Germany

BERLIN (AP) — A man opened fire at a Mercedes-Benz factory in southwestern Germany on Thursday, leaving two people dead, authorities and the company said.

The shooting occurred in Sindelfingen, a city near Stuttgart. The suspect, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen, was taken into custody, the Stuttgart prosecutor’s office said.

Police received the first emergency calls around 7:45 a.m. (0545 GMT; 1:45 a.m. EDT) on Thursday, prosecutors said in a statement.

11 May 2023; MEMO: Germany expressed its "shock" on Wednesday by the killing of Palestinian civilians, including children, during Israel's attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip, Anadolu has reported.

BERLIN, May 8. /TASS/: A Berlin court has granted a motion of the local police and banned the demonstration of the Russian flag and symbols on May 9, the Berlin police said on Monday.

"The administrative court has ruled that our complaint was substantiated. The use of Russian and Soviet flags and the St. George’s ribbon at the aforementioned monuments is still banned," the police said on Twitter.

BERLIN, May 7. /TASS/: Berlin’s administrative court has partially lifted a ban by the city police to display Russian flags and symbols during the May 9 rally, the RBB radio station reported on Sunday citing a source in law enforcement.

The court allowed to display Russian flags and symbols during an Immortal Regiment event. The police have already appealed this decision.

On Friday, the Berlin police announced a ban on using Russian and Ukrainian flags near Soviet memorials on May 8 and 9. The ban does not affect diplomats and World War Two veterans.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s energy minister announced plans Friday to ease bureaucratic hurdles for solar power as the country set a new record for photovoltaic installations during the first quarter.

Europe’s biggest economy added 2.7 gigawatts of solar power capacity during the first three months of 2023, putting it on course to beat the target of 9 GW this year, compared with 7 GW in 2022.

FRANKFURT, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Central Bank (ECB) decided on Thursday to raise its main interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) in a bid to quell inflation.

As of May 10, the interest rates on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will be increased to 3.75 percent, 4.00 percent and 3.25 percent, respectively, the bank said in a statement.

The interest rate on the deposit facility has been brought up to a level last seen in October 2008, it said.

BERLIN (AP) — Two people were killed and several experienced a psychologically damaging shock in a train accident near the western German city of Cologne on Thursday, German news agency dpa reported.

The train apparently crashed into a group of people who were working on the tracks close to the town of Huerth. Emergency personnel, police and psychologists were at the scene and the route was closed to further train traffic.

Five people experienced psychological trauma, because they witnessed two of their colleagues being hit and killed, dpa reported.

DUESSELDORF, May 2 (Reuters) - German arms makers Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann have settled a legal dispute over the intellectual property rights to the Leopard 2, one of the world's most advanced battle tanks, a court said on Tuesday.

A boom in defence orders due to the war in Ukraine, and in particular demand for Leopard tanks from Kyiv to help in the fight against Russian forces, has boosted both companies.

Duesseldorf-based Rheinmetall makes the cannon of the Leopard 2 and Munich-based KMW makes its chassis.

BERLIN (AP) — Environmental campaigners urged climate envoys from dozens of nations gathering Tuesday in Berlin to discuss a global deadline for phasing out fossil fuels and ways of increasing aid to poor countries hit by global warming.

About 40 countries, including the United States, China, India and Brazil, are attending the Petersberg Climate Dialogue being held in the German capital. The two-day meeting is a key negotiating step in the run-up to this year’s international climate conference in Dubai, known as COP28.

BERLIN, May 1. /TASS/: Part of German diplomatic missions’ employees left Russia on Monday, the German Foreign Ministry reported without specifying their number.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Zvezda TV channel in late April that more than 20 German diplomats would be expelled from Russia as a tit-for-tat measure in response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany.