Thomas Escritt

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Sarah Marsh |Thomas Escritt |Matthias Williams

By Sarah Marsh, Thomas Escritt and Matthias WilliamsBERLIN (Reuters) -Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz urged sceptical lawmakers on Thursday to back his proposals for a massive increase in state borrowing, framing them as a test for Germany to stand tall on the world stage and safeguard European security.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Thomas Escritt |Angelo Amante |David M. Latona

By Thomas Escritt, Angelo Amante and David LatonaBERLIN/ROME/MADRID (Reuters) - Donald Trump's White House confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is exposing differences within Europe's burgeoning far-right movement over his plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. They celebrated the U.S. president's return to power for taking a fringe movement mainstream and have backed billionaire Elon Musk's call to "Make Europe Great Again" (MEGA).

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Thomas Escritt

Friedrich Merz, a man who has never held a government role, is preparing to take the reins in Germany just as the country faces its biggest economic and diplomatic crises in decades and Europe looks urgently for a new generation of leaders for an era of transatlantic tension.

2 months ago | marketscreener.com | Thomas Escritt

BERLIN (Reuters) - A network of more than 700 fake social media accounts has sprung up in the last week of Germany's election campaign, researchers say, promoting pro-Russian narratives and demonising conservative election frontrunner Friedrich Merz. The bot network, dubbed "Geist" by researchers working with Germany's Robert Bosch Foundation, carries anti-conservative, anti-war messages with AI-generated pictures of Merz.

Jan 9, 2025 | reuters.com | Thomas Escritt

BERLIN, Jan 9 (Reuters) - On his public journey to embracing Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Elon Musk has frequently amplified the online content of one young supporter of the party - climate change and COVID-19 lockdown sceptic Naomi Seibt.