Category Archives: Germany

German economy stagnates as eurozone growth hits seven-year low – business live

Posted on by

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, including the latest eurozone growth figures

Andrew Kenningham of Capital Economics has told clients:

“We think the economy will continue to flirt with recession in the first half of this year.”

It’s hard to put too much gloss on a stagnating economy, but the German government has tried to strike an optimistic-ish tone this morning.

Berlin’s economy ministry says Germany’s economy is going through a weak phase, but it’s encouraged that business sentiment has improved.

Continue reading...

CIA controlled global encryption company for decades, says report

Posted on by

Swiss government orders inquiry after revelations Crypto AG was owned and operated by US and German intelligence

The Swiss government has ordered an inquiry into a global encryption company based in Zug following revelations it was owned and controlled for decades by US and German intelligence.

Related: Joe Biden leaves New Hampshire early as Democrats vote in primary – live

Continue reading...

Demise of AKK throws Merkel’s placid path to retirement off course

Posted on by

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer resignation rips up CDU’s plans for post-Merkel era

The year 2020 was meant to be a relatively quiet time in Europe’s largest economy.

With regular elections only scheduled for the city state of Hamburg, where the centre-left remains strong and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD) is projected to get an underwhelming 7% share of the vote, Angela Merkel’s last full year in power promised to be a stable pathway into her political retirement. A good time to focus, at last, on urgent geopolitical challenges: Trump, China, the eurozone.

Continue reading...

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to quit as CDU leader amid far-right ‘firewall’ row

Posted on by

Successor to Angela Merkel also says she won’t run for chancellorship of Germany

Angela Merkel’s designated successor has announced she is not planning to run for the German chancellorship at the next federal election and plans to step down as leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), German media reported on Monday morning.

The surprise announcement comes in the middle of a major row over the centre-right party’s “firewall” against the far-right, after CDU delegates in eastern Germany defied the party headquarter’s ban on cooperating with the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

Continue reading...

German MPs taken aback by Johnson’s hardline trade rhetoric

Posted on by

In London for LSE symposium, politicians express confusion at Britain’s post-Brexit stance

A flood of senior German politicians visiting the UK this week have been left confused and unnerved by the hardline rhetoric set out by Boris Johnson on trade talks, prompting warnings that the risk of a breakdown, or a no-deal Brexit, is as high as it has ever been.

Germany takes on the EU presidency in the second half of this year, and will have a crucial role in helping the European commission to steer the talks on a future UK-EU trading relationship to a successful conclusion by the end of the transition period in December.

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Libya and foreign interference: talking peace, shipping arms | Editorial

Posted on by

The north African country’s population have suffered years of turmoil, fuelled by the meddling of outside players. The civil war may yet escalate

Let’s all be good. This was, in essence, the conclusion of the conference in Berlin this month which aimed to at least begin the work of ending a war which has cost thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Libya. Participants agreed that foreign meddling should cease and that everyone should abide by the UN arms embargo.

Despite the desperate need for peace, there was good reason to be cynical. The host, Angela Merkel, argued publicly with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, over what had actually been agreed. Fighting soon raged again. The UN refugee agency announced on Thursday that it is suspending all operations at a facility in Tripoli and moving refugees from the site, fearing for their safety and that of its staff and partners amid worsening conflict. The UN says that several participants in the Berlin meeting have since shipped both arms and mercenaries to Libya, blatantly violating the embargo.

Continue reading...

German nurse arrested after babies poisoned with morphine

Posted on by

Woman suspected of attempted manslaughter of five premature babies saved by hospital staff

A nurse in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of poisoning five premature babies with morphine, police said, adding that all the infants survived.

The woman was taken into custody on Wednesday after investigators found a syringe containing breast milk and traces of morphine in her locker at Ulm university hospital in southern Germany.

Continue reading...

‘Talk less, do more’: World Jewish Congress leader’s call to halt antisemitism

Posted on by
Ronald Lauder’s Auschwitz memorial address will demand action against a rising tide of hatred

The president of the World Jewish Congress has accused leaders of contributing to the “drip, drip method” of spreading antisemitism, comparing it to the defamation campaigns that culminated in the Holocaust.

Ahead of the 75th anniversary on Mondayof the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ronald Lauder said that governments spent too much time talking about the dangers of antisemitism and not enough time tackling it.

Continue reading...

Libya: Sanctions threatened against countries who break arms embargo

Posted on by

Johnson says international peacekeeping force could monitor the proposed ceasefire

World leaders seeking an enduring ceasefire in Libya have agreed at a summit to impose sanctions on those breaking an arms embargo and are considering whether to send a multinational force to the country.

The conference in Berlin of 11 countries is aimed at bringing an end to the fighting between the UN-recognised government in Tripoli led by the prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj, and the Libyan National Army in the country’s east led by Gen Khalifa Haftar.

Continue reading...

European troops may be at risk after dispute process triggered – Iran

Posted on by

Hassan Rouhani’s threat to western allies comes amid fears of reimposition of sanctions

Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani has warned that European soldiers in the Middle East could be in danger after the UK, France and Germany triggered a dispute mechanism in the nuclear agreement that could lead to the reimposition of international sanctions on the country.

