1 GERMANY
AfD calls for representation after state election success
Leaders of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland demanded that their party be included in coalition negotiations in two states where it won nearly a third of the vote in elections last Sunday, just a year before a general election.
Although the political earthquake had been long foreseen, the centrist governing parties proved incapable of stopping the rise of the AfD, which came first in Thuringia state with nearly 33% of the vote and a close second in Saxony with almost 31%.
The three parties in the chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular government each scored in the single-digit percentage points.
The AfD chapters in Saxony and Thuringia have been designated as “rightwing extremist” by the security authorities. Sunday’s result in Thuringia marked the first time since the Nazi period that a far-right party has claimed the top spot in a state election.
Scholz called the results “bitter” and “worrying”. He said: “Our country cannot and must not get used to this. The AfD is damaging Germany. It is weakening the economy, dividing society and ruining our country’s reputation.”
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2 CANADA
2023 wildfire emissions worse than most countries
Wildfires that swept Canada’s woodlands last year released more greenhouse gases than some of the world’s largest emitting countries, calling into question national emissions budgets that rely on forests as carbon stores.
At 647 megatonnes, the carbon released in 2023’s wildfires exceeded those of seven of the 10 largest national emitters in 2022,
