Your morning briefing. All the news you need to start your day.

On today's podcast:

(1) The far-right Alternative for Germany scored its best-ever result in a state election on Sunday amid growing public discontent with the political establishment, delivering a powerful blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

(2) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Germany of moving toward a direct confrontation with Russia as he criticized Berlin’s decision to close some diplomatic offices after a drone incident at Leipzig airport.

(3) Ukraine is resigned to Russia’s war dragging on through another tough winter and is looking for a “package” from allies that would cover air defense reinforcements as well as energy, including US LNG.

(4) Iran and the US carried out what appeared to be their largest tit-for-tat tanker strikes yet over the weekend, pushing oil prices higher as both nations continue to escalate a six-month war that has disrupted shipping and stoked global inflation.

(5) John Healey plans to put regional growth at the heart of his economic vision, while vowing fiscal discipline, in his first major speech as chancellor of the exchequer on Monday.

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