Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 30 October.
Top stories
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced she will not seek re-election in 2021, ending more than a decade in which she has dominated European politics. Speaking after disastrous regional elections in Hesse and Bavaria for her Christian Democrats and its Bavaria-only sister party, Merkel said she saw the results as a “clear signal that things can’t go on as they are”. She said she would not stand as party leader at the CDU conference in December and that she would not seek another term as chancellor at the elections in 2021. The euro fell on Monday after the announcement.
Merkel’s weakness at home may limit her capacity to lead in the EU at a time when the bloc is dealing with Brexit, a budget crisis in Italy and the prospect of populist parties making gains at European parliament elections next May. “Merkel has been a symbol of steadiness and continuity,” writes Guardian European Affairs correspondent John Henley. “The departure of the EU’s de facto leader before Germany’s next federal elections – due in 2021 – comes as the continent’s political stability and consensus are arguably at greater risk than at any time since the end of the second world war.”
Donald Trump has welcomed Jair Bolsonaro’s election in Brazil, saying he had had an “excellent call” with the extreme rightwing politician. “We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else!” he tweeted. Nationalist politicians in the US and Europe have also welcomed Bolsonaro’s victory. “Even in Brazil, the citizens have sent the left packing,” said Matteo Salvini, Italy’s extreme-right interior minister in a tweet that was shared by Richard Spencer, the US neo-Nazi leader. In France, the far-right politician Marine Le Pen had previously refused to endorse Bolsonaro because she found him “extreme” and “unpleasant” but on Monday she blamed the left and wished the new president well. There was a muted acceptance by democratic governments and trade partners, many of which are weakened by internal division. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s opponents in Brazil have pledged widespread protests.
Communication was lost with the Lion Air plane carrying 189 people minutes after takeoff, shortly after its pilot had asked to return to base. Flight data showed it made a sudden, sharp dive into the sea. Officials said human remains had been recovered from the crash site, about nine miles (15km) off the coast, and that they did not expect to find survivors. The plane was a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet, a new model that was launched globally only last year. The specific plane had been in use for less than three months. Lion Air’s chief executive, Edward Sirait, told reporters the plane had suffered “a technical issue” on Sunday night but engineers had cleared it to fly on Monday morning.
“I do not welcome him in Pittsburgh.” A former president of the synagogue where 11 people were murdered on Saturday has labelled Donald Trump a “purveyor of hate speech”. Lynette Lederman, of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, told CNN on Monday she would rely on local political leadership in the aftermath of the mass shooting and did not want the president to visit the city. The comments followed an open letter signed by a coalition of local Jewish leaders that also called for the president to avoid the city. Trump, who labelled the shooting an “evil antisemitic attack”, has said he will visit but a trip has not yet been confirmed. A man accused of killing the 11 Jewish worshippers appeared in federal court on Monday.
Richard Di Natale has criticised the Morrison government’s response to Jamal Khashoggi’s killing in a Saudi Arabian embassy and accused it of making a “contemptible choice” to sell arms to the Gulf state. The Australian Greens leader is set to make the comments in a speech to the Australian Council for International Development conference on Tuesday in which he also targets Scott Morrison for copying Donald Trump’s policy on the possible embassy move in Israel. In the speech, seen by Guardian Australia, Di Natale criticises the Australian government’s handling of Saudi Arabia, noting it took “weeks for our foreign minister to respond” to the Khashoggi incident and “we’ve barely heard a peep about Saudi atrocities in Yemen”.
Sport
Cristiano Ronaldo says he left Real Madrid because of club president Florentino Pérez, who he says no longer saw him as “indispensable”. Ronaldo, who joined Juventus for around €100m in July, left Spain as Real’s all-time leading goalscorer.
The Darebin Falcons have narrowly avoided extinction, after the speed with which the AFLW was established threatened to devastate several grassroots clubs, writes Alana Schetzer.
Thinking time
The second hex. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina – Netflix’s reboot of the 90s cackle-com Sabrina the Teenage Witch – brings together a few contemporary cultural trends. One is nostalgia: Sabrina is born of the same universe, Archie Comics, as last year’s teen drama Riverdale. Another is plucky young people being pitted against the supernatural à la Stranger Things. And then there is the feminist power of witches.
“Retail funds have failed abysmally,” writes Greg Jericho. The more evidence is gathered on the super industry, the clearer it becomes. Further research from the productivity commission’s inquiry into the superannuation system together with outcomes of the royal commission into the financial sector has again shown that industry super funds continue to outperform the retail sector. It’s workers who are paying the price.
“The project collapsed literally the day before shooting.” As the annual Screen Australia Drama Report announces a record year for spending on local film and TV productions, director Heath Davis talks about the obstacles he had to overcome to get his film Book Week made, remembering the day he pulled over on Sunset Boulevard to sob about his failed film career, before flying back to Sydney to teach high school English. Davis’s film is an earnest if acerbic comedy about a defeated high school teacher with loftier aspirations (ahem).
What’s he done now?
In the aftermath of a series of attempted bombings against prominent Democrats and critics of Donald Trump last week, including another ‘suspicious package’ addressed to CNN, intercepted on Monday, Trump used Twitter to once again label the media as “the true Enemy of the People”.
Media roundup
Australia’s spy chief says the stakes in building the Australia’s new 5G mobile networks “could not be higher” and that the ban on allowing Chinese companies to build the network is needed to “protect critical infrastructure,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The Cricket Australia report dominates the front page of the Australian, with Adam Gilchrist and Doug Walters joining Shane Warne and former England captain Michael Vaughan in describing the ball-tampering suspensions as excessive. The former PM Malcolm Turnbull is on a “rescue mission” to reset relations with Indonesia, writes the Australian Financial Review.
Coming up
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will visit Auckland, New Zealand.
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, will address the second day of the Australian Council of Social Services conference in Sydney.
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