NETHERLANDS: Talks to form a far-right-led government have come to a premature end after a key coalition partner walked out of a meeting on Tuesday night.

Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders had hoped to form a government with three other parties, but tensions came to a head when New Social Contract party leader Pieter Omtzigt quit over the state of government finances.

If all efforts to cobble together a viable coalition fail, there will have to be a new election.

AZERBAIJAN: Voters cast ballots in a snap election today almost certain to give incumbent President Ilham Aliyev another seven-year term, following his government’s brutal ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh which forced over 100,000 Armenians to seek safety in neighbouring Armenia.

Mr Aliyev, 62, has been in power for more than 20 years, and has introduced strict laws that curb political debate and arrested scored of opposition figures and independent journalists, including in the run-up to the presidential election.

GERMANY: Ground staff for Lufthansa walked off the job at five major airports today, causing the airline to cancel hundreds of flights.

The Ver.di union called on staff at Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Duesseldorf and Hamburg to strike for 27 hours starting at 4am.

The union is seeking a 12.5 per cent pay raise, or at least €500 (£426) more per month, in negotiations for nearly 25,000 employees, including check-in, aircraft handling, maintenance and freight staff.

HUNGARY: The EU launched legal action against the country’s far-right government today over a new law that allows authorities to investigate and prosecute people accused of undermining the country’s sovereignty.

Anyone convicted of violating it can spend up to three years in prison.

The European Commission says the law undermines the principle of democracy and the electoral rights of European citizens, and infringes upon the fundamental right to privacy, personal data protection and freedom of expression and association.