Germany

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) will on Saturday announce the winner of a party leadership ballot, whose first task will be to decide whether to quit the ruling coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

The oldest party in Germany is in turmoil after a run of dismal regional and European election results and a six-month long leadership race which has left them trailing in polls. Many members want to leave government and rebuild in opposition.

BERLIN, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Germany's upper house of parliament, Bundesrat, on Friday halted several key parts of German climate package, such as tax reduction on train tickets and financial incentives for the restoration of older buildings.

The Bundesrat decided that the planned tax reduction on tickets for long-distance train journeys now had to be discussed in a mediation committee in order to reach a compromise on the issue of cost distribution between Germany's national government and federal states.

BERLIN, November 29. /TASS/: Conditions have been created for easing tensions in eastern Ukraine, Chairman of the Bundestag Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy Klaus Ernst, who represents the Left Party, told TASS.

According to him, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is more willing to take serious steps to resolve the conflict than his predecessor. Ernst pointed out that the exchange of prisoners and the disengagement of forces in Donbass made it possible to further ease tensions in the region.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A restructuring of British energy supplier Npower announced by new parent E.ON (EONGn.DE) will result in 4,500 job cuts, British union UNISON said in a press release.

“This is a cruel blow for Npower employees. They’ve been worried about their jobs for months. Now their worst fears have been realized, less than a month before Christmas,” UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said.

BERLIN (AP) — People affected by dramatic wildfires in Australia have joined young environmentalists to protest the government’s stance on climate change.

The protests in Australia cities Friday kicked off a ‘global day of action’ ahead of next week’s gathering of governments to discuss tackling global warming.

Janet Reynolds, who joined a protest in Sydney, said she had lost everything in an “inferno, an absolute firestorm that raced through my property.”

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump poses one of the biggest challenges for the European Union because he is “praying” for the breakup of the bloc, European Council President Donald Tusk said.

Trump has welcomed Britain’s decision to leave the EU, labeling Europe a trade “foe” and questioning the value of the transantlantic defense alliance NATO.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s air force said on Wednesday it had decided not to take two Airbus (AIR.PA) A400M planes that were due to be delivered, citing recurring technical problems with the military transporters.

The air force said while the A400M formed the backbone of its air transport, there were technical issues - such as with the propellers.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police detained three people in the western city of Offenbach on Tuesday on suspicion of planning a bomb attack on behalf of the Islamic State militant group, prosecutors said.

The three suspects wanted to kill as many “infidels” as possible in the planned attack in the Rhine-Main region, Frankfurt prosecutor Nadja Niesen said in a statement.

The main suspect is a 24-year-old German of Macedonian origin who wanted to manufacture explosives and had tried to buy a weapon online. His two accomplices are Turkish nationals aged 22 and 21.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Union banks have put in place all the plans for Brexit but execution is lagging as lenders await the outcome of negotiations between Britain and the EU, European Central Bank banking supervisor Andrea Enria said on Monday.

Some banks planning to relocate to the EU are postponing moving staff and capital to the bloc, waiting to see whether Britain is headed for a hard Brexit or a negotiated exit, Enria told a conference organized by German newspaper Handelsblatt.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned on Sunday against undermining NATO, in Berlin’s strongest response to date to French President Emmanuel Macron’s critical remarks about the security alliance.

Macron told The Economist this week that NATO was experiencing “brain death”, citing a lack of coordination and U.S. unpredictability under President Donald Trump. He also expressed doubt about the U.S.-led alliance’s security maxim that an attack on one ally would be treated as an attack on all.