https://archive.ph/NqW8B

Germany’s opposition leader has pledged to strengthen border controls and step up deportations if he becomes chancellor after elections next month, a day after an Afghan man was arrested over a knife attack in which two people died.

Friedrich Merz, whose conservative CDU/CSU alliance is leading in polls, said he would not allow attacks like the one in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg on Wednesday to become a “normal affair”.

The suspect in the attack, who was arrested shortly afterwards, is a 28-year-old Afghan man with a history of psychiatric problems and violence. The man’s asylum process had been closed at his request after two years, according to Bavarian authorities. He had said he would leave Germany of his own will last month, but had not done so, and had continued receiving psychiatric treatment.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53502678

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24657192

Summary

In a virtual speech at the World Economic Forum, Trump suggested Canada could become a U.S. state to avoid his proposed tariffs on imports.

The remark elicited gasps from the audience.

Trump claimed the U.S. does not need Canadian lumber, energy, or vehicles, vastly overstating the trade deficit between the two nations.

He reiterated his intention to impose tariffs, potentially as high as 25%, on imports from Canada and Mexico starting February 1.

Economists warn such tariffs would raise prices for U.S. consumers.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53472470

• The Brazilian diplomat who will chair the next United Nations climate summit praised China on Thursday (Jan 23) as an example in the fight against climate change while admonishing rich countries for shirking their responsibilities.

• By reducing the price of solar panels and of electric cars, China is giving infinitely more support to the developing world (on climate change) than if it were just providing symbolic amounts (of aid), which is what the developed countries want.

A Milwaukee-based CBS affiliate has dismissed one of its weather presenters after she reportedly called Elon Musk a Nazi on social media, over a gesture the tech billionaire made during an inauguration rally for US President Donald Trump.

WDJT-TV (Channel 58), where meteorologist Sam Kuffel had worked since 2019, has confirmed her departure but provided no official explanation in an internal memo to or public comments, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

While the station described the matter as a “personal issue,” Kuffel was reportedly dismissed one day after commenting on Musk’s gesture on her Instagram account.

The TV channel has removed Kuffel’s bio from its website and no longer mentions her in its weather section, but retains articles written by her. Her Instagram account has been set to private, but screenshots purportedly capturing her posts are available online. She has not commented publicly on the incident.

Before her tenure at WDJT-TV, the journalist worked at WAOW-TV (Channel 9) in Wausau, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in atmospheric science.

The Anti-Defamation League, a US-based pro-Israeli group which monitors anti-Semitism and hate speech, has described Musk’s gesture as “awkward” but did not say it was a Nazi salute. Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the subject of an International Criminal Court warrant on charges related to genocide, has tweeted in support of the X owner, declaring him to be “a friend of Israel.”

Archive link

Left-wing activists have projected a giant image of Elon Musk doing a gesture that has been likened to a Nazi salute alongside the word “heil” on to Tesla’s Berlin factory.

Germany’s Centre for Political Beauty and the UK group Led By Donkeys beamed a photo of Mr Musk with his arm outstretched, which he did at a Trump rally on Monday night, on to the nine-metre-high building on Wednesday night.

They also projected the words “heil” and “boycott” alongside the large Tesla logo, as if to read “heil Tesla” or “boycott Tesla”.

Mr Musk has faced criticism both inside Germany and beyond for Monday night’s salute, in which he twice slapped his chest before raising his outstretched arm into the air.

https://archive.ph/mN6je

In violation of the Gaza ceasefire deal, the Israeli occupation army yesterday killed a Palestinian man and wounded several others in the southern city of Rafah.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in the enclave said one Palestinian had died of wounds he sustained as a result of Israeli fire and 53 were injured, a further 19 people were injured over the past 24 hours; bringing the death toll from the Israeli war on Gaza to 47,161 and 111,166 wounded since 7 October 2023.

As thousands of Palestinians returned to their homes in northern Gaza, the extent of the destruction caused by the Israeli military operation began to emerge.