Germany's coalition government agreed this week to ban fracking for shale gas indefinitely after years of fractious talks over the issue, but environmental groups said the ban did not go far enough and vowed to fight the deal. Test drilling will be allowed but only with the permission of the respective state government, officials said.
If the United Kingdom votes to leave the EU next week, the move could ultimately lead to the bloc's disintegration, Germany's foreign minister has warned. Frank-Walter Steinmeier was speaking near Berlin after talks with his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned Friday that if Britain voted to leave the European Union, it wouldn't have access to the single market like non-members Norway and Switzerland do.
Angela Merkel broke her silence during the referendum campaign to warn that Britain would find itself isolated and weakened in trade talks outside the European Union. The German chancellor, who has not commented since David Cameron named the referendum date in February, said that a place at the bargaining table for the single market and international trade deals were reasons for Britain to remain in the EU on June 23.
The centenary of the biggest naval engagement of World War One was marked by commemorative events on Tuesday, 31 May. A service at St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney paid tribute to the 8,648 sailors who died during the Battle of Jutland and a service of remembrance also took place on board HMS Duncan at Jutland Bank, the site of the battle.
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed on Sunday for Europe to unite to face its current challenges as they marked the 100th anniversary of Verdun, the longest battle of World War I. The 300 days of fighting in northeast France were one of the bloodiest battles of the war, claiming more than 300,000 lives before France emerged victorious.
A small funeral was held in Chile Saturday for Margot Honecker, the widow of former East German leader Erich Honecker. A steely politician in her own right, the 89-year-old died of cancer in the capital Santiago on Friday.
Victims of a secretive German colony in Chile hope that Germany's decision to declassify documents will help shine light on human rights abuses committed there. For three decades beginning in 1961, the enclave of Colonia Dignidad, or Dignity Colony, was the site of torture, slavery and child abuse.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the world renown of German beer in Ingolstadt, at a celebration marking the 500th anniversary of the beer purity law. The age-old rule has remained a staple of beer production. Hundreds of brewers from Germany and other European countries attended the celebration in Bavaria on Friday, with servers and guards in traditional costumes.
For 500 years Germany’s famous Beer Purity Law has been protecting the country’s beer drinkers from contaminants, chemicals and any other additives that unsavory merchants might have thought of adding. But the law, or Reinheitsgebot, which marked its 500th anniversary last Friday, has been unable to protect the country’s 1,350 brewers and the proud industry from a modern plague: health consciousness.