GERMANY - Germany’s mainstream parties have ruled out negotiations with the AfD but the Trump administration is piling on the pressure to allow them into government. “There’s no room for firewalls,” Vice-President JD Vance said at the Munich Security Conference this month after the party was endorsed by Elon Musk. The vice-president met Alice Weidel, the AfD leader, straight after that speech - having snubbed Chancellor Scholz for a similar meeting. German coalition talks typically take months before an agreement is reached. But this round could be even more complicated as German politics fragments. Reinhard Bütikofer, a former Green MEP, said he believed Mr Merz would not breach the firewall but it could be undermined with pacts struck at regional levels of government. “I would say that there’s more volatility with regards to the democratic system altogether than we’ve seen in many years,” he said.

GERMANY - Enjoying strong support among younger voters who are worried about job security and rapid cultural change, AfD could form Germany’s government after the next scheduled federal elections in 2029. Whether that happens depends in large part on Germany’s ability to stage a dramatic economic recovery. For the last quarter century, Germany has been fuelled by cheap energy from Russia and lucrative exports to China. That model is now broken, just as a resurgent Donald Trump is upending Nato and threatening tariffs on the EU, leaving the world’s fourth-largest economy mired in stagnation and angst about the future. Above all, Merz must kick-start an ailing economy, possibly by loosening the constitutional brake on borrowing, but most definitely by launching supply-side reforms encouraging competition. That involves cutting through Germany’s notorious red tape.

GERMANY - Violence erupted on the streets of Germany on Sunday evening as left-wing demonstrators clashed with far-right activists in Gelsenkirchen, just hours after the country’s latest election results sent shockwaves through the political establishment. The unrest came as police oversaw a rally and march under the slogan: "Solidarity is our choice. Against the shift to the right, war, and crisis". Meanwhile, violent scenes also played out in Berlin, where a protest against the AfD's election party in Wittenau, north-west of the German capital, Berlin, left multiple people injured.

GERMANY - The man expected to be Germany’s next chancellor has said Europe must act swiftly to increase its defence capability in the face of a US administration whose motto is moving towards “America alone”, adding: “This is really five minutes to midnight for Europe.” In a wide-ranging press conference after his conservative alliance’s victory in Sunday’s federal election, Friedrich Merz made it clear his focus was on the turbulent geopolitical landscape, saying that although he would seek good ties with the US he was also ready for “the worst-case scenario”. Asked about the doubling of support for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, which came second with 20% of votes, he urged Germany’s political mainstream to recognise it as “the last warning”. Effective leadership was urgently needed to combat the AfD’s further rise and solve the problems that had helped fuel its popularity, he told journalists. “This is really the last warning to the political parties of the democratic centre in Germany to come to common solutions.”

GERMANY - Germany must gain real independence from the US, Friedrich Merz, the projected winner of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, has said. According to German media, Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are projected to receive 28.5% of the vote, which means that he will likely become the next chancellor. Speaking to reporters on Sunday night, Merz criticized US President Donald Trump’s handling of the Ukraine conflict.

GERMANY - Addressing his supporters shortly after polling stations closed, Merz hinted at the scale of the task ahead in coalition talks: “I will meet with the greatest respect and I know it will not be easy.” This was an indirect acknowledgment of the substantial risk that his new ruling alliance will turn out to be just as fractious and rudderless as its predecessor under Olaf Scholz. Thorsten Frei, Merz’s chief whip, conceded as much, saying the vote had splintered to such a degree that it would be an “enormous challenge” to form a stable government.

GERMANY - The conservative Christian Democrat Union (CDU) political party won the national elections with 29.0 percent of the vote. The Populist-Pro-Germany AfD roared into second place with 19.5 percent of the vote. It is likely that the CDU will join with the failed Social Democrats (SPD) to form a government. The SPD is currently in power and is destroying the country. It would make more sense for CDU to join with the AfD to rule Germany but that is not how it works in the globalist Western Europe. The AfD had its strongest showing in decades. AfD leader Alice Weidel told supporters she would reach out to the CDU to form a government.

