Chancellor Angela Merkel was widely expected to win a fourth term in office as Germans went to the polls on Sunday in an election that is also likely to see the farthest right-wing party in 60 years, the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany, win seats in parliament. Merkel campaigned on her record as chancellor for 12 years, emphasising the country's record-low unemployment, strong economic growth, balanced budget and growing international importance. That's helped keep her conservative bloc well atop the polls ahead of today's election over the center-left Social Democrats of challenger Martin Schulz. Schulz voted together with his wife Inge in the city hall of his hometown of Wuerselen in western Germany. "I hope that as many people as possible will cast their vote today and strengthen the democratic future of Germany," Schulz told reporters.
Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Party and its sister party, the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, have governed the country for the last four years with the Social Democrats in a so-called "grand coalition." Most forecasts suggest that coalition will win another majority in today's election outcome, but several different coalition government combinations could be possible. Pollsters said earlier in the week that many of the 61.5 million who were eligible to vote had remained undecided until the very last moment.
That included Bernhard Sommerfeld, a 62 -year-old book seller, who cast his vote on Sunday morning in Berlin after the opening of the polling stations at 8 am (local time). US bombers flew off the east coast of North Korea in a show of strength carried out to demonstrate American military prowess amid escalated tensions between the two countries due to Pyongyang's weapons programs. "This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the President (Donald Trump) has many military options to defeat any threat," Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana W White said in a statement on Saturday.
The US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam, along with the force's F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over the waters east of North Korea on Friday, she said, reports PTI.
The flight came after days of increasingly bellicose rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's regime, as international alarm mounts over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
"This is the farthest north of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) any US fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Korea's coast in the 21st century, underscoring the seriousness with which we take DPRK's reckless behaviour," White said. She said that North Korea's weapons program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community. British Prime Minister Theresa May faced a plot from her senior cabinet ministers to oust her in the immediate aftermath of the June general election that saw the Conservative party lose its overall majority in Parliament, a new book has claimed.
The four most senior figures in her Cabinet – Chancellor Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis and Home Secretary Amber Rudd – plotted to remove her following an election seen as a failed gamble by the British Prime Minister, according to 'Fall Out, A Year Of Political Mayhem'.
Written by 'The Sunday Times' political editor Tim Shipman, with extracts published in the newspaper today, the book claims that Hammond texted Johnson in the early hours of the morning following the election on June 8 to say he would support him as the next leader.
It claims that a "triumvirate" plan was hatched under which Johnson would lead the UK as the new prime minister, Brexit Secretary Davis would handle the European Union withdrawal and Hammond would run the country's finances.
According to the latest political book, the plan failed once it became clear that May had not plans to step down and Davis indicated he could not work under Johnson. Meanwhile, moderates with the Tory party, including former prime ministers David Cameron and John Major, and leading figures like George Osborne and Ruth Davidson are said to have gathered behind Rudd, with the home secretary reported to have said she was keen to run. The revelations of the book came as the divisions within the top tier of the government are at their most pronounced.
Pro-Brexit Johnson has reportedly demanded a series of assurances over May’s recently proposed two-year transition period after Britain leaves the EU. The foreign minister wants Britain not to adopt any new EU rules and regulations after it formally leaves in March 2019, according to ‘The Sunday Telegraph’. The stance puts him on a collision course with the UK Treasury department headed by Hammond, who wants a "status quo" transition.
Johnson also wants Britain to be able to sign trade deals during the transition period and opposes paying billions of pounds for access to the EU single market after 2021. There are fears that Hammond is still pursuing a longer transition, with Johnson insisting two years is an absolute limit as announced by May in a key speech in Florence, Italy, last week.
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