Voters on Sunday rejected the candidate for the hard-line Alternative for Germany Party, which is rattling German national politics, in the race for mayor in the city of Nordhausen.
The government signed off on legislation that would allow adults to buy and possess small amounts of cannabis. Parliament still needs to approve the measure.
The surge of the Alternative for Germany party has shaken the country’s political establishment. But for mainstream conservatives, it has also prompted an acute identity crisis.
The country’s first national security strategy is an attempt to set priorities, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but hard commitments were short in supply.