Glitter ball
The annual conference of Britain’s opposition Labour Party outlined several polices, including commitments to reform planning rules and build more housing, and concluded with a well-received speech from Sir Keir Starmer, the party’s leader. The conference capped a good week for Labour, which scored a big victory over the Scottish National Party in a by-election. Taking ground from the SNP in Scotland would significantly increase Labour’s chances of winning Britain’s next general election.
Volodymyr Zelensky paid his first visit to NATO’s headquarters in Brussels since the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine 20 months ago. The Ukrainian president is seeking more support, especially for air defence. His trip came six days after 52 people were killed by a Russian missile attack on Hroza, in north-east Ukraine.
An investigation got under way into a leak on an underwater gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. Finland said the damage may have been deliberate. Speculation swirled that Russia may have sabotaged the conduit in revenge for Finland joining NATO. An attack on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline last year remains unexplained.
The hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) performed well in two state elections in Germany. The party came third in Bavaria and second in Hesse, breaking out of its traditional areas of support in poorer east Germany. The Greens and the Free Democrats, coalition partners to the Social Democrats, fared badly.
The Greens also lost ground in Luxembourg’s general election, their support falling by seven percentage points, to 8.6%. The ruling left-of-centre coalition was severely weakened by the result, leaving the way open for the centre right to form a government.
An Australian journalist, Cheng Lei, returned to Australia after spending more than three years in custody in China on espionage charges. China had accused Ms Cheng, a reporter for China’s Englishlanguage television station, CGTN, of leaking state secrets overseas. Another Australian, Yang Hengjun, remains imprisoned in China for alleged spying.
Steve Scalise, a congressman from the suburbs of New Orleans, was nominated by Republicans to be the next speaker of the House of Representatives following the defenestration of Kevin McCarthy. Several hard-right conservatives declined to back Mr Scalise in a floor vote before the whole House to confirm the appointment.