Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s governing coalition is arguing over whether remaining COVID-19 restrictions should be dropped after one of the country’s top virologists was quoted as saying that the pandemic is over.

Germany has scrapped the bulk of restrictions imposed at the height of the pandemic but, unlike other European countries, still requires mask-wearing on long-distance trains and buses. Masks are also mandatory in doctors’ practices, while masks and negative tests are still required to enter hospitals and nursing homes.

23 Dec 2022; MEMO: Germany's government is suspending state measures designed to foster business with Iran due to the repression of nationwide protests in the Islamic Republic, the economy ministry said on Friday.

The suspension will affect export credits and investment guarantees as well as Germany's manager training and trade fair programmes in Iran, the ministry said.

German-Iranian trade totalled 1.76 billion euros ($1.87 billion) in 2021.

BERLIN, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Berlin has sent its first batch of BioNTech (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccines to China to be administered initially to German expatriates, a German government spokesperson said on Wednesday, the first foreign coronavirus vaccine to be delivered to the country.

No other details were available on the timing and size of the delivery, although the spokesperson said Berlin is pushing for foreigners other than German citizens to be allowed access to the shot if they want it.

BERLIN, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Most of the jewels stolen from a historic Dresden art collection in 2019 in a $120 million heist have been recovered, German police and prosecutors said on Saturday.

The 31 pieces, including a breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle and an ornate diamond head-dress, had been secured by investigators in Berlin, authorities said.

Their return followed negotiations between prosecutors and defence lawyers for the Germans who are on trial for the November 2019 break-in at the Gruenes Gewoelbe (Green Vault) Museum.

BERLIN, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The German Foreign Office tweeted screenshots on Friday of the accounts of journalists suspended by Twitter, warning the platform that the ministry had a problem with moves that jeapordised press freedom.

Twitter suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who had posted about its new owner Elon Musk, prompting protests from their media organisations.

BERLIN (AP) — A huge aquarium in Berlin burst, spilling debris, water and hundreds of tropical fish out of the AquaDom tourist attraction in the heart of the German capital early Friday.

Police said parts of the building, which also contains a hotel, cafes and a chocolate store, were damaged as 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) of water poured from the aquarium shortly before 6 a.m. (0500 GMT). Berlin’s fire service said two people were slightly injured.

BERLIN (AP) — A convicted far-right murderer temporarily took two prison guards hostage in eastern Germany during an attempted jailbreak before he was overwhelmed by other guards.

The hostage taker, who was convicted to life in prison for fatally shooting two people after he tried to storm a synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle in 2019, took two guards hostage at the Berg high-security prison near the city of Magdeburg in eastern Germany on Monday night.

BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers said Monday they are digging deeper into an alleged coup plot uncovered last week, when police detained dozens of people linked to the far-right Reich Citizens movement.

Prosecutors said the 24 Germans and one Russian detained last Wednesday are suspected of being members of, or of supporting, a “terrorist organization” that planned to topple the government.

BERLIN, Dec 10 (Reuters) - German authorities said they had ended a suspected hostage-taking in the eastern city of Dresden on Saturday by what appeared to be a psychologically confused man acting alone, after evacuating a shopping mall in the historic city centre.

The suspected hostage taker, a 40-year-old man, died of the injuries he sustained during the police operation to free the two hostages, who were unharmed, the police said.

POTSDAM, Germany, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday Germany could increase its population strongly in the years ahead as the government seeks to boost immigration to help avert labour shortages and a crisis in its pension system.

The government is working on attracting foreign workers to "keep the show on the road" despite an ageing population, making an estimated 7% rise in population to 90 million by 2070 plausible, Scholz told a citizen forum in Potsdam, near Berlin.