Germany

BERLIN/FRANKFURT, Sept 9 (Reuters) - German prosecutors raided the finance and justice ministries on Thursday as part of an investigation into the government’s anti-money laundering agency, putting a spotlight on Germany's failings in tackling financial crime.

The probe into the Financial Intelligence Unit, an agency of the finance ministry under Social Democrat chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, is looking at whether it was told to ignore warnings of suspect payments to Africa.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank will dial back some of its massive emergency pandemic support for the economy amid signs of increasing business activity and consumer readiness to spend as the 19 countries that use the euro rebound from the coronavirus recession.

Bank head Christine Lagarde was careful to say the shift was only a “recalibration” of existing stimulus — not a signal that pandemic support is being phased out.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister arrived in Libya on Thursday to reopen the country’s embassy in Tripoli.

“Today, we want to show with the reopening that Germany is and will remain a committed partner of Libya,” Heiko Maas said upon his arrival in Tripoli. “We want to have a voice in the Libyan capital again.”

German diplomats left Libya in 2014 due to the country’s instability and spiraling violence and worked from neighboring Tunisia.

BERLIN, Sept 8 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed concern on Wednesday about the composition of the provisional government established by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The cabinet list announced on Tuesday was entirely filled with leaders of the Islamist militant movement, and veterans of a guerrilla war that ended with a Taliban victory last month after two decades of fighting.

MUNICH, Germany, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday opened the International Motor Show Germany (IAA Mobility) in the southern German city of Munich.

Merkel said she was pleased that the car industry has consistently taken up the challenge of developing alternative drive systems.

She said that it is now evident that the trend is towards electromobility and that the transport sector can and must contribute a great deal to climate neutrality.

BERLIN (AP) — A 30-year-old man went on trial Wednesday for an anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish restaurant three years ago in the eastern German city of Chemnitz in which the owner was injured and the restaurant damaged.

Prosecutors allege that the man, whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, was motivated by far-right ideology. He has been indicted on charges of severe aggravated assault, breach of the peace and property damage.

BERLIN (AP) — Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel painted a rosy picture of her government’s record on Tuesday and assailed the possibility of a future left-wing administration, seeking to boost her struggling party’s candidate as she addressed what is expected to be the German parliament’s last session before the Sept. 26 election.

Merkel also rebuked her deputy, who is a rival party’s candidate to succeed her and currently leading polls, over a comment in which he jokingly described people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as “guinea pigs.”

BERLIN, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Germany's far-left Linke pitched themselves on Monday as would-be coalition partners for the Social Democrats and Greens after a Sept. 26 election, arguing they offer the two larger parties the best chance of delivering their social policies.

A surge by the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) into a clear lead in polls over Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has focused attention in Germany and beyond on possible coalition options after the closely fought election.

BERLIN, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Less than a month before federal elections in Germany, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is looking to become the strongest political party in the country.

After a much anticipated television debate of potential chancellor candidates on Sunday, the SPD was up 7 percentage points compared to one month ago and was polled at 25-percent support if the elections were held now, according to a survey of around 1,300 participants conducted by opinion research institute Infratest dimap.

BERLIN (AP) — Angela Merkel will leave office as one of modern Germany’s longest-serving leaders and a global diplomatic heavyweight, with a legacy defined by her management of a succession of crises that shook a fragile Europe rather than any grand visions for her own country.