Germany

BERLIN, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The campaign over who will replace German Chancellor Angela Merkel heated up on Sunday after an opinion poll showed the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) opening up a bigger lead over Merkel's conservatives.

Support for the SPD rose two points from last week to 24%, their highest result in four years according to the INSA poll conducted for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The conservatives slipped one point to 21%, their lowest ever polled by INSA.

LEIPZIG (Germany), Aug 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sayed Sadaat used to be communications minister in the Afghan government before moving to Germany last December in the hope of a better future.

Now he is a delivery man in the eastern city of Leipzig.

He said some at home criticised him for taking such a job after having served in the government for two years, leaving office in 2018. But for him now, a job is a job.

“I have nothing to feel guilty about,” the 49-year-old British-Afghan dual citizen said, standing in his orange uniform next to his bike.

BERLIN (AP) — It’s not that politics bore him; quite the opposite. But Christoph Gillitzer is stumped by whom to vote for in Germany’s federal election next month.

The retired engineer says he usually backs the underdog, yet the choices on offer Sept. 26 don’t have him convinced.

“It’s really difficult this time,” he said on a dreary Berlin morning this week.

Like Gillitzer, a large chunk of the German electorate remains undecided going into a parliamentary election that will determine who succeeds Angela Merkel as chancellor after her 16 years in office.

BERLIN, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have pulled ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives for the first time in 15 years, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday, just a month before the country's federal election.

Germany goes to the polls on Sept. 26, when Merkel steps down as chancellor after 16 years in office and four straight national election victories. Merkel's imminent departure has heightened divisions over the direction of the party.

BERLIN (AP) — Seven people at a university in western Germany have received medical treatment after showing symptoms of poisoning, and prosecutors have opened an investigation into suspicions of attempted murder, authorities said Tuesday.

BERLIN, Aug 23 (Reuters) - With just five weeks to go before Germany holds an election that decides who succeeds Chancellor Angela Merkel, Syrians on asylum visas are concerned that an Afghan migrant crisis could fuel an anti-immigrant vote and block their path to citizenship.

Some leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party are warning about a possible influx of Afghan refugees, seeking to draw voters fearing a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis when Merkel opened Germany's borders to almost one million asylum seekers.

BERLIN (AP) — Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, an iconic modern art museum designed by Bauhaus pioneer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, reopened to the public Sunday after a six-year refurbishment of the glass-fronted building.

Germany’s culture minister, Monika Gruetters, said during a celebration ceremony held Saturday that the occasion marked the museum’s “brilliant comeback as a pilgrimage site for lovers of modern art and as a stage for contemporary artists.”

BERLIN, Aug 21 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday conceded that the Afghan army's resistance against Taliban militants had been misjudged.

"The army collapsed at a breathtaking pace," Merkel said at an election event. "We had expected the resistance to be stronger."

Merkel said the focus now was on rescuing people from Afghanistan, but later there would need to be a discussion on what had or had not been achieved.

BONN (Germany), Aug 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Criminals in Italy and Germany are increasingly making use of cryptocurrencies, according to the customs directorate in Bonn.

“The use of cryptocurrencies for online payment in the context of criminal offences is clearly on the rise,” the directorate said in a statement.

According to investigators’ findings, in most cases, the perpetrators use Bitcoin and the currency Monero.

BERLIN, Aug 20 (Reuters) - A member of Angela Merkel's conservatives dismissed suggestions on Friday that they should drop their candidate to succeed her as German leader, despite his souring popularity ratings that could cost them an election they had looked certain to win.

Less than six weeks before the Sept. 26 vote, support for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has fallen to 23%, some 10 points lower from the last election and only 2 points ahead of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).