The Netherlands once again finds itself at a political crossroads. After years of turbulence and ideological fragmentation, the liberal-centrist party D66 (Democraten 66), led by Rob Jetten, scored a narrow yet striking victory compared with the previous election, rising from nine seats in 2023 to twenty-six in the 2025 snap election.

As Geert Wilders’ Far Right Stumbles, Can Rob Jetten’s Progressive Liberals Rebuild the Dutch Centre?

Ricardo Martins

I send you greetings of Peace and Good, so desperately needed by humanity and by those living in poverty, conflict, war and hunger. This open letter is meant to express and share some thoughts with you.
  I was surprised by your designation as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate by the Nobel Committee. It reminded me of the struggles against dictatorships on the continent and in my country, military dictatorships we endured from 1976 to 1983. We withstood prisons, torture and exile, with thousands disappeared people, kidnapped and missing children, and the death flights of which I am a survivor.

“Do not forget, Corina …”

Open letter from Nobel Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel* to Corina Machado

The Russian Foreign Ministry has ridiculed the German government’s pleas to Kiev to keep fighting-age Ukrainian men at home.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday he discussed Ukraine’s manpower problems with Vladimir Zelensky, asking him to “ensure that young men in particular from Ukraine do not come to Germany in large numbers.” Berlin also intends to downgrade the support for Ukrainian nationals granted protection in the country to that of regular asylum-seekers.

The toxic roots of China-phobia are deeply embedded in modern Australia’s cultural history. It has a firm grip on the minds of many of Australia’s policy wonks, politicians, media commentators, and the general public.

Today it is being fanned by security hawks in the foreign policy domain who are desperately committed to the quixotic (mis)alliance with the US.

Allan Patience

The Castle remains good law in Australia. Almost three decades since the battling suburban solicitor Dennis Denuto introduced us all to the high legal concept of “the vibe of the thing”, the High Court has broadly endorsed the classic movie’s basic contention: a man’s home is his castle.

 Andrew Fraser

And, our highest court says, that applies even if the home hasn’t been built yet and when the man is not cuddly Darryl Kerrigan of screen fame but the highly unfashionable litigant Vladimir Putin.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has denounced the US strikes on alleged cartel vessels in the Caribbean Sea as the Pentagon announced a new operation to fight drug traffickers.

In an interview with NBC News, Petro did not mince words when criticizing US President Donald Trump. “He’s a barbarian,” Petro said in excerpts aired Thursday. “He wants to frighten us,” he added.

The Colombian president did not rule out that some of the vessels hit by the strikes were linked to cartels. “Maybe or maybe not. We do not know,” he said, adding that, “According to due process, the civilized treatment of people, they should be seized and detained.”

"I know that you know, but you’ll never be able to prove it,” Graham Richardson once said to me more than 20 years ago, back when we were still talking.

For a reporter whose career has been spent uncovering crime and corruption, Richo was the one who got away.

Long lunches, Swiss bank accounts and a kangaroo scrotum: My decades pursuing Graham Richardson

By Kate McClymont

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says the Liberals have the "memory of goldfish and diet of piranhas" after dumping net zero by 2050.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley was also up on ABC News Breakfast this morning where she's been asked if dumping net zero could damage Australia's global reputation.

The opposition leader has brushed aside that question and says the Liberal Party is proposing to remain in the Paris Agreement.

Ley says Labor's climate targets are unachievable because Australia is cutting emissions twice as fast as the developed world.

Ukraine corruption scandal puts top figures under scrutiny

The corruption scandal is fast becoming Ukraine's most significant government crisis since Russia's invasion in 2022.

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Germany news: Police search AfD politician's property

Prosecutors in Thuringia said police searched three properties but were not seeking an arrest. DW has more.

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US to designate Germany's 'Antifa Ost' a terrorist group

On her first day of work, Adau realised she had made a big mistake.

"We got our uniforms, not even knowing exactly what we were going to do. From the first day of work we were taken to the drones factory. We stepped in and we saw drones everywhere and people working. Then they took us to our different work stations."

Twenty-three-years-old and originally from South Sudan, Adau says last year she was lured to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, on the promise of a full-time job.

She had applied to the Alabuga Start programme, a recruitment scheme targeting 18-to-22-year-old women, mostly from Africa but also increasingly from Latin America and South-East Asia. It promises participants professional training in areas including logistics, catering and hospitality.

His Excellency, Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations,

Presidents,

Prime Ministers,

Heads of State,

Permanent Representatives to the United Nations,

Ukraine's energy and justice ministers have resigned in the wake of a major investigation into corruption in the country's energy sector.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko's removal on Wednesday. 

Major corruption scandal engulfs top Zelensky allies

BY Laura Gozzi

Lachlan Murdoch won the battle to follow in his father’s footsteps and obtain control over News Corp, a media conglomerate in decline. Is he up for it? David Tyler asks.

Imagine inheriting a media empire after spending $1.1B per sibling just to buy them off. Then discovering you’ve just spent billions to secure control of something that looks glorious on the surface but is, underneath, a paper tiger gasping for oxygen. That’s Lachlan Murdoch in 2025.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has insisted he runs a "united team" after a senior minister was forced to repeatedly deny that he planned to oust the embattled premier.

Sir Keir's comments came after Downing Street sources said Britain's leader would fight off any leadership challenge, as the anonymous briefing exposed tensions at the heart of the beleaguered government.

Rumours are swirling in the UK parliament that some ministers, including his Health Secretary Wes Streeting, are plotting to challenge Sir Keir following a budget due later this month, in which Labour is expected to break a manifesto pledge on raising income tax.