AfD in vote setback after huge protest wave in Germany

Demonstrators hold a placard reading,
Demonstrators hold a placard reading, "Lights are still on at Hitler's", during a demonstration against the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), right-wing extremism and for the protection of democracy in Eichwalde near Berlin, Germany, January 27, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 29 January 2024
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AfD in vote setback after huge protest wave in Germany

AfD in vote setback after huge protest wave in Germany
  • A first poll since the protests showed support for the anti-immigration party slipping 1.5 percentage points

BERLIN: The far-right AfD party suffered a narrow electoral defeat on Sunday after huge protests swept across Germany against the anti-immigration group over revelations of debates about mass expulsions of immigrants.
A candidate from the mainstream center-right CDU won a slim victory over an AfD challenger in a run-off in eastern Thuringia for a district administrator post.
Over a million people have marched in recent days in cities from Hamburg to Dresden to Stuttgart in protest at the Alternative for Germany party and hundreds of thousands poured into the streets again on Saturday and Sunday.
The wave of mobilization was sparked by a January 10 report by investigative outlet Correctiv, which revealed that AfD members had discussed the expulsion of immigrants and “non-assimilated citizens” at a Potsdam meeting with extremists.
Sunday’s run-off vote in eastern Thuringia for a district administrator post was the first election since the outrage over the meeting.
After a first round vote in which the AfD’s Uwe Thrum topped the polls in the Saale-Orla district, he garnered 47.6 percent in the deciding round against 52.4 percent for CDU candidate Christian Herrgott.
Both the CDU and the center-left SPD heaved a sigh of relief at the result.
The leader of the CDU’s Thuringia branch Mario Voigt thanked voters for joining hands to “beat the purported Alternative,” while his SPD counterpart Georg Maier said the large voter turnout and mobilization of the civil society had led to the “very important result.”

The AfD had been hoping to notch up another victory after having secured its first district administrator position last June, also in Thuringia, and its first town mayor in July in neighboring Saxony-Anhalt.
Nationwide opinion polls put the AfD in second place after the conservatives, and well above Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats.
A first poll since the protests showed support for the anti-immigration party slipping 1.5 percentage points.
But the far-right party still tops surveys in three eastern states which are due to hold regional elections in September, even though local branches of the party in two of them — Saxony and Thuringia — have been classified as a “confirmed” extremist organization by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
The classification gives the agency more powers to monitor the branches, and had been accorded because of the AfD’s efforts to undermine democracy and for its anti-immigrant rhetoric.
The AfD also said that it has gained 1,900 new members since January 10, when the Correctiv report was published.
In his regular video address released Saturday, Scholz for the second week in a row urged the population to stand up against extremists.
“’Never again’ is not only directed at the state. ‘Never again’ requires everyone’s vigilance. Our democracy is not God-given, it is man-made. It is strong when we support it. It needs us when it is attacked,” he said.
At a weekend anti-Afd protest in Stuttgart, 56-year-old Wolfgang Nagel said that in many European countries “people are looking to turn back the clock and politicians are adopting an inward-looking discourse, focusing on their own nation and their own people.”
“It’s not the right way to go. It’s the road that leads to war... This nationalism has to go.”
Margrit Walter, 60, speaking at the same demonstration, said she was there to make a stand for her grandchildren.
“I don’t want us to live in a world of Nazis. It’s important to rise up against the extreme right.”
 

