Germany

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the European Central Bank said Monday that interest rates will stay high enough to restrict business activity for “as long as necessary” to beat back inflation because upward pressure on prices “remains strong” in the 20 countries that use the euro currency.

Christine Lagarde said “strong spending on holidays and travel” and increasing wages were slowing the decline in price levels even as the economy stays sluggish. Annual inflation in the eurozone eased only slightly from 5.2% in July to 5.3% in August.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged allied defense leaders Tuesday to “dig deep” and provide more air defense systems for Ukraine, to help the country block increasing barrages of Russian missiles.

But while the allies said they will discuss how they can best help Ukraine’s counteroffensive, they appeared no closer to commitments on the longer-range missiles that Kyiv’s leaders insist they need.

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Tuesday banned the neo-Nazi group Hammerskins Germany and raided homes of dozens of its members. The group is an offshoot of an American ring-wing extremist group and plays a prominent role across Europe.

The Hammerskins Germany is an offshoot of the Hammerskins Nation founded in the United States in 1988, according to the interior ministry.

FRANKFURT/SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde seized the mobile phones of her fellow policymakers at this week's meeting and rebuked them for leaking crucial information ahead of a policy decision, two sources told Reuters.

The unprecedented move is the boldest step that Lagarde has taken to stop information leaking out from the Governing Council, an issue that has plagued her presidency as well as that of her predecessor, Mario Draghi.

BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. nuclear watchdog harshly criticized Iran on Saturday for effectively barring several of its most experienced inspectors from monitoring the country’s disputed program.

The strongly worded statement came amid longstanding tensions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is tasked with monitoring a nuclear program that Western nations have long suspected is aimed at eventually developing a nuclear weapon. Iran insists the program is peaceful.

BERLIN, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The environmental activist group Fridays for Future (FFF) called for a global day of strikes on Friday, with climate protests planned in nearly 250 locations in Germany alone.

"We are in the midst of a climate crisis," the group said in a statement. "That's why we need to get out of coal, oil and gas now. We need a real change in transport and a fresh start at all levels."

MUNICH, Germany, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday welcomed the international auto manufacturers at the country's largest automobile show, IAA Mobility, stressing that "fair competition is good for business."

It is "nice to have so many international manufacturers and suppliers here in Munich, welcome," Scholz said in his speech.

The 2023 International Motor Show (IAA), one of the world's largest mobility trade fairs, opened in the southern German city of Munich on Tuesday, with German and Chinese exhibitors in the limelight.

(AP) --- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday tweeted a pirate-style picture of himself with a black eye patch and dark-red bruises on the right side of his face — the result of a jogging accident on the weekend.

“Am excited to see the memes,” the chancellor wrote in the caption.

To deflect any possible worries about his health, on the photo, which appears to have been taken at the chancellery, Scholz smiled slightly and also wrote: “Thanks for the well wishes, it looks worse than it is!”

BERLIN (AP) — The governor of the German state of Bavaria said Sunday that he will let his deputy stay in office despite a furor that started with allegations he was responsible for an antisemitic flyer when he was a high school student 35 years ago.

Governor Markus Soeder, a leading figure in Germany’s center-right opposition, said he had concluded that it would be “disproportionate” to fire Hubert Aiwanger, his deputy and coalition partner, but Aiwanger needs to rebuild confidence with the Jewish community and others.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed a suggestion by a junior coalition partner that the country should keep open the option of using its closed nuclear power plants, declaring that atomic energy is a “dead horse” in Germany.

Germany switched off its last three nuclear reactors in April, completing a process that received wide political support after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster in 2011. But some argued for a rethink after energy prices spiked because of the war in Ukraine.