Chancellor Friedrich Merz called his party’s loss in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a ‘disaster’, while the far-left Die Linke could take power in Berlin

United ‌Russia party won 57.83% of the vote, the Central Election ‌Commission said, up ​from 49.8% which it won ⁠in 2021, the last time an ‌election for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, was held

Le parti d'extrême droite Alternative pour l'Allemagne (AfD) est ⁠sorti victorieux dimanche 20 septembre d'élections régionales ​dans le Land de Mecklembourg-Poméranie occidentale, dans le nord-est du pays, tandis que le parti de gauche radicale, Die Linke, a remporté un scrutin distinct dans la capitale Berlin. Les deux scrutins ont entraîné de lourdes pertes pour l'Union chrétienne-démocrate (CDU), parti du chancelier Friedrich Merz. Pour en parler, Anne Salles, maître de conférences en études germanique à Sorbonne Université, était l'invité de FRANCE 24.

An air traffic control issue, now resolved, disrupted some flights in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland, less than two weeks after a technical problem caused cancellations.

Helen Jenner will be party’s new head in Senedd as Farage says Dan Thomas’s arrest was a ‘bump in the road’ Here are some more lines from Max Wilkinson ’s speech to the Lib Dem conference this morning. Wilkinson, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson, accused Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, of using “divisive language” that you would expect from the “authoritarian right”. After condemning the Tories and Reform UK for their anti-migration views, he said: And what’s the Labour response to this hard right agenda? Their home secretary has indulged in the sort of divisive language that we would usually expect from the authoritarian right … W ell let me tell you home secretary – no matter how hard you chase, you’ll never catch up with [Nigel] Farage – that is a fool’s errand. He said that it was the duty of the Liberal Democrats to stand up to the Tories and Reform UK, and the “poison” they were spreading on migration. Repeatedly referring to Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick as a “plonker”, he said: [Jenrick] and his party are plonkers with dangerous ideas … and £72m to deliver them. And their allies in the Conservative party are weakly following them. He criticised the Conservatives and Reform UK for proposing to withdraw Britain from the European convention on human rights. He said: Leaving the European convention on human rights will not fix our asylum system. It will not stop dangerous Channel crossings – not a single boat – and it will not stop the criminal gangs. And he confirmed that the Lib Dems want to tax big tech to finance a new online crime agency. This was announced overnight and Peter Walker and Alexandra Topping have written the story up here. We will carry on as if nothing has happened We could have done without this bump in the road. But it has happened, We are making the best of it. Continue reading...

Fragilisé par de cinglantes défaites électorales face à l’extrême droite et à la gauche radicale, le chancelier allemand Friedrich Merz a réaffirmé lundi sa volonté de maintenir au pouvoir sa coalition avec les sociaux-démocrates. Au lendemain de ces scrutins régionaux, il a invoqué "l’avenir démocratique" du pays pour défendre le maintien de son gouvernement conservateur.

The populist emphasis on national identity and threats to it, real and imagined, finds a deep response in voters adrift in a world they no longer understand.

Zhang Youxia, once the People’s Liberation Army’s top uniformed commander, and another general had taken “exceptionally large” bribes, investigators said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed Monday to keep his ruling coalition of the centre-right CDU and centre-left SPD together for the sake of the country's "democratic future", after both the far right and hard left made big gains in Germany's state elections on Sunday.

🇨🇮 En Côte d’Ivoire, la rentrée scolaire pèse lourd sur le budget des familles. Livres, fournitures, uniformes : pour scolariser leurs enfants, certains parents doivent débourser plusieurs dizaines de milliers de francs CFA. Chacun s’organise comme il peut.

بعد أكثر من عقد من النزوح، عاد مصطفى خالد علوان ليهدم جدارا أخفى وراءه مكتبة من مئات المصنّفات، معظمهما كتب إسلامية، كانت حيازة بعض منها كفيلة بأن يلقى صاحبها السجن أو ما هو أسوأ من ذلك في ظلّ حكم الأسد. المزيد من التفاصيل في التقرير التالي

Violence flared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, as Israeli forces arrested a suspected Palestinian gunman accused of killing an Israeli man. In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian driver who the military said had attempted to run them over. Nicholas Rushworth reports.

