FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER

A growing number of people in Germany have joined grassroots initiatives and demonstrations to speak out against vaccination opponents, conspiracy theorists and far-right extremists who have been protesting COVID-19 measures.

Germany’s foreign minister says that the country’s diplomats during the Nazi era shared blame for the Holocaust and she wants more training for staff to speak up against all forms of discrimination.

Germany’s president has called for a debate over plans for compulsory coronavirus vaccinations in the country, saying such a drastic measure needs to be thoroughly justified.

Germany’s biggest opposition party says it will support the reelection of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Germany’s environmentalist Greens have come out in favor of a second term for President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Germany’s health minister says the proportion of coronavirus infections with the new omicron variant will increase sharply in the days ahead.

Five years after a terrorist killed 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says Germany’s government had not lived up to its duty to protect its citizens that day

Five years after a terrorist killed 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says Germany’s government had not lived up to its duty to protect its citizens that day.

Olaf Scholz has become Germany's ninth post-World War II chancellor, opening a new era for the European Union’s most populous nation and largest economy after Angela Merkel’s 16-year tenure.

The European Commission has retracted internal communication guidelines that had proposed substituting the “Christmas period” with “holiday period” after an outcry by conservatives.

Angela Merkel took a step closer to political retirement Tuesday after receiving her formal dismissal certificate from the post of chancellor after 16 years in office.

The presidents of Ukraine, Israel and Germany have inaugurated a memorial for the victims of the Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine eight decades after one of the most infamous Nazi mass slaughters of the Holocaust.

Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germans must keep working for democracy, as the country celebrated the 31st anniversary of the reunification of East and West.

Germany’s president has called on the country to face its cruel colonial past as he opened a new museum in the capital’s center that will be home to two of Berlin’s state museums which include looted artifacts from countries in Africa and elsewhere.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she finds it unacceptable that refugees are being used to apply pressure to Poland and other European Union members on the border with Belarus.

The front-runner to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany’s September election has apologized for a scene in which he was seen laughing in the background as the country’s president delivered a statement on the devastating floods in western Germany.

The front-runner to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany's September election has apologized for a scene in which he was seen laughing in the background as the country's president delivered a statement on the devastating floods in western Germany. Armin Laschet, the candidate of Merkel's center-right Union bloc to be Germany's next leader, is also the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state — one of two badly hit by last week's floods. On Saturday, he visited the town of Erfstadt, which was the scene of a dramatic rescue effort after the ground gave way, with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

As the floodwaters begin to recede, the scale of the disaster is laid bare.

The rising death toll from disastrous flooding in Germany and Belgium came as rescue workers toiled to clear up the devastation revealed by receding water and prevent further damage.

Rescue workers labored to deal with damage laid bare by receding water as the death toll from disastrous flooding in Western Europe rose above 160.

The death toll from disastrous flooding in western Europe rose above 150 on Saturday as rescue workers toiled to clear up the devastation and prevent further damage. Police said that more than 90 people are now known to have died in western Germany's Ahrweiler county, one of the worst-hit areas, and more casualties are feared. On Friday, authorities gave a death toll of 63 for Rhineland-Palatinate state, where Ahrweiler is located.

The worst flooding in decades to affect Germany and parts of Belgium has killed more than 100 people as search and rescue efforts for hundreds of missing continue, officials said.

Rescuers were rushing Friday to help people trapped in their homes in the town of Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne.

Rescuers were rushing Friday to help people trapped in their homes in the town of Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne.

Belgium’s government says the death toll from unprecedented flooding in parts of the country has risen to 20.

Emergency workers in western Germany and Belgium are rushing to rescue hundreds of people threatened by historic floods, including residents of a town where the ground gave way beneath their homes.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands have started a three-day visit to Germany that was delayed from last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Israel's president warmly welcomed his German counterpart on Thursday, praising him as an ally in combatting antisemitism. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to meet with Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said that Germany has been “our strong partner in the uncompromising fight against antisemitism” and has stood with Israel against “the forces of terror who seek to wipe us off the map.”

The presidents of Germany and Poland have met in Warsaw to celebrate the 30th anniversary of a key treaty between the two neighbors, focusing on the positive aspects of a sometimes wobbly relationship.

Topless dancers can shed coronavirus restrictions beginning next weekend in Las Vegas and get face-to-face with patrons again.

Germany's constitutional court has removed a potential obstacle to Europe's pandemic stimulus.

Germany is paying tribute to the nearly 80,000 people it has lost to the coronavirus, even as the country struggles to get a grip on another rise in infections.

