Germany

BERLIN, Sept 8 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed concern on Wednesday about the composition of the provisional government established by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The cabinet list announced on Tuesday was entirely filled with leaders of the Islamist militant movement, and veterans of a guerrilla war that ended with a Taliban victory last month after two decades of fighting.

MUNICH, Germany, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday opened the International Motor Show Germany (IAA Mobility) in the southern German city of Munich.

Merkel said she was pleased that the car industry has consistently taken up the challenge of developing alternative drive systems.

She said that it is now evident that the trend is towards electromobility and that the transport sector can and must contribute a great deal to climate neutrality.

BERLIN (AP) — A 30-year-old man went on trial Wednesday for an anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish restaurant three years ago in the eastern German city of Chemnitz in which the owner was injured and the restaurant damaged.

Prosecutors allege that the man, whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, was motivated by far-right ideology. He has been indicted on charges of severe aggravated assault, breach of the peace and property damage.

BERLIN (AP) — Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel painted a rosy picture of her government’s record on Tuesday and assailed the possibility of a future left-wing administration, seeking to boost her struggling party’s candidate as she addressed what is expected to be the German parliament’s last session before the Sept. 26 election.

Merkel also rebuked her deputy, who is a rival party’s candidate to succeed her and currently leading polls, over a comment in which he jokingly described people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as “guinea pigs.”

BERLIN, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Germany's far-left Linke pitched themselves on Monday as would-be coalition partners for the Social Democrats and Greens after a Sept. 26 election, arguing they offer the two larger parties the best chance of delivering their social policies.

A surge by the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) into a clear lead in polls over Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has focused attention in Germany and beyond on possible coalition options after the closely fought election.

BERLIN, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Less than a month before federal elections in Germany, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is looking to become the strongest political party in the country.

After a much anticipated television debate of potential chancellor candidates on Sunday, the SPD was up 7 percentage points compared to one month ago and was polled at 25-percent support if the elections were held now, according to a survey of around 1,300 participants conducted by opinion research institute Infratest dimap.

BERLIN (AP) — Angela Merkel will leave office as one of modern Germany’s longest-serving leaders and a global diplomatic heavyweight, with a legacy defined by her management of a succession of crises that shook a fragile Europe rather than any grand visions for her own country.

BERLIN/PARIS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - France and Germany on Wednesday urged Iran to return rapidly to nuclear negotiations, after a break in talks following Iranian elections in June, with Paris demanding an "immediate" restart amid Western concerns over Tehran's expanding atomic work.

France's foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told his newly-appointed Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian in a telephone call it was urgent for Tehran to return to the talks, Le Drian's ministry said in a statement.

BERLIN, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday migrants who settle in Germany are German even if they have foreign-sounding names, making a subtle dig at a widespread habit among white Germans of asking Turks born on German soil where they come from.

"Integration cannot be a seven-generation endeavour that never ends just because one isn't called Klaus or Erika," Merkel said with a wry smile during a ceremony to mark 60 years since Germany signed a treaty with Turkey to bring in hundreds of thousands of Turkish men to fill labour shortages in the 1960s.

BERLIN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives on Monday rallied behind their candidate to replace her after a national election on Sept. 26, promising to go on the offensive after he struggled to revive their campaign in a debate with rivals.

Armin Laschet, leader of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), lost a heated televised debate with his two main rivals on Sunday, according to a snap poll, as surveys show his party falling behind the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).