Germany

BERLIN (Reuters) - Airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said on Thursday it is in advanced talks with the German government’s economic stabilisation fund over a rescue deal worth up to 9 billion euros ($9.9 billion), including the state taking a 20% stake in the company.

Lufthansa said in a statement that the deal would involve the government taking two seats on its supervisory board, but it would only exercise its voting rights as a whole in exceptional cases such as protection against a takeover.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The coronavirus-hit euro zone economy probably will not return to its pre-pandemic levels until next year at the earliest, the European Central Bank’s chief economist told El Pais newspaper, adding that the ECB was prepared to tweak its tools if needed.

“From today’s perspective, it looks in any case unlikely that economic activity will return to its pre-crisis level before 2021, if not later,” Philip Lane said in the interview published on the ECB’s website.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 342 to 174,697, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

The tally showed deaths rose by 21 to 7,935.

BERLIN, May 15. /TASS/: The Federal Network Agency of Germany refused Nord Stream 2 AG in withdrawing the Nord Stream 2 project from the rules of the updated EU Gas Directive, the regulator said on Friday.

"The Bundesnetzagentur has today rejected the application of Nord Stream 2 AG for derogation from regulation for the section of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline located in German territory," the statement said.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s economy slumped in the first quarter at its steepest rate since 2009 with worse expected by mid-year, but it is weathering fallout from the coronavirus better than other EU states where outbreaks have been more disruptive.

The 2.2% drop in quarter-on-quarter output was the widest since the financial crisis of a decade ago and the second biggest since German reunification in 1990, Friday’s federal statistics office data showed.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A ruling by the German Constitutional Court last week that targeted the European Central Bank’s flagship stimulus programme is not an assessment of any policy measures under discussion now, the court’s president told broadcaster SWR.

The Karlsruhe court last week gave the ECB three months to justify bond buys under its flagship stimulus programme or lose the Bundesbank - Germany’s national central bank, and a member of the ECB - as a participant. It also called on the German parliament and government to challenge the ECB on the matter.

BERLIN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Europe's largest tourism group TUI intends to cut around 8,000 jobs due to the collapse of business caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the company headquartered in Hannover announced on Wednesday.

"TUI should emerge from the crisis stronger. But it will be a different TUI and it will find a different market environment than before the pandemic," said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fritz Joussen.

13 May 2020; AFP: German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced frustration Wednesday that Russia was targeting her in hacking attacks, saying she had concrete proof of the "outrageous" spying attempts.

"I can honestly say that it pains me. Every day I try to build a better relationship with Russia and on the other hand there is such hard evidence that Russian forces are doing this," she told parliament.

Calling such cyber attacks "more than uncomfortable," Merkel raised the spectre of sanctions if such rogue activity did not stop.

11 May 2020; MEMO: The German army plans to operate a fleet of Israeli-made Heron TP drones in Afghanistan and Mali from 2021, the German Press Agency (DPA) reported.

The German government said the new model will join its fleet of drones in Afghanistan in 2021 and in Mali in 2024.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank’s German board member said on Monday that only the European Court of Justice has jurisdiction over the central bank, serving a rebuke to her country’s highest court.

Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled last week that the ECB had overstepped its mandate with 2 trillion euros worth of sovereign bond purchases since 2015 and ordered Germany’s central bank to exit the scheme unless then ECB can prove the its legality within the next three months.