
Mercosur must have greater integration, act with an only voice and operate as a block, advised former French president Nicholas Sarkozy at a business conference in Buenos Aires, where he also underlined that without the European Union, France or Germany could have disappeared from the world map

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) clinched a coalition deal early Wednesday that puts Germany on track to have a new government in place by Christmas.

Germany and Brazil circulated a draft resolution to a U.N. General Assembly committee on Friday that calls for an end to excessive electronic surveillance, data collection and other gross invasions of privacy. The draft resolution does not name any specific countries, although U.N. diplomats said it was clearly aimed at the United States, which has been embarrassed by revelations of a massive international surveillance program from a former US contractor.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded that the United States strike a no-spying agreement with Berlin and Paris by the end of the year, saying alleged espionage against two of Washington's closest EU allies had to be stopped.

The United States monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders according to classified documents leaked by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden, Britain's Guardian newspaper said.

Southern Europeans are facing four more years of ‘mutti’ (Mom) Angela Merkel — whether they like it or not. Majorities of 82% in Spain, 65% in Portugal and 58% in Italy repudiate the German leader’s handling of the Euro area’s debt crisis, blaming her for drastic cuts in social services, recession and record unemployment, according to a German Marshall Fund poll released last week.

Just a few seats short of a majority, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she's ready to begin coalition talks with the center-left SPD, but with animosity on both sides, it's not quite clear who will be courting whom, according to German analysts.

German voters will go to the polls this Sunday in a national election whose outcome could change the future of Germany and the Euro zone. According to the latest polls, Merkel's conservative lead has narrowed ahead of the vote on Sunday. Merkel and her conservative CDU/CSU coalition would receive 38% of the vote, an INSA poll showed on Thursday.

A leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union rejected coalition talks after Sunday’s elections with the Alternative for Germany party because of its anti-euro stance.

Official figures show Germany's budget surplus rose to 0.6% of GDP in the first half of the year, boosted by higher tax income. The government pulled in 321.4bn Euros in taxes, 3.8% more than a year ago thanks to its steady employment rate. The German Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, said the surplus was 8.5bn Euros in the period between January and June.