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German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not travel to Washington at US President Donald Trump’s request to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Washington DC, according to a report from Politico on Friday. “The federal chancellor thanks President Trump for his invitation to the G7 summit at the end of June in Washington,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told the outlet. “As of today, considering the overall pandemic situation, she cannot agree to her personal participation, to a journey to Washington,” Seibert said. Trump has been rallying behind the idea of hosting a G7 summit in person, months after...

Europe’s extensive social welfare net was showing signs of fraying under economic strain from the coronavirus, as protests erupted Friday for a second day in Spain against layoffs by French carmaker Renault, while Italy’s chief central banker warned that “uncertainty is rife.” Elsewhere, New Zealand has all but eradicated the coronavirus with just one person in the nation of 5 million known to be infected. But developments were grim in other nations, with India reporting a record increase in cases, and Pakistan and Russia a record number of deaths. As cases steadily rose across Africa, officials who are losing the...

A German government official appeared to court Twitter to relocate its headquarters to Europe as the social media giant faces tensions with President Trump. “Hey @Twitter & @jack, this is an invitation to move to Germany! Here you are free to criticize the government as well as to fight fake news,” tweeted Thomas Jarzombek, who oversees tech affairs for Germany’s Economic Affairs Ministry. “We have a great startup and tech ecosystem, your company would be a perfect fit and I will open any doors for you!” he added, tagging President Trump. SNIP

At a blood donation bank in Cologne, western Germany, empty bags sit ready to be filled. A few forms, a quick measure of blood pressure, a scratch on the arm, and seven minutes later donors have made their 500-ml contribution to the 15,000 blood donations needed every day in Germany. The footfall of donors, now wearing face masks due to the coronavirus pandemic, is steady, but not fast enough. Germany’s blood reserves are running low. Under usual circumstances, the German Red Cross (DRK) — which covers two-thirds of Germany’s blood supplies — would aim to have enough blood reserves for...

The construction of the Chinese laboratory at the centre of mounting suspicion over the source of the Covid-19 pandemic was signed off by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier – despite warnings by French intelligence services. Mr Barnier – currently embroiled in acrimonious negotiations with the UK over a post-Brexit trade deal – was the French foreign minister when he gave the go-ahead for work to start on the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2004, under a joint deal with the Chinese. The move came despite strong opposition from French diplomatic and security advisers, who argued that the Chinese...

Karlsruhe (Germany) (AFP) - A top German court ruled Monday that Volkswagen must buy back a diesel car it modified to appear less polluting, a decision that could influence the outcome of tens of thousands of other "dieselgate" cases. Judges at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe "effectively upheld" a lower court's ruling that plaintiff Herbert Gilbert can return his car to VW for reimbursement, but he must also accept a discount from the original purchase price for the time he used it. Almost five years after Volkswagen's admission to cheating on emissions tests involving millions of diesel...

If you believe a new survey, Germans are turning to China in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. “Germans view the United States less positively since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis while their attitudes toward China have improved,” the German public broadcaster DW News reported citing the survey. The broadcaster added that “73% stated that their opinion about the United States had deteriorated due to the current health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus,” compared to only 36 percent who looked more unfavorably towards China since the outbreak. “Coronavirus turns Germans more critical of US,” the DW News...

Maltese Ambassador resigns after saying that Germany’s Merkel had “fulfilled Hitler’s dream” to “control Europe” MAY 21, 2020 4:00 PM BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS “75 years ago we stopped Hitler. Who will stop Angela Merkel? She has fulfilled Hitler’s dream! To control Europe,” wrote Michael Zammit Tabona. Tabona was blasted by the Malta News Agency for sharing views similar to those of the “far right,” anti-migration Matteo Salvini, Italy’s former Deputy Prime Minister, who once declared that he wanted nothing to do with Merkel, as well as French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, for ruining Europe. Tabona’s views may not have been...

Hungary supports Beijing’s efforts to prevent Taiwan taking part in the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA), according to a Chinese statement issued after a telephone conversation between the two countries’ foreign ministers. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called his European counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, on Thursday, the foreign ministry in Beijing said. During the call, Szijjarto told Wang that Budapest would not support Taiwan’s accession to the World Health Organisation (WHO) ahead of the annual gathering of health ministers from around the world that starts in Geneva on Monday and which Taipei is keen to attend. Hungary “always upholds the one...

