Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Diplomats negotiating in Vienna to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have paused after five days of talks to consult with their governments and will reconvene next week, officials said Friday.

The European Union official chairing the meeting said there had been some progress, but further “convergence” was necessary.

“We have identified the challenges ahead. Now it is time to consult with capitals,” EU diplomat Enrique Mora told reporters. “We will be resuming here in Vienna next week.”

BERLIN (AP) — Austria’s former chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, said Thursday that he is quitting politics, two months after stepping down as leader amid corruption allegations.

Kurz said the recent birth of his first child had motivated him to take the step.

The 35-year-old said he had always done his best to “move our beautiful Austria a little bit in the right direction,” but acknowledged having made some mistakes during his 10-year career.

Still, Kurz insisted: “I’m neither a saint, nor a criminal.”

BERLIN (AP) — A World War II bomb exploded at a construction site next to a busy railway line in Munich on Wednesday, injuring four people, one of them seriously, German authorities said.

A column of smoke was seen rising from the site near the Donnersbergerbruecke station. The construction site for a new commuter train line is located on the approach to Munich’s central station, which is a bit over a kilometer (about a half-mile) to the east.

FRANKFURT, Nov 30 (Reuters) - A German court on Tuesday jailed a former Islamic State militant for life after convicting him of involvement in genocide and crimes against humanity over mass killings of minority Yazidis by IS in Syria and Iraq.

It was the first genocide verdict against a member of Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda that seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014 before being ousted by U.S.-backed counter-offensives, losing its last territorial redoubt in 2019.

BERLIN (AP) — Swiss voters were having their say in a referendum Sunday on legislation which imposed the use of a special COVID-19 certificate that lets only people who have been vaccinated, recovered or tested negative attend public events and gatherings.

The vote offers a relatively rare bellwether of public opinion specifically on the issue of government policy to fight the coronavirus in Europe, currently the global epicenter of the pandemic.

26 Nov 2021; MEMO: Germany, on Friday, called on Iran to "fully cooperate" with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and "answer all open questions" about its nuclear program, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"We support the IAEA's call on Iran. The country must cooperate fully and extensively with the IAEA. Ensure the transparency of its nuclear program and answer all open questions," Foreign Ministry deputy spokeswoman, Andrea Sasse, told a news conference in Berlin.

BERLIN (AP) — Official figures released Thursday show Germany has become the latest country to surpass 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Germany’s disease control agency said it recorded 351 additional deaths in connection with the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, taking the total toll to 100,119.

In Europe, Germany is the fifth country to pass that mark, after Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy and France.

BERLIN (AP) — The three parties negotiating to form Germany’s next government will present their coalition agreement Wednesday — a deal that will pave the way for center-left leader Olaf Scholz to replace longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The center-left Social Democrats have been negotiating with the environmentalist Green party and the pro-business Free Democrats since narrowly winning a national election on Sept. 26. The latter two parties said the agreement would be unveiled on Wednesday afternoon.

ESCHWEILER, Germany (AP) — Germany is set to mark 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 this week, passing a somber milestone that several of its neighbors crossed months ago but which Western Europe’s most populous nation had hoped to avoid.

Teutonic discipline, a robust health care system and the rollout of multiple vaccines — one of them homegrown — were meant to stave off a winter surge of the kind that hit Germany last year.

BERLIN, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Free Democrats, who are negotiating to form a new government, have agreed to commit to a coal phase-out by 2030 in a coalition deal, sources involved in the talks told Reuters on Tuesday.

The three parties are in the final stages of clinching a coalition agreement and hope to present the deal on Wednesday, one source close to the talks said.

Climate policy is one of the closest-watched areas for the new government as Europe's biggest economy shifts towards carbon neutrality.