WASHINGTON (AP) — How’s this for awkward? The United States has a delegation at international climate talks in Bonn that will be telling other nations what they should do on an agreement that the president wants no part of. President Donald Trump has promised to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate pact where … Continue reading
BONN, Germany (AP) — The Latest on global climate change talks in Bonn, Germany (all times local): 4:25 p.m. A senior U.S. diplomat says Washington will continue to take part in talks about implementing the Paris climate accord, despite President Donald Trump’s threat to pull out of the pact. Trump announced in June that the … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — The number of flying insects in Germany has been dropping at an “alarming” rate that could signal serious trouble for ecosystems and food chains in the future, scientists say. According to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers using funnel-shaped traps at 63 sites across western Germany recorded a … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Pope Francis encouraged her to work to preserve the historic Paris climate accord despite the U.S. withdrawal from it and shared her goal to “bring down walls” between countries, not build them. Merkel and Francis met for about 40 minutes Saturday in the Apostolic Palace, focusing … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — Top European leaders pledged Thursday to keep fighting against global warming as U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was pulling out of the Paris climate accord, but they rejected his suggestion that the deal could later be renegotiated. The leaders of France, Germany and Italy said in a joint statement that they … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — As the indignities of modern air travel go, the latest ban on laptops and tablets on some international flights falls somewhere between having to take off your shoes at the security checkpoint and having your baby food and milk tested for bomb residue. It’s yet another inconvenience in the name of … Continue reading
BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday issued a sharp ultimatum to NATO Wednesday, telling allies they must start increasing defense spending by year’s end or the Trump administration will “moderate its commitment” to them. He did not detail what the United States might do if NATO members failed to fall in … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — The Latest on Europe’s migrant influx (all times local): 6:25 p.m. Germany says the human rights situation in Libya is “catastrophic,” with migrants heading for Europe bearing the brunt of abuse. A report Sunday by German weekly Welt am Sonntag quoted an internal Foreign Ministry memo describing how migrants face torture and … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — An anti-government extremist opened fire on police in southern Germany during a raid Wednesday in which they had planned to confiscate his weapons, wounding four officers, authorities said. The 49-year-old German man had legally possessed more than 30 weapons for hunting, but local authorities had revoked his license because he appeared increasingly … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — The leaders of Russia, Ukraine and France headed to Berlin Wednesday for four-way talks hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that aimed to revive the stalled peace process in eastern Ukraine. The summit was expected also to touch on Syria and Russia’s role in the conflict there. Prospects of significant progress on … Continue reading
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian residents in opposition-held eastern part of the city of Aleppo woke up to a fresh wave of airstrikes on Friday amid intense clashes between government forces and rebels — part of a devastating military campaign by Syria and Russia that the opposition says has killed dozens of people in the past … Continue reading
BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the developments in the Syrian civil war (all times local): 6:05 p.m. Russia says that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Switzerland on Saturday to discuss efforts to find a peace deal in Syria. The encounter will be the first face-to-face contact … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — A Syrian man arrested for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot underwent a security check last year, but it turned up nothing suspicious, Germany’s top security official said Wednesday. Jaber Albakr, a 22-year-old Syrian who had been granted asylum, was arrested Monday in Leipzig after three fellow Syrians tied him up and … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — Some 213,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Germany this year, keeping it on course for a far lower total than last year’s 890,000 entrants, the country’s interior minister said Wednesday. The number of newcomers “is still declining but remains significant,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. He said the figure he gave for … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — An activist group built a wall in Berlin featuring the face of Donald Trump, then tore it down in a rally to encourage Americans overseas to vote against the Republican presidential candidate. The group Avaaz built the cardboard-block wall Friday at the landmark Brandenburg Gate, not far from the spot where former … Continue reading
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen plans to ramp up its offerings of electric vehicles as it fights to bounce back from a scandal over diesel cars rigged to cheat on emissions tests. The electric campaign is part of a wide-ranging review of the company’s strategy that also includes increasing profitability, investing in new … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — France is setting up an emergency fund to help those who lost everything after the worst floods in three decades caused the Seine River to burst its banks. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Monday after a government meeting that the “return to normality will take time” after unusually intense rains that lashed … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — An ancient stone sculpture of Buddha’s footprints that was smuggled into the United States and had been expected to sell for more than $1 million was returned to the government of Pakistan on Wednesday. The piece, called a Buddhapada, was taken from a Pakistani region rich in Buddhist history decades ago. … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — One of Germany’s main history museums is exhibiting racist and anti-Semitic stickers spanning more than a century, a show that comes as the country worries about increasing racism amid the migrant crisis. The show at the German Historical Museum in Berlin features about 600 stickers and replicas, racist and anti-racist. Among the … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Friday, Apr. 15, granted a Turkish request to allow the possible prosecution of a German TV comedian who wrote a crude poem about Turkey’s president, an awkward decision for Chancellor Angela Merkel as she seeks Ankara’s help in reducing Europe’s migrant influx. Turkey demanded last week to have … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — The Latest on the publication by a coalition of media outlets of an investigation into offshore financial dealings by the rich and famous (all times local): 11:50 a.m. Germany’s justice minister is proposing setting up a national “transparency register” that would list the real beneficiaries of letter-box companies — but only those … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg conceded Friday, Feb. 26, that Facebook didn’t do enough until recently to police hate speech on the social media site in Germany, but said it has made progress and has heard the message “loud and clear.” German authorities, concerned about racist abuse being posted on Facebook and other social networks … Continue reading
The U.S., Russia and more than a dozen other countries met Thursday in Munich to discuss halting the fighting in Syria, while forces of President Bashar Assad are making some of their biggest gains against the opposition. The fighting around Syria’s largest city of Aleppo has brought government forces closer to the Turkish border than … Continue reading
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European stocks fell Monday amid ongoing jitters over the Chinese economy following weak manufacturing data. Japanese stocks, however, extended gains following the Bank of Japan’s decision last week to introduce a negative interest rate policy to boost lending and spur growth. KEEPING SCORE: Europe got off to a weak start with … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — It’s a change of heart that Iraqi immigrant Sekvan Agho never saw coming. Agho was among the wave of nearly 1.1 million asylum-seekers who came to Germany last year seeking a new life, making his way from his native Iraq to Turkey, then across the seas to Greece before tramping north and … Continue reading
