German chancellor describes state election results as a 'disaster'

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1:11Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. I'm James Menendez. Coming up a little later in the programme, the pop star Ed Sheeran's played his first concert since he lost his entire backing band and all of his support acts after another support act was taken off his tour for voicing pro-Palestinian statements. We'll hear from a fan who was there. It was very, very high energy. And like people were hanging on to every word he said. He even made a comment about how the noise level was so up and down because every time he talked, it got so quiet because people wanted to hear what he was going to speak about.

1:48More on that coming up in half an hour. But we are going to begin in Germany, where two more states held elections today, not something that would usually make headlines around the world. But after the political earthquake two weeks ago that saw the far-right AFD party emerge as the biggest winner in Saxony-Anhalt, well, the reverberations are still being felt, not just for that party and its continued ascent, but also for the Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and his centre-right CDU party. He shouldered much of the blame for the AFD's success in that vote, casting his leadership in some doubt. Well, he's had another bad night with exit polls suggesting the CDU has only just scraped enough votes to keep a seat or two in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

2:34But speaking afterwards, Mr Merz vowed to stay on. Today we've seen two elections with very different results. We can't sugarcoat the results in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. It's a disaster. The CDU fought, but ultimately got squeezed between the SPD and the AfD. For the far-right AfD, it was another strong showing, both in Mecklenburg-Württemberg and in the other election in Berlin. Leif-Erik Holm is the party's candidate for state premier in the former. We've seen that people want change. That too is clearly reflected in the numbers. We're in the lead, and of course we want to remain in the lead by the end of the evening.

3:21We want to become the strongest force. We have the mandate to govern here in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania. Our correspondent Jess Parker has been at the CDU's headquarters in Berlin and she joins me on the line now. So what's the latest? Just take us through those projections. Yes, so as we should explain, these results can change a little bit as the counting gets firmed up overnight and into tomorrow. But the initial exit poll drops showed De Linke, the left party, coming out ahead in Berlin, therefore potentially squeezing a second-place Conservative CDU party out of a future coalition. Talks will obviously now need to happen, as is per usual in German politics.

4:10And then in Mecklenburg-Portpomen, as we've been hearing, no one expected the CDU to do well. It's not a strong state for them. But being around that 5 % threshold, where if you fall below it, you don't even get into the state parliament, that's pretty disastrous for the CDU and a record low result. And I think the one that Friedrich Mertz has basically described as a disaster for them. And as he was saying, a lot of people are saying he needs to answer this as the leader of his party. Yeah, well, you've been mingling amongst the CDU. What have they been saying about the results? Yes, I mean, I've been speaking to people for a few days.

4:47One CDU official I spoke to earlier in the week said he thought it was a tricky situation but maybe Friedrich Mertz did need to go and this idea of a Kanzler Tausch a chancellor swap where someone else within the CDU could maybe take Friedrich Mertz's place um I put basically the same question to a man called Berghard Degger in Berlin tonight a member of the CDU in Berlin and asked him if Mertz should stay yeah of course he should he has a lot of work to do and we don't have time to waste to form new government in the federal level. So let him continue his job. It's very important. And I trust in him that he will be able to do the necessary reforms which are necessary to bring Germany again in the lead in Europe.

5:34Aren't you worried that he is personally so unpopular and he has failed to do what he wanted to do, which was to counter the rise of Alternativa for Deutschland? Yeah, I think the Germans are very impatient at the moment. The Chancellor is in office for one year, a little bit more than one year, and it's not realistic to expect that every issue has been solved within one year. He has got four years, and we have to give him the four years. And I'm very confident that they will deliver with the necessary reforms with regard to social welfare, energy costs, security, inner security, external security, defense and everything.

6:22We have to stand together now, and I count on the Social Democrats and also on the Green Party, that they realize that Germany cannot be governed by extremist parties at the far right or the far left. So I ask them to be reasonable, to realize the interests of our country, and to make a stable, strong government of the center possible. But there are people in your own party who think Friedrich Merz should go, that there should be a Kanzler-Tausch, a chancellorswold. No, I don't think so. You don't think so? Not at all. I don't think so. I think he has to continue. I know you don't think that, but there are people in your party who do.

7:09Of course. It's a big party, so people have their own opinions. But I'm sure it's the best way to continue and to deliver on all the reforms which are necessary to bring Germany ahead. Do you really have faith that Friedrich Merz can deliver? Yes, definitely. Because some people don't. Whatever. I don't believe them. I don't think it's right. He has to deliver and we have to support him. That's my opinion. Burkhard Rega of the CDU. And Jess, what about the AFD? A quick word. Was it a similarly strong showing as two weeks ago? Pretty different, actually, in the sense that in Saxony-Anhalt, they were streets ahead and nearly scored a parliamentary majority, which is a remarkable feat in German politics.

