BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Friedrich Merz's party has made a disappointing start to a year packed with German state elections, suffering a narrow defeat in an important industrial region after a prominent candidate powered the environmentalist Greens to a come-from-behind victory.
Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union was long confident of winning back the governor's office in Baden-Württemberg, a region of more than 11 million people in southwestern Germany that is home to automakers Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, among many other companies. The country's first and so far only Green governor, Winfried Kretschmann, is retiring after 15 years in charge of a traditional conservative heartland.
A CDU victory long looked likely despite the unpopularity of Merz's 10-month-old federal government, which has struggled to get Germany's stagnant economy moving. But the party's poll lead shrank ahead of Sunday's election thanks to a Green campaign focused on Cem Özdemir, a longtime federal lawmaker and former German agriculture minister.
Final results Monday showed the Greens taking 30.2% of the vote, just ahead of the CDU with 29.7% — a gain compared with five years ago but not enough for victory. The far-right Alternative for Germany nearly doubled its support to 18.8%, reflecting its gains in last year's national election. Merz's partners in the federal government, the center-left Social Democrats, lost half their support to poll an embarrassing 5.5%.
Özdemir, 60, touted his experience and leaned hard into the Greens' relatively conservative image in Baden-Württemberg — a contrast with the party's more left-wing approach nationally, where it is in opposition.
His 37-year-old CDU opponent, Manuel Hagel, was much less well-known and probably wasn't helped by a video from 2018 posted recently by a Green federal lawmaker in which Hagel talked about a visit to a school and a female student's “fawn-brown eyes.”
The two parties are expected to govern Baden-Württemberg together, as they have in a coalition for the past 10 years, with Özdemir as Germany's first state governor with Turkish roots.
Sunday's was the first of five state elections this year. The next, on March 22 in neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate, pits the national governing parties against each other. It has been led since 1991 by the Social Democrats, who are in a tight race with Merz's CDU for first place.
In September, there are elections in Berlin and two regions in the ex-communist east, where Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is particularly strong and hopes to get its first state governor.
Jens Spahn, the conservatives' parliamentary leader in Berlin, conceded that Sunday's result was “bitter” but pointed to his party’s gains and contended that Özdemir won by essentially hiding his Green credentials. He argued that the federal government's recent performance had been helpful, including “the chancellor's strong foreign policy performance.”
Merz, who has visited Washington and Beijing in the past two weeks, has sometimes drawn criticism for spending a lot of time on foreign policy, which he rejects.
“His foreign policy presence may be really good, but he can only gain popularity and the federal CDU can only gain in polls if things go better domestically,” Uwe Jun, a political science professor at the University of Trier, told Phoenix television.
“He needs significant improvements in the area of social and economic policy,” Jun said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends the cabinet meeting at the chancellery at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Cem Özdemir (Alliance 90/The Greens), top candidate in the Baden-Württemberg state elections, makes a gesture at his party's election party and stretches up the little finger of his right hand, in Stuttgart, Germany, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Bernd Weißbrod/dpa via AP)
Iran launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries Monday, hours after Iranian state TV said Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the country’s late supreme leader and long considered a contender, had been named his successor.
Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard answers to the supreme leader and the younger Khamenei will have a central say in the war strategy.
Oil prices skyrocketed Monday, leading to more worries that higher energy costs will fuel inflation and lead to less spending by U.S. consumers, the main engine of the economy. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged as much as 7% in early Monday trading, while other Asian markets also tumbled.
Saudi Arabia sharpened its warnings to Iran, telling Tehran Monday it would be the “biggest loser” if it continues to attack Arab states. The Saudi statement came after a new drone attack apparently targeted its massive Shaybah oil field.
Here is the latest:
China’s government said the authorities “have noted” the reports of Iran naming Mojtaba Khamenei as new supreme leader and called on all parties to go back to negotiations to avoid further escalation.
“This is a decision made by the Iranian side in accordance with the country’s constitution,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday.
He added that “China opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs under any pretext” and said that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran “should be respected.”
Around 70,000 Syrians have crossed the border from Lebanon “under duress in a rush to Syria because they were so afraid of what is happening in Lebanon,” Karolina Lindholm Billing, the representative of the U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon, said Monday.
Lebanon was at one point hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees, but the numbers have declined, particularly since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024. Today around 532,000 registered refugees remain, with potentially hundreds of thousands more believed to be unregistered.
The United States and Iran have offered sharply different accounts of the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.
Washington has rejected Tehran’s claim that the warship IRIS Dena was unarmed when it was sunk in a submarine attack near Sri Lankan waters on March 4.
In a statement Sunday on X, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command called Iran’s assertion that the vessel was unarmed “false.”
Iranian officials say the vessel was operating in a noncombat role as it returned home after taking part in a naval exercise in India.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said last week the warship was “unarmed.”
Israel said Monday it has carried out airstrikes in Beirut.
The Israeli army earlier Monday said it would operate against targets associated with the Hezbollah-linked financial institution al-Qard Al-Hasan. It repeated the warning to residents of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb to flee.
Israel says Hezbollah uses al-Qard al-Hasan to finance its military activities.
Smoke billowed over Beirut after the attacks. The first strike destroyed a building housing an office of al-Qard al-Hasan in the southern suburb of Chiyah.
Israel’s military targeted several branches of al-Qard al-Hasan in southern and eastern Lebanon last week.
During the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, Israel’s military carried strikes that destroyed more than a dozen branches of al-Qard al-Hasan across Lebanon.
