Angela Merkel

Merkel picks German punk singer Hagen for last serenade

 

At the event, Mrs Merkel urged the audience to "always see the world through the eyes of others".

The ceremonial tattoo, or Grosser Zapfenstreich, is now a tradition for departing political figures.

And after her 16 years as leader, the ceremony comes with a marching band and torchlight procession.

But what set German tongues wagging was the music she chose.

Mrs Merkel is a passionate music lover, but in her words "mostly classical music", and she's a regular visitor to the Bayreuth Festival, which showcases the work of composer Richard Wagner.

'It's terrifying': Angela Merkel shaken as flood deaths rise to 188 in Europe

Merkel promised swift financial aid after visiting one of the areas worst affected by the record rainfall and floods that have killed at least 157 in Germany alone in recent days, in the country's worst natural disaster in almost six decades.

She also said governments would have to get better and faster in their efforts to tackle the impact of climate change only days after Europe outlined a package of steps towards "net zero" emissions by the middle of the century.

Germany's Angela Merkel 'fine' after seen shaking in heatwave

Mrs Merkel, 64, was visibly struggling as she stood next to Volodymyr Zelensky while a military band played the two countries' anthems in the midday sun.

The temperatures in the German capital were approaching 30C (86F) at the time.

Mrs Merkel said she was dehydrated. "I've drunk at least three glasses of water and so I'm doing very well now."

The chancellor was answering a question about her wellbeing at a joint news conference with President Zelensky.

Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky, a comedian-turned-president, said that he would have come to the rescue if needed.

Angela Merkel wins fourth term, exit polls say

The election will also bring a far-right party into Germany's parliament for the first time in more than half a century.

Mrs Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU alliance won 32.5 percent of the vote, making them the largest parliamentary group, an exit poll for broadcaster ARD indicated. However, that was down from 41.5 per cent in the last election, in 2013.

Support for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), currently junior partners in a so-called "grand coalition" with Mrs Merkel, slumped to 20 percent - a new post-war low. The SPD ruled out a re-run of that tie-up.

Chechnya gay rights: Merkel urges Putin to intervene

Activists say police in the republic have arrested and tortured dozens of people in an anti-gay crackdown.

Mrs Merkel raised the issue during her first visit to Russia since 2015, which saw her hold talks with Mr Putin at his summer residence in Sochi.

Relations between the two nations have been strained over Syria and Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

 

Donald Trump says Merkel made 'catastrophic mistake' on migrants

He said Mrs Merkel was by far Europe's most important leader, and that the EU had become a vehicle for Germany.

Mr Trump was giving details of his foreign policy goals in an interview with British and German newspapers.

He told The Times and Bild his priority was to create fairer trade deals for the US and have strong borders.

He said the US had to address its trade deficit with the rest of the world, particularly with China.

The emphasis for his administration should be smart trade, rather than free trade, he said.

Why does Angela Merkel suddenly want to ban the veil?

In 11 years as the leader of Germany, her speeches are usually sobering analyses of thorny political and economic dilemmas, using only her signature diamond-shaped hand gesture to punctuate her points.

Angela Merkel wants Facebook and Google's secrets revealed

The German chancellor said the secrecy around the algorithms used by online platforms threatened open debate.

Without greater scrutiny, many people could get a distorted or censored view of events, she said.

Google and Facebook told German paper Der Spiegel they gave the public a lot of information about how they worked.

Mrs Merkel's call for action follows work by German politicians to investigate how the software works.

 

'Informed citizens'

Brexit: Cameron considered last-ditch appeal to Merkel

The then-prime minister called the German leader days before the EU referendum, as opinion polls seemed to show voters moving to the Leave camp.

But he later abandoned the idea of getting her and other EU leaders to make a statement granting concessions.

No 10 decided it could be portrayed by Vote Leave as a sign of weakness.

Newsnight has learned that Mr Cameron telephoned the German chancellor to ask whether she would be willing to issue a statement with fellow EU leaders granting the UK concessions on free movement.

Germany, Turkey back solution to Syrian war

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone Wednesday. The government said Merkel praised the "enormous Turkish efforts" to take care of nearly 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. It added that the two leaders agreed to increase cooperation on resolving the refugee crisis, with an emphasis on combatting traffickers.