Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has now given at least one coronavirus vaccine shot to more than half its population but officials urged people Friday to remain cautious and slow the spread of the more contagious delta variant.

COVID-19 infections have declined sharply in Germany over the past few weeks, on some days dropping below 1,000 per day for the first time since September. On Friday, the national disease control center said 1,076 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, and there were only 10.3 cases per 100,000 residents over the past week.

BERLIN, June 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The pandemic has worsened corruption across the European Union, Transparency International said, with citizens at times needing personal connections to get medical care and some governments using the crisis for their own gain.

The anti-graft watchdog surveyed more than 40,000 people in the EU’s 27 member states between October and December 2020.

On average, it found that 29 percent had relied on favours or well-connected friends and family to access public sector health services last year.

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Germany said Tuesday that the number of far-right extremists in the country increased last year as neo-Nazis sought to join protests against pandemic-related restrictions.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said authorities counted 33,300 far-right extremists in 2020, an increase of almost 4% from the previous year.

“Far-right extremists were repeatedly able to protest side-by-side” with non-extremist opponents of the pandemic restrictions, Seehofer said.

BERLIN (AP) — Scientists say damaging frost that caused significant economic loss to France’s central winegrowing region this year was made more likely by climate change.

A report released Tuesday by researchers who study the link between global warming and weather events suggests that the intense April 6-8 frost in France was particularly damaging due to a preceding warm period in March.

(Reuters) --- Germany must increase military spending and take on a greater share of military burdens within NATO, the conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

Heads of state within the 30-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will meet in Brussels on Monday and discuss the path to follow against challenges such as China, Russia and cyber threats.

FRANKFURT, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday that it will keep the euro area key interest rates unchanged and will continue buying bonds under its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) at a "significantly higher pace" over the coming quarter than in the first months of this year.

Eurozone key interest rates will remain at record low levels, with the base interest rate, marginal lending rate and deposit rate unchanged at 0.00 percent, 0.25 percent and minus 0.50 percent, respectively, the ECB said in a statement.

BERLIN (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday launched proceedings against Germany over a ruling by the top German court last year on a European Central Bank bond-buying program that broke with a verdict from the EU’s own top court.

Brussels says that “constitutes a serious precedent.”

(Reuters) --- Germany's foreign minister said on Monday the European Union should abolish the right of individual member states to veto foreign policy measures as the 27-nation bloc could not allow itself to be "held hostage".

His comments, which came days after a more junior official criticised Hungary by name, reflect growing frustration in Berlin at the way in which EU member countries can prevent the bloc from acting in matters on which almost all members agree.

BERLIN, June 6. /TASS/: Russian-Chinese cooperation is becoming closer and is "a new dimension and a serious challenge" for the North Atlantic Alliance, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag.

"We consider that Russia and China have developed closer political and military cooperation lately," Stoltenberg said. According to him, Moscow and Beijing are more often coordinating their steps in international organizations, including in the United Nations.

(Reuters) --- The eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt started votingon Sunday in the last test of public opinion before September’s national election, one which could deal a blow to conservative Armin Laschet’s hopes of succeeding Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Surveys in the state show a small lead for the Christian Democrats (CDU) of Laschet and Merkel, but the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was running just one percentage point behind in the final poll published on Friday.