Trump’s VP pick was a venture capitalist bankrolled in business and politics by billionaire investors. His ties to PayPal’s co-founder go way back.

    • 13 mins ago
    • Tabby Kinder, George Hammond and Alex Rogers

    Former rivals back Trump in show of Republican unity

    The second day of the Republican convention showed the kind of discipline and co-ordinated messaging not normally associated with the former president’s political operation.

    • Updated
    • Lauren Fedor and James Politi

    Biden looks for early Democratic nomination to silence critics

    Democrats’ dismay with the president after his disastrous debate performance is still simmering and could rear its head again.

    • Updated
    • James Politi
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    More From Today

    caption

    How Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley funded J.D. Vance’s sudden rise

    Donald Trump’s VP pick was a venture capitalist bankrolled in business and politics by billionaire investors. His ties to PayPal’s co-founder go way back.

    • 13 mins ago
    • Tabby Kinder, George Hammond and Alex Rogers

    Yesterday

    New Zealand inflation slows to three-year low

    Three of the country’s main banks brought forward forecasts for RBNZ rate cuts after the inflation report.

    • Matthew Brockett
    Donald Trump and Nikki Haley at the Republican Convention on Tuesday night.

    Former rivals back Trump in show of Republican unity

    The second day of the Republican convention showed the kind of discipline and co-ordinated messaging not normally associated with the former president’s political operation.

    • Updated
    • Lauren Fedor and James Politi
    Joe Biden on the hustings in Las Vegas this week.

    Biden looks for early Democratic nomination to silence critics

    Democrats’ dismay with the president after his disastrous debate performance is still simmering and could rear its head again.

    • Updated
    • James Politi
    Assassinations have made even democracies into darker places.

    How toxic talk turns too easily to assassin’s bullets

    A more centrist political culture doesn’t make Australia immune to the language that has inflamed American politics in recent times.

    • Georgina Downer
    Advertisement
    A damaged Russian tank in the town of Trostsyanets, about 400 kilometres east of Kyiv.

    Russia’s vast stocks of Soviet-era weapons are running out

    The much-vaunted offensive against Kharkiv in the north that began in May is fizzling out. Advances elsewhere have been strategically trivial and at huge cost.

    • The Economist
    Donald Trump is hustled offstage by Secret Service agents shortly after being shot on Saturday.

    The deep source of Trump’s appeal to Americans

    The problem with adopting all-explaining identity politics is that it undermines democracy. If others are evil and out to get us, then persuasion is for suckers.

    • David Brooks
    Republican chairman for Maine Joel Stetkis at the Republican National Convention, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. Photo: Matthew Cranston.

    ‘I carry a firearm every day’: party chief who wanted gun inside RNC

    Guns were allowed to the edge of the Republican National Convention perimeter this week. Their own politicians wanted to bring their pistols inside the venue.

    • Matthew Cranston
    Joe Biden hugs first lady Jill Biden,  son Hunter and daughter Ashley after his swearing-in as Kamala Harris looks on.

    Biden circle shrinks as Democrats fear election wipeout

    The attempted assassination of Donald Trump at the weekend has muted some of the public pressure on the US president to exit the race. But the party remains deeply divided.

    • Katie Rogers, Lisa Lerer, Reid J. Epstein and Maggie Haberman
    Like J.D. Vance, Kevin Rudd has changed his view on Donald Trump.

    Like Vance, Rudd has changed his views on Trump

    The Australian ambassador to the US says he has been busy building bridges with Donald Trump’s team and the Republicans’ MAGA movement.

    • Matthew Cranston
    With all the momentum. Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention this week.

    Trump donations surge to record levels

    The $600 million raised is three times the first-quarter total and roughly double their contributions from the same period of the 2020 election.

    • Sam Learner, Eva Xiao, Alex Rogers and George Hammond

    This Month

    French President Emmanuel Macron has failed to counter the far-right narrative.

    French government to resign but stay on in caretaker role, sources say

    The caretaker government will run current affairs in France, including the start of the Olympics, but cannot pass laws.

    • Elizabeth Pineau
    Craig Wright, the UK-based, Australian-born tech entrepreneur who claims to be bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.

    Aussie who says he invented bitcoin faces UK crime probe

    Australian inventor Craig Wright has claimed for a decade that he created bitcoin but now faces perjury allegations in a UK criminal court.

    • Sam Tobin
    Joe Biden arrives in Las Vegas on Monday (Tuesday AEST).

    Biden defends ‘bullseye’ comment as Democrats split deepens

    The US president’s defensive interview underscored his precarious political position in the aftermath of the debate and attempted Trump assassination.

    • Jordan Fabian

    Luxury brands roll out huge discounts as Chinese rein in spending

    The sales are being offered primarily by aspirational brands such as Versace and Burberry, as China’s once-voracious middle-class consumers become more frugal.

    • Annachiara Biondi and Thomas Hale
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    In Vance, Trump picks an ambitious ideologue and Millennial

    His youth – there are nearly 40 years separating them, and he is the first Millennial nominated to a major-party ticket – could prove a boon to the ticket.

    • Michael Gold

    Panic to resignation, ‘the vibe is grim’ for Democrats

    The party is now firmly divided over how to proceed with a weakened leader in a scrambled political environment.

    • Reid J. Epstein, Lisa Lerer, Katie Glueck and Nicholas Nehamas
    Donald Trump and newly minted running mate J.D. Vance at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday (AEST).

    A bandaged Trump picks VP to cheer the hillbilly base

    Donald Trump has made a triumphant political return two days after surviving an assassination attempt, alongside his new running mate  J.D. Vance, a pick that signalled his growing confidence and the future of his “America first” platform.

    • Matthew Cranston
    Judge Aileen Cannon was appointed by Trump during his presidency.

    Judge dismisses classified documents case against Trump

    A Florida judge, appointed to the bench by the former president, ruled the federal case against him for mishandling classified documents was unconstitutional.

    • Updated
    • Matthew Cranston

    Don’t lose sight of Project 2025. That’s the real Trump

    Much of what is in the blueprint for governing, especially its multipronged attack on reproductive rights, is deeply unpopular.

    • Paul Krugman