German Chancellor Merz ‘shocked’ by far-right AfD win and other news stories | Global News Podcast

This is the global news podcast from the. BBC World Service. On Friday the 7th of. September, we'll go to Germany where. Chancellor Friedrich Mertz says he is. shocked by the farright AFD's victory in. state elections. As Ukraine holds talks. with Donald Trump's envoys, our. correspondent in Kev says Russia is. launching strikes in broad daylight. >> Yet again, more sirens ringing across. the sky. Some of the students are coming out. They're heading down into the metro to.

get underground for safety. >> We'll go to Lebanon where state media. says at least nine people were killed by. Israeli attacks. And we'll find out why. so many Serbs are paying tribute to the. former military commander and convicted. war criminal Ratcom Ladic at his. funeral. [music]. The German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz. has said that he is shocked by the. victory of the farright party. alternative for Germany. the AFD. It won. its biggest victory yet in elections in.

the eastern state of Saxonyhalt, taking. 44% of the vote, while Mr. Mertz's. conservative CDU party came way behind. with around 18%. The AFD, which has. tapped into growing disillusionment with. centrist parties once, among other. policies, to ban LGBTQ rainbow flags in. schools and have the children of. refugees taught in segregated classes. Mr. The Mertz says the country is facing. a huge political shift. His words were. spoken by a translator.

>> with almost 60% of the voters in one. German state vote for political parties. which profoundly question the democratic. rules of our country. That's an election. result which doesn't make it possible to. continue with business as usual and we. don't. It has an impact on us, even on. myself personally. And I I also have to. accept that this is the worst electoral.

defeat that the CDU has suffered in. years, if not decades. >> Our Europe correspondent, Jessica. Parker, is in Saxony Anne Halt's. capital, Magdabberg. She spoke to my. colleague Lucy Hawings. The AFD has been. consistently polling um at 40 40 plus. percent. Perhaps the party's critics and. opponents were hoping that those polls. were very wrong. Uh but it turns out of. course that they were not. I suppose. what is particularly bad for Chancellor. Friedrich Mertz is that his party, the.

Conservative CDU party performed worse. than had been expected getting under. according to these projections we've had. under 20%. And as he was sort of acknowledging. there um his own personal poor approval. ratings sort of tacitly acknowledged. might have played a role in what has. happened here in Saxony Nanhal. But that. being said and I guess addressing rumors. about you know whether this uh. chancellor can see out his term in.

office. He was basically saying I'm. sticking around. I'm going to keep. carrying out the reforms that I've um. got planned with my uh coalition and we. just need to start communicating better. in terms of what we want to do. I think. alternative uh for Deutseland which is a. party that argues that uh the other. parties CDU SPD have got things. fundamentally wrong in areas like. immigration over past years. uh they. will say that this is part of the sort. of same old uh centrist policies that.

have uh failed to deliver for the people. of Germany or parties that are regarded. as kind of from the traditional. mainstream of German politics. As far as. what's happening now here today, um the. AFD of course potentially casting around. for how it might be able to actually get. into government in Saxanhal, but we. could be in for a protracted weight on. that front as is quite normal in German. politics. >> What other messages and uh what part of. their campaign particularly Jess.

resonated with voters? >> So I think Ziegman the AFD's lead. candidate here ran a very dynamic. campaign. He really was all anyone was. talking about. He seemed to tap into. a nostalgia for the past, whether that. might be the relative kind of job. stability that people had in uh the GDR, the former East Communist Germany, or. maybe a time after that wasn't. necessarily always particularly clear, but he would ride around on an old East.

German retro uh scooter. And he seemed. to mix that in with uh current anxieties. that people have in the present. I. mentioned immigration. Uh people also I. think are worried about the cost of. living, the state of the German economy. as well, which is something that. Friedick Mertz has, you know, long had. his eye on at trying to boost the. struggling German economy. Uh and of. course, you know, worth mentioning the. east of Germany, the former communist. east has for some time been a stronghold. for the alternative, for Deutsan party.

