BERLIN, Oct 21 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel
faced fresh domestic turmoil on Friday when one of the three
parties in her centre-right coalition openly balked at surprise
plans to cut taxes ahead of the next election in 2013.

Compounding her woes ahead of crucial meetings on the euro
zone crisis, Merkel found her coalition badly
split over tax cuts presented by her finance and economy
ministers .

ROSTOCK, Germany (Reuters) – Renewable energy has created a “gold rush” atmosphere in Germany’s depressed north-east, giving the country’s poorhouse good jobs and great promise.

The natural resources attracting investors and industry are of a simple variety: wind, sunshine, agricultural products and farm waste such as liquid manure.

ROSTOCK, Germany (Reuters) – Renewable energy has created a “gold rush” atmosphere in Germany’s depressed north-east, giving the country’s poorhouse good jobs and great promise.

The natural resources attracting investors and industry are of a simple variety: wind, sunshine, agricultural products and farm waste such as liquid manure.

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s right-hand man hurled expletives in public at a respected party ally who dared to vote against giving more powers to the euro zone rescue fund, newspapers reported on Sunday.

Ronald Pofalla, Merkel’s chief of staff, was lambasted by leaders in the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Free Democrats (FDP) coalition partners for a public haranguing of Wolfgang Bosbach, a mild-mannered and respected conservative MP.

BERLIN (Reuters) – A conservative leader whose rebellion against strengthening the euro zone rescue fund shook Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government said on Thursday he was rattled by the verbal attacks he endured.

Wolfgang Bosbach, a senior member of parliament for Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), told Reuters he was appalled that criticism of his stance degenerated into personal attacks that, he said, went below the belt.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel won her toughest challenge yet as German chancellor by pushing through changes to a rescue fund for the euro zone debt crisis on Thursday without the humiliation of relying on opposition support.

Germany’s approval of the beefed-up bailout fund with much stronger support than expected in the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) provoked a sigh of relief in markets worried about Berlin’s commitment to resolving the debt crisis.

BERLIN, Sept 28 (Reuters) – A leading rebel in Angela
Merkel’s coalition said it was still unclear whether the
chancellor would get a majority backing in parliament on the
euro zone rescue fund on Thursday but vowed he would not cave in
to heavy pressure.

Frank Schaeffler, a member of parliament for the Free
Democrats (FDP), said that based on previous test votes there
could be about 15 “no” votes or abstentions in Merkel’s
conservatives and up to six dissenters in his FDP.

BERLIN (Reuters) – In a new hit German comedy about how men make fools of themselves in the pursuit of women, the worst insult comes from a 30-year-old venting anger at a rival.

“You FDP voter you!” shouts the character, spitting out the initials of the Free Democratic Party with such disdain it has audiences rolling with laughter. The gag is well understood from the Black Forest to the Baltic.

BERLIN (Reuters) – The humiliation of Angela Merkel’s allies in Berlin state elections offers her short-term relief in highlighting the risks of an explicitly ‘eurosceptic’ platform; but the vote dramatises a shift in Germany’s political landscape unlikely to benefit the chancellor.

With the Social Democrats (SPD) scoring a convincing third-term win in the capital and likely to form a new coalition with the fast-growing Greens, the result reflects nationwide opinion polls and looks like a foretaste of federal elections in 2013.

BERLIN (Reuters) – A major expansion of renewable energy could create millions of jobs worldwide, stir economic growth in heavily indebted countries and help fight climate change at the same time, an American adviser to the German leader Angela Merkel said on Monday.

Jeremy Rifkin, a best-selling author and an adviser to the European Union on climate change and energy security, said Germany has been leading the way by creating some 250,000 jobs in renewable energy in just a few years, but could do more.