Category Archives: Germany

Friedrich Merz picks pro-Kyiv foreign minister and promises German support for Ukraine

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Chancellor-designate vows to tackle Russian aggression and appoints Johann Wadephul, an ex-soldier, to key role

Germany’s chancellor-designate, Friedrich Merz, has promised to put staunch support of Ukraine at the heart of his government after announcing that a pro-Kyiv foreign policy expert and former soldier will be the new foreign minister.

Speaking days before he is due to take power, Merz said on Monday it was “no time for euphoria” as his conservative CDU met to approve an agreement to form a coalition government with the Social Democrats.

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Bergen-Belsen survivors mark 80th anniversary of camp’s liberation

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About 180 British Jews and deputy PM Angela Rayner among those in attendance at event in northern Germany

Survivors of the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen and their families have gathered at the site in northern Germany to officially commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation by British troops.

Representatives of victims’ associations and the military took part in the ceremony along with the British deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner.

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Bestselling German novelist found killed on Hamburg houseboat

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Police launch murder inquiry after Alexandra Fröhlich is found dead on her boat on the Elbe

A murder inquiry has been launched after a bestselling German novelist was found dead on a houseboat in Hamburg having been violently attacked, police have said.

Alexandra Fröhlich, 58, whose novels have had prominence on Germany’s bestseller lists, was found on Tuesday morning, investigating authorities said.

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Calls for inquiry after German police kill black man outside nightclub

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Officer suspended after shooting 21-year-old man from behind in Oldenburg in north-west Germany

Civil rights activists in Germany have demanded an independent inquiry into alleged police racism after an officer shot a 21-year-old black man from behind, killing him after an altercation outside a nightclub.

The 27-year-old officer was suspended from duty over the shooting early on Sunday morning in the city of Oldenburg in north-west Germany pending a murder investigation, said state prosecutors. Fatal police shootings are relatively rare in Germany and prosecutors were quoted in local media as saying the suspension and investigation were “routine”.

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Berlin’s ancient ‘Dicke Marie’ oak feels effects of prolonged dry spell

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The tree, believed to be city’s oldest, had already been damaged by the region’s increasingly arid climate

An ancient English oak believed to be Berlin’s oldest tree is suffering the effects of a prolonged dry spell in the German capital, local authorities have said, compounding already significant damage to its once lush canopy and branches.

“Dicke Marie” (Fat Marie), as Berliners affectionately call the tree located in the northern Tegel Forest, has been deprived of essential moisture in recent years as a result of extended periods of sparse rainfall blamed on the climate crisis, according to natural resource officials.

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Berlin reports rise in attacks on refugees amid surge in far-right crime

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Call for greater protection for asylum seekers and policies targeting rightwing violence as report sounds ‘alarm bell’

Berlin has reported a marked increase in attacks on asylum seekers and refugee shelters, amid a sharp rise in far-right crime and a hardening of German migration policy.

Official figures provided at the request of two local Green party lawmakers showed there were 77 assaults on asylum seekers and refugees in 2024 and eight instances of deliberate damage to residences housing them.

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German police crack down on illegal street car tuning as season begins

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Enthusiasts gathering on Good Friday – renamed Carfreitag – face curbs on unauthorised tuning, illegal races and pollution

Police in Germany have announced a crackdown on illegal racing and the unauthorised modification of cars as members of the so-called tuning scene meet across the country for the start of their annual season.

The Good Friday holiday marking Christ’s death on the cross, called Karfreitag in German – from the Old High German word kara, meaning sorrow – is otherwise known by the extreme car enthusiasts as Carfreitag (car Friday) for its unofficial gathering of the “tuners” and “car posers”.

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Berlin palliative care doctor charged with murder of 15 patients

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Authorities say suspect had a ‘lust’ for killing and used drugs to paralyse the respiratory muscles of victims

Prosecutors have charged a Berlin palliative care doctor with the murder of 15 patients, alleging he acted out of a “lust” for killing.

The 40-year-old suspect is accused of killing 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 using a deadly cocktail of sedatives. German press reports identified the suspect as Johannes M, but prosecutors have not released a name.

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Weather tracker: north-west Italy braces for thunderstorms and snow

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Turin and Genoa likely to be among worst hit, while central and eastern Europe could get early taste of summer

North-west Italy is braced for heavy rainfall and thunderstorms across the southern side of the Alps, particularly in Piedmont and Liguria.

Turin and Genoa are expected to be among the worst affected, with snowfall also likely on higher ground. The region has been forecast to receive 140-160mm of rainfall between Sunday and Friday this week.

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Conservative CDU/CSU and SPD form coalition government in Germany

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Two of the country’s biggest parties freeze out rightwing AfD and prepare for impact of Trump’s new tariffs

Germany’s biggest mainstream parties have sealed an agreement to form a government keeping the far right out of power, as Europe’s top economy struggles to reverse a downturn and gird itself for the potentially catastrophic impact of new US tariffs.