But I think you've got a combination of. an unpopular chancellor, uh the AFD. being very active in its eastern. strongholds, a struggling uh economy, a. dynamic frontman for alternativa, for. Deutseland. Those circumstances and. others coming together to deliver a. really comprehensive win in terms of. voter share for a party that of course. in this state is um classed as. right-wing extremist by domestic. intelligence, although that's a. designation that the party here rejects. The funeral of the former Bosnian Serb.

commander, Ratcom Ladic has been. taking place in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Following his death at the end. of last month, his body had been. transported from the Hague, where he'd. been serving a life sentence for. genocide, war crimes, and crimes against. humanity during the break up of the. former Yugoslavia. To most of the world, General Maddic was known as the butcher. of Bosnia. He was convicted for the. Srebanich massacre in 1995 when Bosnian. Serb forces killed around 8,000 Bosnian.

Muslim men and boys. But in his home. country, he remained a national hero. Alexandra Nix is the editor of the BBC's. Serbian Service. >> We like to say in the past couple of. days that Serbia is facing two realities. nowadays. the one which hasn't broken. down with the past linked to the wars in. the former Yugoslavia and the one which. tries to get away from all this. But. unfortunately both sides are far from.

reconciliation or any kind of uh. critical appearance and critical look at. what was happening before. As you can. see in these crowds attending the uh. church procedures, religious procedures. for Madi, there are many young people. who many of them were not even born. during the wars in the former. Yugoslavia. But they consider him a. hero, someone who defended uh Serb.

interests throughout the region and they. simply seem not to be able to be uh. deconvinced of that. Whereas on the. other side, you have groups of young. people also who are trying to figure out. whether this was a proper war, that this. was an ethnic. war or conflict in the former. Yugoslavia. But the problem is that the. two sides are so far away, not only in. Serbia, but throughout the Balkans.

After three rounds of talks with. President Trump's envoys, President. Zalinski has said the most important. thing is to continue working together to. keep diplomacy going. At the same time, Keev is suffering more daily air raid. alerts than at any time since Russia's. full-scale invasion in 2022. That's. according to BBC Verify analysis of. government figures. There was a brief. pause in attacks over the weekend while. US envoys were in the Ukrainian capital. But in recent weeks, Russia's.

roundthe-clock attacks with new, faster. drones have forced people to head for. shelter up to 13 times a day. Our. diplomatic correspondent, James Landale, reports from Kev. Another day, another Russian attack on. Kiev. But these drones are new, jet. powered, faster, and harder to. intercept. And now they're coming around. the clock. new tactics with deadly effect for.

Ukraine's civilians and even its. security service. For people in Kiev, that means more air. raid alerts and more strikes like this. in the heart of the city. >> I don't uh have shelter near my home. and now alarm. It's very dangerous leave. now and uh stand in the streets. dangerous. Go somewhere. Um. >> we can't stay more than 3 hours without.

uh hair alert. So yes uh it's not just. about night, it's about day now and uh. we don't know yes what we can do. >> Analysis of official figures by the BBC. shows Kiev has suffered more daily air. raid alerts than at any time since the. full-scale invasion in 2022. As many as. 13 on a single day. For schools, that means huge disruption. as pupils rush repeatedly for shelter. It's the same for students, their.

studies constantly interrupted. So, as we were filming, yet again, more. sirens ringing across the sky. Some of the students are coming out. They're heading down into the metro to. get underground for safety. But they're. not running. They're not rushing. Some. people are still standing around. they're finishing their conversations. and that's because this is normal. This. is what they're used to. It happens all. the time. Sometimes it's hard for me uh.

because um. most of the day I need to go to the. safety places uh you know like metro or. somewhere underground uh cuz Russian. attacks every day and sometimes it's all. day. I am not scared after four years of. invasion. I'm used to the alarms, but it. destroys the quality of our education. We cannot study normally. >> For businesses, disruption, too. Many.