7:53However, they have now chalked up, it looks like, their third state win by taking the most votes, according to those initial exit polls in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. So they will be delighted by that. There was a bit of a catch up campaign by the centre left SPD. They're obviously unlikely to actually take power in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern because most other parties won't work with the AFD, which is something the AFD says is deeply undemocratic. Jess, thank you very much indeed. That was our Berlin correspondent Jess Parker joining us live. Well, let's get some analysis from Jorn Fleck, who's Senior Director of the Europe Centre at the think tank, the Atlantic Council.

8:29He's in Washington, D.C. First of all, why is Chancellor Friedrich Merz so unpopular? So clearly Chancellor Friedrich Merz takes another hit and will come under continued and growing pressure in terms of his chancellorship. At the same time, there's a lack of alternatives. And I think it's not very likely that in the near term, the German chancellor will be swapped out and someone else filling in his place. There are not that many credible contenders from within his conservative center-right camp. And there's clearly growing frustration among the electorate with his failure and to be fair to him, also the failure of his coalition among his CDU, CSU, center-right and the center-left SPD to really tackle some key issues.

9:23And that includes the economic stagnation that's lasting for almost seven years now, including a two-year recession and really drive forward meaningful reforms. Then there's his own leadership style in a fractious coalition. And then obviously also his blunt and what many see as sometimes abrasive communication style that really rubs voters the wrong way, that fails to engage them, fails to explain for many really where he would like to take the country and why the German public should shoulder the hard reforms necessary to address economic challenges, security and defense challenges, and migration challenges.

10:07And is your sense that he can turn it around? Or do you think voters have already made up their minds about him? I think very much voters at this point have made up their minds. At the same time, there is a lack of real challengers. So I think this will continue to be a muddling through for Merz unless he can really find much more of a team-based approach in the coalition and really focus minds among both his own party and that of his coalition partner, that the only way to stem the tide when it comes to the challenge from the populist far-right extreme AFD will be to really drive forward reform and communicate to voters where Germany is supposed to be heading.

10:52Yeah, well, let's talk a bit about the AFD. I mean, they set off a political earthquake when they won the most votes in Saxony-Anhol, didn't they? two weeks ago. Do the projected results today underscore that victory or perhaps fall a little bit short? I think they fall a little bit short. Clearly, the AFD continues to disrupt German politics and be an insurgent force that moves German politics away from the two-party stranglehold that the centre-right CDU and the centre-left SPD had for decades towards a much more normal European country. We've seen this trend elsewhere. It continues to have momentum, as we saw in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

11:38But today, after the elections there and in Berlin, the AfD looks a little less invincible, its ascent a little less inevitable. And I think especially Manuela Schwesig in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has shown you can fight back against the AfD and you can push them on the lack of their own agenda and thereby really stage a comeback in that state. Yeah, she's the SPD leader in that state. And I wanted to ask you that question. I mean, can the mainstream parties, as it were, still hold up this firewall and keep the AFD out? I mean, is that going to be a viable tactic in the future? Or are they going to have to find ways simply to persuade voters that the AFD is not worth voting for.

12:29So I think one of the biggest problems and one of the drivers, not the only one, but one of the drivers behind the AFD's current momentum and ascent has been this focus on the firewall, talk about party political tactical issues instead of really tackling the issues behind the growth of the AFD. And that's where also voters in Germany generally are frustrated with Mats and his coalition government because nothing seems to move on the actual issues. No one seems to be addressing anything from migration and security related issues to especially the economy and the pressures that Germany and German competitiveness has been under, bureaucratization, bureaucracy at home and so on.

13:22Everything that this government at the federal level promised came in and promised to change. And so much more of a focus away from this firewall, even though I think the parties, especially in Berlin and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, will maintain that firewall. And much more of a shift towards really dealing with the issues, putting them front and center. And that's what the state premier, Manuela Schwesig, did in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and staged a real comeback. And that was Jorn Fleck, who is Senior Director of the Europe Centre at the think tank, the Atlantic Council. You're listening to News Out.

14:07Still to come on the programme, the economist Daniel Suskin tells us why traditional school subjects will continue to be essential in a future driven by AI. These technologies are not perfect. They exhibit biases, they make mistakes, they hallucinate. And actually to tell the difference between when they are behaving wonderfully and when they're behaving awfully is not trivial. And we need to keep those basics, in particular our critical faculty, sharp to always be sort of testing and interrogating and pushing back on them. What AI means for the next generation. More from Daniel Siskind coming up in half an hour.