Germany has made public burning of the EU flag or that of another country punishable by up to three years in jail, classing it as a hate crime. The vote in the Bundestag (parliament) on Thursday makes defiling foreign flags equal to the crime of defiling the German flag. The same applies for the EU anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy theme. The move followed Social Democrat (SPD) complaints about protesters’ burning of the Israeli flag in Berlin in 2017. …

The German economy contracted 2.2% in the first quarter of 2020, the worst result since the 2008 financial crisis. Experts had expected a contraction of around 2%. The latest data, released by the federal statistics authority Destasis on Friday, also showed revisions to 2019 fourth-quarter figures from zero growth to a contraction of 0.1%. This means Germany is now in a recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. The first quarter figures are only a partial indication of how much the pandemic has harmed Europe’s largest economy. […] GDP is expected to shrink even further in the...

French pharmaceutical group Sanofi promised Thursday that it would make its COVID-19 vaccine, when ready, available in all countries, hours after the company’s CEO said the United States will get first access. Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson’s comments that a vaccine would go first to the U.S. prompted an angry reaction from the French government. “Equal access for all to the vaccine is not negotiable,” French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in a tweet. French President Emmanuel Macron was described by his office as also being “upset” by Hudson’s comments. Macron is pushing for vaccines to be considered a “common good”...

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has predicted that coronavirus could bring about the end of the EU. Soros expressed his doubts about the institution’s survival as it is an “incomplete union” and cited Germany’s ruling on the European Central Bank as a cause for concern. The 89-year-old also posited that the global pandemic could bring an end to capitalism as we know it.In an interview with the Independent, Soros said: “I am particularly concerned about the survival of the EU because it is an incomplete union.” According to Soros, this makes Europe “more vulnerable” than the US “not just because it...

In Germany, resistance is growing to the measures imposed by the government to try and stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Critics of the measures say that the restrictions on basic rights go much too far. Many are even worried that vaccinations against it may be made compulsory — even though a vaccine against COVID-19 has yet to be found. The biggest demonstration against the coronavirus measures took place last Saturday in the southern city of Stuttgart, with organizers claiming that it drew some 5,000 participants. Police described the rally as largely peaceful. But such demonstrations do not always...

May 9 marks traditionally the celebration of the Schuman Declaration, a visionary short statement given by the French Foreign Minister exactly five years and one day after the end of the Second World War. Since then, the European project has, sometimes enthusiastically and sometimes painfully, followed a course which, in retrospect, is totally unique in the history of mankind – a voluntary devolution of powers from 27 countries to a joint set of institutions, decision-making powers in some respect, and more diluted coordination in many others. Rereading the Declaration 70 years later, amidst the worst crisis in Europe since World...

BEIJING - The European Union ambassador to China said on Thursday it was “regrettable” that part of an opinion piece co-authored by 27 European ambassadors and published in the official China Daily had been removed before publication. A comparison between the original op-ed uploaded onto the EU embassy website and the one published on Tuesday by the China Daily showed that in a sentence beginning, “But the outbreak of the coronavirus”, the words that followed - “in China, and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world over the past three months” - were removed. “It is regrettable that...

There are two things a quarantined European will reliably find when he goes online for news in this age of the coronavirus: first, the clucking of local pundits at how the Trump administration has managed the epidemic in the United States; second, unmistakable evidence that every one of the major countries of Western Europe, with the exception of Angela Merkel’s Germany, is doing worse...

Wood is the resource the world is relying on for its low carbon future. It’s touted as a replacement for concrete and steel, fossil fuels, power and plastics. But is there enough of it to go around? […] According to the latest figures from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global forest production hit record levels in 2018. Up 11% on the year before. “We see an increasing demand for almost all of our products,” says Göran Örlander, strategist at Södra, Sweden’s largest association of forest owners. “The most obvious demand is for biofuels at the moment. Everybody wants...

The Garda Commissioner has said that “we are in uncharted waters” in terms of the long-term impact of the new powers given to Gardaí during the COVID-19 crisis. Drew Harris said that Gardaí had “engaged in more than 10,000 checkpoints” across the country last week. Commissioner Harris was speaking during a public meeting with the Policing Authority, which is overseeing the Garda response to COVID-19. The proceedings are being streamed live online due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Mr. Harris said that the low number of coronavirus-related arrests to date — 76 — illustrated how well the public was complying with...

The world must “keep a close eye on climate protection” as it faces the economic fallout of the pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday, speaking remotely for the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. “We need a financial market that provides cheap capital for climate-friendly investments,” said Merkel, during an address for the annual event usually held in Berlin. Merkel also called for climate action to be included as part of economic reconstruction plans following the pandemic, including investments in future-oriented technologies such as renewable energy. In a video address following Merkel, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the pandemic had “exposed...