BBC News Briefing

24 February, 2025

Alex has bobbed light brown hair and blue eyes and is smiling at the camera. She wears a dark grey, high-necked top with a pink jumper on top

Alex Binley

Hello. A day after Germany's elections, the country's likely new chancellor has said that Europe needs to unite and move away from the US – we bring you all the developments. America's influence is also being felt in Ukraine, where the country is marking three years since Russia's invasion, with fears increasing of an "extinction nightmare", writes international editor Jeremy Bowen. And check out the goat that somehow became stranded on a fifth-floor window ledge in Madrid.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Merz says US is ‘largely indifferent’ to the fate of Europe

Friedrich Merz stands on a stage in front of a turquoise background. He is wearing a dark grey suit and a white shirt and speaking into a microphone which says 'CDU' on it. Merz has short grey hair and black glasses, and raises a fist in the air.

The election results are largely as expected, with the CDU topping the polls and the AfD second. Credit: Reuters

Germany is set to have a new chancellor, with Friedrich Merz the likely candidate after his Christian Democrats (CDU) topped Sunday's elections with 28.6% of the vote. Merz will now try to form a coalition, likely with outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats who came third. One party that will not be included is the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) after Merz ruled out working with them. Speaking on Sunday night, Merz said the "absolute priority" is to "strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that we can achieve real independence from the US" which has become "largely indifferent" to the continent's fate. This tone from the close US ally is a seismic shift in transatlantic relations, writes our Europe editor Katya Adler.

Latest updates

Who is Friedrich Merz?: Germany's likely new chancellor who flirted with the far right.

Challenges loom: Germany is at a crossroads and its new leader must now try to build a coalition in a divided country, writes Berlin correspondent Jessica Parker.

Watch: AfD 'delighted': The BBC's Nick Beake explains why the AfD are so happy with the election result, given that other parties have pledged they will not be included in any new government.

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BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Three years on, Ukraine's extinction nightmare has returned

A treated image of two soldiers beside a edited image of Jeremy Bowen on the right

The exclusion of Kyiv from talks on the war between the US and Russia has angered many Ukrainians. Credit: Getty Images

Three years on from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the return of Donald Trump and his stream of exaggeration, half-truths and outright lies about the war that echo the views of President Putin, have changed everything, writes international editor Jeremy Bowen. Recent developments have left Ukrainians as fearful now of national extinction as they were three years ago.

Read now

A church spire made of brown bricks and white boards at the top, reaches into a clear blue sky

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

The illegal US church

A "secret" church reveals how Black people worshipped in the US's earliest days.

Read now

And finally... in Madrid

You think you've seen it all, and then you see this video of a goat being rescued from a fifth-floor flat ledge in Madrid. It's not clear how the animal ended up - high up - above Spain's capital, but what is clear, is that it was happily coaxed to safety with the help of salad.