Germany

BERLIN (AP) — A special parliamentary assembly meets Sunday to elect Germany’s president for the next five years. Incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has been endorsed by most mainstream political parties, is seeking a second term as the largely ceremonial head of state.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is flying to Ukraine and Russia this week in an effort to help defuse escalating tensions as Western intelligence officials warn that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent and Germany has called on its citizens to leave Ukraine as quickly as possible.

Ahead of his first visits as chancellor to Kyiv on Monday and Moscow on Tuesday for meetings with the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, Scholz has renewed his warning to Russia, as well as his advocacy of continuing diplomacy in multiple formats.

FRANKFURT, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The crisis between Russia and Ukraine is escalating, but Germany is making all efforts to find a diplomatic solution, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Saturday.

"We must be prepared for all scenarios," Baerbock said during a news conference in Cairo.

She was speaking as Berlin urged citizens to leave Ukraine and ahead of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to Ukraine and Russia for talks next week.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Constitutional Court has refused to temporarily block the implementation of a coronavirus vaccine mandate for care and health workers that is due to come into force in mid-March.

The country’s top court said Friday that it had rejected a bid to impose an injunction against the measure until a legal challenge against its constitutionality is formally reviewed.

The Karlsruhe-based court received dozens of complaints after Parliament approved the measure late last year.

BERLIN, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Russia of economic and political consequences should it ramp up military aggression toward Ukraine, adding that Germany and its allies were ready for dialogue with Moscow and wanted peace.

"What is at stake at the moment is nothing less than preventing a war in Europe. We want peace," Scholz told reporters at a meeting with Baltic state leaders in Berlin on Thursday, calling for Russia to de-escalate.

08 Feb 2022; MEMO: Two journalists, Palestinian, Maram Salem and Jordanian, Farah Maraqa, have been dismissed from their job by German media network, Deutsche Welle, following allegations of anti-Semitism which the victims have claimed are dubious and baseless.

BERLIN, February 8. /TASS/: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited the line of contact in Donbass on Monday, spending about 40 minutes there and calling for de-escalation of the situation around Ukraine, the Bild reported.

The foreign minister asked the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces to explain the current state of affairs in Donbass. Baerbock, as shown in the photographs published by the newspaper, was wearing a black bulletproof vest and a hard hat.

BERLIN (AP) — Jennifer Morgan, who heads the environmental group Greenpeace International, is to become Germany’s new climate envoy, officials said Tuesday.

She will be taking on a key role in the new center-left government that has pledged to ramp up Germany’s efforts to curb global warming, including through its presidency of the Group of Seven major economies.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz set off Sunday for Washington seeking to reassure Americans that his country stands alongside the United States and other NATO partners in opposing any Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Scholz has said that Moscow would pay a “high price” in the event of an attack, but his government’s refusal to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, bolster Germany’s troop presence in Eastern Europe or spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia has drawn criticism abroad and at home.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is flying to Washington this week on a mission to reassure Americans that his country stands alongside the United States and other NATO partners in opposing any Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Scholz has said that Moscow would pay a “high price” in the event of an attack, but his government’s refusal to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, bolster its troop presence in eastern Europe or spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia has drawn criticism abroad and at home.