Friedrich Merz’s hard-line shift on migration is a calculated gambit by the German conservative leader to neutralize the far right and deliver a breakthrough with wavering voters, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany's CDU/CSU conservative bloc which is leading polls ahead of the Feb. 23 vote, is keen to seize the initiative on migration policy, which has shifted sharply back into focus after an Afghan asylum seeker was arrested over deadly stabbings last week.

Six German endurance track cyclists have been seriously injured after an 89-year-old drove a car head-on into the group.

A 99-year-old Holocaust survivor said on Thursday he would return his federal order of merit award to the German state in protest over a parliamentary vote in which support from the far-right was used for the first time to secure a majority.

The German Catholic and Protestant churches warned on Tuesday against the conservative opposition's plan to crack down on immigration, which they said could break a convention against mainstream parties cooperating with the far-right.

Germany's opposition conservatives won parliamentary approval on Wednesday for a proposal to drastically restrict migration with the help of votes from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), breaking a taboo on cooperation with the far-right.

A golden retriever and a German shepherd challenged each other to a spaghetti eating competition, and the results have left users across the internet in hysterics.

Elon Musk told a rally the German far-right AfD party, just before Holocaust Remembrance Day, that Germany should get over "past guilt."

German industry has for years called out high energy prices and poor economic policies for making them uncompetitive. A coalition of SMEs is now saying enough is enough.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 99-year-old Holocaust survivor said on Thursday he would return his federal order of merit award to the German state in protest over a parliamentary vote in which support from the far-right was used for the first time to secure a majority.