Monday's top story: Hamburg residents kill Olympic bid in referendum
Hamburg has withdrawn from the race to host the Summer Olympics in either 2036, 2040 or 2044 after residents rejected the idea at a referendum on Sunday.
City officials had hoped to illustrate public support with a positive result. With 98 percent of ballots counted, 55 percent of voters rejected the idea, compared with 45 percent in favour.
Almost 50 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot in the referendum.
This is the second time in just over a decade Hamburg voters decided against hosting the Olympics. In 2015, 51.4 percent of voters rejected a proposal to host the 2024 Games.
After the results came through, Hamburg mayor Peter Tschentscher confirmed he had informed the DOSB and the IOC that the bid would be withdrawn.
"Many citizens who were looking forward to the Games are disappointed by the outcome of the referendum," Tschentscher said in a statement.
Hamburg was one of four cities or regions bidding to be selected by the German Olympic Federation (DOSB) to host the Games, alongside Berlin, Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr region.
At recent referendum votes in other regions, voters in Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr region had strongly indicated their support to host the Games.
The northern city of Kiel, which hopes to host sailing events as part of the successful German bid, had 63.5 percent of voters supporting the proposal.
Berlin will not hold a vote.
READ ALSO: How Berlin's Olympics bid would reshape the city
Majority of Germans expect an AfD state premier after autumn votes
Ahead of upcoming elections in September, a clear majority of Germans expect the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to provide a state premier for the first time, according to an Insa poll commissioned by the Bild am Sonntag.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents consider this likely in at least one federal state. Of those, 41 percent expect an AfD state premier in one state, and 28 percent anticipate the far-right party will head up several states.
Only 16 percent think the AfD won't manage to take power in at least one state.
If the AfD achieved the most votes, but was short of an absolute majority, 40 percent of those surveyed said they would prefer a CDU-Left party coalition while 36 percent would favour a cooperation with the AfD.Â
Thirty-eight percent want to see the far-right party banned completely, while 47 percent are against that.
Elections will be held in Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD is polling particularly strongly, on September 6th, and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin on September 20th.Â
READ ALSO:
- 'Welcome culture to farewell culture' - The AfD's plans for Saxony-Anhalt
- How Germany’s politicians are trying to 'AfD-proof' the country
Two killed in storms on Sunday
Two deaths were reported following lightning storms and sudden showers across much of southern and central Germany on Sunday.
In Bruchsal, north of Karlsruhe, two people were killed in an accident on a wet road. According to police, a car hydroplaned and ran into oncoming traffic on the B35.
The collision killed a 55-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman who had collided with the incoming vehicle. The other vehicle's driver was seriously injured and taken to hospital by rescue helicopter.
The federal highway was closed for several hours.
Elsewhere violent weather led to emergencies and rescue operations in various parts of the country.
The German Weather Service (DWD) finally lifted all remaining severe weather warnings for severe thunderstorms late in the evening.
Free Democrats elect new chair, reject far-right firewall
The liberal Free Democrats (FDP) party elected a new chair – Wolfgang Kubicki – in a hard-fought vote during the party's conference in Berlin on Saturday.
Seventy-four-year-old Kubicki, considered a right-wing liberal, won 59.3 percent of the vote against long-term rival Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann whose candidacy was announced at the last minute, shortly before the start of the vote. Strack-Zimmermann represents a more social-liberal stance.
The goal of Kubicki, who is among the best-known, but also the most polarising of the FDP representatives, is to lead the FDP back above the five percent threshold – the percentage of the vote required to enter parliament in Germany.
"That is the goal – and everything else will be subordinate to it," he said on Saturday evening.
The FDP fell out of Germany's parliament after it failed to win five percent of votes in the last federal election. Just months before, former FDP politicians had resigned from the previous federal government coalition sparking an early collapse of the government.
The party conference was also marked by debate on how to deal with the AfD party. Kubicki and his newly elected general secretary, Martin Hagen, said they reject the so-called 'firewall' strategy, which sees parties refuse to work with the AfD in parliament. They said they would not rule out forming parliamentary majorities with the far-right party.Â
Franco-German nuclear deterrence talks launched
Germany and France have begun their planned talks on closer cooperation on nuclear deterrence, according to a report in news magazine Der Spiegel.
GĂĽnter Sautter, security advisor to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, traveled to Paris on Wednesday for an initial round of talks with other countries, the magazine reported on Saturday.
However, the German government declined to confirm the magazine's report of the meeting, AFP said on Sunday.
A government spokesperson told AFP that this is an "ongoing process" with "further stages to follow" and "no new information to report" regarding the current state of the talks.Â
Der Spiegel reported that Germany's armed forces are expected to take part in the conventional portion of French nuclear exercises for the first time this September.
In March, Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron established a nuclear steering group to explore the details of cooperation. The group is planning joint maneuvres in preparation for a potential emergency.
With reporting by AFP and DPA.
Comments