BERLIN (Reuters) – Prosecutors in Germany have charged a suspected Nazi camp guard with helping to kill 430,000 Jews in the Holocaust and personally shooting 10 others.

State prosecutors in the western city of Dortmund said on Thursday charges had been filed against Samuel Kunz, 88, for assisting in the murder of Jews at Nazi death camp Belzec near the Polish city of Lublin between January 1942 and July 1943.

BERLIN/LONDON (Reuters) – Soaring German business morale and news of a massive surge in the British economy on Friday gave the clearest signs yet that Europe is accelerating, even as fears mount of a slowdown in the United States.

A call for an immediate start to tax hikes and spending cuts from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, a day after his U.S. counterpart talked of ways the Federal Reserve could counter a slowing American economy, underscored the divergence in tone.

BERLIN, July 23 (Reuters) – German business sentiment leapt
by a record margin in July to reach its highest level in three
years, fuelled by a World Cup buzz that boosted consumer
spending in Europe’s largest economy, a survey showed on Friday.

The unexpected jump, which boosted the euro, pointed to
strong economic growth in the current quarter, though if the
German recovery continued to be export-led, weaker countries in
the single currency zone might suffer, analysts said.

BUDAPEST/BERLIN, July 21 (Reuters) – Hungarian Prime
Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday his government would
discuss the 2011 budget only with the EU and long-term
negotiations with the IMF, Budapest’s other international
lender, were pointless.

Orban noted that Hungary’s deal with the International
Monetary Fund, part of a rescue to avoid a financial meltdown in
2008, expires in October — when his centre-right Fidesz party
also has to fight municipal elections.

BERLIN, July 21 (Reuters) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor
Orban said on Wednesday that he would discuss the upcoming
budget with the European Union but there was no point discussing
long-term issues with the International Monetary Fund.

Speaking at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela
Merkel in Berlin, Orban said Hungary needed to agree with the EU
– and not the IMF — how the country reduces its deficit,
because its agreement with the fund expires in October.

BERLIN, July 19 (Reuters) – Germany’s financial market
watchdog is investigating a newspaper report alleging that an
Iranian-owned bank in Germany is helping the Islamic Republic do
business linked to its nuclear programme, the government said on
Monday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the European-Iranian
Trade Bank AG — called EIH Bank in Germany — has done more
than 1 billion dollars’ worth of business for Iranian firms,
including some blacklisted by the United Nations, the United
States and the European Union.

BERLIN, July 13 (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel begins
a five-day visit to Russia, China and Kazakhstan on Wednesday in
a bid to establish a stronger foothold for German industry,
bolster its energy supply and address security concerns.

Merkel, who has endured a torrid few months at home, will be
travelling with a delegation of top business leaders aiming to
sign a series of lucrative deals in export markets from which
German industry has profited greatly over the past decade.

BERLIN, June 30 (Reuters) – Rebels in Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s coalition forced her candidate for the presidency of
Germany to a third round of voting on Wednesday, in a dramatic
display of disenchantment with her leadership.

Merkel desperately needed a decisive victory in the federal
assembly that elects the head of state to boost her authority
after a series of poor showings in opinion polls and setbacks
including the resignation of Horst Koehler as president in May.

BERLIN, June 28 (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a
major test of her leadership this week when she tries to get her
government’s candidate elected president in a vote usually
deemed a procedural sideshow in German politics.

Wednesday’s election has become a litmus test of Merkel’s
authority as her coalition stumbles lower and lower in opinion
polls and her personal ratings hit rock bottom just as Europe
looks for strong leadership to pull back from economic crisis.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany longs for credible leaders again because of the mistrust politicians have sown, according to the man who could cost Chancellor Angela Merkel her job if he is elected president this month.

Joachim Gauck, a 70-year-old Protestant pastor standing as the main opposition candidate for head of state, said on Wednesday the German people were searching for someone dependable who could articulate their concerns.