Markets across Europe surged on news that Angela Merkel will stop being German chancellor in 2021. The Monday rally was led by a surge in Merkel’s homeland, Germany. In Frankfurt, the DAX index surged nearly two percent on the announcement. Markets in France and the UK followed with the London FTSE surging 1.72 percent and CAC40 rising 0.75 percent. [...]

In a surprising victory, local protesters won a battle against the US tech giant, which wanted to revamp a local building into a technology campus. The residents of Kreuzberg, a part of Berlin, have succeeded in repelling Google from developing a campus in their neighborhood. [...]

The joint Future Combat Air System project was intended to replace European countries’ ageing warplanes with new EU-made jets. However, Belgium recently decided to switch to the US-made F-35 instead of buying European fighters. Recent talks between France and Germany pertaining to the joint project of a new jet, also known as the "Future Combat Air System (FCAS)," have resulted in a deadloc [...]

The Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has gained seats in Hesse and now holds parliamentary seats in every single German state, according to exit polls. Meanwhile, Merkel's CDU has seen party support plummet. [...]

Germany's governing parties are bracing for elections in the state of Hesse on October 28, as polls suggest that the Christian and Social Democratic coalition could see a drop in support. Sputnik discussed the regional elections in Germany with Alastair Newton, a former career diplomat with the British Diplomatic Service. [...]

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said that the US would "terminate" the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, claiming that Russia had violated the agreement, which Moscow has denied. Vladimir Putin, for his part, said that the US' potential decision to deploy its missiles in Europe would jeopardize the countries' security. [...]

Europe should stop backing a Russia-led project to deliver natural gas to the continent, according to US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell. However, not all the European nations agree. [...]

The minister-president of the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania in northern Germany has lambasted critics of the gas pipeline project, who didn’t play with “open cards,” and rejected claims that the venture would make her country fully dependent of Russia as “nonsense.” [...]

Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party known for its tough stance on immigration, has been calling for an end to the country’s open-door policy since its inception in 2015. Its latest attempt to stop migrant-related crime follows the notorious murder of a German citizen in Chemnitz, allegedly by two Iraqi and Syrian migrants. [...]

Rome has still not reached an agreement with Berlin on the repatriation of asylum seekers who had first registered in Italy, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said, vowing to close airports to German flights transferring refugees. “If someone in Berlin or Brussels thinks of dumping dozens of migrants in Italy via unauthorized charter flights, they should know that there is not and there will be n [...]

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The second pipelay vessel has started working on the German section of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the pipeline's operator, Nord Stream AG, said. "The offshore pipelay vessel "Audacia" began its work on the Nord Stream 2 project today. "Audacia", operated by Allseas, is the second vessel together with the "Castoro Dieci" (C10) to lay the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the German [...]

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) – German WKB Systems manufacturer offers Damascus to use its aerated concrete to restore buildings destroyed during the civil war, commercial director of the distributor of WKB Systems’ products in Syria told Sputnik on Friday. [...]

The media have been quick to label the departure of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ally Volker Kauder as the latest in a series of “blows” to the chancellor. But Merkel shows no signs of being blown away just yet. [...]

Washington is fiercely fighting for Germany’s energy market, trying to sell more of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the country, and to wrestle one of the biggest energy consumers away from Russian energy giant Gazprom. Germany currently gets around 60 of its natural gas imports from Russia. [...]

After weeks of controversy over migration policy and anti-migrant protests, the right-leaning Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has pushed back the German Social Democrats as the second strongest political force. They have shared leading positions with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union for years. The CDU is also losing points. [...]

Following a meeting of EU leaders in Salzburg, Austria, where they agreed to cooperate closer with Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya to curb illegal migration, the German chancellor has spoken out for modelling an agreement with them after a similar deal with Turkey. [...]

The German government is to resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies despite a domestic agreement not to deliver weapons to countries involved in the bloody Yemen conflict, local media report. [...]

Weeks of negotiations with the Trump administration have ended with carmaker Volkswagen (VW) agreeing to cease most of its operations in Iran, said US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, as cited by Bloomberg. “Volkswagen has told us they will comply with US sanctions on Iran,” said Grenell, adding: “We are pleased with this decision because Iran diverts its economic resources away from i [...]

BRUSSELS - German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to sack domestic intelligence chief and security expert Hans-Georg Maassen was a punishment designed to hide the "truth" about risks of uncontrolled immigration, lawmakers and political commentators told Sputnik. [...]

Head of the German domestic intelligence agency Hans-Georg Maassen previously faced harsh criticism after he expressed doubts over the authenticity of the footage showing alleged attacks by right-wing activists on migrants in Chemnitz. [...]

Volkswagen-owned premium brand Audi has unveiled the E-Tron, a battery-powered crossover, which is just about to hit dealerships, making the market of electric vehicles rather more choiceful for eco-friendly enthusiasts. E-tron, Audi’s first electric sport-utility vehicle (SUV), debuted in San Francisco on Monday night. [...]

The US Army is to further bolster the number of troops it has stationed in Europe by a further 1,500, despite repeated complaints by President Trump that NATO allies are not spending enough to defend the continent. US Army Europe said the troops will be deployed to Germany by September 2020, calling it a “display of our continued commitment to NATO and our collective resolve to support European [...]