Germany

(Reuters) --- Armin Laschet, Chancellor Angela Merkel's would-be successor, desperately needs his Christian Democrats to win a regional vote on Sunday to avoid questions resurfacing about whether he is the right candidate to lead them into September's federal election.

The sparsely-populated eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt is home to just 2.2 million people, but Sunday's election has outsized significance as the last regional vote before Germans elect a government for the post-Merkel era on Sept. 26.

BERLIN (AP) — The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that Germany “systematically and persistently” exceeded limits on nitrogen dioxide, a harmful gas produced by diesel engines, in many regions between 2010 and 2016.

The European Court of Justice faulted Germany for exceeding annual limits on NO2 in 26 out of 89 areas assessed — including the Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Munich and Stuttgart areas. It found that hourly limits also were exceeded in Stuttgart and the Rhine-Main area, which includes Frankfurt.

(Reuters) --- Germany on Tuesday rejected calls for arms deliveries to Kyiv, after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked Berlin for assault rifles, radio equipment and armoured vehicles.

"I am convinced the conflict (in eastern Ukraine) can only be resolved by political means," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told journalists ahead of a video conference with his NATO counterparts.

"This will remain the guideline of our engagement with Ukraine, and there will be no change: Arms deliveries won't help," he added.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister says he is “anything but happy” that Syria’s government — which has waged a devastating, deadly decade-long war against dissenters — has been selected for a seat on the World Health Organization’s executive board.

Health Minister Jens Spahn said Tuesday that the choice of Syria, which was confirmed with no debate or dissent at a meeting of WHO member nations in Geneva over the weekend, reflected the need to work with some governments for the benefit of their people — especially on health matters.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Eurozone inflation rose to 2.0% in May, driven higher by rising oil prices as other inflationary pressures appeared to remain subdued.

The modest price rise in Europe compares with a much stronger jump in the US that has led to discussion about the inflationary impact of stimulus and relief policies from government spending and central banks.

BERLIN, May 30. / TASS /: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) needs to speed up the certification of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 jab, German federal state of Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Soeder stated on Sunday in the Bild am Sontag newspaper.

"The vaccination pace cannot be slowed down. First of all, we need to fast-track the process of Sputnik V’s [registration in the EU]," the Bavarian prime minister said. According to him, this process cannot be delayed "solely for ideological reasons".

BERLIN, May 30. /TASS/: President of the European Union Parliament David Sassoli has called for tightening anti-Russian sanctions, he said in an interview published in the newspapers of Germany’s Funke media group on Sunday.

"We have to tighten the sanctions against Russian officials, but also establish closer contacts with the population and civil society and support Russian dissidents, NGOs and independent media," Sassoli said.

BERLIN, May 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Germany will start offering coronavirus jabs to children over the age of 12 from June 7, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

But she stressed that vaccination would not be compulsory and would have no bearing on whether children can attend school or go on holiday.

The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid jab for 12- to 15-year-olds on Friday. It is already authorised in the EU for those over 16.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has reached an agreement with Namibia that will see it officially recognize as genocide the colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of people and commit to spending a total of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), largely on development projects.

The accord announced Friday is the result of more than five years of talks with Namibia on the events of 1904-1908, when Germany was the southern African country’s colonial ruler.

BERLIN (AP) — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced Friday that he will seek a second term, saying he wants to help heal divisions widened by the coronavirus pandemic.

Steinmeier made his pitch for another five years as Germany’s head of state four months before the country elects a new parliament, which will have a large say in whether he keeps the job.

In February, an assembly made up of the members of parliament’s lower house and representatives of Germany’s 16 states will choose the next president. Steinmeier’s current term ends in March.