North Rhine-Westphalia News

Some 50 people were injured in a collision between a passenger train and a freight train near the German city of Duesseldorf on Tuesday evening, police told AFP.

But surveys ahead of the vote showed the centre-left party running neck-and-neck with Merkel`s Christian Democratic Union, with some even placing the CDU ahead.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the four imams were members of Ditib, Germany`s largest association of mosques.

Germany`s Martin Schulz said on Thursday he would step down as head of the European Parliament and return to national politics in elections next year.