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On BBC News with Neil Nunes.
Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he'll stay on despite a set of disastrous state election results for his Christian Democrats. In the capital Berlin and the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the far-right AfD saw significant gains. Mr. Merz said wide-ranging reforms were needed to combat what he called "authoritarian poison." From Berlin, here's Jessica Parker. Friedrich Merz insists he's ploughing on with a package of reforms that will make Germany fit for the future. The chancellor was, in essence, defying persistent rumors that his own party might seek to oust their unpopular leader. The question now is whether those rumors become a reality after two further electoral blows. In Berlin, the chancellor's conservative CDU party faces the prospect of losing local power. In northeastern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, they've crashed out of parliament altogether. Russia says it'll intensify strikes on Kyiv after one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks yet on Moscow and the surrounding region. Russian officials say three people were killed and about 20 wounded, while residential areas and the Moscow oil refinery were hit. The assault came on the final day of Russia's tightly controlled parliamentary elections. Steve Rosenberg is in Moscow. In this election, no surprises were expected, and when the results started coming in, there was no surprise. Officials announced that the party of power, United Russia, that is backed by Vladimir Putin, is well out in front. I think that Vladimir Putin will now use these results to claim that most Russians are behind him and behind the so-called special military operation, which the Kremlin leader shows no sign of ending. U.S. officials say 18 suspects in the assassination of the Haitian president, Jovenel Moïse, five years ago have been flown from Haiti to the state of Florida for trial. Haitian media say those extradited are a former senior government official and former Colombian soldiers. Mr. Moïse was shot dead at his home in Port-au-Prince by a group of mercenaries. [Italy's former prim...] Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, says her government will introduce measures to limit the number of foreign students in classrooms. More from Caroline Platt. Italy already has a 30 percent limit for foreign students, which was imposed six years ago by the Ministry of Education, but the regulation hasn't often been enforced. In her speech on Sunday, Giorgia Meloni was not clear how the rules would change. Critics have argued that such punitive measures will create logistical chaos and infringe on universal education rights guaranteed by the Italian constitution. Ms. Meloni also said the wearing of face coverings will be banned in schools. BBC News. A BBC investigation has discovered that the son of a high-profile Islamic educator in Indonesia has been secretly released early from prison. The teacher, known as Bachi, had been sentenced to seven years in jail for sexually assaulting a student at a boarding school founded by his father. Undercover footage recorded by BBC Eye shows he's been secretly released after serving just three years, less than half his sentence. Indonesia's Ministry of Immigration and Corrections said he was given early parole due to legal sentence reductions. Colombia's president has denied using a policy of revenge against a peace tribunal that administers justice for crimes committed during the country's decades-long civil conflict. Abelardo de la Espriella has endorsed a bill that reduces the budget for the peace tribunal by more than $30 million. Here is Warren Bull. Colombia appeared to be entering a new era in 2016 when President Juan Manuel Santos signed a peace agreement with the country's largest rebel group, the FARC. But there was immediate resistance from some politicians and activists to the deal, which included the rehabilitation of junior militants into civil society. The recent rise in criminal violence in Colombia helped the hardline Abelardo de Espriella win the presidential election. And he promised to meet criminal groups with military might rather than dialogue. An 82-year-old man has died in Greece after getting into a fight with a man in his seventies over a sunbed. The brawl happened on Vouliagmeni beach near Athens. Greek media say a verbal altercation quickly turned violent [after the older pensioner ended up] and the older pensioner ended up in hospital where he later died. The younger man was reportedly arrested alongside a 21-year-old woman. BBC World News. |