Germany welcomes bid to halt US troop withdrawal

Russia has ordered two German diplomats to leave in response to the expulsion of two Russian envoys after a German court’s ruling that blamed Moscow for the killing of a Georgian citizen in Berlin two years ago.

The German foreign minister said more needs to be done to help Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover. Some 15,000 people which Germany vowed to take in are still stranded there.

The person who died was between the ages of 60 and 79, according to the Robert Koch Institute health body. Germany has also registered a spike in omicron infections in recent days.

The Kremlin said a number of soldiers are returning to their permanent bases after finishing military drills. Western countries have accused Russia of amassing around 100,000 troops near Ukraine.

Germany is Europe's economic powerhouse, with fantastic medical facilities and highly qualified professionals. But the fourth wave of the pandemic is threatening to bring the health care sector to its knees.

Pfizer's anti-COVID treatment has already received emergency approval in the US. Now, Germany is hoping the drug will reduce the burden on intensive care units.

The total number of omicron cases detected in Germany rose sharply with the latest figures, which were the first to provide testing results and data from a working day after the Christmas break.

German police are running "at full capacity all the time" and struggling to cope with stress as they deal with violent and aggressive protesters, the police union has said.

Although Germany isn't logging record cases like its neighbors, Health Minister Lauterbach said current figures don't show the whole picture. Data reporting has slowed over the holidays — but the omicron variant has not.

A resolution is imminent in the dispute over more than 1,000 bronzes stolen from the former Kingdom of Benin. Germany wants to return all the objects to Nigeria.

Germany shuts down half of its six remaining nuclear power plants. The nuclear power plant in Gundremmingen, southern Germany — one of six still in operation in the country — is set to be shuttered Friday. ... The other two plants are Grohnde, about 25 miles south of Hannover, and Grundremmingen, 50 miles west of Munich.

Germany takes over the G7 presidency for 2022. In a new year's message, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who replaces Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the role, said Germany must help "drive the global economic recovery."