A remarkable exchange played out on X on Friday as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the government of key ally Germany of “tyranny in disguise” for designating the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist entity.

Germany's foreign office says history shows that right-wing extremism "needs to be stopped", after criticism from the White House.

Germany's spy agency on Friday classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as "extremist", enabling it to step up monitoring of the country's biggest opposition party, which decried the move as a "blow against democracy".