The prospective chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU announced the breakthrough deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), which had led the ruling coalition since 2021.

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Large majority of Europeans support retaliatory tariffs against US, poll finds

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Survey shows between 56% and 79% across seven countries in favour if Trump introduces ‘Liberation Day’ levies

A large majority of western Europeans support retaliatory tariffs against the US, a survey has suggested, if Donald Trump introduces sweeping import duties for major trading partners as expected this week.

The US president appears likely to unleash a range of tariffs, varying from country to country, on Wednesday, which he has called Liberation Day. He also said last week that a 25% levy on cars shipped to the US would come into force the next day.

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‘A common humanity’: the British families who tended graves of German soldiers

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Across the country men and women have cared for the resting places of their enemy’s fallen, finding peace and hope

For some, tending the graves was an act of reconciliation. For others, it was about acknowledging shared losses and shared grief.

Thousands of Germans who died in Britain during the first and second world wars were laid to rest in local graveyards. British people tended these graves for decades, even laying flowers and wreaths for their former foes.

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End of an era for Canada-US ties, says Carney, as allies worldwide decry Trump’s car tariffs

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Canadian PM says Donald Trump has permanently altered relations, as countries around the globe insist import taxes are harmful to all, including Washington

Canada’s prime minister has said the era of deep ties with the US “is over”, as governments from Tokyo to Berlin to Paris sharply criticised Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on car imports, with some threatening retaliatory action.

Mark Carney warned Canadians that Trump had permanently altered relations and that, regardless of any future trade deals, there would be “no turning back”.

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Stockpile 72 hours of supplies in case of disaster or attack, EU tells citizens

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Bloc’s first preparedness strategy urges people to prepare for floods, fires, pandemics or military strikes

People in the EU are being advised to stockpile enough food, water and essentials for 72 hours as part of a European strategy that aims to increase readiness for catastrophic floods and fires, pandemics and military attacks.

Outlining its first preparedness strategy, the European Commission said it wanted to encourage citizens to take “proactive measures to prepare for crises, such as developing household emergency plans and stockpiling essential supplies”.

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More than 1,100 detained in Turkey amid huge demonstrations over mayor’s arrest – as it happened

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Tens of thousands gathered in Istanbul with unrest likely to continue over treatment of presidential challenger to Erdoğan

The Danish national police force said it has sent extra personnel and sniffer dogs to Greenland as the island steps up security measures ahead of a planned visit this week by second lady Usha Vance, AP reports.

Spokesperson René Gyldensten said the extra officers were part of regular steps taken during visits by dignitaries to Greenland, a self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark.

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German blacklisted and unable to get job after London criminal steals ID

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Rami Battikh, 24, got caught up in five-year nightmare after stolen ID card was used in string of crimes

A young German citizen has told how his life has been destroyed after a London criminal used his ID to rack up a string of convictions that now appear on the German database against his name.

The phantom record has left the 24-year-old in despair, effectively blacklisted and unable to get a job for the past four years in his native Bonn, stymying a budding career and the start of his adult life.

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US tourism industry faces drop-off as immigration agenda deters travellers

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Westerners increasingly hesitant to travel to US out of fear of arrests and detentions as Trump enforces crackdown

A string of high-profile arrests and detentions of travellers is likely to cause a major downturn in tourism to the US, with latest figures already showing a serious drop-off, tourist experts said.

Several western travellers have recently been rejected at the US border on increasingly flimsy grounds under Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, some of them shackled and held in detention centers in poor conditions for weeks.

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Government debt costs in richest nations at highest since 2007

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Payments by OECD countries outstrip amount spent on defence, police services and housing, report finds

The cost of government debt payments in the world’s richest nations last year reached its highest level since 2007, outstripping the amount spent on defence, police services and housing, a report has found.

Across the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), debt service costs as a percentage of national income rose to 3.3% in 2024, from 2.4% in 2021.

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Farmer’s house in danger from climate change, court told in RWE case

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German coal giant is one of world’s biggest polluters and should contribute to flood defences, says farmer in Peru

A Peruvian farmer’s home is in “concrete danger” from climate change, a court has heard, in the resumption of a decade-long legal battle to get German coal giant RWE to contribute to flood defences in the Andes.

Lawyers for Saúl Luciano Lliuya, who say his home is threatened by rapidly melting glaciers, told the upper regional court in Hamm on Wednesday that the risk of extreme flooding represented a breach of civil law.

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How every German MP voted on reforming the debt brake

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German MPs have voted to pass a motion to loosen the country’s strict borrowing rules, altering the constitution. The measure had been proposed by Friedrich Merz, the presumptive incoming chancellor, in the outgoing Bundestag, or federal parliament

A motion put before the outgoing Bundestag to alter the German constitution to allow for greater investment and borrowing, in part to fund higher defence spending. The vote needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

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