Syrian who fled to Germany drops out of race for parliament

BERLIN (AP) — A Syrian man who came to Germany as an asylum-seeker in 2015 and was running for a seat in parliament in his new country’s September election says he is withdrawing his candidacy. Tareq Alaows, who joined the Green party last year and was running as its candidate in a constituency in western Germany, said Tuesday he made his decision for personal reasons. He cited a “high threat level” for him and people close to him, without elaborating, and said he also experienced a lot of racism during his campaign.