German and French leaders underlined the importance of co-operation as they marked the centenary of the WWI battle, writes Sylvie Corbett.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the long-serving German foreign minister who was one of the key architects of the country’s 1990 reunification, has died aged 89.

Merkel responds to concerns of migrant influx at party congress

Get a taste of some of the interesting and quirky happenings in Europe from our Europe correspondent, Ann Cahill.

I lunched last Sunday with a gargantuan guzzler and bon viveur who announced his plans to take a sleeping pill tonight and retire early. New Year’s Eve is funny.

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl told then Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald it would be possible to change Irish people’s “irrational” insistence on neutrality, newly declassified files reveal.

Angela Merkel was on track to win a third term as chancellor in a German election after her conservatives scored their best result in decades, but it was unclear whether she could avoid being forced into a coalition with her leftist rivals.

Chancellor Angela Merkel looked on track to win a third term in this weekend’s election in Germany but faced a battle to preserve her centre-right majority and avert a potentially divisive coalition with her arch rivals, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

GERMAN chancellor Angela Merkel, an unflappable pastor’s daughter, is closing in on a third term in Sunday’s general election, cementing her title as the world’s most powerful woman.

The French and Germans are divided in their attitudes toward their leaders and their economic futures, writes Frederick Kempe

Whether they loved her or loathed her, virtually all the world leaders she ever met stood in awe of Margaret Thatcher.

The Nobel Peace Prize came with a warning — take care EU, if you want to survive.

On Friday night, former US President Bill Clinton addressed the annual dinner of the Worldwide Ireland Fund at Ballymaloe House in Cork. In the audience were Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney and 250 delegates from around the world. The following is an abbreviation of his 30-minute unscripted address

In the biggest challenge of her six-and-a-half years in office, German chancellor Angela Merkel walks a fine line between appearing to be a soft touch, and displaying a lack of commitment to the maintenance of the eurozone, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Television news channel Al-Jazeera has been nominated for a Nobel peace prize.

BY NOW, everyone knows that Germany is calling the shots not just in the eurozone, but across all of Europe.

A WEEK ago, a spring had returned to the step of the financial markets, amid growing confidence that Europe’s dithering leaders would cobble together a credible plan at the summit of leaders due to take place at the weekend.

GERMANY’S Angela Merkel faces the biggest challenge to her leadership since coming to power in 2005, with traditionally loyal conservative allies openly criticising her approach to the eurozone crisis and her hands-off Libya policy in shambles.

THE visit of President McAleese and Queen Elizabeth II to the Garden of Remembrance and the Irish National War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge was hugely symbolic in our nation’s journey of reconciliation.

Greece blamed the rest of Europe for not helping its crippling financial crisis today.

GERMAN and French leaders stood side by side at the World War I remembrance ceremony in Paris for the first time yesterday as events were held around the globe to honour the millions of dead.

Twenty years ago tomorrow, they danced on top of the Berlin Wall, feet thudding on the cold concrete, arms raised in victory, hands clasped in friendship and giddy hope.

THE publication of Albert Reynolds’s autobiography revives memories of an interesting and exciting period.

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern and his British counterpart Tony Blair are in the running for the Nobel peace prize, but then so too are Bono and Geldof — that’s Bob, not Peaches.

The funeral of former President Boris Yeltsin – who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia toward pluralism and a market economy – will take place tomorrow.

Boris Yeltsin marked his 75th birthday today, with more than 200 guests expected to honour Russia's first post-Soviet president at an evening Kremlin gala.

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder gave up his seat in parliament today, completing his exit from day-to-day politics after seven years as German leader.

Angela Merkel took office as Germany’s eighth post-Second World War leader and its first female chancellor, heading an unwieldy alliance with the tough job of turning around Europe’s biggest economy after years of stagnation and six months of political turmoil.

Angela Merkel took power today as Germany’s eighth post-Second World War leader and its first female chancellor, heading an unwieldy alliance with the tough job of turning around Europe’s biggest economy after years of stagnation and six months of political turmoil.

Outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told MPs today he will give up his parliamentary seat, members of his party said, completing his withdrawal from day-to-day politics after seven years as German leader.

Germany’s conservatives are moving toward completing the lineup of Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel’s cabinet, with a key ally preparing to nominate his final choice for the new government.

ANGELA MERKEL, set to become Germany’s first female chancellor, campaigned on promises to shake up Germany’s welfare state and the worker protections that have helped choke economic growth.

Diplomats, activists and political leaders were among hundreds who gathered today to bid farewell to Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal and to honour his decades-long pursuit of the Second World War’s most heinous criminals.

A memorial service is to be held in Vienna, Austria, today for holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Wiesenthal who died yesterday aged 96.

A German court today convicted a former senior official of accepting illegal payments and evading taxes in connection with arms deals while serving in the government of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder today formally set in motion his proposal for early German elections as his office notified parliamentary leaders that he plans to hold a confidence vote July 1.

DID you watch it last night, and are you hooked already? 'Haughey' is already promising to be the most successful documentary series ever produced by RTE, with the potential to attract the same kind of audience as a major drama.

German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer said yesterday that, were a referendum on the EU constitution held in Germany, it would pass.

THEY certainly seem to get more than their fair share of trouble, but with party animals like Harry, Zara and Freddie, trouble comes courting at the House of Windsor.

While foreign survivors of Thailand’s tsunami disaster were put up in an international school complete with beds, television sets and internet connections, locals from a devastated fishing village slept outside, many without blankets, burning wood to keep warm and keep mosquitos at bay.

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who was evacuated from his seaside Sri Lankan holiday hotel when the tsunami hit, said the resulting devastation reminded him of Second World War bombing.

SRI Lanka’s air force evacuated former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl from the hotel where he was stranded by a tidal wave.