
US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roberta Jacobson has said the bilateral relationship with Argentina is going through a “difficult period”, but stated the legal battle between that country and holdouts is not a “political problem” but a “judicial problem.”

Angela Merkel’s administration attempted to lower tensions with the Argentine government on Thursday following controversial statements made by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble regarding the so called 'holdouts' or 'vulture funds' conflict.

Germany's Angela Merkel said on Monday after meeting French premier Manuel Valls that she was impressed by the number of reforms Paris had launched, but deferred to Brussels on the halting French efforts to reduce its public deficit.

Spain is among the European countries hardest hit by the so-called 'brain drain' effect with thousands of professionals including nurses and teachers taking steps to leave the country in recent years, new figures from the European Union show.

French President Francois Hollande and Mario Draghi the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) have agreed that European demand must be lifted to head off a risk of deflation, French officials said.

A German news magazine reported on Sunday that Chancellor Angela Merkel is unhappy with European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi for apparently proposing a greater emphasis on fiscal stimulus over austerity in order to boost growth in Europe.

Leading economies are showing a steady growth trend overall, although Britain is doing particularly well and Japan and Germany are showing signs of losing pace, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) said on Monday.

Germany's TUI Cruises, a joint venture of TUI AG and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. are planning to spend as much as 2 billion Euros for four new vessels to meet increased European demand for cruise holidays. TUI Cruises expects Germany to overtake the UK as Europe's largest cruise market.

Ceremonies have been held in Germany to mark the 70th anniversary of a failed 20 July 1944 attempt by military officers to kill Adolf Hitler. The conspirators are now regarded as German patriots for their actions.

Show the world you are better than Messi and you can decide the World Cup, German coach Joachim Löw told Mario Götze before sending him to the field, and effectively scoring the only goal of the match that gave Germany its fourth Cup.