Category World News

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party has won local elections in the country’s most populous state, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) nearly tripled its share of the vote from five years ago.

Merz’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won about 33.3 percent of the vote in his home state of North Rhine-Westphalia, preliminary results showed on Monday.

The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) came in second with 22.1 percent, followed by the AfD, which won 14.5 percent.

The figure marks a 9.4 percentage-point increase in support for the nationalist, anti-immigration party since the last election.

North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wust, of the CDU, hailed the outcome, calling his state the “powerhouse” of the governing party.

But the strong showing for AfD, Wust told public broadcaster ARD, “must give us food for thought”.

The outcome “cannot let us sleep peacefully,” he said, and centrist politicians must ask themselves “what the right answers are when it comes to poverty and migration”.

AfD’s coleaders were jubilant.

Alice Weidel called the results a “huge success”, while Tino Chrupalla offered congratulations to the party’s supporters.

“This is a great success for us,” Chrupalla wrote in a post on X. “We are a people’s party and we all bear a great responsibility for Germany.”

The election on Sunday was the first electoral test for Merz, who took office in May.

The western state is home to nearly a quarter of Germany’s 83.51 million population and encompasses the industrial Ruhr area as well as key cities such as Cologne and Dusseldorf.

AfD ‘entrenching’ in western Germany

Oliviero Angeli, a political scientist at the Dresden University of Technology, said the results marked a “relative success” for the CDU, but also underscored the growing support for AfD in western Germany.

Angeli told Al Jazeera the CDU has strengthened its position in North Rhine-Westphalia, despite strong criticism of Merz, including accusations of policy stagnation at the federal level.

What is “striking”, however, is the performance of the AfD, he said.

The outcome shows the party “is steadily entrenching itself in the West” after the national election in February, in which it emerged as the strongest political force in eastern Germany and the second-biggest party at the national level.

“While AfD remains five to 10 percentage points below its national average, it is nonetheless consolidating its position in western Germany,” Angeli said.

“Migration continues to be the AfD’s core issue, and the party can still mobilise around it despite the recent decline in asylum applications,” he added.

The AfD, founded in 2013 by right-wing economists during the European debt crisis, has moved further right in the ensuing years, vehemently opposing the country’s decision to welcome a million refugees from the Middle East and parts of Africa in 2015.

Germany’s domestic security agency in May branded the AfD as a threat to the country’s democracy, describing it as a racist and anti-Muslim organisation that “aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society” and “subject them to unconstitutional discrimination”.

It said the party has stirred “irrational fears and hostility” towards minorities, as “evident in the numerous xenophobic, anti-minority, anti-Islamic, and anti-Muslim statements continually made by leading party officials”.

The AfD has condemned the classification as “a blow against democracy”.

The party’s strong showing on Monday prompted concern among politicians in neighbouring states, too.

Olaf Lies, the SPD premier of the state of Lower Saxony, said he was looking at the “AfD’s results with great concern”.

The Asia Cup clash between cricket rivals India and Pakistan in Dubai ended in controversy after India’s players refused the customary post-match handshakes. India’s Captain Suryakumar Yadav said it was to honour victims of the Pahalgam attack and Indian forces, while Pakistan coach Mike Hesson called the snub “disappointing.”

The Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza has started sailing out of Tunisia. Al Jazeera’s Hassan Massoud is on board one of the vessels in the fleet aiming to challenge Israel’s blockade of the territory.

Tehran, Iran – Iran is trying to pass a resolution prohibiting attacks on nuclear installations at the United Nations global nuclear watchdog as its Supreme National Security Council backed nuclear inspections after strikes by the United States and Israel during a 12-day conflict in June.

Iran’s top nuclear officials are now in Vienna to participate in the 69th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which starts later on Monday and ends on Friday.

They have said they will table a resolution that bans attacks on any nuclear facilities, but have not publicly revealed the language or full text of the document.

After arriving in the Austrian capital, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), told Iranian state media that the conference is a good opportunity to direct attention to IAEA moves, particularly its director, Rafael Grossi, that have raised questions about the agency’s credibility.

“We witnessed the agency’s lack of professional conduct, as this body, without taking any position, did not condemn [attacks on Iran] and instead acted in a very neutral manner – it applied a double standard to perfection,” Eslami said, pointing out that Grossi has repeatedly and explicitly condemned attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

“Even if this resolution is not adopted, it shows that the Charter of the United Nations has, in the truest sense of the word, been damaged.”

Iranian officials plan to hold negotiations with some of the 180 member states of the conference, but they have admitted it is possible the resolution will not even be put to a vote.

According to Iran’s deputy nuclear chief Behrouz Kamalvandi, who is also in Vienna, the US is putting pressure on member states to block the resolution and has “even threatened the agency that they will cut off assistance to the organisation”.

But Kamalvandi said there is precedent for resolutions, issued by the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the IAEA, similar to what Tehran is proposing.

