Alexis Tsipras has received the formal mandate to form a government for the second time this year, after his left-wing Syriza party won Greece’s elections with an unexpectedly wide margin.

Violent far-right protests outside a refugee shelter in Germany have been condemned by the country’s government.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Paris this evening to discuss the result of the Greek referendum with French president Francois Hollande, a German government spokesman said yesterday.

Germany has dismissed Greek demands to pay World War Two reparations after leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused Berlin of using legal tricks to avoid paying compensation for the Nazi occupation of his country.

Russia’s top investigative body is looking into several possible motives for the killing of prominent opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, including an attempt to destabilise the state, Islamic extremism, the Ukraine conflict and his personal life.

Moscow pledges ‘adequate’ response as EU extends sanctions

A top-level summit to discuss the crisis in Ukraine is being planned for the coming week.

The leaders of Germany and France have announced a new peace plan for Ukraine, flying together to Kiev and then Moscow with a proposal to resolve the conflict that could be “acceptable to all”.

French president Francois Hollande has said he is taking a new peace initiative to Ukraine alongside German chancellor Angela Merkel.

ENGLAND: A man unable to walk unaided since he was a child has become the first person in the UK to be fitted with a life-changing computer-controlled leg brace.

A German official says Chancellor Angela Merkel’s website and several other German government sites have been blocked, and a pro-Russian organisation has claimed responsibility.

Germany wants Britain to remain an “active and committed” European Union member, but is insisting the principle of free movement of workers within the bloc is not negotiable, according to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman.

The German government has said it is committed to keeping its spending in check, despite signs of an economic slowdown and widespread calls abroad for Berlin to pump money into the economy.

The White House has accused Russia of stepping up its destabilising activity in Ukraine in an “extremely dangerous and provocative” way.

Germany took the dramatic step yesterday of asking the top US intelligence official in Berlin to leave the country, following two suspected cases of American spying and the year-long spat over eavesdropping by the National Security Agency.

Germany has taken the dramatic step of asking the top US intelligence official in Berlin to leave the country after two reported cases of suspected US spying and a spat over the National Security Agency.

Four of eight observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe who were held hostage in eastern Ukraine have been released.

Angela Merkel’s spokesman has denied that the German chancellor has her eye on the top job at the United Nations when she eventually leaves her role leading Europe’s biggest economy.

Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has died, his son has confirmed.

The German Foreign Ministry has summoned the US ambassador in the wake of allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.

The German government said Chancellor Angela Merkel has called Barack Obama after receiving information that US intelligence may have targeted her mobile phone.

French President Francois Hollande has demanded the US stop any eavesdropping on EU diplomats and suggested that the surveillance scandal could derail free-trade negotiations worth billions.

German politicians yesterday unanimously criticised the Deutsche Bank co-CEO Juergen Fitschen, following reports he had called a senior politician to complain about a raid on the bank’s Frankfurt headquarters last week.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Greece next week for the first time since the debt crisis erupted to meet the country’s prime minister — who has warned that Athens will run out of money at the end of November if it does not receive the next part of its bailout loans.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Greece next week for the first time since the debt crisis erupted to meet the country’s prime minister – who warned today that Athens will run out of money at the end of November if it does not receive the next part of its bailout loans.

Spain’s ailing banks are unlikely to need all of the €100bn which was made available by the country’s euro partners, Spanish economy minister Luis de Guindos said.

Nearly two-thirds of Germans oppose giving heavily indebted countries in the eurozone more time to meet reform commitments, according to a poll published yesterday that highlights the domestic political constraints facing chancellor Angela Merkel.

The German government has sought to reassure Jewish and Muslim parents that they will continue to be able to circumcise their sons according to religious tradition, despite a local court’s ruling that the practice amounts to bodily harm.

Greece has appointed a senior judge as prime minister of a caretaker government that will lead the country to repeat elections next month.

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 Chancellor Angela Merkel will seek backing from German lawmakers to bolster the euro bailout fund on the same day she heads to a European summit as banks joust with leaders over the size of losses they take on Greek bonds.

GERMANY and France have begun working on a joint package to stem the eurozone debt crisis, but it will not be a “miracle cure” for the bloc’s ills, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said yesterday.

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 leaders of Germany and France are meeting today to discuss how to get the eurozone’s 17 countries to work together to address Europe’s debt crisis.

LEADING German business groups called for joint eurozone bond issuance, despite their government’s opposition, and the European Central Bank showed its intent to defend Italy and Spain.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said today he and German chancellor Angela Merkel had overcome differences and agreed on a common position before the emergency European debt crisis summit.

GERMANY is worried the security of its new €1.6 billion intelligence agency headquarters has been compromised, after blueprints of the hi-tech building mysteriously disappeared.

Germany is considering pushing for EU compensation for Spanish farmers after it erroneously blamed its vegetable produce for starting the E.coli outbreak that has killed up to 18 people, Spain said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has had surgery on her knee and is recovering well, her spokesman says.

THE Government will not be forced to increase the corporation tax rate as part of the deal for funds to bailout the banks, German and EU sources have confirmed.

GERMAN police disarmed a potentially harmful package from Greece at German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office yesterday, hours after similar small mail bombs exploded outside the Russian and Swiss embassies in Athens in attacks blamed on Greek far-left extremists.

GERMAN ChancellorAngela Merkel has been forced to deny she intends expelling Roma after she has been dragged into the row over France deporting Roma.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today denied that she had told French President Nicolas Sarkozy her country planned to evacuate its own illegal immigrant camps.