GERMANY - By the time you read this, the result of the German general election should be clear. Nevertheless, what this means for the German economy could still be shrouded in uncertainty. German elections are often difficult to assess immediately because they usually result in a hung parliament. The consequence is invariably some form of coalition government, sometimes between parties with widely different policy programmes. On this occasion, the polls have consistently predicted that the CDU/CSU (the conservatives) would win the largest number of votes and seats, with the far-Right AfD coming second.

GERMANY - Friedrich Merz, who is poised to become Germany’s next chancellor, has warned Nato could be finished and Europe must prepare to build an alliance “independent” from the US. In stark comments, Mr Merz, 69, leader of the centre-Right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), suggested the continent may have to “quickly” establish an “independent European defence capability”. After exit polls predicted Mr Merz would win the election, Donald Trump hailed the result as a “great day for Germany and for the United States of America”.

VATICAN - Pope Francis remained in critical condition Sunday and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass, the Vatican said, as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia and a complex lung infection. In a late update, the Vatican said Francis hadn’t had any more respiratory crises since Saturday night but was still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen. Some blood tests showed “initial, mild, kidney failure,” but doctors said it was under control. “The complexity of the clinical picture, and the necessary wait for drug therapies to provide some feedback, dictate that the prognosis remains guarded,” Francis’ doctors concluded.

USA - Have you noticed that there has been a very alarming rise in volcanic activity in recent months? According to Volcano Discovery, 38 volcanoes around the globe have recently erupted, and dozens more are showing signs of either unrest or minor activity. In all my years, I have never seen anything quite like this, and I am entirely convinced that seismic activity will only increase during the months ahead. Here in the United States, I am watching Mount Rainier very closely, and Yellowstone is a threat that is constantly hanging over our heads. But scientists are warning that Mount Spurr could actually be the next volcano to erupt inside US territory… A full-blown eruption of Mount Spurr would be spectacular, but not much damage would occur because that area of Alaska is very lightly populated. On the other hand, a full-blown eruption of Mount Rainier would have the potential to be cataclysmic, and we are being told that “it is only a matter of time” before it happens…

MIDDLE EAST - How hard is it to condemn a group that strangles a baby and a toddler, mutilates their corpses with rocks to make it look like they were killed in an airstrike, then returns them amid cheering crowds in locked coffins – no keys provided – with propaganda material stuffed around the bodies? Quite hard, as it turns out. The Prime Minister bravely said he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths but his thoughts-and-prayers statement avoided naming the perpetrators, let alone condemning their crimes.

ISRAEL - Jews are no longer shocked by barbaric violence against us, but there is one thing we are shocked by. What has shocked and hurt us the most is the abandonment by those we thought were our political or ideological allies who have remained silent. Those people who regularly raise their voices against global injustice and inequality. Jews have once again been “othered” and banished from “the community of the good”. The cries of our babies were ignored and we will never forgive or forget. We know Hamas and their sympathisers don’t see Jews as human beings. That was clearly the case during the October 7 massacre as they whooped with joy while filming themselves killing and mutilating families, raping young people and live-streaming murder on social media. There is no gentle way to write these words. No way to sugarcoat evil.

ISRAEL - Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed “decisive action” to return all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, after Hamas on Saturday freed the final living hostages slated for release under the first stage of an increasingly fragile truce. Urgent high-stakes negotiations for stage two are set to begin next week after more than a fortnight’s delay, but experts have warned that the talks are unlikely to go smoothly – and Israel has already begun amassing troops on Gaza’s border in case fighting resumes.

GERMANY - Europe should not hesitate to put pressure on the US if it fails to fall in line with “liberal democracies,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday. The diplomat made the remark following talks between the US and Russia that excluded representatives from the EU and Ukraine. Speaking at a campaign rally in Potsdam on Friday, the Green politician stated, “We’re increasing pressure on the Americans [so they know] they have a lot to lose if they don’t stand on the side of Europe’s liberal democracies.”