Scholz accuses main rival

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused his main rival in the federal elections next month of breaking a taboo by signalling his openness to pushing disputed measures on migration through parliament with the far-right Alternative for Germany. Friedrich Merz, chancellor candidate for the two allied conservative parties (CDU/CSU) who are leading polls ahead of the election on February 23, has long ruled out forming a coalition with the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD), deeming them too extreme. He has, however, shifted the conservatives' stance on migration ever farther to the right in recent years so that it increasingly resembles the AfD's, in what analysts say is a bid to win back voters from the anti-immigration party. — Reuters