Politics

Merz Hits Record-Low Approval After CDU Losses to AfD and The Left: October 2, 2026

BERLIN — An ARD public-broadcast survey published Thursday found only one in 10 Germans satisfied or very satisfied with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s performance — the lowest reading for any chancellor since the poll began in 1997 — after a string of Christian Democratic Union state election setbacks, Al Jazeera reported.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 20, the CDU failed to clear the 5 percent threshold and exited the state parliament for the first time in the Federal Republic’s history, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) finished first with more than a third of the vote. In Berlin, The Left led with 25.7 percent and the CDU placed second. Two weeks earlier in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD won more than 40 percent against about 17 percent for the CDU.

Merz called the Mecklenburg result “a disaster” but vowed to stay as party chairman and chancellor. Under Germany’s Basic Law, the Bundestag can replace a chancellor only by electing a successor with an absolute majority, constraining any internal revolt. Political scientist Wolfgang Schroeder of the University of Kassel told Al Jazeera the CDU is caught in a strategic dilemma between the AfD on the right and The Left in urban contests.

Sources: Al Jazeera

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France Detains Nearly 2,000 as School Protests Turn to Fires and Blockades: October 2, 2026

PARIS — France’s interior ministry said 1,949 people were arrested Thursday and 305 police and gendarmes injured as high-school protests over teacher shortages, overcrowding and rundown buildings escalated into fires, petrol attacks and citywide blockades, the BBC and France 24 reported with AFP.

Blazes were reported at lycées in Nantes and Rouen after bins were set alight; in Marseille, staff at Victor Hugo high school were splashed with petrol. The ministry said 1,027 lycées have been affected and 222 blockaded; at least 30 university campuses joined Thursday. Public transport halted in Marseille and Strasbourg. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a crisis meeting, cancelled ministers’ travel, and said the unrest had become “urban violence.” Education Minister Édouard Geffray planned talks with pupil representatives Friday, with hundreds of schools expected to shift to distance learning.

Students cite missing teachers, leaking buildings and overcrowded cafeterias. The government and National Rally’s Marine Le Pen blamed hard-left organizers; La France Insoumise denied orchestrating riots while defending students’ grievances. The unrest is already shaping the run-up to France’s 2027 presidential contest.

Sources: BBC News, France 24 with AFP

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Brazil Patron Saint Row Roils Deadlocked Race Ahead of Sunday Election: October 2, 2026

BRASILIA — Speculation that far-right presidential challenger Flávio Bolsonaro might strip Brazil’s patron saint, Our Lady of Aparecida, of her official position has erupted into a nationwide row days before Sunday’s first-round general election, with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro still deadlocked in the polls, The Guardian reported.

Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, called the claims “fake news.” Analyst Thomas Traumann told The Guardian the controversy “could sway things one way or the other” in a knife-edge race that may force an October 25 runoff. Lula, who is Catholic, has publicly embraced the Aparecida image; the feud mixes religion, culture-war messaging and last-minute turnout politics after TV Globo cancelled a final debate amid court-ordered format changes.

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court and Supreme Federal Court intervened late on debate rules Thursday, and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro withdrew from the Globo event after Lula declined to appear, according to Brazilian reporting covered in Thursday’s evening wires. First-round voting is Sunday, October 4.

Sources: The Guardian, France 24

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Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Trump Mandatory ICE Detention Policy: October 2, 2026

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a challenge to a Trump administration policy that subjects millions of people living in the United States without lawful status to mandatory detention without bond hearings during deportation proceedings, Reuters reported.

The justices granted review in Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha (No. 26-104), an administration appeal of a Second Circuit ruling for Brazilian national Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, who entered unlawfully around 2004–2005, was arrested in Massachusetts in September 2025, initially denied a bond hearing, and later released on bond. The Department of Homeland Security’s July 2025 guidance treated noncitizens already inside the country as “applicants for admission” under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), reversing a nearly three-decade interpretation that allowed bond for many interior cases.

Reuters analysis earlier found hundreds of judges had ruled thousands of times that the detention policy was unlawful; immigrants have filed more than 73,000 related federal cases this year. ACLU lawyer Michael K.T. Tan called the policy “cruel and inhumane” and unlawful. A DHS spokesperson welcomed the grant, saying the department had “implemented the law as Congress intended” and faulting prior “catch-and-release” practice. Argument falls in the term that opens Monday; a decision is due by the end of June.

Sources: Reuters, SCOTUSblog

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Renee Good Family Sues Trump Officials Over ICE Shooting in Minneapolis: October 2, 2026

MINNEAPOLIS — The family of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen shot dead by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a January immigration sweep in Minneapolis, filed two lawsuits Thursday against the U.S. government and senior Trump administration officials, the BBC and Associated Press reported.

Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had recently moved to the city, was killed on January 7 at a traffic stop that authorities said followed an attempt to harm agents; witnesses disputed that account. Millions watched video of the shooting, and protests followed across Minneapolis. A second Minneapolis resident, Alex Pretti, was killed by immigration agents on January 24. Weeks later, hundreds of federal agents were withdrawn from the city and the operation’s commander, Greg Bovino, was removed.

One suit, citing the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleges battery, assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence in Good’s death. The second names ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots, along with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, border official Tom Homan and others, alleging a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights. Family lawyer Antonio Romanucci said the operation created “an unprecedented environment for state-sponsored violence.” Partner Becca Good told a news conference: “The whole world had to watch as our entire universe was destroyed.”

