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Germany welcomes a financing deal between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and hopes the two sides will find solutions to stabilise the economic situation in the South American country, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.
"Argentina and the IMF are holding constructive talks. We assume that the IMF and Argentina will find good solutions," the spokeswoman said during a regular government news conference.
Three attackers badly beat a 20-year old migrant in an eastern German town late on Wednesday, police said, after a stabbing case that triggered two days of violent anti-immigrant protests in another part of the country.The migrant, who police did not name, was walking home in Wismar, a town on the Baltic Sea, when the attackers stopped him and began insulting him in German using xenophobic language. Two then punched him in the face and the third hit his shoulder and ribs with an iron chain, police said.They then kicked him on the ground. The migrant suffered a broken nose and bruising to the face and upper body. Police, who gave no details about the victim's ethnicity, appealed for witnesses to come forward.The incident occurred days after the violent protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz that were triggered by the fatal stabbing of a German man there. An Iraqi and a Syrian have been arrested in connection with that crime.The Chemnitz stabbing and subsequent protests have exposed deep divisions in German society over Chancellor Angela Merkel's 2015 decision to open the door to more than one million migrants, mostly Muslims fleeing conflicts in the Middle East.Both Chemnitz and Wismar are in the formerly Communist eastern part of Germany, where anti-immigrant pressure groups including PEGIDA and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party have their heartlands.
Three sought for 'xenophobic' attack on migrant in eastern German town
Germany on Wednesday announced a new agency to fund cutting-edge research on cyber security and to end its reliance on digital technologies from the United States, China and other countries.Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters that Germany needed new tools to become a key player in the field of cybersecurity and shore up European security and independence."It is our joint goal is for Germany to take a leading role in cyber security on an international level," Seehofer told a news conference with Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen."We have to acknowledge we're lagging behind, and when one is lagging, one needs completely new approaches."Can Trump tweet his way out?The agency is a joint interior and defence ministry project.Germany, like many other countries, faces a daily barrage of cyber attacks on its government and industry computer networks, with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea identified as the biggest threats.Germany and other European countries also worry about their dependence on U.S. technologies in the wake of the massive spying network revealed by U.S. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2012, and the U.S. Patriot Act, which gave the U.S. government broad powers to compel companies to provide data."As a federal government we cannot stand idly by when the use of sensitive technology with high security relevance are controlled by other governments. We must secure and expand such key technologies of our digital infrastructure," Seehofer said.
Germany, seeking independence from US, pushes cyber security research
Germany on Wednesday handed over the remains of some 20 Herero and Nama people murdered in the early 20th century by German colonial troops in Namibia.Speaking at a vigil in Berlin for the victims of Namibian genocide, Evangelical Church Bishop Petra Bosse-Huber asked for forgiveness from the descendants of the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century.“This day moves me greatly. We intend to do something today which should have been done many decades ago: namely, to give back mortal human remains of people who became the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century, to their rightful descendants,” she said.Bosse-Huber pledged that the Evangelical Church in Germany would continue to support efforts for reconciliation. “Together with the descendants of the victims, we intend to keep their memory alive, to publicly advocate for the acknowledgement of the genocide and to work towards overcoming the wrongs committed by the German colonial rule, as well as their enduring effects,” she said.Michelle Muntefering, Germany’s minister of state at the Federal Foreign Office and Ruprecht Polenz, Germany’s special envoy for intergovernmental consultations with Namibia, also attended the vigil at a historical church in Berlin.Some 60,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama people were murdered by German colonial troops in southwestern Africa between 1904 and 1908. The skulls of dozens of genocide victims were sent to Berlin for “racial” scientific research.Germany’s government has acknowledged its historical and political responsibility towards Namibia, but so far dismissed negotiations with the victims’ descendants, and ruled out paying financial compensation to them.Since 1990, German government provided more than €700 million ($817 million) development aid to the country.
Germany returns remains of Namibian genocide victims
German drugmakers have been asked by the government to examine their supply chains for any vulnerability that could cause shortages of essential drugs in the event that Britain leaves the European Union without a Brexit deal.More than 2,600 drugs have some stage of manufacture in Britain and 45 million patient packs are supplied from the UK to other European countries each month, while another 37 million flow in the opposite direction, industry figures show.Germany's Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) has ordered the country's main drug industry associations to gather information on the effect of a no-deal Brexit, a spokeswoman for the health ministry said."The Ministry of Health currently has no evidence that the exit of the United Kingdom will lead to any disruptions in the supply of medicines in Germany," the spokeswoman said.Brexit, opportunity for boosted Turkey-UK ties: ExpertIt is not yet clear when results will be available, she said.The UK government has already asked British drugmakers to build an additional six weeks of medicine stockpiles to prepare for any no-deal Brexit - a target the industry has said will be challenging.Germany is using BfArM's quarterly "Jour Fixe" meetings with various stakeholder groups on drug shortages to prepare for Brexit.BfArM in 2016 instated the meetings with groups representing drugmakers, physicians, pharmacists, drugs distributors as well as other government bodies to monitor and mitigate against drug shortages.British trade minister urges Asia counterparts to convey Brexit views to EUThe meetings have dealt with shortages of treatments such as Mylan's Epipen against allergic shock, branded as Fastjekt in Germany, as well as disrupted supply of blood pressure drug valsartan after batches produced in China had to be recalled due to toxic impurities.Industry groups, which include German drugmakers including Bayer, Merck KGaA and Boehringer Ingelheim as well as foreign suppliers such as Teva and Roche , have been asked to consider the "worst-case-scenario of a hard Brexit without transition period", according to meeting protocols.The highly regulated drugs sector is one of the most vulnerable to Britain's decision to leave the EU because of uncertainty as to how medicines oversight will function in the event of an abrupt exit next March.That has sparked fears of drug shortages, and some companies including AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Novartis have said they plan to increase stockpiles in Britain in case of a no-deal Brexit.Britain is set to leave that EU regulatory system and the Europe-wide drugs watchdog is moving from London to Amsterdam, prompting many drugmakers to prepare duplicate product testing and licensing arrangements. UK May says no-deal Brexit not 'the end of the world'
Germany tells drugmakers to check supply chains for no-deal Brexit risks
At least 18 protestors and 2 police officers were injured in clashes between far-right extremists and left-wing protesters in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, police said on Tuesday.Unrest in the city begun on Sunday, after far-right extremists took to the streets, following reports on social media that attributed the killing of a 35-year-old German citizen to two migrants from Syria and Iraq.On Monday night, around 6 thousand far-right demonstrators gathered in Chemnitz, shouting anti-immigrant slogans and demanding the deportation of refugees.A counter-protest of left-wing groups drew more than a thousand people.Saxony’s police department said it filed criminal charges against more than 40 protestors, including 10 far-right extremists who gave the banned Hitler salute.'Many far-right protesters came from out of state'
Clashes in eastern Germany leave 20 injured