Snag for the party
Australia, France, Serbia, Syria, and the Sahel.
The five things you need to know today:
AUSTRALIA. The Labor government faces increasingly difficult odds.
FRANCE. Haughty intransigence dooms another government.
SERBIA. Vucic needs to find a way to quell the protests.
SYRIA. The rebel formerly known as Jolani crowns himself president.
THE SAHEL. The Alliance of Sahelian States officially breaks away.
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AUSTRALIA. Down under and over
The Labor government faces increasingly difficult odds.
Those intending to attack Jews with a caravan packed with explosives should be "hunted down and locked up", Prime Minister Antony Albanese said Thursday. A fourth minister said he would step down at the next election, due by May.
INTELLIGENCE. The centre-left Albanese government is yet to complete its first term after nine years of conservative rule but it’s already looking worse for wear and on current polling could follow the fall of its sister party in New Zealand. A spate of antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne could see the opposition Liberals win back wealthy electorates lost in 2022. A lacklustre economic record could see a similar swing in the outer-suburban mortgage belt.
FOR BUSINESS. The opposition was once seen as unelectable, but has ridden a similar backlash to the Labor Party’s perceived identity politics as that which unseated the Democrats. And despite hopes for a rate cut, many Australians feel poorer. The Liberals are unlikely to offer any radical cure but plans for nuclear power could send a jolt into a stagnant industrial base. Despite being third in median wealth per capita, Australia ranks 87th in economic complexity.
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FRANCE. Pride before the fall
Haughty intransigence dooms another government.
Socialist deputies were yet to confirm their return to budget negotiations Wednesday. The party walked out in protest of remarks that voters felt "submerged" by migration. The foreign minister said France could send troops to Greenland.
INTELLIGENCE. Showboating is part of politics, but the Socialists are risking government collapse over a commonly-held