Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Striking railway workers in Germany kept much of the country’s train service suspended Thursday as they continued their nationwide work stoppage for a second day.

Only one-quarter of long-distance trains were running and about 40 % of regional and local commuter trains, German news agency dpa reported. The strike also put many cargo trains out of action.

BERLIN, August 11. /TASS/: The British national who was detained in Germany on suspicion of cooperating with Russian intelligence services has been placed under arrest, the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice today (August 11, 2021) issued the arrest warrant against British national David S.," the statement notes. It is added that the suspect was brought before an investigator on Wednesday.

BERLIN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - German police have arrested a British man who worked at the British embassy in Berlin on suspicion of passing documents to the Russian intelligence service in exchange for cash, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

German prosecutors said that the apartment and workplace of the man, identified only as David S., had been searched and he would be brought before an investigating judge later on Wednesday.

British police said the man was 57.

BERLIN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- BioNTech's revenues jumped to 5.3 billion euros (6.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the second quarter (Q2) of this year, up from 42 million euros in the same period last year, the German biotechnology company announced on Monday.

The company's estimated net income in Q2 skyrocketed to 2.8 billion euros due to sales from its COVID-19 vaccine, following losses of 88.3 million euros in the prior-year period, according to BioNTech.

BioNTech, together with Pfizer, delivered more than one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide in the first half of 2021.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors are set to meet Tuesday to decide on how to handle measures against the coronavirus pandemic amidst a discussion about whether people who have been fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 should have greater freedoms than those who aren’t vaccinated.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s train drivers plan to go on a nationwide strike starting Tuesday night, the head of the train driver’s union said after announcing that 95% of the union members had voted in favor of the action.

The head of the GDL union, Claus Weselsky, told reporters the strike would start with all cargo trains at 7 p.m. (1700GMT) Tuesday and expand to include passengers trains from 2 a.m. (0000GMT) Wednesday until 2 a.m. Friday,

The union is demanding a 3.2% salary increase and a one-time “coronavirus bonus” of 600 euros ($703).

BERLIN, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Germany's defence minister rejected on Monday calls for its soldiers to return to Afghanistan after Taliban insurgents took Kunduz city where German troops were deployed for a decade.

Germany had the second largest military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, losing more troops in combat in Kunduz than anywhere else since World War Two.

The Taliban overran three provincial capitals including Kunduz at the weekend as it pressed an offensive since foreign troops began a withdrawal. 

BERLIN (AP) — A U.N.-appointed panel of experts is releasing a key report Monday summarizing the latest authoritative scientific information on climate change.

The report will provide governments with up-to-date facts on the current impacts and future risks of global warming ahead of a U.N. climate summit in November in Glasgow.

It will also examine how various options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will affect the pace of climate change over the coming decades.

BERLIN, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats have broken a taboo in modern German politics by taking aim at the religious beliefs of a close aide to Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel after a Sept. 26 election.

In a video published online, the left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD) singled out a number of leading conservatives including Nathanael Liminski, who heads Laschet's office in his regional government in North Rhine-Westphalia.

BERLIN, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Germany on Monday sent a warship to the South China Sea for the first time in almost two decades, joining other Western nations in expanding its military presence in the region amid growing alarm over China's territorial ambitions.

China claims swathes of the South China Sea and has established military outposts on artificial islands in the waters that contain gas fields and rich fishing.