Elon Musk thanked by German far-right leader after landmark election win praised by Russia | First Thing
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Top candidate of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), Ulrich Siegmund, who thanked Elon Musk. Photograph: Liesa Johannssen/Reuters View image in fullscreen Top candidate of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), Ulrich Siegmund, who thanked Elon Musk. Photograph: Liesa Johannssen/Reuters First Thing newsletter US news First Thing: German far-right leader thanks Elon Musk after landmark election win praised by Russia Populist, far-right, anti-immigration AfD wins vote in eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Plus, 50 years since The Muppet Show first hit our screens
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Prefer the Guardian on Google Good morning. A far-right leader who has won an important state election in Germany has thanked Elon Musk for his support , as voices in Europe warn the result is a serious moment for the continent. No far-right party has led or formed a government in Germany since the defeat of nazism at the end of the second world war.
Ulrich Siegmund, the Alternative für Deutschland’s lead candidate, thanked Musk on X after the tech billionaire said “Well done!” in German to the AfD co-founder Alice Weidel. The populist, far-right, anti-immigration party won the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
During its campaign, the AfD sought to capitalise on a mood of nostalgia for the communist East Germany and discontent among east Germans. The party has promised a remigration and deportation offensive, to ban rainbow flags in schools and halt the building of new windfarms. It wants to change the slogan of the state from “Think Modern” to “Think German”, and reintroduce the singing of the country’s national anthem in schools.
Will the AfD be able to form a state government? Despite its resounding victory, the party fell just short of a majority. It was seeking an absolute majority in the state legislature to govern alone and overcome the so-called “firewall” of the mainstream parties, which refuse to work with it. The final results showed the AfD falling three seats short, with 39 lawmakers in an 83-member legislature.
What has been the reaction in Washington and Moscow? Donald Trump posted a screenshot of the election projection without comment on his Truth Social site. The Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev took a screengrab of Trump’s post and praised a “historic win for the pragmatic AfD”. The AfD is pro-Kremlin, urging a stop to support for Ukraine and pushing for Ukrainians in Germany to no longer receive refugee status.
View image in fullscreen Leon Panetta said the Iran conflict risked becoming another ‘forever war in the Middle East’. Photograph: Paul Buck/EPA Donald Trump’s war with Iran is likely to drag on for another six months , the former US defense secretary Leon Panetta has said, adding that it risks becoming another “forever war in the Middle East”, with no clear end in sight.
“It’s no mystery that the United States and Iran are caught in a terrible stalemate, in which there really are very few options available to bring this war to an end,” said Panetta, who also served as CIA director under Barack Obama. “I think the likelihood is this war is going to continue for another six months without being resolved,” he added.
Who else has been saying Trump’s war may not achieve its aims? The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said on Sunday morning Washington might not be able to reach an agreement with Tehran that would prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. “We are strangling their economy to try to bring either a change in policy from the existing regime or a new regime,” he said.
View image in fullscreen The case against Lindsay Clancy has ceased for the moment, but the legal wrangling is not over and a second trial could now be on the horizon. Photograph: Greg Derr/Reuters Lindsay Clancy, prosecutors, defense lawyers, the judge and the millions watching on were back where they started after her five-week trial over the murder of her three children ended in a mistrial. The case has ceased for the moment, but the legal wrangling is not over and a second trial could now be on the horizon, prolonging and repeating an agonizing spectacle that has gripped the US and the world.
What will Clancy’s defense team most likely do? They will almost certainly push to have the charges against their client dropped, aggressively lobby against another trial and make a case to the district attorney’s office along the lines of: “Why are you doing this to this poor woman? She’s still clearly obviously suffering. She’s been punished with her paralysis and, worse than that, the loss of her three children.”
View image in fullscreen There are about 120,000 Flock cameras across the US, which conduct roughly 2bn scans a month. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters Growing factions from both sides of the political aisle in the US are pushing back against surveillance cameras made by a single company , a rare response in a sharply divided country with a president pushing an unwaveringly pro-tech agenda.
There are about 120,000 Flock cameras across the US, which conduct roughly 2bn scans a month. The company is staring down controversy after reports of abuses of its cameras by police officers in multiple states, who have used them to stalk former lovers and track people seeking abortions. The network the cameras feed into is also frequently used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
View image in fullscreen This satellite image shows three storms, from left, Hurricane Lowell, Hurricane Karina and Tropical Storm Marie in the Pacific Ocean. Photograph: CIRA/NOAA/AP Hawaii has declared a state of emergency as powerful Hurricane Lowell makes its way toward the islands.
The Trump administration renewed its appeal to the US supreme court to allow restrictions on mail-in voting , after a federal judge had blocked new limits.
More voters are identifying as Democrats and shying away from calling themselves Republicans , according to…
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