Die Linke’s lead candidate is lawyer Elif Eralp, who has focused heavily on housing and rent controls during the campaign.

Berlin has been governed by a CDU-SPD coalition since 2023, but the result could end the CDU’s control of the mayor’s office.

However, incumbent state premier Manuela Schwesig’s SPD is expected to have enough support to build a coalition and keep the AfD out of government. Schwesig was the SPD’s lead candidate in the election.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU collapsed to just 5.5% — its worst result in any German regional or national election since World War II.

We cannot talk up the result in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; it is a disaster.

The CDU has fought, but it is at the end been crushed by the polarization between the SPD and the AfD.

We are experiencing a state that has become too complicated. Our economy is right in the middle of a deep upheaval.

And the tone in interacting with each other, in our society, has become harsher and less reconcilable.

Finally, trust in the institutions of our country is sinking and is being actively undermined by radical parties left and right.

In Germany and across Europe, we must fundamentally rethink freedom, everyday security, peace, and our own strengths and weaknesses.

We must do so in the face of very concrete threats.

The coalition, called "Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Coalition for Survival," spans six regions (Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, Ogaden, Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz).

Notably, Amhara Fano fought alongside federal forces against the TPLF just four years ago during the Tigray war.

The TPLF called the alliance "irreversible" with a signed document.

The E-767 is notable.

Only Japan operates it (four planes total), making this an explicit Taiwan/Japan-scenario rehearsal target.

China has been building increasingly sophisticated US/Japanese military mockups in Xinjiang deserts since 2021 for live-fire practice and missile calibration.

But the addition of Patriot battery mockups and Japanese-specific assets shows expanding target sets.

Source: Brady Africk

I want to bring our country forward.

I am firmly convinced that the success of our reforms will not only improve our coexistence, but also our self-image and our image in the world. Germany is reform-capable.

What needs to be done now requires backbone, steadfastness, and patience.

What now needs to be done requires backbone, steadfastness and patience.

I will provide that — as chairman of the CDU and, above all, as Federal Chancellor of our country.

We need change. Change requires strength. Not everything will receive immediate applause.

I know that these changes will also bring burdens and new uncertainties for many of you. And in some areas, the effects will only become apparent after some time.

But that is precisely why we cannot postpone these decisions now. The reforms must come.

The answer cannot be a return to the good old days. But the answer also cannot be to constantly talk down everything that is good.

The answer must be to make our country fit for the future. I want our country to once again become a country of new beginnings.

The meeting will focus on issues affecting New York City and will be Trump’s first visit with Mamdani in New York.

The two have previously met twice in Washington and have developed an unexpectedly amicable relationship despite their political differences.

Source: NYT

If she becomes governing mayor, she'd be Berlin's first Turkish-origin mayor, Germany's first female state leader with a migration background, and the first Linke politician to lead the capital.

Her campaign was compared to New York mayor Zohran Mamdani's. Her team actually exchanged ideas with Mamdani's campaign. Media have called her "Berlin's Mamdani."

Housing drove the vote.

85% of Berliners rent and advertised rents have doubled since 2014.

Her central promise is implementing the 2021 referendum to take ~240,000 private apartments into public ownership.

Coalition talks will determine whether she actually governs — a Linke-Greens-SPD bloc or a CDU-Greens-SPD coalition are both mathematically possible.