Rouhani’s remarks on Wednesday were the first direct threat he has made against European powers as tensions have grown between Tehran and Washington since Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal more than 18 months ago.

Continue reading...

Climate activist turns down Siemens’ offer of seat on energy board

Posted on by

Protest group leader Luisa Neubauer says she would lose right to criticise the company

The leader of Germany’s Friday for Future climate protests has said she turned down a seat on the board of Siemens’ new energy business amid growing anger over its role in a controversial coal mining project in Australia as she feared she would lose the right to criticise the company.

Luisa Neubauer, 23, the German face of the campaign group inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who has campaigned alongside her, said on Monday the position would jeopardise her independence if she had taken up the offer from its chief executive, Joe Kaeser, made at a meeting in Berlin on Friday.

Continue reading...

German man dies four years after being poisoned by colleague

Posted on by

Victim, 26, had been in coma after being poisoned by co-worker, jailed for life last year

A man in Germany has died four years after being poisoned by a colleague and falling into a coma.

The state court in Bielefeld, which convicted the man behind the poisoning last year, confirmed the death on Thursday, the German news agency dpa reported. The 26-year-old victim’s parents had spoken about his suffering during a trial last year.

Continue reading...

Germany’s abortion law: made by the Nazis, upheld by today’s right | Mithu Sanyal

Posted on by
An old 1930s law that hinders women’s access to terminations has survived public protest – and is being exploited by anti-abortion groups

It’s like the holocaust only worse, according to babycaust.de, the German website dedicated to abortion, or as they call it: “The mass murder of unborn children.”

Every country has its nutters. The problem with these particular nutters is that their website is your best bet if you need to find a doctor who performs abortions in Germany. It provides a full list of practitioners with the “licence to kill” by town and postcode, decorated with images of hacked-up babies in petri dishes, some of them made into gifs to show the blood still dripping. Whatever for? They obviously don’t want you to go to these doctors. But they do want to make it easier for you to report these “killers” to the police.

Continue reading...

Six people dead after being hit by suspected drunk driver in Italy

Posted on by

Group of 17 German tourists were struck by speeding Audi TT in early hours in Alto Adige

Six people have been killed and 11 injured after a suspected drunk driver hit a crowd of German tourists in the northern Italian region of Alto Adige.

Those who died, all in their early 20s, were among a group of 17 people when they were struck by the speeding Audi TT as they crossed a road at about 1am on Sunday near the mountain village of Lutago in Valle Aurina. Three of the injured are in a serious condition. One woman was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria.

Continue reading...

Three women go to police over fire at German zoo – video

Posted on by

Three women have handed themselves in to police in Germany over a blaze at a zoo on New Year's Eve that killed dozens of animals. 

The women are being investigated for setting off flying lanterns, which are banned, and which may have been the cause of the fire at Krefeld zoo in North Rhine-Westphalia, which killed over 30 primates. 

Continue reading...

Volkswagen in ‘Dieselgate’ settlement talks with 400,000 German owners

Posted on by

Carmaker has compensated VW owners in US and Australia over emissions-rigging scandal and faces class action in UK

Volkswagen is in discussions over an out-of-court settlement with more than 400,000 German owners of vehicles that were affected by the carmaker’s “Dieselgate” emissions-rigging scandal.

Germany’s VZBV – an umbrella group of consumer rights organisations – said it had entered talks about a “pragmatic solution in the interests of customers” but stressed that talks were at a very early stage and would remain confidential.

Continue reading...

Can Merkel and Macron get Franco-German relations back on track?

Posted on by

As a year of big EU decisions begins, the bloc’s most important relationship is stuck in a rut

In early December, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel sat down opposite each other in Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant at the Savoy Hotel, central London, for a two-hour tête-à-tête dinner. They had some talking to do.

Cordial and constructive, diplomats in Paris and Berlin said, the evening apparently cleared the air. But it will take more than a dinner to clear the structural obstacles to a relationship that is critical to what Europe can achieve in 2020.

Continue reading...

Global stock markets post best year since financial crisis

Posted on by

FTSE 100 records best performance since the referendum year, jumping 12%

Global stock markets have posted their best year since the aftermath of the financial crisis a decade ago, as investors shrugged off trade tensions and warnings of slowing growth in major economies.

The MSCI World Index, which tracks stocks across the developed world, jumped by almost 24% during 2019 – the strongest performance since 2009. A surge in US technology giants and a strong recovery in eurozone and Asian stocks drove the rally.

Continue reading...

The power behind the thrones: 10 political movers and shakers who will shape 2020

Posted on by

Some are trusted aides, others are fixers who work in the shadows. Often unelected and unaccountable, they all have the ear of national leaders

The role of Dominic Cummings in plotting and facilitating Boris Johnson’s drive for power has focused attention on the influence exerted by behind-the-scenes advisers and confidants who have the ear of prominent politicians.

Powerful men and women around the world all have personal counsellors, trusted aides and backroom mentors. Then there are the “insiders” – string-pullers, fixers and manipulators with ambitions of their own. Few become well-known, although Cummings’s notoriety is by no means exceptional.

Continue reading...