May 14 update

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, arrived in Germany where he will angle for more arms to help repel Russia’s invasion. The German government announced €2.7bn ($2.95bn) of military aid for Ukraine ahead of his arrival. Earlier, Mr Zelensky met Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Rome. Despite some members of her right-wing coalition having expressed pro-Kremlin views—most notably Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister—Ms Meloni has pledged her government’s support for the war-torn country.

Voting began in Thailand’s general election, with a good chance that voters will eject the prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former general who seized power in a coup in 2014. The Pheu Thai party is expected to romp to victory. It is led by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, a prime minister the army overthrew in 2006. The military establishment may not cede power graciously.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s leader, accused opposition parties of collaborating with America in an effort to oust him from power in the presidential election on Sunday. Several polls have suggested that Mr Erdogan is behind the umbrella opposition candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Mr Kilicdaroglu would need to win more than 50% of the vote to win outright and stop the contest going to a run-off later this month.

America and the EU will co-ordinate their controls on exporting semiconductors and other critical technology to China, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. They are also expected to announce joint measures to address Chinese economic coercion at a meeting in Sweden at the end of May. The report comes amid concerns, particularly among American officials, that approaches to China on each side of the Atlantic may diverge.

Congress, India’s main opposition party, won an emphatic victory in elections in the southern state of Karnataka, defeating the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The vote is the first of five crucial state elections this year that will set the tone for national parliamentary elections, due by April 2024. Rahul Gandhi, Congress’s leader, lost his parliamentary seat this year having been convicted of defamation.

Israel and Islamic Jihad, a militant group in Palestine, agreed to a ceasefire to end five days of fighting in which 33 people died. The violence erupted when Israel killed three Islamist commanders it accused of planning attacks on their soil, resulting in the worst cross-border fire since a 10-day war in 2021. Many are sceptical that the latest truce, brokered by Egypt, addresses the underlying issues in the conflict.

Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest, a staggeringly popular cheesefest. Loreen sang the winning entry, “Tattoo”, the second time she has triumphed at the competition. Sweden has now prevailed in the annual contest a record-equalling seven times. Its first success came in 1974 with a then-obscure band named ABBA.