 


Children killed in Mozambique election violence: HRW

Children killed in Mozambique election violence: HRW
Updated 10 sec ago
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Children killed in Mozambique election violence: HRW

Children killed in Mozambique election violence: HRW
  • The southern African nation has been rocked by unrest since an October 9 vote won by the ruling Frelimo party
  • Thousands of people have demonstrated across the country in recent weeks in protests brutally suppressed by the police
JOHANNESBURG: Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday that Mozambican security forces killed at least 10 children and injured dozens more in post-election violence.
The southern African nation has been rocked by unrest since an October 9 vote won by the ruling Frelimo party in power since independence but contested by the opposition.
Thousands of people have demonstrated across the country in recent weeks in protests brutally suppressed by the police.
One 13-year-old girl was “caught in a crowd of people fleeing tear gas and gunfire... One of the bullets hit her in the neck, and she instantly fell to the ground and died,” HRW said in a statement.
The rights group said it had documented “nine additional cases of children killed and at least 36 other children injured by gunfire during the protests.”
The authorities have not responded to HRW’s claims.
Police have also detained “hundreds of children, in many cases for days, without notifying their families, in violation of international human rights law,” HRW said.
President Filipe Nyusi, who is due to step down in January, condemned an “attempt to install chaos in our country” in a state of the nation address last week.
He said that 19 people had been killed in the recent clashes, five of them from the police force. More than 800 people were injured, including 66 police, he added.
Civil society groups recorded a higher death toll — with more than 67 people killed since the unrest began — and said that an estimated 2,000 others had been detained.
Nyusi, 65, has invited the main opposition leader, Venancio Mondlane, for talks.
Mondlane, who came in second after Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo, 47, but claims to have won, has been organizing most of the protests.
He said he would accept the president’s offer as long as the talks were held virtually and legal proceedings against him were dropped.
The 50-year-old is believed to have left the country for fear of arrest or attack but his whereabouts are unknown.

At least 22 Somalis dead after boats capsize off Madagascar, official says

At least 22 Somalis dead after boats capsize off Madagascar, official says
Updated 3 min 47 sec ago
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At least 22 Somalis dead after boats capsize off Madagascar, official says

At least 22 Somalis dead after boats capsize off Madagascar, official says

MOGADISHU/ANTANANARIVO: At least 22 Somali citizens died when two migrant boats capsized off the coast of Madagascar over the weekend, Somalia’s Information Minister Daud Aweis said.
Madagascar’s Port, Maritime, and River Authority (APMF) said the boats had set sail from Somalia for the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Nov. 2, a journey of several hundred kilometers.
On Saturday, the port authority reported that local fishermen discovered the first boat drifting on Friday near Nosy Iranja. They rescued 25 people, including 10 men and 15 women, but seven occupants died, the authority said.
A second boat carrying 38 people arrived at Madagascar’s Port du Cratère, according to APMF. The maritime authority did not disclose a death toll for the second boat but confirmed the rescue of 23 people.
Somali Information Minister Aweis, citing information from his counterparts in Madagascar, confirmed the total death toll at 22.
“They were about 70 Somalis, 22 of them died. One boat was carrying 38 people and the other boat was carrying 32 people,” Aweis said on state-owned television late on Sunday.
In recent decades thousands of people have attempted to make the crossing to Mayotte, which has a higher standard of living and access to the French welfare system.
Mayotte is officially part of France, although Comoros claims it.
Aweis said Somalia will investigate where the boats sailed from, terming those who organized the trip as criminals involved in illicit immigration.
“This is also a message of warning to those who want to immigrate illegally before they go and die in such manner. It is unfortunate people still go despite danger,” he added.
In early November, at least 25 people died off Comoros islands after traffickers capsized their boat.


Charlotte airport workers plan to strike during busy Thanksgiving travel week

Charlotte airport workers plan to strike during busy Thanksgiving travel week
Updated 15 min 32 sec ago
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Charlotte airport workers plan to strike during busy Thanksgiving travel week

Charlotte airport workers plan to strike during busy Thanksgiving travel week
  • Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services cast ballots Friday to authorize the work stoppage in North Carolina
  • Workers say they previously raised the alarm about their growing inability to afford basic necessities, including food and housing