14:44Our main headlines from the newsroom at the moment, As we've been hearing, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz has described the results of a state election as a disaster for his party. And projections from Russia's tightly controlled parliamentary election show President Putin's party is on course to win, hours after Moscow was hit by a major Ukrainian attack.

15:08This is James Menendez with NewsHour live from the BBC. D.C. Let's head to Washington, D.C. now. And President Trump's plans for a huge triumphal arch that he wants to build in the city. Earlier today, he posted on social media that he also wants the arch to become a top-grade military complex. His words, that will house drones, snipers and, quote, large quantities of ammunition, apparently at the request of the Pentagon. The design for the arch would see it soar 76 metres, about 250 feet, above Memorial Circle, which sits between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. And that has generated plenty of criticism.

15:47I've been speaking to the historian Kevin Levin. This is obviously new news, just announced this morning. I think part of this is an attempt to anticipate the challenges in the courts. And so when you look at the construction of the ballroom on the White House grounds, you know, he has used the argument that this is a matter of national security as a way to buttress his claim in the courts. And I suspect that this is along the same lines, that he's anticipating, you know, additional challenges to the construction of the arch. And this will allow the process to go through much more quickly. Do you think it will get final approval?

16:25You know, it's difficult to anticipate and make predictions at this point. I tend to think that it will. Whether it's completed before, you know, his second term is up, I think that's an interesting question. but certainly he is pushing as quickly as he can. He understands that the country, the public opinion is against this, and I think he's just trying to steamroll it through. I mean, what about the whole idea in principle of a triumphal arch? I mean, what do you think of that? I mean, first of all, what is it meant to be celebrating? Yeah, that's a question, of course, many of us have been asking when he was first asked about about what this was for, what it would honor, who it would honor.

17:06He, you know, casually said himself, look, you know, certainly the commemorative or the monument landscape of Washington, D.C. is constantly evolving. You know, new monuments go up on a fairly regular basis, but they happen after a great deal of consideration, a great deal of planning. A lot of committees, of course, have to get involved. There's concern about the environment, about how a monument will impact the sight lines of other monuments and other iconic locations in and around D.C. The difference here, of course, is that none of those procedures have really been allowed to play out. And so his idea, of course, I mean, he is referred to France's arch and, of course, in Paris.

17:50He is referred to ancient Rome as a kind of foundation for this or justification. but, you know, its placement between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, two of the most important, in the case of Arlington, sacred spaces, it's hard to understand or fathom what the justification for this could be, given the fact that it's going to loom over everything, given its scale, everything in the area. That's the thing. I mean, it is what, you know, 70 meters, 250 feet. I mean, that is seriously, seriously big, isn't it? Yeah, there have been renderings of this. And as someone who spends a good deal of time in Washington, D.C., leading tours of various kinds and spending time in those specific areas, from certain vantage points, it is going to completely overshadow what you're able to see, unlike anything I think we've ever seen in and around D.C.

18:45And particularly, as you mentioned, the fact that it's quite near to Arlington Cemetery. And people have also talked about the fact that, you know, if you're looking at the ark from one direction, then you're turning your back on the cemetery. I mean, this is important stuff to many people, isn't it? And I think it's one of the reasons why there are many veterans who are very concerned about this. Arlington, at times, the president has mentioned that it is an attempt to honour, you know, those people who are buried in Arlington. But of course, you know, the response is that these men and women, you know, who have given the last full measure, have served their country, don't need any additional form of memory or honour.

19:23The burial itself, the location itself is justification. And so I think, you know, he's on very flimsy ground when it comes to trying to explain this. The historian Kevin Levin.

19:42Now, what's it like to live at the very extremes of human longevity, to live to 110, 115 years old even. Or to be Ethel Caterham from England, who's currently the oldest person in the world. She was born in 1909 in the Edwardian era, five years before the First World War. She turned 117 last month. Well, the world's most senior citizens are the subject of a new documentary by a New York-based filmmaker, Sam Green. Tom Brook has been to meet him. I know this might sound weird, but I've been obsessed with the oldest person in the world for years. Meet adventurous Brooklyn-based Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green.

20:28Since 2015, he's been traveling the world, chronicling the forever changing holders of the title of oldest person in the world. Hanukana is the oldest person in the world. His survey has included Kane Tanaka in Japan, who held the title for four years. And then there's the oldest person ever, France's Jean Calment, who when she died in 1997 was 122 years old. In her later years, she recorded a rap album.

