Close
MyNorthwest
News
Opinion
Sports
Tools
Connect

POLITICS

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reshuffles top posts amid far-right advance

Jul 24, 2026, 12:13 AM | Updated: 12:32 am

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Thorsten Frei, Head of the Federal Chancellery and Fede...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Thorsten Frei, Head of the Federal Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Tasks attend the cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP)
Credit: Sebastian Gollnow/DPA via AP

(Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP)

Associated Press's Profile Picture

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS


BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reshuffled top posts on Friday as he tries to boost the fortunes of his deeply unpopular government ahead of regional elections in which a far-right party could get its first state governor.

Merz took office less than 15 months ago with pledges to reform and turn around Germany’s economy, Europe’s biggest, after years of stagnation. But that economic turnaround has been slow to start. And the middle-of-the-road coalition of Merz’s center-right Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats, two traditional rivals, has yet to persuade voters that it can produce results.

Politics

From left, U.S. Senate candidates Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson, Dr. Nirav Shah, and Jordan Wood pre...

Associated Press

Maine Democrats are meeting to pick a new Senate nominee to face Republican Sen. Susan Collins

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Maine Democrats on Saturday will choose a new U.S. Senate nominee to face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a contest that could decide control of the Senate, after Graham Platner dropped out of the race following an allegation of sexual assault. Support has coalesced around former state Senate President Troy […]

5 hours ago

FILE - Turbines are visible at Sunrise Wind offshore wind farm that is under construction off the c...

Associated Press

Trump administration admits grants for clean energy were canceled based on politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has acknowledged in canceled $7.6 billion in grants for hundreds of clean energy projects “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state” — in this case, 16 states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. The statement contradicts repeated assertions by Energy […]

9 hours ago

People views displays at the Smithsonian museum a day after Independence Day celebrations honoring ...

Associated Press

Trump orders new signs outside Smithsonian saying some exhibits are inaccurate

President Donald Trump ordered his administration Friday to install signs in front of the Smithsonian Institution ‘s U.S. history museum telling visitors that some of the exhibits are inaccurate, his latest move to reshape how the story of the United States is told. Trump’s move follows a report released July 4 by his Domestic Policy […]

10 hours ago

FILE - Shipping containers are seen ready for transport at the Guangzhou Port in the Nansha distric...

Associated Press

What to know about Trump’s latest tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump keeps finding ways to maintain a wall of tariffs around the American economy. On Friday, he rolled out new double-digit tariffs on imports from 60 U.S. trading partners, ostensibly for failing to do enough to prevent imports produced by forced labor. But the breadth of the levies — they […]

12 hours ago

Ronaldo Salgado speaks during an oversight forum on Friday, July 24, 2026, in Houston, about the de...

Associated Press

Sons of man shot and killed by ICE in Houston demand accountability at congressional hearing

Two sons of a man shot by immigration officers in Houston this month testified at a congressional hearing Friday, describing the horror and confusion of learning their father had been killed, and demanding a transparent investigation into how he died and why. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed July 7, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers […]

13 hours ago

FILE - Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response to President Donald Trump'...

Associated Press

Virginia study on groundwater, data centers calls for tighter water regulations

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia, the world’s largest data center hub, has released a long-delayed study that examined the state’s eastern region groundwater supply and the resource-hungry industry’s possible impact on it, finding declines are likely in a critical aquifer due to population growth and industrial use, and urging stricter regulations. Produced by environmental scientists, […]

13 hours ago

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reshuffles top posts amid far-right advance