Europe

German opposition leader visits Kyiv, Scholz refuses to go

Editorial Bureau May 4, 2022

KYIV, Ukraine — Germany’s conservative opposition leader traveled to Kyiv on Tuesday for meetings with Ukrainian officials, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz made clear that he wouldn’t be visiting Ukraine any time soon. Scholz has traded barbs with Ukrainian officials in recent weeks because of Kyiv’s

Asia Europe

Germany, India sign $10.5B green development deal

Editorial Bureau May 3, 2022

BERLIN — Germany and India signed a series of bilateral agreements Monday focused on sustainable development that will see the South Asian nation receive 10 billion euros ($10.5 billion) in aid by 2030 to boost the use of clean energy. The accords were signed during a visit to Berlin by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. […]

Europe

Germany: Quitting Russian oil by late summer is ‘realistic’

Editorial Bureau May 2, 2022

BERLIN — Germany says it’s making progress on weaning itself off Russian fossil fuels and expects to be fully independent of Russian crude oil imports by late summer. Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck said Sunday that Europe’s largest economy has reduced the share of Russian energy imports to 12% for oil, 8% for coal […]

Europe

Germany, Turkey summon envoys in row over Kavala verdict

Editorial Bureau April 30, 2022

BERLIN — Germany and Turkey on Friday summoned each other’s ambassadors over a row sparked by a Turkish court’s decision to sentence a prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist to life in prison. Western governments and rights groups strongly criticized this week’s ruling which found Osman Kavala guilty of attempting to overthrow the government […]

Europe

Germany top buyer of Russian energy since war began

Editorial Bureau April 29, 2022

BERLIN — Germany was the biggest buyer of Russian energy during the first two months of the war in Ukraine, an independent research group said Thursday. A study published by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air calculates that Russia has earned 63 billion euros ($66.5 billion) from fossil fuel exports since Feb. […]

Europe

Germany OKs raising rainbow flag at government buildings

Editorial Bureau April 14, 2022

BERLIN — Germany’s Interior Ministry said Wednesday it has authorized raising the rainbow flag at federal government buildings on some occasions, a move meant to end discussions about unclear rules and signal acceptance of diversity. The ministry said that flying the rainbow flag “must be related to a concrete date,” such as Pride marches or […]

Europe

Germany may have to junk 3 million COVID shots by late June

Editorial Bureau April 12, 2022

BERLIN — Germany’s health ministry said Monday that the country may have to discard 3 million doses of expired COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June. Ministry spokesman Hanno Kautz told reporters in Berlin that “not many doses” have been destroyed so far, though he couldn’t give an exact figure. But Kautz said that “we […]

Europe

Jordan Palace says king to receive spine surgery in Germany

Editorial Bureau April 10, 2022

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s monarch is traveling to Germany Sunday for a spine surgery, Jordan’s palace announced Saturday. King Abdullah II, 60, will undergo a surgery to treat “a herniated disc in the thoracic spine” at a hospital in Frankfurt next week, and will return home after a recovery period of one week. The statement […]

Europe

Germany shuts down world’s largest darknet market with US help

Editorial Bureau April 6, 2022

German authorities took down the world’s largest illegal marketplace on the darknet with the help of U.S. law enforcement agencies, they said. Hydra Market was a Russian-language marketplace that had operated via the Tor network since at least 2015 and was known for extensive drug trafficking, according to German authorities. The market’s 17 million known […]

Europe

Man in Germany gets 90 COVID-19 shots to sell forged passes

Editorial Bureau April 4, 2022

BERLIN — A 60-year-old man allegedly had himself vaccinated against COVID-19 dozens of times in Germany in order to sell forged vaccination cards with real vaccine batch numbers to people not wanting to get vaccinated themselves. The man from the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg, whose name was not released in line with German privacy […]