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: Service workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport plan to go on strike during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel to protest what they say are unlivable wages.
Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services cast ballots Friday to authorize the work stoppage in North Carolina, which is set to begin Monday at 5 a.m.
Officials with Service Employees International Union announced the impending strike in a statement early Monday, saying the workers would demand “an end to poverty wages and respect on the job during the holiday travel season.”
ABM and Prospect Airport Services contract with American Airlines to provide services including cleaning airplane interiors, removing trash and escorting passengers in wheelchairs.
Workers say they previously raised the alarm about their growing inability to afford basic necessities, including food and housing. They described living paycheck to paycheck, unable to cover expenses like car repairs while performing jobs that keep countless planes running on schedule.
“We’re on strike today because this is our last resort. We can’t keep living like this,” ABM cabin cleaner Priscilla Hoyle said in a statement. “We’re taking action because our families can’t survive.”
Several hundred workers were expected to walk off the job and continue the work stoppage throughout Monday.
Most of them earn between $12.50 and $19 an hour, which is well below the living wage for a single person with no children in the Charlotte area, union officials said.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport officials have said this holiday travel season is expected to be the busiest on record, with an estimated 1.02 million passengers departing the airport between last Thursday and the Monday after Thanksgiving.
In addition to walking off the job, striking workers plan to hold an 11 a.m. rally and a 1 p.m. “Strikesgiving” lunch “in place of the Thanksgiving meal that many of the workers won’t be able to afford later this week,” union officials said.
“Airport service workers make holiday travel possible by keeping airports safe, clean, and running,” the union said. “Despite their critical role in the profits that major corporations enjoy, many airport service workers must work two to three jobs to make ends meet.”
ABM said it would take steps to minimize disruptions from any demonstrations.
“At ABM, we appreciate the hard work our team members put in every day to support our clients and help keep spaces clean and people healthy,” the company said in a statement last week.
Prospect Airport Services said last week that the company recognizes the seriousness of the potential for a strike during the busy holiday travel season.


UK travel disrupted as Storm Bert fallout continues

UK travel disrupted as Storm Bert fallout continues
Updated 51 min 50 sec ago
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UK travel disrupted as Storm Bert fallout continues

UK travel disrupted as Storm Bert fallout continues
  • There were more 200 flood warnings and flood alerts in place across England and Wales
LONDON: Britain’s roads and railways were hit by closures on Monday after Storm Bert battered the country over the weekend, causing widespread flooding and killing four people.
There were more 200 flood warnings and flood alerts in place across England and Wales, while trains from London to the southwest were canceled and rail services in central England were severely disrupted.
“Do not attempt to travel on any route today,” Great Western Railway, whose trains connect London to Bristol and Cornwall, said on X.
Amongst those killed during the storm include a dog walker who in North Wales, and a man who died when a tree hit his car in southern England.
Major roads in Northamptonshire and Bristol were closed, while fallen trees on rail lines cut off services between London and Stansted Airport, Britain’s fourth busiest hub.
The disruption comes after Storm Bert hit Britain late on Friday, bringing snow, rain and strong winds.
The Met Office kept a warning for strong winds in place for northern Scotland on Monday and said the storm would clear from that part of the country early on Tuesday.

DHL cargo plane crashes into a house in Lithuania, killing at least 1

DHL cargo plane crashes into a house in Lithuania, killing at least 1
Updated 25 November 2024
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DHL cargo plane crashes into a house in Lithuania, killing at least 1

DHL cargo plane crashes into a house in Lithuania, killing at least 1
  • The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a “DHL cargo plane

VILNIUS: A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house Monday morning near the Lithuanian capital, killing at least one person.
Lithuanian’s public broadcaster LRT, quoting an emergency official, said two people had been taken to the hospital after the crash, and one was later pronounced dead. LRT said the aircraft smashed into a two-story home near the airport.
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a “DHL cargo plane flying from Leipzig, Germany, to Vilnius Airport.”
It posted on the social platform X that city services including a fire truck were on site.
DHL Group, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The DHL aircraft was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor. The carrier could not be immediately reached.
The Boeing 737 was 31 years old, which is considered by experts to be an older airframe, though that’s not unusual for cargo flights.