German chancellor vows to stay in office despite AfD triumph in state election

• Social media platforms have changed how governments, diplomats, and citizens communicate and share information during international relations events. • During a conflict in West Asia that began in February 2026, several accounts circulated old video clips and falsely presented them as current footage.

Minister condemns groups behind Hampshire disorder and says officers were injured as they repelled ‘aggression’Batons and synthetic pepper spray were used to repel hundreds of masked, black-clad vigilantes in Portsmouth on Sunday, it has emerged, as the policing minister said officers had been injured as they repelled organised “aggression”.After police contained the weekend’s second disruptive demonstration against asylum seekers travelling to the UK in small boats, it was claimed that officers in Hampshire were pushed off their motorbikes and pelted with bricks. Sarah Jones, the Home Office minister, condemned groups behind the disorder for promoting “racism and thuggery”. Continue reading...

Ed Miliband to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move likely to draw fierce criticism from US and IsraelEd Miliband will announce what he has described as a broad reset of the UK’s relations with Israel on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause.In an intervention that is expected to draw fierce criticism from the US and Israel, the foreign secretary will impose a UK ban on the trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements. He has also told civil society groups he is determined to reassert the call for a two-state solution to the conflict with an appeal for the protection of Palestinian rights and respect for international law. Continue reading...

Three men on trial for killing Jake and Callum Robinson and Jack Carter Rhoad in Baja California in 2024The alleged killers of two Australian surfers and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot in 2024 have gone on trial in the border resort where the three were murdered.The Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and their 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad were shot dead after being robbed in Mexico’s violence-hit Baja California. Continue reading...

Hamza Chowdhury says most of his fellow Green Camden councillors back him to contest 8 October byelectionUK politics live – latest updatesZack Polanski is facing unexpected opposition from his own party in his attempt to fight the Holborn and St Pancras byelection for the Greens, with a local councillor saying he is also seeking the nomination, and that the seat does not need “a politician you’ll only see on a leaflet”.The intervention by Hamza Chowdhury, a Green representative on Camden council in north London, came as the date for the byelection was confirmed for 8 October, after Keir Starmer’s formal resignation as an MP. Continue reading...

Chief of nuclear watchdog says secret Assad-era facility would have been able to produce fissile material A nearly complete nuclear reactor built secretly during the rule of the toppled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad would have been able to produce fissile material for possible use in nuclear weapons, the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog has revealed.Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month visited two sites, one in Deir ez-Zor and a second undisclosed location identified to them by Syrian authorities. Continue reading...

‘Historic’ win in Saxony-Anhalt may show voters’ discontent with political centre, but sweeping conclusions cannot yet be drawnEurope live – latest updatesThe numbers speak for themselves: Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a party that dabbles in Nazi imagery, distinguishes between “biological” and “passport” Germans, and is too extreme even for France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen, nearly doubled its score in Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt to 43.8% of the vote.Meanwhile, the centre-right CDU of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, collapsed to 17.2%, less than half its total in the same race five years ago, and the centre-left SPD – Germany’s other main party of government for the past 60-odd years – scraped 9.3%. The least that can be said is that the centre did not hold. Continue reading...

Indigenous Australians forcibly removed under government policies more likely to have severe or profound disability, report findsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians and their descendents who were forcibly removed under government assimilation policies have far greater physical and health challenges when compared to the wider Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, according to a new report.The report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) was commissioned by peak advocacy body the Healing Foundation, which supports Stolen Generations survivors and their families, and builds on existing data released in 2023. Continue reading...

Estimates suggest drop in production with vineyards also concerned ‘smoke taint’ from wildfires may affect qualityFrench vineyards hit by severe drought and heatwaves are expected to report a 30-year low in wine production after the country’s hottest ever recorded summer, according to the agriculture ministry.Initial estimates suggest winemakers will produce just under 34m hectolitres from this year’s harvest: a drop of 6% on last year, and 17% less than ‌the 2021-2025 average. Continue reading...

Pressure follows revelations US military and weapons manufacturers control or have access to more than 100 bases across Australian continentWhy can the US access so many Australian military bases? – podcastGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe US has “led Australia into wars of aggression” for 50 years, internal party campaign group Labor Against War has argued, urging the government to chart a foreign policy independent “from the American war machine”.The Australian government has defended the growing presence of the US military on the Australian continent, insisting the defence sites “are Australian bases under Australian control”, despite evidence the US military controls more than a dozen bases on Australian territory. Continue reading...

Predicted hot and dry weather in growing areas in eastern Australia identified as ‘one of the key issues’ that will affect food prices over next 12 monthsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe most severe El Niño weather event on record threatens to push food prices higher this year, experts say, piling pressure on households already struggling with the post-pandemic spike in grocery bills and complicating the Reserve Bank’s efforts to bring inflation back under control.The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast El Niño will peak in late spring or summer and “reach levels above the warmest observed since reliable records began in 1950”. Continue reading...