Germany's far-right AfD party has beaten Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats in Sunday's regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia. Bjoern Hoecke, a politician who has been compared to Adolf Hitler on German national television, led the Alternative for Germany party to second place with 23.8 per cent, initial polling showed. Popular premier Bodo Ramelow's far-left Die Linke party easily retained the top spot with about 30 per cent. The ...