Germany

WUERZBURG, Germany (AP) — Investigators were looking Saturday for a motive behind an attack in the German city of Wuerzburg in which a man armed with a long knife killed three people and wounded at least five others.

The suspect, a 24-year-old Somali, was shot in the leg by police and arrested after the Friday afternoon attack in the southern city’s downtown area. Police said his life was not in danger and he was being questioned in a hospital.

BERLIN (AP) — The United Nations said 12 German troops and a Belgian soldier serving in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali were wounded Friday in an attack in the country’s restive north.

The U.N. mission in the country, MINUSMA, had earlier said that 15 peacekeepers were wounded when a temporary operational base in the Gao region was targeted with a vehicle bomb. Later, it corrected the numbers.

BERLIN, June 25 (Reuters) - Germany's parliament approved changes on Friday that will make it easier for descendants of people who fled Nazi persecution to obtain citizenship, a move Jewish groups described as an important signal in the country responsible for the Holocaust.

The amendments approved by the Bundestag lower house of parliament ensrhine in law decrees from 2019 already in force, which followed a campaign by relatives of Nazi-era refugees.

23 June 2021; MEMO: The CEO of Axel Springer, a Berlin-based agency, told the company's 16,000 employees to find another job if they have a problem with an Israeli flag being posted outside the largest digital publishing house of Europe.

24 June 2021; MEMO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Russia should not use energy as a weapon, Anadolu reports.

On the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which is set to increase Russian gas supply to Europe, especially Germany, Blinken told reporters he sees the project as a threat to European energy security.

BERLIN, June 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Libya as part of the Berlin summit on the pacification of the country.

“The October 23 ceasefire agreement must be fully implemented, including the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Libya,” Blinken said during a Wednesday joint press conference with German counterpart Heiko Maas.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that Europe is “on thin ice” in its battle against the coronavirus, as the highly contagious delta variant threatens to undo progress made in reducing infections.

In what may be her last government declaration to the German parliament, Merkel said the further response to the pandemic would be a main topic of discussion among European Union leaders at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

She noted that the number of COVID-19 cases in the 27-nation bloc continue to decline, while vaccination rates climb.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany and the United Nations are bringing together representatives of Libya with powers that have interests in the country at a conference Wednesday which aims for progress toward securing elections in the North African nation and the removal of foreign fighters.

BERLIN, June 22 (Reuters) - Germany must discuss its concerns about China's record on human rights with Beijing but that does not mean it needs to reverse its policy towards China, the leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) said on Tuesday.

"I support the government's China strategy.. We must talk about our concerns (on human rights) but there is no need to turn our China policy on its head," Armin Laschet told a conference organised by the BDI industry association.

Starting a new Cold War with China was not the right approach, Laschet said.

21 June 2021; MEMO: Germany has agreed to ban the flag of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, citing a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents following Israel's recent assault on the Gaza Strip.