Support is growing across the CDU and CSU for Bavarian state parliament president Ilse Aigner as the next German Federal President, with a decision expected next week.

• German presidential election
• Ilse Aigner candidacy
• CDU/CSU candidate selection
• +1

Thursday brings mostly sunshine across Germany, with fog and low cloud lingering in some regions, and highs between 4 and 13 degrees.

• weather forecast
• fog and low cloud
• temperature
• +1

Nationwide strikes and demonstrations are planned across France on Thursday, pressing the government over rising living costs.

• French labour strikes
• cost of living
• Emmanuel Macron government policy
• +1

Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to march through French cities and public workers are set to strike on Thursday, a fresh test for President Emmanuel Macron.

• French protests
• Emmanuel Macron
• French presidential election
• +1

A sponsored piece on POLITICO calls for a new policy agenda for schizophrenia that moves beyond crisis management.

• schizophrenia
• mental health policy

Marine Le Pen is keeping Nigel Farage waiting, with a planned Paris visit still unscheduled as both far-right parties' circumstances have shifted since the pair's September migration plan.

• far-right politics
• Reform UK
• National Rally
• +2

Japan's Digital Agency has started offering a trial generative AI tool to help officials draft replies to parliamentary questions, aiming to ease the workload of about 180,000 civil servants.

• Japanese government AI adoption
• civil servant working hours
• Japan parliamentary procedure
• +2

UNESCO's evaluation body has recommended adding Japanese calligraphy to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, which would make it Japan's 24th entry.

• Japanese calligraphy
• UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
• Japanese consumption tax reform
• +2

Japan's government faces mounting opposition pressure to define who qualifies for a new support program and how much they will receive before a planned committee vote on November 6.

• consumption tax on food
• household support payments
• Japanese fiscal policy
• +1

Two high-speed train disasters in Spain in 2026 have killed at least 115 people, and the transport minister has resigned, a blow to the government before snap elections.

• Spanish high-speed rail safety
• Urda train collision
• railway signalling systems (ERTMS and LZB)
• +2

An Afghan Hazara teenager who survived a pushback from Greece to Turkey has taken his case to a UN body after a European court rejected it for lack of evidence.

• pushbacks at EU borders
• asylum and migration in Greece
• European Court of Human Rights admissibility
• +1