Merkel's decision to welcome a million Syrian migrants in 2015 has tarnished her political standing, but the idea of a 'safe zone' could reduce the outflow of refugees from the war-torn country.

While popular premier far-left Die Linke party easily retained the top spot with about 30 per cent, the Alternative for Germany scored at least 23 percent - more than doubling its result in 2014.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) has told her fellow EU leaders that the projected rise would make Germany the largest per-capita contributor, overtaking the Netherlands.

Angela Merkel has urged Europe to defend 'democracy' and 'freedom' as Germany is today marking 30 years since the Berlin Wall fell.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged the United States to be a 'mutually respectful partner' and reject nationalism as Germany marks 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

President Trump defended his lawyer Rudy Giuliani between NATO meetings for his contacts with the White House as revealed in phone records, saying: 'What difference does that make?'

Yale Medical School Professor Dr Bandy Lee, George Washington University Professor Dr John Zinner, and former CIA profiler Dr Jerrold Post sent off their letter on Thursday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been crowned Forbes' most powerful woman for the ninth year running, closely followed by ECB head Christine Lagarde and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Angela Merkel has warned the UK's decision to leave the European Union must act as a 'wake up call' for the bloc.

EXCLUSIVE: John Baird, who steered Canada's foreign policy from 2011 to 2015, believes the Prime Minister can spearhead the Western push-back against Iran.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (pictured) announced she would not seek the top job when Merkel stands down at next year's German election.

Horst Seehofer rebuffed the chancellor's outstretched hand at a summit in Berlin this morning - refusing to make an exception to a self-imposed handshake ban.

MARK ALMOND: Turkey's president announced that his country would no longer enforce the deal struck with the EU in 2016 to prevent millions of refugees from leaving for Western shores.

It came as Erdogan jetted into Brussels for a high-level meeting aimed at shoring up the 2016 migrant deal, where the EU agreed to hand over €6bn in exchange for migrants being held back.

Angela Merkel urged Germans to heed the stringent confinement measures imposed this week as the number of infections soared over 11,000 today, including 28 deaths.

Angela Merkel went into quarantine just hours after she rolled out tough measures across Germany to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig is carrying out blood tests in order to identify antibodies associated with Covid-19 (pictured, medics treat a patient in Hamburg).

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has ordered people not leave their homes unless they have an exceptional reason. A distance of at least five feet must be kept from others at all times.

A restart of the Bundesliga could be pushed back a week to May 16 as clubs nervously wait for Chancellor Angela Merkel's verdict. 

European leaders are pushing ahead with plans to ease lockdowns and restart their battered economies amid fears of a second wave of coronavirus cases and deaths.

Germany 's number of coronavirus cases has dropped following five days of rising infections after the government eased the country's lockdown measures earlier this week.

A Las Vegas newspaper has unearthed documents relating to a speaking engagement Hillary Clinton will undertake at a University of Nevada Las Vegas Foundation fundraiser.

Hillary Clinton pushed back on the idea Republicans have been floating since Justice Scalia's death – that the winner of the election should decide his successor.

The FBI is investigating how thousands of Democratic National Committee emails were hacked, a breach that Clinton's campaign claims was committed by Russia to benefit Donald Trump.

The campaign says it 'can't know for certain' that the leak is the work of Russian president Vladimir Putin - but it keep suggesting it.

Disgusted Sanders supporter Yolanda Gonzalez, pictured, screamed 'lock her up' at the Philadelphia convention as party leaders preached party unity.

The First Lady used her rousing words on the first night of the party's convention in Philadelphia to back Hillary Clinton and attack Donald Trump.

The collectible critters have been placed inside the secure zone of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Outside it souvenir sellers are cashing in on Sanders.

For more than 30 years, he has given speeches on huge political stages. But many critics thought Clinton's address at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia was long and dull.

Tony Goldwyn - who plays President Fitzgerald Grant in the political thriller - backed Hillary Clinton to tackle 'hard truths about race and justice in America'.

Clinton herself appeared live on video to thank delegates and celebrate her big night after becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major party on Tuesday night.

In his endorsement of her, Barack Obama described Clinton as the most qualified presidential nominee in U.S. history. But two Yale psychologists explain why voters are not so convinced by her.

Sarah Silverman's Twitter account was hacked on Wednesday after declaring in her speech at the Democratic National Convention that she would support Hillary Clinton for president.

Many viewers took to Twitter to question whether the 69-year-old is having any health issues Tuesday night, after a similar scare occurred earlier this year during an appearance in Iowa in January.

Portia Boulger, of Chillicothe, Ohio, was filmed speaking after Sanders’ speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Monday.

Since his first appearance as a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama's looks have changed dramatically - and he isn't embarrassed to admit it.

Wasserman Schultz, who was forced to resign from her position at the weekend, looked unhappy as she watched the president during his speech in Philadelphia on Wednesday evening.

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton told childhood tales in an effort to humanize the Democratic nominee who would soon come onstage at tonight's Democratic National Convention.

Trump himself has turned name-calling into a high art form, deploying derogatory nicknames for his opponents including 'Lyin' Ted' Cruz, 'Liddle Marco' Rubio and 'Crooked Hillary' Clinton.

The Bureau has been accused of preventing the DNC from reducing the number of emails and documents released by Wikileaks - prompting the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Hillary Clinton's campaign prepared 71 pages of 'hits' against Bernie Sanders to be used against the Vermont senator in the debates last fall.

Trump tweeted Monday: 'The Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign. Big advantage in Electoral College & lost!'

O'Rourke, the former Texas congressman who nearly won a U.S. Senate seat last year, has lost support from young voters and minorities, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos national poll.

Appearing to send the tweets while aboard Air Force One, Trump demanded to know why Democrats are not calling the likes of James Comey or John Clapper to testify.

Embarrassed debate moderators jumped to a premature commercial break at the beginning of Wednesday night's second hour when NBC left the first hour's moderators with hot mics backstage.

The former vice president appeared surprised when he noticed Bernie's hand near his face as the Vermont senator over-extended into Biden's personal space.

Self-help guru Marianne Williamson warned at Tuesday's Democratic debate that 'Republicans will win' if the party strays too far left on health care - in a voice compared online to yodeling.

The second night of the second Democratic debate kicked off at 8pm Wednesday in Detroit, Michigan, featuring front-runners Kamala Harris and Joe Biden at center stage.

The 47-year-old former Texas congressman's campaign was running out of cash rapidly despite beginning like a rock star. He was at 1 per cent in the polls before he quit.

Some of Kamala Harris' own aides and supporters have gone nuclear on her sinking presidential campaign as her star power in the Democratic 2020 primary has faded.