21:04Sam Green's long been fascinated by why the news media and the public are so interested in the title holder of the oldest person in the world. Is this a fear of death? Is this a fear of fate? Or one of those things like with a car crash where you can't look away, but you don't want to look at it? Sam Green found there was nearly always a desire on the part of others to find out if there's a secret to longevity. The elderly people he observed had all kinds of answers for why they'd led a long life. One woman stated she'd live for a long time because she'd stayed away from men. She also said her secret was eating three raw eggs a day.

21:43So it's like the media descends on these people. Everybody asks them what their secret is, and they say something and everybody runs with that. This documentary shows the outside world is often much more intrigued by the oldest person in the world than the subjects who hold that title. But this film isn't just about the very old. It's also about life and death and events in the filmmaker's own life, the birth of a son and his own confrontation with a life-threatening illness. These things started to creep into the movie, so over time it becomes a larger meditation, I hope, about time and the mysteries of being alive and fate and all these big questions that we ask ourselves.

22:26The last person I interviewed, a Spanish woman named Maria Brañas, She was very funny. She even was making fun of me, which I love. She said, you are young. Now is the time to do good works. What she was saying is, you're young and you have time, so use it. And I think that's a beautiful thing to appreciate. Over the last 10 years, Sam Green has met many of those who've held the title of oldest person in the world. But there's been one holdout, the current title holder, 117-year-old Ethel Caterham who lives in Surrey, just outside London. She was born in Edwardian times. She is the first person in ten years who has rebuffed my overtures.

23:15But she did let King Charles visit her, didn't she? I saw a video of her and King Charles and I thought, Charles? Not me? You know? Even though this documentary focuses on the very old and very fragile, it makes the point that there is much to learn from observing them and from the filmmaker himself about what it means to live a thoughtful life. It is an unexpectedly life-affirming film.

23:46That was our correspondent Tom Brook there reporting and talking to filmmaker Sam Green. And you're listening to NewsHour. Do stay with us. We've got lots more coming up in the second half of the program.

24:22line when the reigning champ Dave the Redneck Mundell defends against undefeated British challenger Jack the Meat Cleaver Colon. BKFC 94, Till vs. Romero. Watch it live only on The Zone. Sign up now at TheZone.com. Can politicians improve our economic fortunes? Dave Ramsey says no. I'm Tristan Redmond from The Global Story, and I've been speaking to the massively popular US money guru who says if there's a financial crisis, it's on us. When you borrow on credit cards and take out a$1 ,200 car payment on a freaking Range Rover, you've destroyed your life, not the president. For the full interview, listen to The Global Story on bbc.com or wherever you listen.

25:12Welcome back to NewsHour. The British pop star Ed Sheeran's apologised to fans for making mistakes in his handling of a row over free speech during his world tour. He was speaking at his first show since one of his support acts, the American rapper Macklemore, was dropped from the tour over pro-Palestinian comments. Sheeran insisted it wasn't his decision to drop Macklemore and has tried to avoid being drawn into the fraught debate over the Middle East. But he was left with little choice after the withdrawal of his other support acts threatened the whole tour. And so alone on stage at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field Stadium on Saturday night, he had this to say.

25:48What happened in Israel and at the Noam Music Festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians' lives, of children's lives. And the systemic injustice we're seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked. While Bridget Goze was there, she's been telling me how she and the crowd reacted to it all. I was just trying to listen and record because I wanted to get a good video. The crowd was mixed reactions. It's Philadelphia and Philly is going to make itself known.

26:35There was people laughing. There was people booing at certain points. I think somebody shouted, just get on with it. Some people didn't want to hear the speech. Some people were cheering at certain points. It was very mixed reactions. I mean, listening back to it now or watching your videos, what do you think? I mean, it sounds pretty scripted, doesn't it? Of course it's scripted. I wouldn't have expected anything else. I think people are upset that he read from a teleprompter, but I don't see a big deal. I think that it's okay with him preparing a statement and not wanting to stumble over his words and make sure that he does say the right thing and doesn't flub up.

27:11yeah I think your boyfriend brought the tickets to the concert I mean was were you always going to go or had you thought about perhaps not going oh I completely thought about not going my boyfriend told me I don't care about the money we bought them so long ago if you don't want to go we don't have to go we'll go we'll go out to dinner or something so I wasn't going to go but then I was like well who is going to go and who's going to go and actually talk about what's going on while they're at the concert because if I was anywhere else in the world I'd be dying to know what was going on inside.