6 h. ago German voters head to polls facing world of change as far right waits in the wings

Europe holds its breath as world’s third largest economic power and most populous EU country faces crossroadsGerman voters go to the polls today but it is a different world from when the campaign began only a few weeks ago.Nearly 60 million ­people are choosing a government that will have to grapple with the breakdown of the transatlantic alliance under Donald Trump and new threats to European security just as the country’s vaunted economic model is hitting the skids. Continue reading...

Politics

6 h. ago Country with the world's weirdest pizza shocked Italians say 'shouldn't be allowed'

Sweden may be known for IKEA, ABBA, herring, tall blond men and Premier League strikers who play for Newcastle, but it is also home to a culture of unusual pizza toppings

Events

45 h. ago Dolly Parton X The Wiggles: country icon contributes to kids entertainer's latest album

The world of country and kids’ entertainment collides as Dolly joins The Wiggles

Politics

65 h. ago ‘Russia has learned nothing’ over Ukraine war, says David Lammy – UK politics live

UK foreign secretary criticises Russia over Ukraine war, saying it ‘faces a test’ over Ukraine war as he speaks at G20 foreign ministerial meetingAs well as appearing on the airwaves this morning to promote Labour’s £270m Arts Everywhere fund, culture secretary Lisa Nandy also supplied some quotes for the press release accompanying the launch.She said:Arts and culture help us understand the world we live in, they shape and define society and are enjoyed by people in every part of our country. They are the building blocks of our world-leading creative industries and make a huge contribution towards boosting growth and breaking down barriers to opportunities for young people to learn the creative skills they need to succeed.The funding we are announcing today will allow the arts to continue to flourish across Britain, creating good jobs and growth by fixing the foundations in our cultural venues, museums, libraries and heritage institutions [and] will ensure that arts and cultural ins...

Politics

68 h. ago UK and Norway negotiating ‘ambitious’ new defence pact – UK politics live

Downing Street says the two leaders spoke overnight, after Donald Trump accused the Ukrainian president of being a ‘dictator’As well as appearing on the airwaves this morning to promote Labour’s £270m Arts Everywhere fund, culture secretary Lisa Nandy also supplied some quotes for the press release accompanying the launch.She said:Arts and culture help us understand the world we live in, they shape and define society and are enjoyed by people in every part of our country. They are the building blocks of our world-leading creative industries and make a huge contribution towards boosting growth and breaking down barriers to opportunities for young people to learn the creative skills they need to succeed.The funding we are announcing today will allow the arts to continue to flourish across Britain, creating good jobs and growth by fixing the foundations in our cultural venues, museums, libraries and heritage institutions [and] will ensure that arts and cultural institutions truly are f...

Politics

3 d. ago The key global issue is not the clash of north and south: it’s who supports international law and who doesn’t | Jean

We say the defining question is this: do nations work for peace and order or embrace the notion of power by force?Jean-Noël Barrot is the foreign minister of FranceWe are being told that the world is divided between a “global north” and a “global south”. But what exactly is meant by that? An economic difference? Of the 20 leading global economies, several are in the south. In the south, some countries are many, many times richer than their neighbours. A climate difference? The climate crisis affects every country in the world, and especially small island states and the poorest countries. The 10 greatest emitters, if we go by CO2 emissions per inhabitant, are split between countries in the north and south.Are we talking about a migration difference? A huge number of migrations are between countries in the south. A political divide? In both the north and the south, there are those who support collective solutions, and conversely, those who support efforts to withdraw from global affai...

Society

3 d. ago Europe is looking to Germany for leadership – but these elections will dash its hopes again | Cas Mudde

The CDU is a big player in the European parliament, but its predicted win this Sunday won’t change Germany’s inward focusWhat a difference four years makes. In 2021, the world watched the German elections to see who would succeed the EU’s uncrowned “queen”. Angela Merkel had become a symbol of liberal democracy in the era marked by the first Trump administration. In Germany, two colourless figures explicitly vied to replace her. Deep down everyone knew that German leadership in Europe was coming to an end. But no one could have foreseen how steep the fall would be.Today, Germany is a country struggling with itself, increasingly sidelined in Europe and the world. The second Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 largely destroyed Merkel’s rosy legacy, exposing her opportunistically soft approach to authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin and the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán. Under Merkel’s Social Democratic party (SPD) successor, Olaf Scholz, the country has become as pal...

Politics

4 d. ago How 'world's richest island' of white sandy beaches and Ferraris went bankrupt

Nauru, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, was once the world's richest country in terms of GDP per capita but is now bankrupt and has a major obesity crisis

Events

4 d. ago British motorcycling couple detained in Iran charged with espionage

Craig and Lindsay Foreman accused of entering country ‘under guise of tourists’ A British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage after travelling to the country as part of a round-the-world motorbike trip.The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency said Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who are in their early 50s, had been charged after allegedly gathering information in different locations in the country. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Country bans new Chinese AI over privacy fears and issues 'strong' warning

DeepSeek's R1 reasoning model caused the value of Nvidia's tech stock to collapse by $600bn due to it costing much less to produce than its rivals, according to claims from the Chinese start-up

Events

1 week ago ‘Here lives the monster’s brain’: the man who exposed Switzerland’s dirty secrets

Inspired by Che Guevara, Jean Ziegler has spent the past 60 years exposing how Switzerland enabled global wrongdoing. His enemies accuse him of treasonIn early 1964, Jean Ziegler, a young Swiss politician, received a phone call from a man claiming to represent Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Cuban revolutionary and minister of industry. Che would be in Geneva in March for a UN conference on trade policy, and some comrades had suggested Jean might be his chauffeur during his stay. Was Ziegler available for the gig?Today, in his tenth decade of life, Ziegler is Switzerland’s most notorious public intellectual. That’s because, over the course of writing about 30 books, serving for close to three decades in the Swiss parliament, and relentlessly crusading for leftwing causes in his free time, Ziegler has made a career of unsparing criticism of his home country and its outsize influence on the rest of the world. In the 1960s, though, he was just another eager young leftist, waiting for his ch...

Society