CRAIG BROWN: As his girth attested, Helmut Kohl liked his food. In fact, he could be called something of a glutton. His favourite dish was Saumagen, which literally means 'sow's stomach'.

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.

Björn Höcke's party surged to 23 per cent of the vote in Thuringia, a state in the former East Germany, beating Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling CDU into third place.

The fall of the Berlin Wall changed the world. It brought an end to Communist regimes right across Europe, and finished Russia as a superpower

President Donald Trump sat down with Turkish President Recep Erdogan at NATO meetings Wednesday shortly before cancelling his own scheduled press conference.

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.

The swing towards right-wing ideology began as a backlash to the 2015 migrant crisis, when Chancellor Angela Merkel threw opened Germany's borders to some one million migrants.

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.

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel will quarantine herself at home after being treated by a doctor who has since tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

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).

Germany has eased some lockdown measures but is seeing a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, with infections rising for the fifth day in a row. Pictured: Graph of Covid-19 cases in Germany.

The German head of state, accompanied by Chancellor Angela Merkel, stuck to social distancing guidelines at they laid down their wreaths yesterday at the Neue Wache Memorial in Berlin.

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.

'Right now I'm not worried about the Russians. The biggest threat to America I see right now is Donald Trump's candidacy and what that will do to our country,' Corey Booker morning on Today.

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.

'Together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution – our revolution – continues,' Sanders said.

Delegates shouted 'Bernie, Bernie' and booed every mention of Hillary Clinton in the opening session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Even the gavelling was a fiasco.

Some of Sen. Bernie Sanders' progressive supporters want to pull Sen. Tim Kaine from the vice presidential slot and insert someone to the left of him instead.

The former vice president, who refused to back Clinton during the recent Democratic primary, announced today he will vote for Clinton in the November race against Donald Trump.

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

The 30-year-old showed off her long legs in tiny denim shorts as she sported a loose white T-shirt and dark sunglasses.

Susan Sarandon is a staunch supporter of defeated candidate Bernie Sanders, and was unable to hide her rage during speeches at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia yesterday.

Democrats managed to find some flags for the main stage at the Democratic convention after the lack of an old fashioned Stars and Stripes was noticeably absent from the stage.

Jerry Emmett, 102, was given the honor of reading out Arizona's votes for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

The Pitch Perfect-inspired a cappella cover of Rachel Platten's Fight Song was unveiled at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last night. Elizabetrh Banks is pictured.

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.

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.

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

'I was elected as an independent. I’ll stay two years more as an independent,' Bernie Sanders said after losing the race for the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton.

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.

The U.S. Representative from Ohio walked out on stage in Philadelphia wearing a white gown virtually matching the dress worn by Trump's wife Melania during her speech last week.

The 31-year-old pop singer belted out her hits Roar and Rise to a packed audience including her 39-year-old hunky Lord of the Rings star at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday

The former president showed he could still enjoy the simpler things in life as he batted and kicked balloons that had fallen from the roof of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Hillary Clinton made history last night standing next to her husband 8,778 days after fresh-faced Bill received the Democratic nomination at the party's 1992 convention in New York.

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 31-year-old pop star's doting actor boyfriend had been spotted videotaping her from the audience during the Democratic convention on Thursday evening.

Clinton's speech on Thursday night where she accepted her party's nomination drew about 28 million viewers on the six biggest channels, an estimated 2 million fewer than Donald Trump got.

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.

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!'

Former Vice President Joe Biden sealed his status as the Democratic front runner on Tuesday when a new poll showed him leading his nearest rival Bernie Sanders by 24 points. 

Seventeen Democratic presidential contenders have qualified for the first primary debate, which take place over two nights in June and may see more candidates join the crowded stage.

Buttigieg (pictured), the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, initially said there could be 'personal or religious exemptions' allowing people to opt out of the injections.

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.

The first ten of 20 Democratic presidential contenders who qualified for the party's first debate will take the stage in Miami on Wednesday evening for two hours of sparring moderated by NBC News' top talent.

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.

The feeling was mutual. Candidates barely mentioned the sitting president. Democrats Jay Inslee and Amy Klobuchar launched the most direct attacks on him.

As Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow began moderating the second hour of the Democratic debate, audio of the first three moderators was clearly heard over the speakers in the hall.

Surprisingly, nearly 40 per cent of those who took the Drudge Report survey chose House Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the 38-year-old congresswoman from Hawaii, as the debate's runaway winner.

Ten presidential hopefuls desperate to stand out in a crowded Democratic 2020 field took the stage for the party's first debate Wednesday night - and pundits say the winners and losers were very clear.