Three-time Wimbledon tennis champion Boris Becker won €1.2m in damages from a German newspaper on Tuesday.

The German government “emphatically” welcomed today’s unanimous decision of the UN General Assembly to establish an annual day to commemorate the six million predominantly Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust, the foreign minister said.

Social Democratic Party chairman Franz Muentefering will serve as vice-chancellor and labour minister in a coalition government under conservative Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel, party officials said today.

The European Union overcame last-minute doubts and opened membership talks today with Turkey – a historic move to include a predominantly Muslim nation that both sides said would benefit all of Europe.

GERMANY’S Greens have agreed to hold talks on forming a new government with Angela Merkel’s conservatives after a leading member of Merkel’s party called a link with the environmentalist group “a realistic option”.

A leader of Germany’s Greens today knocked down conservatives’ hopes the party would help opposition leader Angela Merkel become chancellor in a coalition government, citing major differences with her Christian Democrats and their pro-business ally.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was squaring off today with his challengers in their last debate before Germany’s election as a new poll showed his Social Democrats continuing to edge forward.

Pressure is mounting on the United Nations nuclear agency to report Iran to the Security Council as it prepares for an emergency meeting today to ease a stand-off with the Tehran regime.

The G8 summit risks disappointing anti-poverty campaigners like Bob Geldof and Bono, Chancellor Gordon Brown admitted today.

THE former British minister for Europe, Denis MacShane, tells a good story from one of those negotiating sessions in Brussels where European leaders advanced, bit by bit, the creation of the new Europe.

POET and politician, silver-haired statesman Dominique de Villepin captured the world’s attention with an impassioned speech in 2003 supporting France’s opposition to an invasion of Iraq.

President Jacques Chirac today appointed Dominique de Villepin, a loyalist who was France’s voice against the Iraq war, as prime minister, to head a new government in response to a humiliating referendum defeat.

Iran renewed its promise today to refrain from developing nuclear weapons, Britain’s foreign minister Jack Straw said, at least temporarily averting being hauled before the UN Security Council to face possible international sanctions.

GERMAN Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s party took aim at the “market radicalism” of the conservative opposition yesterday as it geared up for early national elections, signalling it will present itself as defending social programmes and workers’ rights.

Germany’s leader is making his third trip to France in a month. The prime minister of Spain is flying back in. Italians are being urged to bombard the French with a common message: “Vote Yes”.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with Nato partners on the Middle East peace process, as the alliance sought to widen trans-Atlantic dialogue beyond its traditional emphasis on European defence.

The European Union nations today failed to agree on lifting their 15-year-old ban on arms sales to China, a proposal that had drawn heavy criticism from the US and exposed internal divisions.

JERUSALEM’S new Holocaust museum is a place of deep shame for all Germans, because the nation will remain forever linked to the Nazi genocide of six million Jews, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said yesterday.

The number of Germans confirmed killed in the tsunami disaster a week ago has nearly doubled to 60 – the highest death toll among foreigners – and is expected to rise much further, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

US President George Bush is expected to hold a summit with European Union leaders on February 22, one month after his inauguration for his second term, officials said today.

Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is emerging as the front-runner in presidential elections, with an 18-point lead over jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti, according to the first poll on how Palestinians will vote on January 9.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has been voted Statesman of the Year by the readers of the European Voice newspaper.

EU foreign ministers were deadlocked today on lifting a 15-year-old arms embargo on China despite strong French pressure, officials said.

EU foreign ministers called for a UN investigation into whether atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region constitute genocide, highlighting growing impatience with the Sudanese government for failing to end the conflict.

European Union foreign ministers were expected to back Washington’s get-tough approach on Darfur at a meeting today, dangling the threat of UN sanctions over Sudan’s government if it does not move to end the fighting in the region.

World leaders expressed horror at the bloody climax of Russia’s hostage crisis today, saying the barbaric attack on school children showed terrorists have sunk to new lows.

EU foreign ministers have given their solidarity to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his efforts to resolve the school hostage crisis in southern Russia.

Locked doors prevented or slowed the escape of supermarket shoppers in Asuncion, Paraguay, from a fast-spreading fire that killed well over 300 people and injured hundreds more, survivors said.

SURVIVORS of an inferno in a crowded supermarket said locked doors slowed their escape from the fire that killed at least 311 people in Paraguay's worst disaster in more than half a century.

The European Union has joined the US in threatening sanctions against Sudan, hoping to pressure the African country’s government to end the conflict in its western region of Darfur.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer today defended his country’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, saying that a new European seat is “priority number one”.

THE African Union demanded yesterday that Sudan arrest and prosecute Arab militiamen accused of committing atrocities in western Sudan, but said the violence in the Darfur region did not constitute a genocide.

The African Union demanded today that Sudan arrest and prosecute Arab militiamen accused of committing atrocities in western Sudan, but said the violence in the Darfur region did not constitute a genocide.

THE Anglo-American resolution defining the new Iraqi government’s powers was finally heading for the UN Security Council’s approval late last night.

Britain and the US are ready to present a key UN draft resolution that will detail the June 30 hand over of power to a new Iraqi government and outline how much say Iraqis will have over armed forces in their country.

Foreign Minister Brian Cowen today appealed for “patience and determination” to secure a European constitution deal as planned in mid-June.

Making his first trip to the West in 15 years, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was aiming today to improve relations with the European Union despite lingering charges of human rights abuses by his government.

EU leaders appeared increasingly confident today that the EU’s first constitution can be adopted soon despite months of acrimonious debate over how to share out power in the bloc.

Nato deployed more peacekeeping troops to regain control of Kosovo today and warned it was prepared to take harsh measures against rioters as ethnic violence raged into a third day.

Nato-led peacekeepers deployed more troops to regain control of Kosovo today, promising to take harsh measures against rioters – even if it means some of them may be shot.

EU foreign ministers will discuss the impact of last week’s Madrid bombings at a regular meeting on March 22, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said yesterday.

European leaders condemned the Madrid bomb blasts as an attack on Spanish democracy.

A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus yesterday, killing eight people and wounding 59 in an attack Israeli officials said proved the need for the disputed separation barrier it is building.

A suicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus today, killing seven people and wounding 59 in an attack Israeli officials said proved the need for the disputed separation barrier it is building.