Germany

BERLIN, August 13. /TASS/: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Moscow on August 20, the details of the visit have not yet been announced, German Government Spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a briefing in Berlin on Friday.

"On Friday, August 20, the federal chancellor will travel to Moscow, at the beginning of next week we will tell about the content of the program," he said. "It is quite obvious that she will meet with the [Russian] President [Vladimir Putin]," he added.

BERLIN, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Support for Germany's governing Christian Democrats fell further in an opinion poll published on Friday, as a weak performance on the campaign trail by party leader Armin Laschet increasingly weighs on his chances of becoming chancellor.

The poll, by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, showed support for the CDU slipping to 26% - down two points on the previous poll and four from a month ago - while the Social Democrats (SPD), led by popular Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, gained three points to draw level on 19% with the opposition Greens.

BERLIN, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Germany urged its citizens on Thursday to leave Afghanistan on scheduled flights as soon as they can due to the deteriorating security situation.

Taliban fighters captured the strategic city of Ghazni on Thursday, taking them to within 150 km (90 miles) of Kabul following days of fierce clashes as the Islamist group ruled out sharing power with the government based there. 

BERLIN (AP) — Striking railway workers in Germany kept much of the country’s train service suspended Thursday as they continued their nationwide work stoppage for a second day.

Only one-quarter of long-distance trains were running and about 40 % of regional and local commuter trains, German news agency dpa reported. The strike also put many cargo trains out of action.

BERLIN, August 11. /TASS/: The British national who was detained in Germany on suspicion of cooperating with Russian intelligence services has been placed under arrest, the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice today (August 11, 2021) issued the arrest warrant against British national David S.," the statement notes. It is added that the suspect was brought before an investigator on Wednesday.

BERLIN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - German police have arrested a British man who worked at the British embassy in Berlin on suspicion of passing documents to the Russian intelligence service in exchange for cash, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

German prosecutors said that the apartment and workplace of the man, identified only as David S., had been searched and he would be brought before an investigating judge later on Wednesday.

British police said the man was 57.

BERLIN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- BioNTech's revenues jumped to 5.3 billion euros (6.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the second quarter (Q2) of this year, up from 42 million euros in the same period last year, the German biotechnology company announced on Monday.

The company's estimated net income in Q2 skyrocketed to 2.8 billion euros due to sales from its COVID-19 vaccine, following losses of 88.3 million euros in the prior-year period, according to BioNTech.

BioNTech, together with Pfizer, delivered more than one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide in the first half of 2021.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors are set to meet Tuesday to decide on how to handle measures against the coronavirus pandemic amidst a discussion about whether people who have been fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 should have greater freedoms than those who aren’t vaccinated.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s train drivers plan to go on a nationwide strike starting Tuesday night, the head of the train driver’s union said after announcing that 95% of the union members had voted in favor of the action.

The head of the GDL union, Claus Weselsky, told reporters the strike would start with all cargo trains at 7 p.m. (1700GMT) Tuesday and expand to include passengers trains from 2 a.m. (0000GMT) Wednesday until 2 a.m. Friday,

The union is demanding a 3.2% salary increase and a one-time “coronavirus bonus” of 600 euros ($703).

BERLIN, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Germany's defence minister rejected on Monday calls for its soldiers to return to Afghanistan after Taliban insurgents took Kunduz city where German troops were deployed for a decade.

Germany had the second largest military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, losing more troops in combat in Kunduz than anywhere else since World War Two.

The Taliban overran three provincial capitals including Kunduz at the weekend as it pressed an offensive since foreign troops began a withdrawal.