Germany’s president has marked the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp by reminding his compatriots of the inconceivable atrocities the Nazis committed there during the Third Reich.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has offered his country’s deepest sympathies and condolences to Queen Elizabeth II on the passing of Prince Philip.

Germany's president said the country is enduring a “crisis of trust” as it weathers a second Easter under pandemic restrictions amid dissatisfaction over the government’s response.

The Navajo Nation on Saturday reported 18 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and four more deaths.

“There needs to be a quiet Easter festival,” Merkel said in a video address. AdIn contrast, Britain has given one vaccine shot to 46% of its people. Health Minister Jens Spahn said routine vaccinations will begin in doctors' practices on Tuesday, with 35,000 GPs scheduled to receive 940,000 vaccine doses next week. Germany expects to receive about 40 million vaccine doses during the second quarter. AdMerkel, who is 66, says she would be prepared to take the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two changes to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine that can provide extra doses from each vial.

Ozlem Tureci founder of the BioNTech company speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)BERLIN – The scientist who won the race to deliver the first widely used coronavirus vaccine says people can rest assured the shots are safe, and the technology behind it will soon be used to fight another global scourge — cancer. “There is a very rigid process in place and the process does not stop after a vaccine has been approved,” she said. “We have several different cancer vaccines based on mRNA," said Tureci, who is BioNTech's chief medical officer. “You began with a drug to treat cancer in a single individual,” Steinmeier told the couple.

(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)BERLIN – The head of the World Health Organization pleaded with rich countries on Monday to check before ordering additional COVID-19 vaccine shots for themselves whether that undermines efforts to get vaccine shots to poorer nations. Wealthy nations have snapped up several billion vaccine doses while some countries in the developing world have little or none. Tedros added that rich countries need to “cooperate in respecting the deals that COVAX did” and make sure before they seek more vaccines that their requests don’t undermine those deals. WHO also said Monday it had reached an agreement with Chubb Limited on behalf of COVAX for a global vaccine injury compensation program. The initiative will allow people in poorer countries to get compensation for rare but serious side effects linked to COVID-19 vaccines distributed through COVAX until next June.

The names of the nine victims of the Hanau shooting are painted on a building in Hanau, Germany, Thursday, Feb.18, 2021. One year ago a far right man shot nine people before he shot himself. The rampage in Hanau, near Frankfurt, caused widespread shock in Germany and beyond. Mehmet Daimagueler, a prominent lawyer who has represented victims of other racist crimes in Germany, said the attack in Hanau should prompt politicians to reflect on the stereotypes about migrants they repeat, including portraying shisha bars as crime dens. “The state needs to start fighting racism in its own house," Daimagueler told news portal Watson, calling for racist officials to lose their jobs and victims of hate crimes to be taken more seriously.

Most observances were held online, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and only few people attended the ceremony at the monument. In Israel, some 900 Holocaust survivors died from COVID-19 out of 5,300 who were infected last year. Israel, which counts 197,000 Holocaust survivors, officially marks its Holocaust remembrance day in the spring. Meanwhile, Luxembourg signed a deal agreeing to pay reparations and to restitute dormant bank accounts, insurance policies and looted art to Holocaust survivors. Of the 6 million Jewish victims, some 1.5 million were children, and this year's commemorations included a special focus on them.

More than 50,000 people have died after contracting COVID-19 in Germany, a number that has risen swiftly over recent weeks as the country has struggled to bring down infection figures. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)BERLIN – The death toll from the coronavirus in Germany has passed 50,000, a number that has risen swiftly over recent weeks even as infection figures are finally declining. Germany had a comparatively small number of deaths in the pandemic’s first phase and was able to lift many restrictions quickly. Hundreds of deaths, sometimes more than 1,000, have been reported daily in the country of 83 million people over recent weeks. There are currently 4,787 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, said Gernot Marx, the head of Germany's intensive care association, DIVI.

Many expressed hope Biden would right U.S. democracy two weeks after rioters stormed the Capitol, shaking the faith of those fighting for democracy in their own countries. Biden “understands the importance of cooperation among nations,” said former Colombian president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos, who left office in 2018. “President Biden’s message of unity as he takes office is one that resonates with New Zealanders,” Ardern said. World leaders also acknowledged the history of Vice President Kamala Harris taking office. “That is an historic moment and one that, I think as a father of daughters, you can only celebrate," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

There had been suggestions that Mr. Trump might take post-presidential refuge at one of his golf clubs in Scotland. Yes, President Biden said the U.S. will re-join the Paris Climate Accords, but what does that mean? European allies certainly expect the Biden administration to reengage, to take a more cooperative approach to solving the world's biggest problems. Maurizio Gambarini/picture alliance/GettyBut those allies know not every element of Mr. Trump's foreign policy will be rolled back. Overall, America's allies are approaching the new White House with optimism, but it is optimism tempered by a wariness learned over the past four years.

