Here are today's top stories:

- German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU/CSU) won the German elections for the fourth time with 33% of the votes, but the far right will be represented in parliament for the first time since World War II, as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party garnered about 13% of the vote. Martin Schulz's Social Democrats obtained 20% of the votes - their worst results in history, the Financial Times reported.

-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has informed his party that he will dissolve the lower house of parliament to hold early elections. Prime Minister Abe will announce the decision on Thursday and the Japanese will most likely cast their votes on October 22nd, Europa Press reports.

- Masud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, is defending the referendum on independence and attempting to calm his neighbors. Iraq, Turkey and Iran are against the vote, Europa Press reports.

- NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) talks are reported to be dragging. The negotiations on the commercial accord between the U.S., Mexico and Canada could go past the end of the year, when they had been expected to end, Reuters reports.

- In Spain, tensions are mounting in the runup to the referendum on independence in the Catalonia region. The central government believes that the organization of the October 1st vote is flawed, but authorities are monitoring developments in Catalonia, El País reports.

BBVA - Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA published this content on 25 September 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 25 September 2017 11:24:04 UTC.

Original documenthttps://www.bbva.com/en/todays-news-332/

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