Germany

BERLIN, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Around 20 ships are stuck in traffic along Germany's river Rhine, where low water levels have already impeded shipping this summer, after a vessel's engine failure closed part of the waterway, authorities said on Wednesday.

A vessel with a 1,660-ton load was forced to drop anchor due to an engine failure, closing traffic between St Goar and Oberwesel, river police said.

BERLIN/JERUSALEM, Aug 17 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced disgust on Wednesday at remarks by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the German leader said diminished the importance of the Holocaust, while Israel accused Abbas of telling a "monstrous lie".

During a visit to Berlin on Tuesday, Abbas accused Israel of committing "50 Holocausts" in response to a question about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics by Palestinian militants.

BERLIN, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Germany is sending 13 military aircraft to joint exercises in Australia, the air force's largest peacetime deployment, underlining Berlin's increased focus on the Indo-Pacific amid rising tensions with China in the region.

Last year, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years, a move that saw Berlin joining other Western nations in expanding its military presence in the region amid growing alarm over Beijing's territorial ambitions.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister said Friday that European Union drug regulators may authorize the use of vaccines that are each effective against two variants of the coronavirus.

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he expected the European Medicines Agency to meet Sept. 1 to consider a vaccine that would provide protection against the original virus and the omicron variant, also known as BA.1.

BERLIN, August 10. /TASS/: The G7 Foreign Ministers called on Russia to immediately transfer the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and all nuclear facilities in Ukraine to Kiev's control, according to the joint statement issued on Wednesday by the German Foreign Ministry, which holds the G7 presidency.

BERLIN, August 10. /TASS/: The proposal to ban Schengen visas for Russia was put forward to the EU for discussion and Berlin took note of that, official spokesman of the German Cabinet Steffen Hebestreit said at the briefing on Wednesday.

"It [the draft] was put forward by certain countries in the EU and is thereby on the agenda. The German government should now discuss it among Cabinet members and inside the EU. These discussions are not completed and therefore I cannot tell you about interim results," Hebestreit said. "I request to have patience," the spokesman noted.

BERLIN, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused the European Union of imperialistic behaviour towards smaller member states in an op-ed published on the Welt news website on Wednesday.

"Political practice has shown that the positions of Germany and France count more than all the others," Morawiecki wrote for the German news outlet, calling for a more consensus-based approach.

BERLIN (AP) — A large fire broke out in one of Berlin’s biggest city forests on Thursday, morning triggered by several explosions that took place at an ammunition dump inside the forest on what is forecast to be one of the hottest days of the year.

Around 100 firefighters were battling the blaze in the German capital’s Grunewald forest in the west of the city, German news agency dpa reported.

BERLIN/ZURICH, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The Swiss government imposed further sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine on Wednesday, in line with the European Union's latest measures on gold and gold products, the cabinet said.

The government said that it had made two new exceptions with respect to transactions related to agricultural products and oil supplies to third countries, which the EU has as well, in order to avoid any disruptions in payment channels.

BERLIN (AP) — Rising concern over the impact of a potential Russian gas cutoff is fueling the debate in Germany over whether the country should switch off its last three nuclear power plants as planned at the end of this year.

The door to some kind of extension appeared to open a crack after the Economy Ministry in mid-July announced a new “stress test” on the security of electricity supplies. It’s supposed to take into account a tougher scenario than a previous test, concluded in May, that found supplies were assured.