Author: Kostas Birakis

BERLIN — A leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany said on Monday that her party is no longer a primarily eastern German phenomenon after a pair of strong state election performances in the country’s more prosperous west, declaring that “we have arrived.” The 10-year-old Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is at its strongest in the country’s former communist east. It hopes to emerge as the strongest party for the first time in three state elections in that region about a year from now. However, co-leader Alice Weidel said gains for the party on Sunday in the western states of Hesse…

South Korea’s leading carmakers Hyundai Motor and Kia said on Wednesday that they have inked a strategic partnership with the German automotive chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG, so as to secure its power semiconductor supply chain. Under the deal, sealed in Munich, Germany, the companies will cooperate in developing power semiconductors, a key component for eco-friendly cars to control and convert electric power, according to the South Korean companies, reports Yonhap news agency. Hyundai and Kia will also source a portion of their power semiconductors from Infineon for the production of electric and hybrid vehicles through 2030, they added. Infineon is…

A populist far-right politician is the front-runner in a mayoral race Sunday in the German city of Nordhausen, best known as the location of the Nazi concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora. Joerg Prophet of the Alternative for Germany party, won 42.1% of the vote in the first round of the election earlier this month. His opponent, independent incumbent candidate Kai Buchmann, had just 23.7%. The prospect of a far-right mayor holding a revisionist version of Germany’s Holocaust past has not gone unnoticed by Holocaust survivors and people who work in Germany to combat discrimination. Jens-Christian Wagner, director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora…

This Sunday will see a showdown between two candidates vying for the leadership of Syriza, and the Greek left is abuzz with the prospect that a former banker could usher in a new era. The main opposition party to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s right-wing New Democracy has been rudderless since the resignation of Alexis Tsipras, who stepped down after his poor performance in June’s general elections. The emergence of Stefanos Kasselakis has come as something of a surprise. He is 35, openly gay, and has little political experience – but brings with him a sense of excitement and uncertainty. The former banker is up…

European wheat edged lower on Friday on prospects of a revival of the Black Sea grain export deal that would further boost competition from the region but uncertainty about the Argentine harvest gave prices some support. Benchmark December milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext, was down 0.3% by 1230 GMT to 233.75 euros ($254.16) a metric ton. It is heading for a weekly loss of more than 3%. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, the Kremlin said on Friday. Two Turkish sources told Reuters on…

The former French president distanced himself from Emmanuel Macron’s current Ukraine strategy. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy says “diplomacy, discussions and talks” are “the only ways” to resolve Russia’s war on Ukraine. In an interview published in French daily Le Figaro on Wednesday, Sarkozy argued that Europe needs to “clarify its strategy” and seek a compromise with Russia rather than pursue its “strange idea” of funding a war without waging it. “Without compromise, nothing will be possible and we run the risk that the situation will degenerate at any moment. This powder keg could have frightful consequences,” he said. Sarkozy condemned Vladimir…

Namibia has suspended imports of live poultry, birds, and poultry products from Denmark and the Netherlands following the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the two European countries. European countries have borne the brunt of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, in recent years which has led to the culling of millions of birds in the past two years, affecting the supply of poultry meat and eggs. The suspension will affect poultry products packaged in Denmark on or after Jun 28 and poultry products from the Netherlands packaged on or after Jul 11, Namibia’s veterinary services directorate said in…

European shares retreated on Friday from multi-month highs scaled in the previous session as investors digested a mixed batch of earnings and as government bond yields climbed after the Bank of Japan tweaked its monetary policy. The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.3%. The benchmark index closed at its highest levels in nearly 1-1/2 years on Thursday after the European Central Bank hiked interest rates as expected but raised the possibility of a pause in September. Rattling investor nerves, the BoJ made its yield curve control policy more flexible and loosened its defence of a long-term interest rate cap, in…

The Economist recently called Austria “Putin’s useful idiot.” In spite of the fact that Vienna is part of the European Union and publicly declares its support for the sovereignty of Ukraine, it has close ties to the Putin regime. The connection between the two countries began when Austria was liberated from the Nazis, but increasingly came under the influence of the USSR. Since then, the Austrian people have voiced a preference maintain military neutrality, which is also enshrined in their Basic Law. Modern Russia has worked continuously to maintain and develop its links with Austria. With Russia’s full-scale invasion, Austria found…

Atotal of 45 irregular migrants, all hailing from Afghanistan, were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard Command on Monday, after they were pushed back into Turkish territorial waters. Coast guard personnel discovered migrants including children off the coast of Ayvacık, in the northwestern Turkish province of Çanakkale. They were the latest victims of illegal Greek pushbacks. After the necessary procedures, the migrants who were brought ashore, were transferred to the Ayvacık migration office. Türkiye and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back irregular migrants, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the…