Tag: German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Merkel’s record mixed as she takes wheel at last IAA show

by Sophie MAKRIS Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – No German leader’s diary would be complete without a visit to the venerable IAA motor show, which welcomes Angela Merkel on Tuesday for the last time in her chancellorship. But the biennial celebration of all things auto-related is mired in controversy this year as Germany struggles to adapt its flagship industry to the electric and digital revolution. Merkel, who is quitting politics after an election on […]

Merkel ready for ‘painful compromises’ to seal govt deal

by Deborah COLE and Michelle FITZPATRICK in Frankfurt Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was prepared to make “painful compromises” as she headed in a final round of talks Tuesday to seal a coalition deal for her fourth term and end months of political limbo in Europe’s top economy. As negotiators from Merkel’s CDU party, her Bavarian CSU ally and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) gathered for one last push to […]

Macron hosts 140 CEOs in pre-Davos charm offensive

by Laurence Benhamou Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign for a “French Renaissance” kicks into overdrive Monday as he welcomes 140 multinational business leaders before this week’s jamboree of the rich and powerful in Davos. The business-friendly president will host executives at the grand Versailles chateau near Paris for an event billed as a warm-up for Tuesday’s opening of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountains. Several firms will use the conference […]

Macron faces rights test as Egypt’s Sisi visits Paris

by Cécile Feuillatre Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Paris on Tuesday under pressure from human rights groups to end what they call France’s “disgraceful policies of indulgence” towards him. Sisi, a former general who ousted the elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, will meet the French defense and foreign ministers as well as business groups during his three-day trip that started on Monday. Macron, […]

May pleads for Brexit deal she can sell at home

by Danny Kemp and  Alice Ritchie Agence France-Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May pressed EU leaders Thursday for a Brexit deal she can “defend” at home as her counterparts said at a summit in Brussels that there were encouraging signs of progress in the talks. May appealed for “urgent” movement at a summit dinner, the night before her 27 counterparts were set to decide that there had not been enough progress on divorce […]

Visitors flock to Berlin Zoo to see giant pandas

BERLIN, Germany (CCTV) — Visitors flocked to the new panda garden in Berlin Zoo on Thursday, on the first day it was opened to the public. On Wednesday, a grand launch ceremony was held, officiated by visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. When the zoo gate was opened to visitors on Thursday, some raced directly for the panda garden to catch a first glimpse of the exciting new arrivals. According to […]

German and South Korean leaders arrive in Mongolia for ASEM summit

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (Reuters) — European and Asian leaders continued to arrive in Ulaanbaatar on Thursday (July 14) ahead of the 11th ASEM summit hosted by Mongolia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South Korean President Park Geun-hye are both attending the two-day summit, which runs from July 15-16 and focuses on politics, the economy and culture. Ahead of the meeting, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi briefed EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on plans to set […]

Leave camp leads in early UK referendum count

  (REUTERS)  Early results from Britain’s bitterly contested referendum showed a lead on Friday for supporters of leaving the European Union, contradicting opinion polls and prompting wild swings in the value of the pound. With results in from the first 13 of 382 voting districts, those in favor of ending Britain’s 43-year membership were on 52.4 percent of the vote, while those wanting to stay were on 47.6 percent. But it was too early to […]

Merkel says “the will is there” to get EU deal for Britain

BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) — European Union leaders want to reach a deal to help keep Britain in the bloc even if securing an agreement will be difficult for many countries, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday (February 19). “Everyone wished to keep Britain as a member of the European Union, all of Britain’s different requests which were on the agenda were discussed, and it’s true that not everyone around the table found it all […]

EU chief warns ‘lot to do’ for deal to avoid British exit

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — European leaders have a lot of work to do at a summit in Brussels to reach a deal to prevent Britain becoming the first country to crash out of the bloc, EU president Donald Tusk warned Friday. British Prime Minister David Cameron urged his counterparts at the start of a two-day meeting to reach a “credible” reform deal that would allow him to hold a referendum on EU membership in June. […]

Tusk warns ‘no guarantee’ of Brexit deal as Merkel backs Cameron

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — European Council head Donald Tusk warned Wednesday there was “no guarantee” EU leaders would clinch a deal to keep Britain in the bloc at a crucial summit, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed London’s demands for reform. Only hours before the make-or-break summit in Brussels, which he will chair, Tusk said: “After my consultations in the last hours I have to state frankly — there is still no guarantee that we will […]

People in Istanbul worry deadly blast could damage economy

Turks on Wednesday (January 13) were worried by the economic repercussions of a suicide bomb attack that killed at least 10 people, most of them German tourists, in Istanbul’s historic heart on Tuesday (January 13). All of those killed in Sultanahmet square, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia – major tourist sites in the centre of one of the world’s most visited cities – were foreigners, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, blaming the […]