Far-right AfD set to win German state election on Sunday
The party, which opposes immigration and favors closer ties with Russia, has a double-digit polling lead in Saxony-Anhalt, a former East German region where many people have felt economically and socially left behind since reunification in 1989. That poses a big dilemma for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right CDU party, which is polling second in Saxony-Anhalt: it has ruled out a coalition with the AfD, which German intelligence has classified as an “extremist” party. But it’s also rejected cooperation with the far-left Left party, which is currently polling third. To prevent the AfD from forming Germany’s first far-right local government since World War II, Merz may have to make some bitter compromises. And this weekend is just the start of his woes. The AfD, which has surged in national popularity and is now the second-largest party in the Bundestag, is set to make gains in two other upcoming elections in the former East this month as well.
Farage in hot water after undercover donations sting
Two of Nigel Farage’s aides have stepped down after undercover journalists caught them on camera appearing to arrange clandestine foreign political donations to his far-right party, Reform UK. Another video shows Farage himself thanking the journalists, who posed as an American businessman and his British son, for their support. British law requires disclosure of all political donations and bans contributions from foreign sources. This is not the first time that Farage has come under fire for undisclosed donations. Earlier this summer, he triggered a by-election after an investigation was launched into an undisclosed £5 million ($6.7 million) personal gift from a crypto billionaire. At the party’s annual conference today, Farage said he had “not done anything wrong” and that the new report had been “entrapment.” This latest report could affect his previously high chances of becoming Britain’s next prime minister, with his favorability rating falling to 23% in August.
The Pentagon addresses location data vulnerability
The US military is disabling advertising trackers on military-issued phones and computers following reports that commercially available location data was used to locate and attack American troops in the Middle East. The Air Force, Army, Navy, and US Special Operations Command have all taken steps to limit the tracking technology known as mobile advertising IDs (MAIDs), which advertisers use to track usage locations and other useful advertising data across users’ devices. It’s not the military’s first run-in with the risks of location tracking. In 2018, the Pentagon restricted the use of GPS on mobile devices in war zones and sensitive locations after US intelligence analysts noted that GPS data from the popular running app Strava inadvertently revealed the locations and layouts of military installations worldwide.
