Shipping backlogs, insurance costs and Iranian oversight claims mean energy flows would stay fragile even if more vessels begin moving again. more...

Warnings of more strikes are forcing officials and civilians alike to prepare for another period of severe pressure on the capital. more...

The international political landscape undergoes significant transformation in 2025, with shifting alliances, emerging powers, and new geopolitical challenges. more...

Germany’s latest state elections have produced a map that looks less like a gradual adjustment and more like a political argument drawn in two contrasting colours. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Alternative for Germany emerged as the largest party, continuing the right-wing party’s momentum after its earlier victory in Saxony-Anhalt. In Berlin, Die Linke became the strongest force in the capital. The two results do not describe one national mood. They describe different anxieties, different political memories and different expectations of what government should protect. more...

The results will also influence the federal debate. Merz’s government faces pressure from the right, from the left and from voters who are simply exhausted by permanent crisis. The CDU must decide whether to compete with the AfD through harder rhetoric or to rebuild a distinct conservative programme that does not depend on imitation. The SPD must explain why its record in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania protected social stability while its support collapsed in Berlin. The Greens must show that climate policy can coexist with affordability. Die Linke must demonstrate that protest can be converted into competent administration. more...