Continuity candidate wins run-off vote against conservative-liberal rival Friedrich Merz

Battle for CDU leadership also a popularity contest for chance to succeed Angela Merkel

Ireland’s coronavirus experience described as a ‘cautionary tale’ for policymakers

Party grandee Armin Laschet is the frontrunner, but the outcome is far from clear

Privacy campaigner still awaiting response to complaint submited to DPC in 2013

A month after salons were ordered shut, football haircuts spark furious response

Complainants says court ‘stated plainly’ that pro-life campaigner’s comment was ‘unacceptable’

Possibility of obligatory jabs for medical, care staff raised amid high vaccine scepticism

Surprising remnants include name-change provision with basis in Nuremberg Laws

Stolen election theory as vague and elastic for Trump supporters’ needs as the stab-in-the-back myth that facilitated Hitler’s ris(...)

Air passengers from Ireland will be refused entry without a negative Covid test result

Moscow lambasts ‘archaic’ American democracy while Merkel ‘furious’ at scenes

SPD demanding to know why country is not getting more doses of BioNTech vaccine

Fumbled start to vaccination in Germany has triggered blame-game among officials in Berlin and the state capitals

Berlin Letter: New book about alleged Nazi collaborator sparks interest of Netflix

With its dwindling population, Görlitz seeks to exploit an unexpected opportunity

Eastern city of Zittau a virus hotspot as nation records a record 962 coronavirus deaths in 24 hour period

‘The immune response elicited by our vaccine has always inactivated all forms of the virus’ says BioNTech CEO

Stephan Balliet broadcasted attack in city of Halle live on a popular gaming site

Walking around the building is a remarkable experience, it’s hard to know where to begin

‘A large number have died ... it is a traumatic experience not to be able to say a warm goodbye’

Tests had identified an additional 4,200 cases with half showing no symptoms

Fears that rush before non-essential shops close on Wednesday may increase infections

Bad organisation has plunged the country into a hard Christmas lockdown as daily death rates top 600

State leaders agree lightning lockdown of schools and shops until January 10th

Government preparing special measures to support Irish food exporters

Minister urges sides to focus on common ground, not differences

State leaders to hold emergency meeting on Sunday with severe restrictions on way

Critics point to chancellor’s short-term approach to crises and lack of road map for EU

Giant mechanical caterpillar key to elaborate project that added six stations to underground

Intercity rail links seen as rival to airlines

Five-week partial lockdown seen as failure for having stabilised but not cut infections

Church music has proven a lifeline for many Germans as a trying year draws to a close

Stricter measures come amid figures showing record level of 2,431 deaths in one week

Suspect (51) appears before judge after car mowed down pedestrians, with baby among dead

Local man with no terrorist links questioned, as at least 15 injured in western city of Trier

Regions increasingly diverge on rules ahead of Christmas as ‘coronabsurdities’ mount

Germany, France and Italy want Europe’s pistes to stay shut. Austria says no

Village of 100 residents near Salzburg – a modern selfie hell – to be renamed Fugging

Many wind instruments have a design that traps and condenses aerosols internally

Austria rejects proposals by Germany, France and Italy to postpone ski season

Merkel meets regional leaders as country registers highest daily death toll of 410

Some 800 delegates from party’s rival wings present united front for looming election battle

Opponents of Covid-19 restrictions embrace idea of fighting totalitarian German state

Debate sparked as chamber agitators turn out to be invited guests of far-right politician

Police raided apartment and found freezer with traces of human blood and a bone saw

Aachen hierarchy more receptive to account of systemic failures than Cologne peers

TV film features an 80-year-old former chancellor accused of environment failures

About 10,000 take part in demonstration against coronavirus-related restrictions

Berlin Letter: Rapidly shrinking rental market may hit poorer renters hardest

Heist in Dresden last year saw 94 priceless pieces of jewellery stolen from Green Vault

Sebastian Kurz says country will shut down almost completely until December 6th

Boys allegedly drugged with ecstasy and knock-out drops for often lengthy abuse

Any investigation would raise to at least 16 the number of clerics undergoing or facing canonical investigations in Rome

Black day for Cologne: ‘This time there will be no celebrating, no singing and no dancing’

US expects more from EU ‘and rightly so’, German chancellor says

BioNTech’s work could provide a major breakthrough in the fight against the pandemic

Prime minister announces new restrictions affecting 280,000 people, and has ordered the cull of millions of mink on farms

Schools, hairdressers and shops remain open in ‘lockdown lite’ as testing hits capacity

Conservative Law and Justice party and its partners alarmed by burgeoning protests

Austria’s interior minister says Slovakia alerted BVT to attempt to buy ammunition

Four killed and 17 injured in shooting spree by 20-year-old Islamic State supporter

Manhunt under way after shooting takes place at six locations in Austrian capital

Report falls victim to legal claims and a power battle among two church camps

Jan Marsalek disappaeared the day he was fired as details of €3bn fraud emerged

Polish women’s groups prepare to face off against police and neo-fascists as rallies continue

Bundestag opposition warns of ‘crisis of trust’ in government with bars, restaurants to close

BER is nine years late, wildly over budget and opening during a pandemic

‘We are in a new situation we may soon no longer be able to master’ warns finance minister

Deputy PM Jaroslaw Kaczynski insists protesters a threat to public order, Polish values

Merz sees postponed party conference as part of campaign to give rivals time to boost support

Abortions now legal only in cases of rape, incest or threat to the mother’s health

Coronavirus has hobbled the CDU’s long-running efforts to reach a decision

Restrictions devised to protect public health draw stream of insults from furious citizens

German MPs urged to take back control of Covid legislation rather than rubberstamp extension of emergency provisions enacted in Ma(...)

Attack on at least 63 artworks took place in three museums in Museum Island complex

Werner Lustig is optimistic there is money to be made from 2,000-year-old Roman insult

Diminishing political unity contributing to public fatigue with restrictions, experts fear

Friedrich Klein stripped of ordination rights in 1943 in response to Nazi military court conviction

I’m struck by how many of my friends at home feel that anxious and bitter people are setting the pandemic agenda

Three decades ago 63 million West Germans and 16 million East Germans reunited

Subsidiary of Julius Bär bank helped hide cash for ruling party in state’s dying days

Politician says he will return home to Russia in first interview since regaining consciousness

Letter signed by 50 ambassadors calls for tolerance as ruling party ramps up rhetoric

Fleet of blue buses with medical staff to visit schools, using newly developed rapid test

German far-right party’s ‘fascist’ Christian Lüth says view representative of AfD seniors

While the Irish arts sector remains largely shut down, Germany is prioritising the unlocking of culture

Japan and South Korea trace beyond 48 hours to establish where the sick person caught the virus

Arrivals from Dublin required to take a coronavirus test within 10 days and self-isolate until they receive negative result

Tánaiste concerned that extremists using pandemic to rally support for conspiracy theories

The work in Ireland in Frame provides lessons for a Republic in the grip of a pandemic

Junior coalition partners vote against PiS Bills restricting ritual slaughter and fur trade

Grandson of founder accuses mother and sisters of defrauding company

Germany, which is also seeing a spike in cases, declares Vienna a Covid-19 risk zone

Officers in North Rhine-Westphalia face charges of incitement to hatred

Plan divides public opinion and generates tension inside Merkel’s ruling CDU party

Celebrated fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld had guarded his family history closely

Elon Musk’s visit to new Tesla ‘Gigafactory’ underlines growing crisis in German car industry

Eurogroup president wants return to budgetary and fiscal normality