How Germany Reacted to Angela Merkel as TIME’s Person of the Year

The reaction in Germany to TIME’s choice of Chancellor Angela Merkel as 2015’s Person of the Year ranged from delight to disappointment on Wednesday.

The Chancellor herself did not respond to the news but government spokesperson Steffen Siebert told the media she would surely welcome her selection as “encouragement for her political work for a good future for Germany and for Europe.”

Many in the media welcomed the choice too. The journalist and commentator Stephan Detjen, writing in the culture section of the German broadcaster Deutschlandradio’s website called the magazine’s article “just one among several panegyrics to Merkel that recently appeared in the Anglo-Saxon media.” He continued:

“Not in spite of, but precisely because of the challenges she faces in her own country, the respect Merkel enjoys abroad is growing… Merkel has been put on the pedestal of global political greatness by the international media.”

Die Welt, a conservative Germany daily, called the selection proof that although she has “seldom faced as much criticism during her decade in office as she has over her refugee policy” at home, “internationally Angela Merkel is held in high esteem.”

Not every reaction was so positive, perhaps understandably since the German leader has seen her popularity sink since she threw the country’s doors open to swaths of refugees. Felix Steiner, an editor at state broadcaster Deutsche Welle, criticized TIME’s editors — a “politically left-intellectual group of high earners in a country that receives virtually no refugees” — for celebrating Merkel’s position on migration with no grasp of the reality of the policy. The editors in New York City, he writes, “do not have to worry about all that.”

Even in Germany, however, the media focused on runner-up Donald Trump’s reaction to the choice — especially as he dismissed the Chancellor as the “person who is ruining Germany.”

“Ouch!” said newspaper the Münchner Merkur of Trump’s “full broadside” against Merkel. Germany’s leading weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel addedthat “in the world of Donald Trump first place goes to Donald Trump, then to Donald Trump and then probably the same once more: Donald Trump…. TIME sees it differently.”

Suddeutsche Zeitung took a slightly different tack with an interview with Colin Davidson, who created the oil painting of Merkel on TIME’s Person of the Year cover. “What you should feel when looking at my image,” he said, “is that I appreciate the Chancellor for her compassion, her dignity and her humanity.”

As the hashtag #TIMEPOY became a trending topic in Germany, many commentators took to Twitter to register their thoughts about the choice. “Open the door, let everyone in, become Person of the Year. It’s actually not that hard,” tweeted a Merkel critic named Uwe Schoeneberg. Mattias Kolb, whose Twitter bio identifies him as a correspondent for Süddeutsche Zeitung in Washington, DC summed up his reaction:

“Merkel is TIME’s Person of the Year. Not the Nobel Prize, but still. No surprise: She is very popular in the USA.”

FBI director: U.S. facing greatest threat from terrorist groups since 9/11

FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that the U.S. is at its greatest threat level from terrorist groups since 9/11.

Comey shared the information at a Senate FBI oversight hearing after Sen. Lindsey Graham questioned him on his agency's knowledge of terrorism.

"Do you agree with the following statement: There are more terrorist organizations with men, equipment and safe havens, along with desire to attack the American homeland, anytime since 9/11?" the South Carolina Republican asked.

"I agree," Comey said.

Comey said budget cuts imposed by Congress in recent years have reduced the FBI's ability to protect America from terrorism.

San Bernardino killers not part of larger cell, US top prosecutor says

The United States has no indication that a couple who killed 14 people in California were part of a wider cell or that they planned more attacks, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in London, Lynch said the radicalization of the couple seemed to have been going on for some time.

But she added: "At this point in time we do not have an indication that these two people were part of a larger cell or group."

"We do not have an indication that they were planning specific things beyond this attack although that information is still evolving," she continued.

Lynch's comments came as FBI Director James Comey said Tashfeen Malik, 29, and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, were radicalized at least two years ago and had discussed attacks as early as 2013.

Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that investigators believe Farook and Malik, were radicalized even before they began their online relationship and that Malik held violent ideological views before she arrived in the U.S. last year. He told the panel that the two "as early as the end of 2013 were talking to each other about jihad and martyrdom before they became engaged and married."

Malik and Farook stormed a gathering of his work colleagues in San Bernardino, California, last Wednesday, opening fire with assault-style rifles.

They were killed a few hours later in a shootout with police.

"We are trying to learn everything we can about both of these individuals, as individuals and as a couple, to determine why they chose that location, that event, that particular place to vent their rage," Lynch said.

"We are essentially digging into their lives as far back as we can," she added. "Our view is that the radicalization had been going on for some time, but it's really too early to tell at this point what was the genesis of it for either of them."

France 'drops' arrest warrant

A French judge has dropped his warrant for the arrest of Ivory Coast's speaker of parliament, Guillaume Soro, his lawyers say.

The judge lifted the warrant following proof he is on official business in Paris, giving him diplomatic immunity, they add.

The arrest warrant was for not turning up to a 2012 Paris court case brought by ex-Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo's son.

Michel Gbagbo accuses Mr Soro's forces of kidnapping and torturing him, which he denies.

