Today
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
Yesterday
Paris mayor dives into Seine River to prove it’s safe for the Olympics
The big question on French lips is not whether the chronically polluted waterway will host sports, but whether President Emmanuel Macron will also take a dip.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Analysis
- Russia-Ukraine war
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
This Month
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
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
France’s left-wing parties struggle to unite, Socialists’ leader says
The New Popular Front, an alliance ranging from socialists and Greens to the communist party, won the parliamentary election but fell well short of a majority.
- Sudip Kar-Gupta
Britain’s ultra-rich ‘non-doms’ prepare to flee Labour tax rise
Living in the UK but not legally domiciled, they pay more than £8 billion in taxes a year, and now Keir Starmer’s new government plans to increase their levies.
- Ben Stupples
- Updated
- European Championships
Spain beat England for record fourth European title
Mikel Oyarzabal’s 87th-minute goal clinched a 2-1 victory over England, whose painful decades-long wait for a major trophy goes on.
- Updated
- Mitch Phillips
King Charles, Queen Camilla to visit Australia in October
The royal couple will make the trip en route to a CHOGM summit in Samoa, but the King’s fragile health means it’ll be shorter than the epic visits of years gone by.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Meloni seeks to bring nuclear power back to Italy
Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said Rome plans to introduce legislation to enable investments in small modular nuclear reactors.
- Amy Kazmin
Unilever to slash a third of office jobs in Europe
The cuts are part of Unilever’s “productivity program” and will slash as many as 7500 roles globally.
- Madeleine Speed
Russia behind plot to kill Europe’s top defence CEO: NATO officials
The German company produces artillery shells and tanks that Ukraine has used in its war against Russia.
- Julian E. Barnes, Lara Jakes and Christopher F. Schuetze
Putin is meeting a lot of world leaders for a ‘global outcast’
In the two months since he began his fifth presidential term in May, Vladimir Putin has held more than 20 meetings with leaders. He has also made six foreign visits.
- Henry Meyer
Macron coalition talks shaky as left ‘behaves like children’
While French leftists demand the premiership, the president faces fissures in his own camp.
- Leila Abboud, Adrienne Klasa, Sarah White and Ian Johnston
- Opinion
- The AFR View
France says adieu to the centre
Australia too faces a drift to minority government, polarisation and identity politics at the next election, which France showed how easily can go off course.
- The AFR View
Zelensky blasts Modi’s visit to Russia as blow to peace
The Ukrainian president said the visit was a “devastating blow to peace efforts”. His comments came on the same day as a missile strike on Kyiv hit a children’s hospital.
- Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Dan Strumpf
Corporate France bids adieu to Macron’s pro-business agenda
Many business leaders are relieved to see extremes neutralised, but political gridlock and the rise of the left has sparked concern.
- Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, Adrienne Klasa, Leila Abboud and Sarah White
Putin uses stealth missiles in Ukraine children’s hospital attack
Ukraine accused Russia of using missiles that fly low to the ground to avoid radar and cause maximum damage to target the country’s biggest children’s hospital.
- Updated
- Hanna Arhirova and Illia Novikov
- Opinion
- World elections
Europe now leaderless as global threats rise
President Emmanuel Macron’s authority in Europe has shrunk after chaotic national elections, while the UK’s influence has been hobbled by Brexit.
- Gideon Rachman
Markets on tenterhooks as French politicians jostle for power
France’s left-wing parties are scrambling for a way to break the political impasse created by President Emmanuel Macron’s snap parliamentary election.
- Hans van Leeuwen
