Free Republic

BERLIN (AP) — Members of Germany's biggest opposition party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, have chosen prominent conservative Friedrich Merz as its new leader, the party said Friday. Merz's election with a strong mandate appears to mark at least a symbolic break with the Merkel era. Making his third run for the CDU's top post, he took 62.1% support in a ballot of the party's membership to beat two centrist contenders. A party convention next month will have to sign off officially on the membership vote, but that should only be a formality. Armin Laschet,...

BERLIN — Millions of Germans will head to the polls in a federal election on Sunday that will determine who will succeed Angela Merkel after 16 years as Germany's chancellor. According to the latest polls, Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party is narrowly ahead of Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian partner, the Christian Social Union. They're closely followed by the Greens, the far-right Alternative for Germany and the libertarian Free Democratic Party, all holding onto double-digit poll numbers going into Sunday's election. Josef Janning, a senior associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations, says the...

The withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan is the "biggest debacle" that NATO has suffered since its founding, the head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, Armin Laschet, said on Monday. Laschet said focus at the moment must be on the German military's evacuation operation from Afghanistan."But we will talk about the causes and conclusions drawn after this rescue mission -- a no holds barred analysis of errors in Germany, with our allies and in the international community.”

Berlin (AFP) - Allies and critics alike on Monday condemned the United States over the botched end to its 20-year NATO campaign in Afghanistan. Stunned by the Taliban's lightning advance across the country after the departure of Western troops, NATO allies have been left scrambling to evacuate their nationals as well as vulnerable Afghans. In a meeting with her party's top brass, German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted that developments in the country were "bitter". She said however that once the United States decided to withdraw from Afghanistan, it was clear that Germany and other allies had to follow suit. The...

The number of vaccine deaths jumped double digits in the latest US reporting. The Israeli political situation with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying 'people rightly feel cheated' with the new government being proposed but first... 27 arrests in Minneapolis Saturday night in a third night of protests over the killing of Winston Smith by a US Marshals Task Force... (Comment) Not such a big deal because Joe Biden is President mainstream media? Also feds not using body cams if local law enforcement uses them why not feds? The latest Centers for Disease Control data on vaccine side effects showing 759 new...

Report: Germany mulling cutting aid to PA Spokesman for ruling SPD party calls on EU foreign ministers to stop financial payments to Palestinians if the power fight in the government gets any worse. Maariv International Amidst corruption allegations and a leadership crisis, German politicians are calling for measures to be taken against the government of Yasser Arafat, including a freezing of European Union aid. The foreign policy spokesman for the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD), Gert Weisskirchen, has told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that EU foreign ministers should stop financial aid payments to the Palestinian Authority if the power fight...