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis called the lawsuits “baseless” and said the government would vigorously defend them. President Donald Trump initially blamed Good’s actions, later calling the death a “tragedy.” At least 10 people have been killed in encounters with immigration officers during Trump’s second term, according to the AP.

Sources: BBC News, Associated Press

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New Zealand Parliament Dissolved Ahead of November 7 Election: October 1, 2026

WELLINGTON — New Zealand’s Parliament was dissolved on Thursday, formally opening the campaign for the Nov. 7 general election in what Reuters described as a tight race between the ruling centre-right coalition and a Labour-led left bloc.

Parliament’s final sitting was Sept. 23. Parties are focusing on the cost of living, economic management and public services. A 1News-Verian poll released this week showed a left-leaning coalition likely led by Labour potentially winning 65 seats against 59 for the incumbent National–ACT–New Zealand First bloc. Under the Mixed Member Proportional system, coalitions have been the norm for three decades, and the centrist Opportunity Party could emerge as a kingmaker in some surveys.

Elections New Zealand’s timetable lists dissolution on Oct. 1, writ day on Oct. 4, overseas voting from Oct. 21 and advance voting from Oct. 26. Parliament normally has 120 seats, with overhang seats possible when electorate wins exceed a party’s nationwide vote share.

Sources: Reuters via MarketScreener, Elections New Zealand

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Japan Raises Permanent Residency Fees About Twentyfold: October 1, 2026

TOKYO — Japan sharply raised fees for permanent residency and related immigration procedures as of Oct. 1, with some permanent-residency costs rising about twentyfold, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government tightens rules amid a record foreign-resident population, the BBC reported.

Applicants now face new income, pension and Japanese-language requirements alongside higher fees. Status-change and stay-extension fees that once stood around 6,000 yen now range from about 10,000 yen for short stays to 75,000 yen for five years or more, with hardship and refugee discounts. Long lines formed at Tokyo’s main immigration bureau this week as people tried to file before the hikes, with waits over seven hours reported.

Japan’s foreign-resident population surpassed 4.12 million at the end of 2025, up 9.5 percent year on year, even as an ageing society leans on foreign labour. Takaichi has made orderly immigration management a priority and, in an X post ahead of the fee changes, acknowledged public “concern or unfairness” while pledging that Japanese citizens and foreign residents can live safely. Visa fees were already raised fivefold in July — the first such hike in 50 years.

Sources: BBC News

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Explosions Heard in Ethiopia Capital After Drone Flights Banned: October 1, 2026

ADDIS ABABA — Residents of Ethiopia’s capital reported hearing loud explosions early Thursday, hours after authorities banned drone flights over Addis Ababa and a week after fighting flared north of the city between the army and a new alliance that includes Tigrayan forces, the BBC reported.

A source linked to opposition fighters told Reuters they were behind what they described as drone strikes. Locals near the Gotera neighbourhood and the western Torhayloch suburb close to military facilities described blasts strong enough to set off car alarms around 00:30 local time. There were no official confirmations of exact targets, damage or casualties; the prime minister’s office, defence ministry and police did not respond to BBC requests for comment.

Clashes last week followed months of tension between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front over the 2022 peace deal that ended a war estimated by an African Union mediator to have cost about 600,000 lives. Seven armed movements, including the TPLF and Amhara Fano militia, recently formed an alliance stating an aim of removing the government in Addis Ababa.

Sources: BBC News

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UK and France Scrap One-In-One-Out Channel Migrant Deal: October 1, 2026

LONDON — Britain’s Home Office said its “one in, one out” pilot with France to return some small-boat Channel arrivals in exchange for an equal number of migrants with stronger UK claims is no longer processing new cases, effectively scrapping the year-old scheme, the BBC reported.

Only about 1,500 people had been removed to France since the pilot began just over a year ago. A Home Office spokesperson said flights would continue for a time to clear remaining cases and that “lessons learned” would speed returns of people with no right to remain. The French Interior Ministry told the BBC it was discussing “terms of exit from the agreement.” Crossings from Jan. 1 to Sept. 27, 2026, totaled 19,135 people — down 42 percent from the same period a year earlier, Home Office figures cited by the BBC showed.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had told MPs the scheme faced scaling problems in the French system even as UN agencies reported some migrants hesitated to board boats for fear of return. France had signaled for months it did not intend to renew the bilateral pilot beyond Oct. 1, preferring broader EU burden-sharing talks.

Sources: BBC News, CNA with AFP

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Hegseth Orders 20% Cut in Generals and Admirals, New Drone Command: October 1, 2026

QUANTICO, Va. — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in a “State of the Force” address on Wednesday that the military will cut 20 percent of its generals and admirals by Jan. 1, 2027, and create a new four-star command focused on drones and autonomous systems, the Associated Press reported.

Hegseth said he directed the services to double a 10 percent reduction he ordered last spring affecting roughly 800 flag and general officer posts. “I call it accountability and long overdue,” he told junior officers and enlisted leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Some lawmakers called the drawdown a “purge”; Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said it would take a generation to recover leadership lost in the cuts.

Hegseth also said the Pentagon would stand up a drone-focused warfare command and launch a future-warfare study led in part by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey. He touted plans for a new military base — the first in about 40 years — and other personnel and cultural changes. The speech came amid a grinding U.S. war with Iran and other overseas operations, AP reported.

Sources: Associated Press via NBC News, Associated Press via ABC News

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