Germany

20 Aug 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia hailed on Wednesday the controversial UAE-Israel normalisation deal, describing it as as a potential contribution to peace in the region, Anadolu Agency reported.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud expressed: “Any efforts that promote peace in the region and that result in holding back the threat of annexation could be viewed as positive.”

BERLIN (Reuters) - The suspected perpetrator of a series of car crashes on a Berlin motorway on Tuesday evening has cited Islamist motives but appears to have acted alone, German police and prosecutors said on Wednesday.

“Comments made by the suspect after his criminal acts suggest a religious Islamist motivation,” the joint statement from the Berlin police and the public prosecutors office said.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Tuesday about the situation in Belarus and made clear that the Belarusian government must avoid using force against peaceful protesters, her spokesman said.

“The chancellor stressed that the Belarusian government must avoid violence towards peaceful demonstrators, immediately release political prisoners and start a national dialogue with the opposition and society in order to overcome the crisis,” Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s anti-trust authority has launched an investigation into Amazon’s relationship with third-party traders selling on its site, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday.

“We are currently investigating whether and how Amazon influences how traders set prices on the market-place,” Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

Germany is Amazon’s second-biggest market after the United States.

BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of police officers searched shisha bars, tea houses and illegal gambling halls across western Germany early Sunday.

The officers confiscated 34,000 euros (around $40,000) in cash, 19 gambling machines and three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of shisha tobacco, the German news agency dpa reported. Eleven stores were shut down because of violations against coronavirus measures.

Nobody was detained, but the raids were also connected to suspected money laundering and tax evasion.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German services union Verdi on Thursday said Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) had walked away from negotiations over a package to cut staff costs after the German flag carrier received a 9 billion euro ($10 billion) government bailout to secure its future.

“The refusal is a slap in the face of the employees,” Verdi deputy chairwoman Christine Behle said in a statement, adding that Lufthansa was demanding income cuts without giving guarantees for jobs security.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — People in China are back to buying German luxury cars. Europe’s assembly lines are accelerating. Now the global economy is waiting for the United States to get its coronavirus outbreak under control and boost the recovery, but there’s little sign of that.

The United States’ fumbling response to the pandemic and its dithering over a new aid package is casting doubt on its economic prospects and making it one of the chief risks to a global rebound.

BERLIN, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday that he had complained to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the threat of sanctions against a German port company due to the Nord Stream 2 project.

Maas said he spoke with Pompeo over phone on Sunday to complain about the decision by three U.S. senators who threatened the German port operator Faehrhafen Sassnitz with sanctions over its support of the Russia-Germany gas pipeline project.

BERLIN, August 10. /TASS/: German government considers important not to cut off dialogue with Russia despite disagreements and complications in the relations, German Foreign Office Spokesperson Christopher ​​​​​​Burger said at a briefing on Monday, commenting on the upcoming visit of German top diplomat Heiko Maas to Russia on August 11.

BERLIN, August 6. /TASS/: The complaint filed by the German environmental protection organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) against the Stralsund Mining Authority regarding the permit to commission the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will hardly be successful, head of Bundestag [German diet] Economy and Energy Committee Klaus Ernst told TASS on Thursday.