Emirati authorities have reported another missile attack in the capital, Abu Dhabi, urging people to remain in safe locations.
Israel has identified another launch on northern Israel shortly after a previous warning of an incoming missile attack from Iran on Monday.
Israel said in a new warning Monday that it has identified missiles launched from Iran toward northern and southern Israel.
Sirens sounded in Israel warning of a missile attack from Iran for the sixth time Monday.
Bangladesh on Monday closed all universities, bringing forward the break for Eid al-Fitr as part of emergency measures to conserve electricity during the conflict in the Middle East.
The South Asian country, which depends on imports for 95% of its energy requirements, already has experienced instances of panic buying. Car owners and drivers have struggled to collect fuel as shortages are reported.
The government has shut most fertilizer factories, redirecting available gas to power plants to avoid widespread outages.
Islam’s biggest festival is expected to be held either March 20 or 21, depending on the moon sighting, at the end of a month-long fasting ritual.
Energy Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud urged people to remain calm, saying Bangladesh has sufficient fuel stocks.
The capital of the United Arab Emirates came under Iranian attack Monday, with two people hurt by shrapnel from interceptions in Abu Dhabi, authorities said.
South Korea says it will cap oil prices for the first time since 1997 to stabilize soaring fuel costs driven by the war.
Kim Yong-beom, the presidential policy chief of staff, said in a briefing Monday that Seoul plans to introduce the caps sometime this week.
The government did not immediately provide details on how the caps would be structured and operated.
The move will help make fuel prices more predictable and prevent refineries and gas stations from raising prices “abnormally,” Kim said.
The Korea National Oil Corporation says it is holding several months’ worth of strategic oil reserves at nine storage facilities across South Korea, a stockpile that exceeds the International Energy Agency’s recommendation of 90 days.
South Korea last released its strategic reserves, which are used to address serious supply disruptions, in 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked global energy markets.
India’s foreign minister says two Indian mariners have been killed during the war.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed the deaths in an address to India’s parliament Monday and said the victims were working on merchant shipping operating near the conflict zone.
One sailor was still missing, he said.
The minister did not give further details of the vessels involved.
“This ongoing conflict is an issue of particular concern for India,” Jaishankar said, explaining that nearly 10 million Indians live and work in Gulf countries.
The region also is central to India’s energy security and trade, accounting for nearly $200 billion annually in commerce, he said.
Jaishankar reiterated that India favors peace in the region and urged a return to dialogue and diplomacy.
“We advocate de-escalation, restraint and ensuring the safety of civilians,” he said.
Turkey has deployed six F-16 jets and air defense systems to the Turkish-Cypriot part of the divided island of Cyprus to bolster its security, the defense ministry said.
A ministry statement said Monday additional measures would be taken if deemed necessary.
A British air base on Cyprus’ southern coastline was hit by a drone last week.
Ankara maintains some 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus, which broke away from the Greek south in 1974. Turkey is the only country to recognize the northern administration.
Iran’s judiciary reiterated it can order the assets of “enemies” abroad seized in the country.
It made the announcement Monday on the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
Reporters for Farsi-language media abroad have seen their assets seized over the years.
The report also said “any intelligence or espionage activity conducted” abroad for the Israeli or U.S. governments “could lead to the confiscation of all assets and even the death penalty.”
A barrage of drones was fired toward Saudi Arabia early Monday, hours after an attack killed two Bangladeshi nationals in the kingdom.
The Saudi Defense Ministry said it intercepted drones in the northern Jawf region, as well as the vast Shaybah oil field.
Late Sunday an attack in the central city of Kharj killed the two Bangladeshi nationals and wounded 12 others. All but one was from from Bangladesh.
As Iranian state television reported on the ascension of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader, it referred to him as being wounded in war.
State TV on air described him as “janbaz,” or wounded by the enemy, in the “Ramadan war,” which is how media in Iran refer to the current conflict.
However, later an analyst on air suggested Khamenei’s wounding could have been during his service in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.
The differing accounts could not be immediately reconciled.
Khamenei’s father and his wife were killed in the Feb. 28 Israeli airstrike in Tehran at the start of the war. Khamenei has yet to be seen since the war began. He was announced as Iran’s new supreme leader on Monday.
Bahrain again sounded an alarm over incoming fire from Iran on Monday.
The investigative group Bellingcat says its analysis of a newly released video “appears to contradict” U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was responsible for an explosion at an Iranian school, which Iran’s state media said killed 165 people on Feb. 28.
The video shared by Bellingcat was a three-second clip released Sunday by the Iranian semi-official news agency. It shows a munition hitting a building, sending a dark plume of smoke into the air.
The Associated Press was not immediately able to authenticate the video.
Experts interviewed by the AP have deduced from satellite image analysis that the school was likely struck during a quick succession of bombs dropped on an adjacent IRGC base.
Neither U.S. central command nor the Israeli military immediately responded to requests for comment from the AP.
Israel’s military warned Monday of new incoming missile fire from Iran. Moments later, sirens sounded in parts of northern Israel.
Bahrain’s state oil company declared force majeure on Monday for its shipments after an Iranian attack set its refinery ablaze.
The state-run Bahrain News Agency carried the announcement of the force majeure, a legal maneuver that releases a company of its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances.
It said the company’s operations “have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex.”
It insisted local demand could be met.
Mourners carry the bodies of Hezbollah fighters who were killed by Israeli airstrikes during their funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli tanks are parked in a staging area in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of the capital Tehran as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israel military campaign, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