close during alerts, leaving staff. hanging around the streets or heading. off to find shelter. Many find that down in the metro, but. often the trains stop during an air. raid, and that causes travel chaos as. commuters rush for replacement buses. The government's planning a new two-tier. alert system to limit disruption, but. it's not in force yet. The problem for Kiev is it's shooting. down only 60% of the new fast drones,

and they've yet to find an answer. Ukraine's key task now is to create an. alternative interceptor. Cheap weapons. that can provide us with protection. >> For now, though, the skies over Kiev are. darkening as Russian drones strike home, bringing death and disruption in their. wake. >> Still to come, an unsung hero of D-Day. gets the Hollywood treatment. They're. going to [music] be washed away.

because the storms that I'm talking. about are real. Despite a ceasefire that came into force. in June, the Lebanese President Joseph. Aun has warned of a dangerous escalation. by Israel. Now, state media in Lebanon. says at least nine people have been. killed in Israeli air strikes in the. south of the country. Earlier, I spoke. to our correspondent in Beirut, Hugo. Basha. >> We just had an update from uh Lebanon's.

health ministry saying that uh in one of. the attacks, eight people were killed, including a child and two women uh when. a residential building was hit by an. Israeli air strike in the village of. Kifaran. Then a second uh strike killed. a paramedic also in that part of the. country. So according to uh the. country's health authorities, at least. nine people killed in those Israeli air. strikes this morning and we've seen uh. an intensification of these Israeli air.

strikes uh in the south of the country. with at least 15 people killed in the. last 3 days and uh you know towns and. villages near the so-called yellow line. have been targeted. This is the part of. the country that is under Israeli. occupation. We've seen large numbers of. residents fleeing those areas because of. those attacks. And uh obviously this. happens as you say despite the ceasefire. that was announced uh here in June. And. the Israeli military says it is.

targeting the Lebanese militia and. political party Hezbollah. But what. we've seen repeatedly here in Lebanon as. in Gaza is that a significant number of. of of people who were killed in those. attacks are civilians including children. and women. >> Why is Israel carrying out these. attacks? >> Yeah. So this is very interesting. because this again escalation happens. just days after the Israeli military. said uh it had achieved operational.

control of the Alitah ridge which is in. that part of the country where these. attacks have been happening and this is. a strategic uh location because this is. where Hezbollah had built that um you. know heavily fortified underground. infrastructure. So still uh you know. there's still questions about uh the. objectives of the Israeli military, what. the uh Israeli authorities are trying to. achieve with this wave of attacks. But. this morning the Israeli foreign. ministry said that Hezbollah had.

repeatedly violated the ceasefire deal. And obviously the Israeli authorities. have frequently accused Hezbollah of. embedding its military uh infrastructure. in civilian neighborhoods of using uh. the civilian population as human. shields. But interestingly, a Lebanese. intelligence official told me recently. that um the Lebanese army had recorded. more than 5,000 Israeli violations of. the ceasefire, including air strikes, drone attacks, and also incursions into.

Lebanese territory. And again, you. mentioned the reaction there from the. Lebanese president who said this. escalation went beyond alleged military. targets and that it was intended to. disrupt people's lives. A young British. composer just 13 years old is using. music, one of our oldest art forms, to. grapple with the implications of one of. our newest challenges. Kerry Tan has. written a symphony on AI. Symphony. number three, the rise and fall of AI.

humanity, entirely without the use of. AI, by the way, which will be performed. on Monday night in London by the Phil. Harmonia Orchestra. Unfortunately, music. industry rules allow us to use the music. on the radio but don't allow us to use. the music in this podcast. But we did. speak to Kerry who told us about the. meaning of his symphony. He spoke to my. colleague Anna Foster. that particular. bit of music uh after the AI society is. built, humanity starts to reflect on the.