Petition to Ban Donald Trump From U.K. Gets Over 150,000 Signatures

Scott Olson—Getty ImagesRepublican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guests during a campaign stop at Iowa Central Community College on Nov. 12, 2015 in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for Donald Trump to be banned from entering the U.K., meaning Parliament will now have to consider the request.

The online petition has received more than 188,000 signatures since it was posted on Parliament’s petition website Tuesday. It comes after Trump sparked outrage with his incendiary call to block all Muslims from entering the U.S.

“The U.K. has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech,” the petition says. “The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the U.K.”

“If the United Kingdom is to continue applying the ‘unacceptable behaviour’ criteria to those who wish to enter its borders, it must be fairly applied to the rich as well as poor, and the weak as well as powerful,” the appeal added.

Parliament puts any petition up to debate if it garners more than 100,000 signatures.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has criticized Trump’s proposed ban as “divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong.” U.K. Chancellor George Osborne appeared to reject the petition Wednesday, saying it may be more helpful to engage in conversation than to ban Trump from the U.K.

“The best way to defeat nonsense like this is to engage in robust and democratic debate, and to make it clear his views are not welcome,” Osborne said, according to the Guardian.

The real estate mogul has stood by his proposed ban, which would apply to immigrants, visitors and even Muslim-American citizens returning to the U.S. “I’m doing what’s right,” he said Tuesday.

Amid uproar over the billionaire presidential candidate’s remarks, Lifestyle, a major Middle Eastern retailer, has stopped selling Trump-branded products.

“As one of the most popular home decor brands in the Middle East, Lifestyle values and respects the sentiments of all its customers,” Lifestyle CEO Sachin Mundhwa said in a statement Wednesday.

“In light of the recent statements made by the presidential candidate in the U.S. media, we have suspended sale of all products from the Trump Home décor range.”

Syria rebels leave Homs following rare ceasefire deal

Hundreds of Syrians, including rebel fighters, have left the last rebel-held area of Homs as part of a rare local ceasefire deal negotiated between the opposition and the government.

The fighters and their families were being moved to rebel-held areas of the northwest near the Turkish border on Wednesday.

Homs was a centre of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

The deal follows a major Syrian army ground offensive to the north of the city backed by Russian air strikes.

Witnesses saw 15 buses leave the area. Homs governor Talal al-Barazi told reporters that 300 fighters were on board, together with 400 members of their families.

The fighters took light weapons with them, he said.

The deal echoes a local ceasefire agreed in September elsewhere in Syria under which rebel fighters were supposed to be transferred to Idlib, though it has yet to be fully implemented.

'No one is winning'

Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, said there is a "certain will on both sides to calm things down, especially in places where it's clear that one party has the upper hand over the other".

"The general mood is; no one is winning in Syria, so let's - at least for the time being - settle down, take it easy, until we see if there is a serious transitional process possible."

Several buses left the Homs district of Waer early on Wednesday and others were queuing up to leave on its outskirts, witnesses said.

Children on buses waiting to leave peaked around the drawn curtains and aid workers handed out juice.

Barazi said the buses would make a stop in Hama province, where rebels who wished could disembark, before continuing to Idlib, a province held by armed groups, including al-Nusra Front.

He described the rebels who left as "militants who reject the agreement", saying they would leave with their families.

"The Waer neighbourhood arrangement will be completely safe and there will be no weapons in Waer after the implementation of the agreement," he said, adding security forces would go back to work in the area and would be the only ones armed.

Peace talks

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said about 750 people were expected to leave during the day for rebel-held areas in Hama and Idlib provinces.

The United Nations is presiding over implementation of the deal, which was agreed directly between the Syrian sides.

Some diplomats say local ceasefires may be the most effective way of gradually bringing peace to a country where more than 250,000 people have been killed, though one concluded in Homs in 2014 was widely seen as a forced surrender.

Syria peace talks involving world powers in Vienna in October called for a nationwide ceasefire and a renewal of UN-brokered talks between the rival Syrian sides.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition groups were meeting in Saudi Arabia to agree on a transitional government that does not include Assad.

The two-day, closed-door talks are seen as the most serious effort yet to unify the opposition, a step considered vital to peace talks sought by world powers but which has angered Iran.

In a separate meeting in Riyadh, Gulf leaders gathered on Wednesday for an annual summit in the face of plunging oil revenues, the war in Yemen and pressure for peace in Syria.

The kings and emirs were expected to voice support for the unification of Syria's opposition.

Mugabe 'warns plotters'

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has warned his party that it is in danger of splitting as rival factions manoeuvre to secure influential positions, Reuters news agency reports. 

"We go day and night wanting to get information. If we can't get it, we manufacture information that will damage the group that you are opposed to most. We have become liars," he told Zanu-PF's central committee, it reports.    

The 91-year-old Mr Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, is due to address delegates at the party's national conference on Friday. 

Last year, Mr Mugabe sacked his deputy, Joice Mujuru, after accusing her of plotting to oust him. She denied the allegation.