Germany

22 Feb 2019; DW: Last year saw a 35 percent rise in the number of people deported to the Maghreb states of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the Rheinische Post reported on Friday, citing the German Interior Ministry.

Germany deported a total of 1,873 rejected asylum-seekers to the northern African countries last year, compared to 1,389 in 2017.

The number of deportations to the region last year was nearly 14 times higher than in 2015, the paper reported.

BERLIN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's senior political advisor Gao Yunlong wrapped up a three-day visit to Germany on Tuesday.

Gao, vice chairman of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and chairman council of the China Federation for Peace and Development, was visiting at the invitation of the Koerber Foundation.

19 Feb 2019; DW: With fresh tensions boiling between US and the European Union on car imports, EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said he believed there would be no immediate tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

"Trump gave me his word that there would be no tariffs for the time being," Juncker told Stuttgarter Zeitung and Stuttgarter Nachrichten papers on Monday.

"I believe this pledge to be reliable," he added.

19 Feb 2019; DW: Germany is prepared to compromise its arms export guidelines to facilitate joint defense projects with France, according to an internal government document. France wants to continue selling weapons to Saudi Arabia.

Germany is working to loosen its arms export control rules to make it easier to continue with joint weapons projects with France, according to an internal strategy paper obtained by Der Spiegel magazine.

17 Feb 2019; DW: The number of refugees using visa-free travel rights to enter the EU, especially from Latin America, is on the rise. Over the entire bloc, the number of new refugees has fallen to pre-2014 levels.

An increased number of refugees are coming into the European Union via regular channels, utilizing their right to visa-free travel to enter the bloc and apply for asylum, according to a report by the EU asylum agency (EASO) cited by the German publisher Funke Mediengruppe on Sunday.

MUNICH, February 16. /TASS/. Washington takes unscrupulous steps mobilizing its allies to put the blame for dismantling the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) on Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Munich on Saturday.

"Back in October, US officials told us that President [Donald] Trump announced a withdrawal from the treaty. It is not an invitation for dialogue but a final decision," Lavrov said.

MUNICH; 16 Feb 2019; AA: Russia will respect international humanitarian law in Syria’s Idlib, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

Addressing the annual Munich Security Conference, Lavrov said efforts are currently underway in Idlib, to implement the memorandum signed last year between Moscow and Ankara to establish a demilitarized zone.

MUNICH; 16 Feb 2019; AA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected U.S. calls to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and cancel a controversial gas pipeline project with Russia.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Merkel criticized Iran’s policies towards Israel, its ballistic missile program and its involvement in Syria and Yemen, but she also defended the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Munich, Feb 16 (AFP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday labelled as "frightening" tough US trade rhetoric planning to declare European car imports a national security threat.

"If these cars... suddenly spell a threat to US national security, than that is frightening to us," she said.

"All I can say is it would be good if we could resume proper talks with one another," she said at the Munich Security Conference.

"Then we will find a solution."

15 Feb 2019; DW: Children should not be allowed to use smartphones before the age of 14 to help prevent them from coming into contact with harmful pornography at a young age, an adviser to the German government has said.

Children as young as nine were already looking at pornographic images and distributing videos of their peers masturbating, Julia von Weiler told newspapers of the Funke media group published on Friday.