The UK is not the diplomatic powerhouse it once was, with Brexit leaving it looking inward and years of economic failures meaning the Conservatives and Labour are both sidelining foreign policy in their campaign messaging. Still, leaders around the world will be taking an interest in the election. Here are some of the key issues:

Britain’s political leaders made a final push for votes yesterday on the last day of an election campaign expected to return a Labour government after 14 years of Conservative rule.

The leaders of Russia and China were in Kazakhstan yesterday for a regional summit, seeking to harden anti-Western alliances and press their influence in the strategic Central Asian region.

Labour leader Keir Starmer is a former human rights lawyer turned-state prosecutor whose ruthless ambition and formidable work ethic look set to propel him to Britain’s highest political office.

The UK Conservatives hoped Rishi Sunak would stabilise the party and country when they made him leader following his predecessors’ chaotic tenures. Instead, he has led them to the brink of electoral wipeout.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday called for vigilance in the face of far-right political gains in Europe, citing narratives that dehumanise migrants and asylum seekers

Voting for the first time in a British election, Prathesh Panjak and other immigrant voters are excited to take part in the July 4 ballot, hoping they can influence change in the country that they have chosen to call home.

Halving food waste could cut climate-warming emissions and end undernourishment for 153 million people globally, the OECD and the UN’s food agency said in a joint report yesterday.

A panel of UN experts has determined that the detention of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was arbitrary and a violation of international law, calling for him to be released “immediately”.

French candidates faced a deadline yesterday to stay in or quit the weekend’s runoff election, with over 160 withdrawing so far in an effort to block the far right from winning an absolute majority.

The far-right victory in the first round of France’s general election is a sign for politicians to better respond to disaffected voters, UK Labour leader Keir Starmer said yesterday.

France’s political parties rushed to build a united front aimed at blocking the path to government of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) yesterday, after it made historic gains to win the first round of a parliamentary election.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies were on Monday beginning a week of intense campaigning ahead of the second round of legislative elections to prevent the far right in a historic first from taking an absolute majority and control of government

Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 36 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting several regions in Russia’s southwest, the Russian defence ministry said yesterday.

France’s far right won the first round of pivotal legislative elections yesterday with the centrist forces of President Emmanuel Macron coming in only third behind the left after the highest turnout in over four decades, estimates said.

French people vote on Sunday in high-stakes snap parliamentary elections which could alter France's trajectory and see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first

A divided France braced for high-stakes parliamentary elections that could see the anti-immigrant and eurosceptic party of Marine Le Pen sweep to power in a historic first.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday evening he was hurt and angry that a supporter of Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party had been recorded making a racial slur about him, saying it was too important for him not to speak out.

The heatwave in Saudi Arabia blamed for the deaths of 1,300 people on the hajj pilgrimage this month was made worse by climate change, a team of European scientists said yesterday.

Bolivian armed forces pulled back from the presidential palace in La Paz on Wednesday evening and a general was arrested after President Luis Arce slammed a “coup” attempt against the government and called for international support.