Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has appointed a senior lawmaker with one of the country’s governing parties as its new ambassador to Russia, handing him the delicate diplomatic post as tensions spiral over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Russia has given its formal approval for Alexander Lambsdorff to become ambassador, a necessary step before he can take the post. It said that he is expected to start work this summer.

BERLIN (AP) — Trade, climate change and the war in Ukraine are on the agenda Tuesday as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is on his first foreign trip since taking office.

The meeting in Berlin is the seventh time Germany and China have held high-level government consultations and comes a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, indicating an effort by Beijing to reach out to the West and improve frosty relations.

BERLIN, June 18 (Reuters) - Germany said on Sunday a request by Mali's military junta for the United Nations peacekeeping force to leave the country "without delay" is politically motivated and Berlin still aims for an orderly withdrawal of its troops by May 2024.

Mali's interim military authorities made the request on Friday, citing a "crisis of confidence" between Malian authorities and the decade-long U.N. mission known as MINUSMA, which has struggled to protect civilians and its own troops.

BERLIN, June 15 (Reuters) - One of two female tourists attacked by an American man near the world-famous Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany has died, German police said on Thursday.

A 21-year-old woman, who had to be taken to a hospital by helicopter, died overnight from serious injuries she sustained, while her 22-year-old companion was still in hospital, local police said in a statement.

A suspect has been arrested, police said.

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the United Nations launched a tirade against fossil fuel companies Thursday, accusing them of betraying future generations and undermining efforts to phase out a product he called “incompatible with human survival.”

BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Russia is the greatest security threat “for the foreseeable future” and advocated a balanced approach to China as it unveiled its first comprehensive national security strategy Wednesday.

The strategy was part of an effort to address what Germany views as growing military, economic and social risks to the country. Germany’s biggest opposition party criticized the government’s position as “anemic.”

BERLIN (AP) — A German opposition party on Wednesday launched a legal challenge against an electoral reform designed to reduce the size of the country’s increasingly bloated parliament.

The Barvarian center-right Christian Social Union is one of two opposition parties that have been vehemently critical of the legislation, which lawmakers approved in March, and see their future place in parliament at risk. They accuse Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition of cobbling together constitutionally dubious rules to favor itself.

BERLIN, June 13. /TASS/: German researchers have demanded that the German government develop initiatives to mediate the Ukrainian conflict, the Tagesspiegel newspaper said on Tuesday.

BERLIN, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Monday started Air Defender 2023, its largest ever air force deployment exercise.

The German-led drill brings together 25 NATO nations with Germany's leadership. The maneuver had been in the planning since 2018.

Some 10,000 soldiers and 250 aircraft, including 70 from Germany and more than 100 from the United States, take part in the maneuver until June 23.

June 10 (Reuters) - German investigators are examining evidence suggesting a sabotage team used Poland as an operating base to damage the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The investigators have reconstructed the two-week voyage of the "Andromeda", a 50-foot (15-metre) yacht suspected of being involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, the newspaper said.