Popular support for Chancellor Angela Merkel has plunged according to a poll conducted after attacks in Germany, with almost two-thirds of Germans unhappy with her refugee policy.

German chancellor Angela Merkel’s allies in Bavaria stepped up criticism of her open-door refugee policy yesterday, with their leader demanding a cap of 200,000 migrants a year, about a fifth of last year’s level.

Bavarian allies cranked up pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday to reverse her “open-door” refugee policy, saying the deadly attacks in Paris underlined the need for tougher measures to control the influx of migrants.

Europe’s refugee crisis can only be solved “step by step” with EU nations and Turkey working together, German chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday, dismissing the latest jab from a prominent domestic critic.

NORTH POLE: Many of us cannot recall the last time we got a letter in the post, but Santa will this year receive a record 8m of them, the UPU has said.

German chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a coalition deal with the Social Democrats yesterday that preserved Berlin’s strict approach towards struggling European partners.

Angela Merkel’s allies swept to victory in a state poll in Bavaria yesterday, winning enough support to regain the absolute majority they had lost in 2008 and boosting the chancellor and her conservatives a week before a German federal election.

Angela Merkel’s coalition seemed dangerously close to rupture when her Free Democrat (FDP) partners defied the chancellor and backed an opposition candidate for the German presidency, centre-right coalition sources admitted.

German President Christian Wulff has announced his resignation in a scandal over favours he allegedly received before becoming head of state.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called off a trip to Italy as signs increase that president Christian Wulff will resign amid a scandal over favours he allegedly received before becoming head of state.

Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition is squabbling so much over the eurozone debt crisis that even the opposition is urging her to quash the infighting.

OFFICIALS from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition sent a tough message to Greece yesterday that it might have to leave the eurozone if it fails to meet conditions for its bailout.

THE European Central Bank’s move to buy Italian and Spanish bonds to tame the region’s debt crisis marks a step toward the kind of fiscal union that Germany has opposed since the founding of the single currency.

GERMANY’S attempts to create a multicultural society in which people from various cultural backgrounds live together peacefully have failed, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.

The Mayor of Munich has opened the 176th Oktoberfest beer festival with the traditional cry of “It’s tapped!”

THE prospects of a world trade deal being agreed this year have been dealt a serious blow, with Germany moving to back the positions adopted by France and Ireland in defending the interests of European farmers.

EUROPEAN farmers have made 50 proposals to slash EU red tape in agriculture, but they have rejected a commission proposal for a single Common Market Organisation (CMO).

FRANCE and Ireland are to work closely to ensure that the European Commission will not make any further concessions on agriculture in the world trade talks.

THE campaign by members of the Irish Farmers Association in not allowing on-farm access to Department of Agriculture and Food officials for unannounced inspections continued yesterday.

GERMANY has indicated that it intends to make simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy a core issue when it assumes the presidency of the European Union in January.

GOING public with details of individual Irish farmers’ EU farm subsidy cheques may be a step closer, as German opposition to the transparency sought by Brussels weakens.

A GERMAN minister has claimed the deadly bird flu is moving closer to infecting humans in Europe, while a Belgian man, who last week returned from China, has checked into a Brussels hospital with flu symptoms.

IRAQ, Serbia and Germany reported the latest cases in the spread of bird flu yesterday and health officials and researchers around the world prepared to fight a possible d eadly avian flu pandemic among humans.

A panel of European Union veterinary experts today debated the merit of letting governments vaccinate poultry to prevent bird flu from infecting commercial poultry stocks.

German tests confirmed that 10 more wild birds found dead on a northern island had the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, the federal animal health institute said today.

Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer today said that tests have confirmed two swans found dead in northern Germany earlier this week carried the H5N1 bird flu virus.

Two dead swans in northern Germany have preliminarily tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, a government official said. If confirmed, it would be the country’s first case.

Preliminary tests have shown the presence of bird flu in two dead swans in northern Germany, a government official said today.

Agricultural minister Horst Seehofer today said that Germany will likely require all poultry be kept indoors to prevent bird flu in the country.

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.