Germany

BERLIN, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany and the European Union (EU) wanted to continue the conversation with China and set an example for multilateralism.

Merkel made the remarks at her routine press conference after the summer vacation every year, when she answered a question raised by Xinhua about how Germany would strengthen cooperation with China to tackle common challenges like unilateralism.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday the coronavirus pandemic was likely to worsen in coming months, and that her government would respond by prioritising the welfare of society as a whole, notably its children, and the economy.

The government will be “doing everything so that our children are not the losers of the pandemic. School and daycare need to be the most important things,” she told reporters at a news conference.

BERLIN (AP) — Foreign Minister Heiko Maas agreed with his Israeli counterpart Thursday that an effort must be made to extend a weapon embargo on Iran, while stressing Germany still sees the landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers as the best way to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

With a current U.N. arms embargo on Iran due to expire on Oct. 18, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told reporters in Berlin an extension was needed to prevent Iran from getting “more advanced weapons systems and spreading them around the Middle East.”

BERLIN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Before his mediation trip, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday called on Greece and Turkey to discuss their territorial claims in the Mediterranean.

"A further escalation can only harm everyone, but above all those directly involved on site," Maas said in a statement released by the German Foreign Office.

"Instead of new provocations, it is now finally necessary to take steps to relax and enter into direct discussions. We want to support all of our efforts," the minister added.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is planning to discuss the natural gas dispute in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in Athens and Ankara on Tuesday, a ministry spokesman said on Monday.

Germany regrets Turkey’s decision to extend the activities of an exploration ship, the spokesman added at the regular government news conference.

Tensions between NATO members Greece and Turkey have risen after Turkey sent the Oruc Reis survey vessel, escorted by warships, to map out possible oil and gas drilling in territory over which both countries claim jurisdiction.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s condition is very worrying after his evacuation to Germany for medical treatment on Saturday, said Jaka Bizilj, founder of the Cinema for Peace Foundation.

“His health condition is very worrying,” Bizilj, whose foundation sent the air ambulance that collected Navalny in Russia’s far east, told journalists outside the Charite hospital in Berlin where Navalny was admitted for treatment.

21 Aug 2020; MEMO: Germany on Friday expressed concern over continuing human rights violations in Egypt, urging the Arab state to respect civic rights as well as freedom of expression and press freedom, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We are constantly raising our concerns about human rights cases in Egypt,” spokeswoman of the German Foreign Ministry told a weekly press briefing in Berlin.

BERLIN, Aug 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Germany will need to take on yet more debt in 2021 to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on the economy, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.

“Next year we will continue to be forced to suspend the debt rule and spend considerable funds to protect the health of citizens and stabilise the economy,” Scholz said in an interview with the Funke media group, referring to Germany’s cherished policy of keeping a balanced budget.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Swedish activist Greta Thunberg urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel “to be brave enough to think long-term” in a meeting on Thursday where they discussed the climate crisis and measures to fight global warming.

During a 90-minute conversation in the chancellery, Merkel explained her climate policy priorities for Germany’s European Union presidency, the goal of achieving EU climate neutrality by 2050 and interim targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, a government spokesman said.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German federal police said on Thursday they had arrested a 55-year old former Yugoslavian man who was sentenced 23 years ago in Croatia for crimes against humanity but who never served his prison term.

In 1997, the man, now a U.S. citizen, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for killing a civilian in 1993 during the war in Croatia when he was part of the army of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK), said the police.

Since then the man, unnamed by German authorities for privacy reasons, has escaped justice.