He named UNSC Resolution 487, which was adopted in 1981 to explicitly condemn Israel’s air strikes on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor as a violation of the UN Charter, called on Israel to refrain from such acts, and recognised the right of all states to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under IAEA safeguards.

Kamalvandi also pointed to two IAEA General Conference resolutions, one passed in 1985 and another adopted in 1990, which emphasised the principle of protecting safeguarded nuclear facilities and urged member states to support universal respect for the prohibition of attacks.

Since the US reneged on Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers under President Donald Trump in 2018 and unilaterally imposed sanctions, the Board of Governors of the IAEA has adopted four Western-backed censure resolutions against Iran, which maintains its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.

Neither US intelligence nor the IAEA found that Iran was pursuing an atomic weapon earlier this year.

Israel started attacking Iran on June 13, a day after the agency found Iran noncompliant with its commitments to international nuclear safeguards, prompting Tehran to accuse the watchdog of paving the way for the 12-day war that killed more than 1,000 people and inflicted damage estimated at billions of dollars across Iran.

Iran warns against sanctions

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reached an agreement with the IAEA in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, last week to restart nuclear inspections that have been halted after the bombings by the US and Israel.

He emphasised that the deal, which the agency said will comprise all facilities, including those bombed, was greenlit by the country’s Supreme National Security Council.

The council, which includes representatives appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the president, parliament and judiciary chiefs, several ministers, and military commanders, will have to give case-by-case permission for inspections.

But hardliners within the establishment, especially those dominating the parliament, have been voicing opposition to any more inspections, claiming they could lead to more attacks by the US and Israel.

This prompted the council to issue a statement on Sunday, emphasising that its nuclear commission has endorsed the deal with the IAEA.

The council stressed that IAEA inspectors currently have no access beyond the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, and that Iran’s nuclear authorities are assessing whether the bombed sites – which are buried deep underground – are safe to visit in terms of contamination and possibility of access.

“Should any hostile action be taken against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its nuclear facilities – including the reactivation of previously terminated Security Council resolutions – the implementation of these arrangements will be suspended,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council stated.

Aerial video from the Philippines shows dozens of shanty homes burning in the Tondo area of Manila, where a fire displaced more than 1,100 families. Fire crews worked through Saturday night before declaring the blaze under control in the early hours of Sunday.

Former boxing world champion Ricky Hatton, one of the sport’s most beloved figures, has died at the age of 46.

Hatton was discovered deceased at his Greater Manchester home, according to Britain’s Press Association. Greater Manchester Police confirmed the death is not being treated as suspicious.

Tributes poured in as the boxing world mourned his loss.

Former champion Amir Khan wrote on Facebook, “Today we lost not only one of Britain’s greatest boxers, but a friend, a mentor, a warrior, Ricky Hatton.”

Tyson Fury posted on Instagram, “RIP to the legend Ricky Hatton may he RIP. There will only ever be 1 Ricky Hatton. Can’t believe this, so young.” His brother Matthew shared, “I love you Richard.”

Hatton’s death comes just two months after he had announced a surprising comeback fight scheduled for December in Dubai against Eisa Al Dah, following a decade-long retirement since his 2012 loss to Vyacheslav Senchenko.

Throughout his illustrious career, Hatton captured world titles at light-welterweight and welterweight, facing boxing giants including Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao paid tribute: “He was not only a great fighter inside the ring but also a brave and kind man in life. Ricky fought bravely, not just in the ring, but in his journey through life. He truly had a good fight, and we are all blessed to have been part of his wonderful journey.”

Hatton’s everyman appeal, combined with his all-action fighting style and candid struggles with weight between bouts, earned him a massive following. Football star Wayne Rooney shared, “Devastated. A legend, a warrior, and a great person.”

Following retirement, Hatton spoke openly about his mental health challenges.

“As fighters, we tell ourselves we’re strong — we train, we sweat, we take hits, we get up. But sometimes the hardest fight happens in silence, in the mind,” Khan noted.

Hatton’s career-defining moment came in 2005 when he defeated the formidable Kostya Tszyu for the IBF world super lightweight title before 22,000 fans in Manchester. This victory catapulted him to international stardom, with thousands of British fans following him to the United States for his biggest fights.

Former manager Frank Warren called him “superbly talented” and someone who “inspired a generation of young boxers and fans in a way very few had done before”.

Though Hatton suffered his first career defeat against Mayweather in 2007 and later lost to Pacquiao in 2009, his 2012 comeback after battling depression, alcohol issues, and weight gain was considered a personal triumph despite ending in defeat.

A lifelong Manchester City supporter, Hatton was honoured with a minute’s appreciation before Sunday’s derby against Manchester United, with fans from both sides applauding in tribute. Manchester City’s statement read: “Ricky was one of City’s most loved and revered supporters, who will always be remembered for a glittering boxing career that saw him win world titles at welterweight and light-welterweight.”