past, the true beauty of nature and the. universe. And that section, it's kind of. a conclusion of the whole movement. It's. the it's the grand climax just the the. final the final expression that. everybody that everybody makes. AI can. never can never replace true beauty. the. the beauty that God gave us, the beauty. within our earth and within our souls. Uh and soon a after this section is kind. of the turning point. People start to.

realize the destruction that AI has. caused and tries to reverse back to like. a more real society. It's interesting hearing you say that. because so many so many people of of. your generation, you know, young. teenagers, they embrace, don't they, the. the speed at which tech is taking over. But you you have a a slightly different. view, a view perhaps of somebody a. little older than you are. >> Indeed. Um I I don't think of AI as. something bad. It's just that if we just.

become too reliant on it like if we. sacrifice convenience, speed and. technology uh we we we uh too too much. like for example we might have less. creation, we might have less. individuality and eventually we would. forget the beauty of nature. So a AI is. not a bad thing. It's it's it's more how. we manage it. If there's one thing that. unites people all over the world, it's. talking about the weather. This week.

sees a new film about what was the most. important weather forecast in British. history. The one that gave the go-ahad. for D-Day on the 6th of June 1944 when. the Allies in the Second World War. invaded Nazi occupied France. The. extraordinary story behind that event. and the man on whose shoulders it fell, James Stag, has been turned into a film. starring Andrew Scott. David Silito went. to meet him. >> Group captain Dr. James Stag [music]. here at the express request of General.

Eisenhower. >> Do we have a date yet for the invasion. zone? >> Dday [music] is in 61 hours from now. >> It's far from the first movie about. D-Day, but this is the story of one. man's contribution. This is HMS Belfast on the tempames and. she herself was there at D-Day on the. 6th of June 1944. And that date, 6th of June 1944, it. seems like a fixed point in history, doesn't it? There's an amazing log book. inside that shows what this ship was. doing hour by hour. However, that date.

was far from fixed, which is what this. is all about, a weather forecast. The. film Pressure is about a meteorologist, James Stag, the man whose weather. forecast led to D-Day being postponed. from the fifth and saved it from. disaster. >> I had long had at the back of my mind. the tactical use of weather just to be. able to pick out some little interlude. which would be unknown to the enemy. forces that would allow us to make use. of it. >> Which is why we were on HMS Belfast to.

meet the man playing him, Andrew Scott. If you invade tomorrow, they're going to. be washed away. >> Because the storms that I'm talking. about are real. >> James Stag. >> Yes. >> Why did you sign up to that? >> What What is it that about him? >> He he he he. appeared to me to be an extraordinarily. interesting cinematic character as well. as a an unsung hero from history. Um, I.

really enjoyed the way that he was not. interested in ingratiating himself with. anybody. >> WE MUST FACE THE FACTS. THE FACTS, HOWEVER FRIGHTENING THEY MAY BE. >> He's a bit chilly. He's chilly. He's. definitely very chilly and very. forthright and very direct and. completely obsessed with the weather and. not afraid to speak truth to to power. I. tried not to be afraid of the fact that. that perhaps at the beginning the. audience might be like, "Who is this. guy?" and hopefully by the end we.

understand his motivations and his his. his inner workings. >> The film's title is a reference to the. weather and the intense pressure inside. the D-Day planning team. A moment James. Stag himself talked about many years. later. >> The atmosphere was almost unbearably. tense and and to me almost almost. frighteningly so. >> I need a forecast. His warning to the. man in charge, General Eisenhower, saved. the day, >> but it wasn't what Eisenhower wanted to.

hear. >> Uh, long-term forecasting has really. only ever educated guesswork. >> Speaking truth to power is a big thing. in this, isn't it? >> Yeah. Yeah. Huge hu huge, huge thing. >> Might be a a thing to take on board. today. >> Well, that's exactly right. That's. exactly right. >> And a celebration of experts. >> Yeah. >> And that's [music] all for this edition. of the Global News Podcast. If you'd. like to get in touch, our contact. details are below. For now, goodbye. [music].