Stalemate drags on as socialist party loses crucial seat

Spain's socialist party has suffered a setback in its efforts to form a new leftwing coalition government after last month's inconclusive election as a count of overseas votes handed a crucial seat across to the opposition conservatives.

Neighbours 'may use force' to reinstate the president

A powerful bloc of west African states suspended ties with Niger following last week's coup and authorised the possible use of force if the country's democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, is not released and reinstated within a week.

Egypt calls on Putin to revive Black Sea grain deal

Egypt's leader, Abdel Fatah alSisi, urged Vladimir Putin to return to the Black Sea grain deal during a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg marked by concerns about the global economic fallout from the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.

No to Netanyahu Israelis' defiance is a lesson for anyone who cares about democracy

Beware the strongman leader who fears prison. Donald Trump is running for president in part because he sees a return to the White House as a literal get-out-of-jail-free card: reinstalled in the Oval Office, he would be able to pardon himself for the mounting pile of serious federal crimes for which he is indicted. His legal strategy is his political strategy.

What is the judicial overhaul vote about? And what happens next?

Israel's far-right and ultrareligious government has finally succeeded in passing an element of its wide-ranging changes to the judiciary. Legal action, a general strike and possible refusal from upwards of 10,000 military reservists to report for duty are on the cards as the country's largest ever domestic crisis enters a new chapter.

'A contract has been broken'

Conflict over Netanyahu's plans to overhaul the judiciary is leading to new levels of civil disobedience - and potential security risks

Graduates unconvinced by calls to toil in the countryside

Amid record joblessness, the government wants young people to go to the farmland. But the prospect is unappealing

Under-fire Odesa sets aside its Russian heritage

In the courtyard of Odesa's Fine Arts museum, a police officer unlocked a large, grey container and pulled back the doors to reveal Catherine the Great. She was laid out flat on a wooden tray, one arm outstretched and the other at her side, holding a scroll ordering the construction of Odesa.

Major sporting events are unsustainable.A new model is needed

The decision by the Australian state T of Victoria to pull out of hosting the Commonwealth Games issues a broader challenge to sports leaders, governments, athletes and citizens around the world.

China's growth is fading, as is its dream of middle-class security

In the UK, prime minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer are both putting faith in five-point plans. Never knowingly undersold, China's government announced last week that it's going for a 31-point strategy.

Lives in the capital once seemed to be immune to the dreadful violence that affected people elsewhere in Sudan.The rapid ruin of my former home is difficult to fathom The tragedy of Khartoum

WE THOUGHT IT WOULD LAST A DAY, TWO AT most. When the sound of gunfire began to ring around parts of Khartoum early one Saturday in April, calls from family and friends in the city sounded relatively little alarm.

Will strikes spell trouble for Biden in a summer of discontent?

It became known as the winter of discontent. After the Labour government tried to freeze wages to stem inflation, Britain was convulsed by labour strikes and disruptions in public services, leading to a fierce political backlash that swept Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives into power.

METEOROLOGY - Rain or shine

Climate anxiety is fuelling our interest in weather forecasts anda growing range of apps that cater forall conditions

The fungi winning hearts and minds on forest floors

One day, the forest floor might be filled with leaf litter, soft decomposing logs and tiny tree saplings. The next, the O logs flush with gilled oyster mushrooms, rivers of brightly coloured waxgills or puffballs - white orbs, as big as footballs, suddenly appear in the undergrowth.

"Tourists do not feel safe' Deadly air crashes cast long shadow

Fear, anxiety and resignation stalk Nepal's domestic airports. Norwegian tourist Waldemar Wergeland is relieved to have landed safely at Kathmandu's domestic terminal.

How sweet talk from Big Food is fuelling disease risk

Sugar-laden drinks aimed at children are just one example of misleading marketing that can have devastating effects

Volunteer crews feel the strain of record wildfires

Long hours in the field in often unpredictable conditions are testing the mental health of the dwindling number of firefighters in rural areas

'We are at war with fire' Fear and chaos on Rhodes

Greece undertook its largest evacuation effort in its history last Sunday, moving 19,000 people primarily tourists - from villages and resorts on the island of Rhodes as wildfires fanned by high-speed winds raged.

A massive Labour win - followed by mudslinging and mistrust

The fallout from a surprise defeat in one byelection overshadowed a record breaking success in another

This is barbarism' Shock at strike on Odesa cathedral

Bombardment of Black Sea port city is part of a campaign by Moscow to disrupt the shipping of grain exports

Dismay over government silence on sexual violence

As footage emerged last week of two women in the state of Manipur being forcibly stripped, paraded naked, publicly molested and allegedly gang raped , everyone from prime minister Narendra Modi to the chief justice of India publicly expressed their shock and disgust.

Win or lose?

Polls had predicted an election win for the conservative People’s party, in league with far-right Vox. But a hung parliament has left all to play for and deliver ed a signifi cant blow to Europe’s rightwing populists

Hammer houses

American photographer Janine Wiedel documented filthy workers risking their lives in the mills, mines and forges of the late 1970s English Midlands

The government is wrong to cling to its cruel migration bill - Alf Dubs

'I’m a 16-year-old orphan from an African country escaping a war and religious persecution and I have a sibling living legally in the UK. What is a safe and legal route for me to come to the UK?'

After real progress on climate, Europe now faces a 'greenlash' - Nathalie Tocci

When floods swept Europe in July 2021, killing more than 200 people in Germany, Belgium and neighbouring countries, it was a disaster that came as the climate crisis was moving to the top of Europe’s political agenda. All of a sudden, climate was no longer an abstract threat that could be batted into a distant future; it was already here, causing shocking weather events, destroying lives and leaving people homeless.

Our food systems are close to collapse - and the rich don't care - George Monbiot

According to Google’s news search, the media has run more than 10,000 stories this year about Phillip Schofield, the British television presenter who resigned over an affair with a younger colleague. Google also records a global total of five news stories about a scientific paper published this month, showing that the chances of simultaneous crop losses in major growing regions, caused by climate breakdown, appear to have been dangerously underestimated. In the media world, celebrity gossip is thousands of times more important than existential risk.

Why fentanyl crisis could derail fragile detente with Beijing

Who is responsible for the United States’ opioid epidemic? According to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, the culprits are “transnational criminal enterprises” who need to be tackled via international law enforcement operations. But according to Chinese state media, “the fentanyl crisis in the United States is demand-driven”, primarily by “the users themselves”.

'Voltage valley' loses hope as EV revival deal turns sour

When Lordstown Motors, an electric vehicles (EV) manufacturer in Ohio’s Mahoning valley, declared bankruptcy last month, it was the latest blow to a region that has seen decades of extravagant promises fail to deliver.

Bigger, better

Despite problems behind the scenes, this year's World Cup should lift the profile of the women's game to a new level

How fiction is falling prey to its own vision of dystopia

First the soldiers came for those with mohawks. Then they came for the hairdressers themselves.