Persistent snow and freezing conditions from a Siberian cold snap has badly affected transport and caused a handful of deaths across a swathe of Europe from Britain to the Balkans.

A tourist ship has struck a road bridge on the Rhine river in western Germany.

A knife attack on a German politician known for his welcoming stance towards refugees is likely to have been politically motivated, authorities said.

A German court has ruled that Kuwait's national airline did not have to transport an Israeli citizen because the carrier would face legal repercussions at home if it did.

It includes works by Albrecht Duerer, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.

Update 2.15pm: A German writer detained in Spain on a Turkish warrant has been released from jail, according to a German news agency.

Three million Mercedes cars across Europe are being recalled over concerns about toxic emissions.

A yacht has exploded in a port in the western German town of Minden, injuring 15 firefighters and a police officer.

A 48-year-old man from Belfast will go on trial in two weeks on allegations he took part in an IRA attack on a British barracks in Germany more than 20 years ago, a German court said.

A yacht has exploded in a port in the western German town of Minden, injuring 15 firefighters and a police officer.

Two giant pandas have received a celebrity welcome in Berlin from the mayor and Chinese ambassador after they weathered a long flight from China.

Police in Germany have shot dead a man who attacked another resident with a knife in a refugee shelter.

Update 6.11pm: The so-called 'Islamic State' group has claimed responsibility after a Syrian blew himself up outside a wine bar in Ansbach, injuring 15 people.

A 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker received word that a friend had died in his home country days before he went on a rampage with an axe and knife on a German train, wounding five. 

A woman charged with murder after the remains of eight babies were found last year at her home in southern Germany has admitted killing several infants.

A couple have gone on trial in Germany after the remains of eight babies were found at their apartment in Bavaria last year.

A masked man was shot dead yesterday after entering a movie theatre in southwestern Germany with what appeared to be a rifle and taking several hostages, authorities said. No one else was hurt in the incident.

Latest: Hesse's interior minister, Peter Beuth, said it was not clear whether the weapon was real.

A 33-year-old Moroccan has gone on trial in Duesseldorf on allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman on New Year's Eve.

As Volkswagen’s first dividend cut in six years looms in the wake of the diesel-emissions scandal, the car maker must balance the interests of government, labour, and family power brokers against those of investors who have felt short-changed for years.

Emergency workers have started removing the wreckage from the head-on train crash that killed 10 people and injured dozens in southern Germany, after police said they are no longer looking for another victim.

A German woman accused of involvement in 10 neo-Nazi murders broke her silence for the first time in four years, telling a court in Munich that she only learned of the deaths after they had taken place.

The bodies of what are believed to be eight babies have been found at an apartment in a Bavarian town, German police said.

A German court has today issued an injunction ordering a halt to a strike by pilots at Lufthansa, the country’s biggest airline.

German chancellor Angela Merkel, reflecting on “a moving, in some parts breathtaking, weekend behind us,” said that all EU countries could help to accommodate the human tide from the Middle East and Africa.

A total of 27 people have been injured in a fire and subsequent explosion at a former air raid shelter in the northern German city of Hamburg.

A German man taking his regular morning stroll was killed by an elephant who had escaped from a nearby circus, police said today.

Several hundred cinemas in Germany are refusing to screen the new Avengers film in a dispute with Disney over rental fees.

A German police officer has been found guilty of murder for killing a man he met in an internet chat forum devoted to cannibalism.

Tens of thousands of people are protesting in the eastern German city of Dresden against racism and for an open society.

A union has launched a three-day strike at five Amazon distribution centres in Germany, the latest in a string of walkouts in a long-running wage dispute with the American online retailer.

Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil accepts he will always be an easy target for the critics and says he has nothing to prove to anybody.

A German court has dropped the bribery case against Bernie Ecclestone in exchange for a US $100m payment from the Formula One chief.

The Italian official accused last week of favouring Argentina and Lionel Messi has been chosen to referee their World Cup final against Germany.

A message in a bottle tossed in the sea in Germany 101 years ago, believed to be the world’s oldest, has been presented to the sender’s granddaughter, a museum said.

A German police officer has been charged with murder over the death and dismemberment of a man he met on the Internet.

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has been found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.

A German bishop under fire for heavy spending is in Rome for talks at the Vatican, placing his future in the hands of a Pope who has espoused a simple lifestyle.