
Thousands of farmers drove their tractors into German cities on Tuesday, in protest at the government's new agricultural policies which they say will hurt their livelihoods and make them scapegoats for climate change.

An anti-Semitic attack that killed at least two people in the German city of Halle on Wednesday was streamed live for 35 minutes, and eventually seen by around 2,200 people, the online platform Twitch said.

The unanimous election of a neo-Nazi politician in Germany as the head of a town council, thanks to votes from rival party members, has sparked outrage among senior political figures.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and her Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners bled support to the far right in two state elections in eastern Germany on Sunday, dealing a double blow to her already unstable ruling alliance.

Germany’s president expressed on Sunday deep remorse for the suffering his nation inflicted on Poland and the rest of Europe during World War II, warning of the dangers of nationalism as world leaders gathered Sunday in the country where the war started at incalculable costs.

Brazilian states containing the country’s Amazon rainforest said they want to negotiate directly with European nations who fund projects to curb deforestation after changes proposed by the federal government led Norway and Germany to suspend donations.

Germany will partially suspend funds sent to Brazil to finance projects aimed at preserving the Amazon forest due to increasing deforestation, Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported.

Green and Social Democrat (SPD) politicians in Germany say the 7% sales tax (VAT) rate on meat should be raised to 19% to help curb global warming and fund animal welfare improvements.

German customs have confiscated a record 4.5 metric tons (5 short tons) of cocaine in a shipping container in Hamburg, with a street value of nearly €1 billion (US$ 1.1 billion). The drugs were discovered two weeks ago during a routine check, resulting in the largest cocaine shipment ever seized in Germany.

Paris on Thursday baked in an all-time high temperature of 42.6 degrees Celsius as a ferocious heatwave smashed records across northern Europe, sparking concerns about public health and causing new misery for rail travellers.