Three news outlets to sue to protect First Amendment rights; Trump claims to ‘cherish’ free press but also attacks ‘fake news’ media Sign up for US Breaking News emails President Trump is set to depart for New York later today ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, kicking off a busy week of international diplomacy. Trump is expected to meet with several key figures on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders. Among them will be Delcy Rodriguez, the interim president of Venezuela, who took charge after the US raided her country and arrested her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, in January. Since then, Rodriguez has been pliant in response to the Trump administration’s interests, helping broker an oil deal that would see a large share of Venezuelan oil revenues diverted into US coffers. Continue reading...

بين أحياء تنبض بالثراء وأخرى تكافح من أجل أبسط مقومات الحياة، يرسم المغرب مشهدا تتجاور فيه مظاهر الازدهار مع تفاوتات اجتماعية ومجالية لا تزال قائمة. فبينما تمضي المشاريع الكبرى وتتحول المدن بوتيرة متسارعة، لا يصل أثر هذا التحول إلى الجميع بالسرعة نفسها. من المدرسة إلى العمل، ومن النقل إلى السكن والاستفادة من الخدمات الرقمية، ترصد فرانس24 قبيل الانتخابات التشريعية المقررة في 23 سبتمبر/أيلول، وجوها مختلفة لحياة المواطن المغربي، في بلد تتباين فيه المسافات بين الطموح وإمكانات الوصول إليه.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and CDU representatives held a press conference on Monday, September 21, after the party suffered its worst regional election defeat in postwar Germany. Merz called the result in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a “disaster”, as the CDU fell below the 5% threshold for entering the state parliament. According to FRANCE 24 Europe editor Armen Georgian, Merz and his party’s Berlin candidate, Stefan Evers, offered no concrete solutions to address the historic defeat, despite pledging to keep the coalition together in the name of a “democratic future.”

With the US midterm elections now just six weeks away, we’ll speak to our Washington correspondent Fraser Jackson about whether President Donald Trump could help or hurt his party’s chances. Polls have pointed to what some are calling a “blue wave”, with Democrats potentially regaining control of the House, while the Senate race remains more uncertain. Trump has ramped up campaigning, including spending heavily on advertising and proposing $5,000 payments to voters who support Republicans. But with his approval ratings under pressure amid the war in Iran and the Middle East, and rising oil, gasoline and commodity prices compared with before he took office, the political landscape could still shift significantly in the coming weeks.

أكثر من 10 آلاف شخص تجمعوا للتنديد بمقترح قانون يتعلق بمبدأ "افتراض الاستخدام المشروع للسلاح" من قبل عناصر الأمن.

CDU suffered heavy losses in two regional elections, including in home state of former leader Angela Merkel, where it polled just 4.9% Staying in Germany, tens of thousands of automotive workers at Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other car brands are protesting on factory floors across the country today for government and management help to save their jobs. Volkswagen has announced plans to cut 100,000 jobs in the next three years and BMW and Mercedes are also slashing their workforce. The problem is a near-existential one: the rise of Chinese EV carmakers with their cheaper, and in some cases more advanced models, has thrown the German car industry into crisis. The Germans, who have been far slower to transition to electric vehicles, simply aren’t selling as many cars anymore and need to retool to keep up. The fears are reflective of wider concerns over Europe’s industrial base being eroded by Chinese competition. Union leaders – pointing to state support for Chinese car makers- are calling for government support, like energy subsidies and financial help, or putting up trade protections. Continue reading...

Au Royaume-Uni, le gouvernement vient d'annoncer une réforme judiciaire pour traiter plus rapidement les affaires de viols et d’agressions sexuelles. En moyenne, il s’écoule un an et deux mois entre la mise en examen du suspect et la tenue d’un procès, ce qui conduit de nombreuses victimes à ne même pas porter plainte. Cette réforme est réclamée de longue date par les associations.