Police fire water cannon to clear Berlin shutdown protest

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.

Authorities in Berlin say they are struggling to cope with the massive influx of Ukrainian refugees arriving in the German capital. City officials called on the federal government to help transfer thousands of people to other parts of the country.

This year’s Berlin Fashion Week, which was held in one of the city’s former electrical factories mid-March, was largely focused on the work of Jean Gritsfeldt. The Ukrainian fashion designer was unable to attend in person as he could not leave Kyiv due to the war. But activist movement Fashion Revolution managed to recreate key items of his collection from scratch. It was a powerful cross-border collaboration and a message of peace, which Berlin designers Esther Perbandt and Natacha Von Hirschhausen helped to spread.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk will not be joining the board of directors at Twitter as announced last week. Musk remains Twitter's largest shareholder.

At the start of April, Germany lifted most of its COVID restrictions. Entertainment and hospitality venues are banking on an upswing after two years of the pandemic, which saw earnings in the sector slump by 40%.

India's Narendra Modi and Germany's Olaf Scholz did not take reporters' questions following their talks in Berlin, reportedly at the insistence of the Indian prime minister.

More than 20 looted objects from Namibia — including jewelry, tools, fashion and dolls — are being sent back to the country. The loan is the latest move by Germany to address its colonial past.

Climate activists are outraged after the chancellor lectured hecklers. A government spokeswoman said Scholz did not compare environmentalists to Nazis, as a leading German activist alleged based on what she had inferred.

Authorities say the alleged perpetrator is mentally ill and is being temporarily placed in psychiatric care. The crash in a popular shopping area in Berlin left one teacher dead and several students injured.