Germany

BERLIN, Sept 15 (Reuters) - German lawmakers will question Finance Minister Olaf Scholz over suspected failings at the government anti-money laundering agency next Monday, only days before a federal election which his party is projected to win.

Scholz will answer questions at a special meeting of the lower house of parliament's finance committee on Sept. 20, though it is unclear if he will take part in person or join remotely via video link, lawmakers said on Wednesday.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany is seeing its first three-way contest for the chancellery, with the environmentalist Greens joining the country’s two traditional big parties in fielding a candidate.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said nearly three years ago that she wouldn’t seek a fifth four-year term. That set up the first election since West Germany’s inaugural vote, in 1949, in which there is no incumbent seeking re-election.

BERLIN, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) have opened up a bigger lead over Armin Laschet's conservative bloc, a poll showed on Sunday ahead of a primetime television debate between the three main candidates to succeed Angela Merkel as Chancellor.

Two weeks before a national election that has proved to be unexpectedly turbulent, the INSA poll for Bild am Sonntag put the centre-left SPD on 26%, up a point from a week ago and their highest rating since June 2017.

Laschet's conservative bloc was unchanged at 20% and the Greens were down 1 point at 15%.

BERLIN, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as Germany's chancellor in this month's election, demanded an apology from his Social Democrat rival on Saturday for criticising a money-laundering probe which included raids on his ministry.

Prosecutors raided the finance and justice ministries on Thursday as part of an investigation into the government's anti-money laundering agency, shining a spotlight on Germany's failings in tackling financial crime. 

11 Sep 2021; MEMO: Germany will not tolerate xenophobia and hate against people with an immigrant background, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said today. Steinmeier made his remarks during a ceremony at the Bellevue Palace marking the 60th anniversary of the signing of the German-Turkish labour agreement.

The president thanked Turkish immigrants who arrived Germany in the 1960s for contributing to the country's economic growth and its transformation into a culturally diverse and rich society.

BERLIN, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The general secretary of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has pressed their rival Social Democrats' (SPD) chancellor candidate, Olaf Scholz, to explain himself over an investigation of his Finance Ministry by prosecutors.

Prosecutors raided the finance and justice ministries on Thursday as part of an investigation into the government's anti-money laundering agency, putting a spotlight on Germany's failings in tackling financial crime.

HALLE, Germany (AP) — It’s a scorching September day and the Green party candidate hoping to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor leaps on stage in front of hundreds of supporters for what should be a home run.

Surveys show climate change is among the top concerns for many voters, and the audience in the eastern city of Halle is made up largely of students and retirees eager to hear how Annalena Baerbock plans to safeguard their future — or that of their grandchildren.

BERLIN/FRANKFURT, Sept 9 (Reuters) - German prosecutors raided the finance and justice ministries on Thursday as part of an investigation into the government’s anti-money laundering agency, putting a spotlight on Germany's failings in tackling financial crime.

The probe into the Financial Intelligence Unit, an agency of the finance ministry under Social Democrat chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, is looking at whether it was told to ignore warnings of suspect payments to Africa.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank will dial back some of its massive emergency pandemic support for the economy amid signs of increasing business activity and consumer readiness to spend as the 19 countries that use the euro rebound from the coronavirus recession.

Bank head Christine Lagarde was careful to say the shift was only a “recalibration” of existing stimulus — not a signal that pandemic support is being phased out.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister arrived in Libya on Thursday to reopen the country’s embassy in Tripoli.

“Today, we want to show with the reopening that Germany is and will remain a committed partner of Libya,” Heiko Maas said upon his arrival in Tripoli. “We want to have a voice in the Libyan capital again.”

German diplomats left Libya in 2014 due to the country’s instability and spiraling violence and worked from neighboring Tunisia.