European Council President Charles Michel, who chairs summits between the EU’s 27 heads of state and government, said that trans-Atlantic relations have “greatly suffered in the last four years. In these years, the world has grown more complex, less stable and less predictable.”“We have our differences and they will not magically disappear. Michel said the EU’s priority is to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and climate change, rebuild the global economy and boost security ties with Washington. “I am greatly relieved that, today, Joe Biden is being sworn in as president and will be moving into the White House. “Despite all the joy we feel today, we must not forget that even the most powerful democracy in the world has been seduced by populism.

Reaction from around the world to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump:___“A fundamental rule of democracy is that, after elections, there are winners and losers. ——“The rampage at the Capitol yesterday was a disgraceful act and it must be vigorously condemned.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a historic turning point for the United States, and it is an attack on liberal democracy as a whole. — Donald Tusk, former European Union leader, former prime minister of Poland. Democracy presupposes peaceful protest, but violence and death threats —from Left or Right— are ALWAYS wrong.” — Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center in red dress, delivers her speech during the debate about Germany's budget 2021, at the parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)BERLIN – Germany's next parliamentary election, which will determine the country's new leader after Chancellor Angela Merkel's long rule, will be held on Sept. 26, 2021. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's office said Wednesday that the head of state set the date in line with a recommendation from the government. That may not happen until well after the election, because the process of putting together a governing coalition can be lengthy. After the 2017 election, it was nearly six months before Merkel was sworn in for her fourth term — a record.

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 1945 file photo, Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering stands in the prisoner's dock at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial in Germany. Germany marks the 75th anniversary of the landmark Nuremberg trials of several Nazi leaders and in what is now seen as the birthplace of a new era of international law on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020. The proceedings broke new ground in holding government leaders individually responsible for their aggression and slaughter of millions of innocents. Nuremberg was the city where Adolf Hitler reviewed torchlight Nazi party rallies and promulgated the race laws of 1935 that paved the way for the Holocaust. The city of Nuremberg is marking the anniversary in Courtroom 600 with a ceremony Friday that will include German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier as the guest of honor.

Britain's Prince Charles arrives for a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020. Prince Charles attends Germany's national memorial day and will held a speech at the parliament building. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)BERLIN – Prince Charles called Sunday for Britain and Germany to remember their long and close ties, reaffirmed by the nations' reconciliation after two world wars, as the U.K. tries to find its place outside — but also alongside — the European Union. The palace was built in the late 18th century by Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, to whom Charles is distantly related through his family's German line. Charles, 72, was exempt due to the diplomatic nature of his trip from Germany's rules requiring him to go into quarantine on arrival from Britain.

Medical staff takes a COVID-19 test at a coronavirus test center in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. The city exceeded the important warning level of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. All pubs and restaurants must close except for takeaway services, and schools will close for two weeks for an extended half-term holiday. Germany, which was widely lauded for rapidly slowing the spread of the virus when the pandemic first broke out, has seen rapidly climbing numbers in recent days. Italy’s other hardest hit region, southern Campania, has taken similarly strict measures, including a shutdown of schools for two weeks.

BERLIN – Germany marked the 30th anniversary of its reunification on Saturday, drawing a generally positive picture of the progress made in knitting together east and west. The country's president declared that today's is “the best Germany there has ever been” and proposed a new memorial to the “peaceful revolutionaries” who helped end communist rule. Germany is “rightly proud” on the anniversary of reunification, "and no pandemic can get in the way of that,” Steinmeier said. “Let's thank all those who worked for it.”He advocated creating a memorial to the “peaceful revolutionaries” of East Germany whose efforts brought the communist dictatorship to an end. Germany could use “a place that reminds us that East Germans took their fate in their own hands and liberated themselves," Steinmeier said.

BERLIN – Senior officials and survivors paid tribute Saturday to the victims of a deadly neo-Nazi attack on Munich’s Oktoberfest 40 years ago, as Germany’s president warned that far-right extremism remains a persistent problem in the country. The bombing on the evening of Sept. 26, 1980, claimed 13 lives, including that of three children and the attacker, student Gundolf Koehler, a supporter of a banned far-right group. “Right-wing extremism has deep roots in our society,” President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a memorial event in the Bavarian capital. Steinmeier said the perpetrators weren't “disturbed people,” but rather part of “networks that we need to investigate.”An initial investigation of the Oktoberfest attack concluded that Koehler acted alone, out of personal frustration. Bavaria's governor, Markus Soeder, apologized to survivors and the victims' families for mistakes made during the initial investigation.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is flanked by Italian President Sergio Mattarella after visiting the Duomo gothic cathedral, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)MILAN – An Italian coronavirus survivor from Bergamo warmly thanked Germany’s visiting president on Thursday for lifesaving treatment he received in the eastern Germany city of Leipzig. Frank-Walter Steinmeier met medical personnel who treated coronavirus patients during his visit to Milan, the capital of hard-hit Lombardy. ‘’If I hadn’t gone to Germany, I would have died,’’ Perani told Steinmeier, as Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella looked on. Perani said though they didn’t have a common language, the medical personnel in Germany ‘’spoke with their eyes.

