Latest Berlin News

Climate activists spray Berlin's Brandenburg Gate with orange paint

Sep. 17, 2023 14:55 PM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — German climate activists sprayed orange paint onto Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Sunday morning to urge the German government to take more urgent action against climate change. Members of the group the Last Generation used fire extinguishers filled with paint to...

Germany retests its emergency warning system but Berlin's sirens don't sound

Sep. 14, 2023 07:01 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — Warning messages sounded on cellphones and alarms blared across Germany as part of a nationwide test of the emergency alert system Thursday, but in Berlin the sirens stayed quiet. The latest “warning day” was conducted after an embarrassing flop in 2020, when the...

A Berlin bus gets lifted with the help of 40 people to free a young man pinned by a rear wheel

Sep. 13, 2023 06:06 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — A young man trapped under a bus in Berlin survived with minor injuries after 40 people joined forces to lift the vehicle off him in what police described as a heroic rescue effort. The 18-year-old got pinned by a tire of the rear axle when he fell down while running...

Rail infrastructure in Hamburg is damaged by fires. Police suspect a political motive

Sep. 08, 2023 10:18 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — A series of fires hit railway infrastructure in the German city of Hamburg overnight, causing widespread disruption to trains between Hamburg and Berlin and between the port city and the Baltic Sea coast. Police said they suspect that the damage was politically motivated. ...

German lawmakers approve a contentious plan to replace fossil-fuel heating

Sep. 08, 2023 09:42 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers on Friday approved contentious legislation for the replacement of fossil-fuel heating systems, passing a major climate policy plan that prompted lengthy infighting in the governing coalition and helped push down its poll ratings. Parliament's lower...

German intelligence employee and acquaintance charged with treason for passing secrets to Russia

Sep. 08, 2023 09:04 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — An employee of Germany's foreign intelligence service and an acquaintance have been charged with treason for allegedly passing secret documents to Russia, prosecutors said Friday. The intelligence officer, who has been identified only as Carsten L. in line with German...

Germany will keep Russian oil giant Rosneft subsidiaries under its control for another 6 months

Sep. 08, 2023 05:29 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Friday it will keep two subsidiaries of Russian oil giant Rosneft under the control of German authorities for another six months. The government announced a year ago that it was putting Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and Rosneft Refining and...

Bavaria's governor leaves his deputy in office despite a furor over antisemitism allegations

Sep. 03, 2023 10:32 AM EDT

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...

Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison

Aug. 31, 2023 10:52 AM EDT

The Russian ruble's wobble in value has exposed a crack in President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy, a vulnerability quickly plastered over by the Kremlin's economic team in a move that allowed the currency to regain its footing, at least for now. Yet the patch — an emergency...

German court convicts a Russian man of plotting to kill an exiled Chechen dissident

Aug. 31, 2023 09:43 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — A German court on Thursday convicted a Russian man of plotting the murder of an exiled Chechen dissident on orders from a cousin of the Russian republic's Moscow-backed strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. The Munich state court sentenced the defendant, whom it...