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Foreign policy expert Roettgen calls for CDU party renewal
Christian Democrat foreign policy expert Norbert Roettgen, who is running for the powerful post of CDU chief, called on his fellow conservatives to focus on modernization of the nation and the party. "It's really about one thing: future competence," Roettgen told a party convention to select a new CDU leader. "You always have to become the people's party and the party of the middle." He said he was confident of winning new voters for the CDU ahead of national elections in eight months. Parties standing in the centre of political life have to always to renew themselves, Roettgen said.
DPA
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China mulls bolstering control of rare earths as national strategy
China has unveiled a draft bill designed to strengthen control of rare earths, vital to the production of high-tech goods such as hybrid cars and mobile phones, officials said Saturday. The draft bill, released to the public on Friday, said the Chinese government will manage the process from mining to exports of rare earths as a national strategy, as tensions with the United States have been escalating over state-of-the-art technologies. The United States and other major economies, including European countries and Japan, depend on rare earth imports from China, the world's dominant supplier of...
Kyodo News
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Laschet calls on Germany's CDU to 'stand in the centre'
Armin Laschet, candidate to be chairman of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), called on the party to guard against further divisions in the country. "We must speak plainly, but not polarize," Laschet told a digital party conference aimed at selecting the next party leader, who would then be in a good position to succeed Merkel as chancellor. The 59-year-old is premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. "We can only win when we stand in the centre," said Laschet.
DPA
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Merz rejects concerns he's out of step with modern Germany
Friedrich Merz, a wealthy corporate lawyer who is seeking to head up Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), sought to address voter concerns that is was out of step with modern Germany. "I hear and read, not in our party, I have an old-fashion image (of women). If that were the case, my daughters would have shown me the yellow card long ago and my wife would not have married me 40 years ago," the 65-year-old Merz told a party convention. Popular with the CDU's right-wing flank, Merz again ruled out co-operating with the far-right Alternative for Germany and stressed...
DPA
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Merkel’s conservatives begin meeting to select new party chief
Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) have opened an online meeting aimed at taking the first step towards selecting the German chancellor's successor. The 1,001 delegates attending the CDU's first-ever digital convention are to select a new party chief from three candidates: Armin Laschet, who is premier of Germany's most populous state of North Rhine Westphalia, wealthy corporate lawyer Friedrich Merz and foreign policy expert Norbert Roettgen. Each candidate has 15 minutes to introduce themselves to the delegates, which include ministers, party functionaries and elected off...
DPA
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Five Hong Kong democracy protesters seek asylum in the US
Hong Kong (AFP) - Five Hong Kong democracy protesters who reportedly fled to Taiwan have arrived in the United States intending to seek asylum, an activist group said on Saturday. Their escape follows the mass arrest of democracy figures in Hong Kong under a new national security law that is part of a mounting crackdown by China on the financial hub. The Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC), a US-based group, said it had welcomed a group of young activists to America this week and their journey had been "arduous and perilous". "The activists, all under the age of 30, took part in the ongoing pro...
AFP
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Main events scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 17
Main events scheduled in Japan for Sunday, Jan. 17: -- 26th anniversary of Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated Kobe, vicinity.
Kyodo News
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Biden elevates science post to cabinet level
Washington (AFP) - US President-elect Joe Biden announced Friday he is upgrading the White House science advisor position to cabinet-level -- a sharp break from predecessor Donald Trump as America grapples with the pandemic. The former vice-president will have to grapple with a nation hard-hit by Covid-19: known infections have surpassed 23 million with almost 400,000 deaths recorded. Eric Lander, a geneticist who helped map the human genome, will head the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and advise Biden. "Science will always be at the forefront of my administration ...
AFP
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Trump to leave town early Wednesday before Biden inauguration
Washington (AFP) - By the time Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th US president Wednesday, his scandal-tainted predecessor Donald Trump will already be far away, having helicoptered out of the White House a last time earlier that morning, an official said Friday. Trump will be the first president in a century and a half to snub the inauguration of his successor. An official who asked not to be identified said Trump would go to his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida, which is his legal residence and will become home after the White House. He is expected to be out of town well before Biden is sworn i...
AFP
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Georgia voter challenges fall short, with few ballots thrown out
ATLANTA — After a vast effort to challenge the eligibility of 360,000 Georgia voters, election officials rejected just a few dozen ballots, undermining suspicions of significant voting fraud. The allegations of ineligible voters came from the Texas-based group True the Vote, which worked with members of the Republican Party in an attempt to disqualify ballots of voters whose names showed up on lists showing they had moved. Bipartisan election boards across the state found few illegitimate voters as they finished certifying results of the U.S. Senate runoffs Friday. In Forsyth County, where mor...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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