BERLIN Senior German officials on Sunday condemned attempts by far-right protesters and others to storm the parliament building following a protest against the countrys pandemic restrictions. Hundreds of people, some waving the flag of the German Reich of 1871-1918 and other far-right banners, breached a security barrier outside the Reichstag late Saturday but were intercepted by police and forcibly removed. About 300 people were arrested in front of the Reichstag and following an incident at the Russian embassy, according to police. Berlin's top security official, Andreas Geisel, praised three officers who had stood alone against the protesters outside the Reichstag until reinforcements arrived. The fact that Nazis with imperial war flags try to storm the Bundestag recalls the darkest period in German history, he told the Funke media group.

BERLIN Germany's top security official violated the rights of a far-right party by posting remarks criticizing it on his ministry's website, the country's highest court ruled Tuesday. The Alternative for Germany party, known as AfD, whose anti-migration and anti-establishment stance helped it get into the German parliament in 2017, is currently the largest of several opposition parties. Its case against Interior Minister Horst Seehofer stems from an interview that his ministry posted on its website in 2018, in which he decried a broadside by AfD against President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Seehofer described AfD's behavior as undermining the state and asserted that they stand against this state. The interview was taken down from his ministry's website a little over two weeks after it was posted there.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo adresses the audience on the podium during the 56th Munich Security Conference in Munich on February 15, 2020. MUNICH Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday defended the United States' foreign policy approach and dismissed criticisms that the Trump administration disregards international alliances. The West is winning, and we're winning together," Pompeo said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference. "Our closest ally, the United States of America, under the current administration, rejects the very concept of the international community," he said. "'Great again' but at the expense of neighbors and partners," Steinmeier added without naming Trump but referring to his "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier addresses the opening speech of the 56th Munich Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany, on February 14, 2020. "Our closest ally, the United States of America, under the current administration, rejects the very concept of the international community," he said. In his opening remarks, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that the United States would put its own interests first at the expense of allies. MUNICH Germany's president kicked off the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday by taking a swipe at President Donald Trump's "America First" foreign policy approach. Read more: Nuclear weapons and 5G among national security topics at Munich Security ConferenceSteinmeier also accused Russia and China of amplifying global insecurity in pursuit of "great power" competition.

Bastogne, Belgium Side by side, the Allies and former enemy Germany together marked the 75th anniversary of one of the most important battles in World War II: the Battle of the Bulge. American soldiers check for identification on the bodies of dead U.S. troops shot by the Germans near Malmedy, Belgium, Jan. 1945 during World War II's Battle of the Bulge. World War II veteran Joe Landry, from Massachusetts, and Jack Stitzinger wait for the start of a ceremony to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge at the Luxembourg American Cemetery in Hamm, Luxembourg on Monday, Dec. 16, 2019. Troops from the American First Army cautiously search a wooded area in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 24, 1944 during World War II. U.S. tanks move in the snow and ice from the town of Tri-le-Cheslaing, Belgium, on Jan. 7, 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

The conflict followed the 2013 Maidan street revolution in Kyiv, which forced Kremlin-favored President Viktor Yanukovych to flee to Russia. In that call, Trump asked Zelensky for help investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Bidens business dealings in Ukraine. That call is now the basis of an impeachment inquiry asking whether Trump abused his official powers. In 2014, then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko oversaw the Minsk peace plan intended to stop the fighting in eastern Ukraine. It was signed by Russia, Ukraine, and representatives from the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was seen shaking as she met President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, Germany, June 27, 2019, her second shaking bout within two weeks. REUTERSBerlin -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared unsteady and was seen shaking for the second time in just over a week at a ceremony in Berlin on Thursday. Merkel set off to Japan a few hours later for the annual summit of the Group of 20 global powers. Last week, dpa reported that Merkel had previously been seen shaking under similar circumstances in the hot sun. Merkel said last year that she won't seek a fifth term as chancellor and won't seek any other political job after her current term ends in 2021.