Berlin market attack suspect killed in shootout in Italy

Dresden's famous christmas market, the Striezelmarkt, has been around for centuries. This year, the planned opening was canceled due to the high incidence rate of coronavirus infections in the state of Saxony.

On December 19, 2016, Islamist attacker Anis Amri drove a stolen truck through a crowd in central Berlin, killing and injuring dozens. Five years later, the background to the attack remains unclear.

Social Democrat politician Franziska Giffey, Germany's former family minister, has become Berlin's first elected female mayor after a vote by city delegates.

For this special Christmas edition of Eye on Africa, we've prepared a range of feel-good and culturally significant stories for you to enjoy. Families in Cairo of all religions drop by the city's Christmas market to enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of the annual bazaar.

Berlin Zoo bids farewell to Katjuscha the polar bear, who has died at the ripe old age of 37. The elderly bear had been suffering from a heart condition for some time.

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has hit Berlin hard, yet despite rising numbers of new infections, businesses and markets remain open. DW visits some markets to ask vendors and customers what impact the danger has had on them.

It's Europe's most accessible, edgy and – often – political film festival. The Berlinale has kicked off in the German capital with François Ozon's "Peter von Kant", a gender-swapped reimagining of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1972 feature "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant".

French filmmaker Claire Denis has won best director at the Berlin Film Festival for a film partly filmed in FRANCE 24's buildings. "Both Sides of the Blade" stars Juliette Binoche as a woman torn between two lovers in pandemic-era Paris. She plays Sara, a journalist who works at FRANCE 24's sister radio station RFI. Film critic Emma Jones speaks to Eve Jackson from Berlin about all the action from this year's festival.

Germany has urged Russia to come back to the negotiating table as Russian media reported "no concrete plans" were in place for Putin to meet Biden.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was the latest international leader in Moscow to sound out Russia's Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine. Some see Bennett as a potential mediator between Moscow and Kyiv.

The refugee exodus is seeing thousands of Ukrainians arrive in Berlin every day. It's caught the German capital off guard and is pushing resources to the limit. Berlin says it can't cope alone and has appealed for help from other parts of the country.

Tens of thousands of people spilled into the streets of Berlin to demand peace in Ukraine. Many waved Ukrainian flags or held banners with slogans opposing the Russian invasion.