Germany

21 Dec 2020; MEMO: Germany and Finland have repatriated 23 citizens from camps in northern Syria holding the relatives of suspected Daesh fighters, returning them on humanitarian grounds.

Five women and 18 children were repatriated overall, with three of the women and 12 of the children being flown to the German city of Frankfurt early yesterday morning. The remaining eight returnees were then flown to the Finnish capital Helsinki.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Monday urged Iran not to waste the opportunity offered by the prospect of Joseph Biden’s United States administration returning to the nuclear non-proliferation deal.

Speaking after a video conference of officials from the countries in the JCPOA deal, Maas said that Iran should avoid taking any tactical steps that would make it hard for Biden to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the deal.

BERLIN (AP) — A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent.

BERLIN, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday praised Germany as a "force for peace" during a speech at the Bundestag, Germany's parliament.

"I experience how Germany plays a leading role in the world every day with a deep sense of history and responsibility," Guterres said in his speech, which the polyglot delivered in German.

"Germany is facing the great challenges of our time," stressed Guterres, who visited the country's capital Berlin as part of a series of events marking the founding of the United Nations 75 years ago.

BERLIN, December 16. /TASS/: Germany’s death toll from the coronavirus in the past day rose by 952, a new high during the entire pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention, said on Wednesday.

The country’s total death toll from the coronavirus hit 23,427. Over the past day, 27,728 coronavirus cases were registered in the country and since the start of the pandemic the coronavirus case tally has reached 1,379,238.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is unlikely to lift its coronavirus lockdown early next year, a top aide to Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday, signalling Europe’s biggest economy will have to contend with the crippling restrictions well into the winter months.

Merkel and German state leaders agreed to shut most stores from Wednesday until Jan. 10 to reverse a tide of COVID-19 infections that lighter restrictions introduced last month had failed to tame.

BERLIN (AP) — Most stores shut, tight limits on social contacts, no singing in church and a ban on fireworks sales: Germany is ratcheting up its pandemic restrictions in an effort to cut the stubbornly high rate of coronavirus infections.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and the governors of Germany’s 16 states agreed Sunday to step up the country’s lockdown measures from Dec. 16 to Jan. 10 to stop the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases.

11 Dec 2020; MEMO:  The German government has extended the ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia for another year on account of the kingdom's war in Yemen, German press agency DPA reported.

The agency quoted a government spokeswoman confirming that the government has also revoked permits that had already been on hold, with the exception of weapons jointly produced with other European countries.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde brokered a difficult compromise this week to secure backing for a new pandemic-fighting package of measures, but her battle to convince sceptics among her colleagues and investors has only just begun.

The ECB unveiled plans to buy an additional half trillion euros worth of bonds and give banks even larger subsidies for keeping credit flowing, in a bid to support the euro zone economy through the expected end of the coronavirus outbreak.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The European Central Bank rolled out yet more stimulus measures on Thursday to lift the currency bloc out of a double-dip recession and provide support to the economy while its 350 million people wait for coronavirus vaccines to be deployed.

With many businesses shuttered, unemployment surging and debt hitting record highs, central bank cash has thrown governments and firms a lifeline this year but much of 2021 will pass before significant relief is likely.