Macron's gamble in dissolving parliament has backfired, and the legislature will be reshaped after a surge in support for populism. But an outright majority after run-off voting looks unlikely.
Macron and Scholz have suffered humiliating defeats triggering concern of a bigger shift to the right in France and Germany. If this happens, Europe's power balance could fundamentally transform.
For decades the far right sat on the periphery of Western politics, dismissed as angry skinheads or deluded neo-Nazis by the centrist mainstream. No longer.
A big pro-EU bloc should still hold sway even if the ultra-nationalists make gains. More broadly, the results will act as a barometer of public mood in the first vote since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Twin fears of an inward-looking Donald Trump and a westward-looking Vladimir Putin have left officials in Europe's treasuries urgently revising their budgets to make room for more defence spending.
It is curious that amid the global attention on the Gaza war, very few commentators have remarked on the way that European imperialism laid the foundations for the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The political goal was a US and European effort to demonstrate the capacity for connectivity idea generation, or less generously, to try and out-China the Chinese Belt Road Initiative.
As YouTube star Accurso's influence grew, she transitioned from educator to child advocate. But it only became 'controversial' when she spoke up for Palestinian kids
The achievements of September's US-China summit are underwhelming: a short trade truce extension, a reciprocal tariff reduction, a coal purchase, talks on AI, and two pandas. The rest is what matters
From Gaza to Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq, and Algeria, this year's Arab Oscar submissions explore stories of conflict, displacement, memory, and survival