BERLIN (Reuters) – Any hopes Chancellor Angela Merkel may have had that her troubles would fade over the summer holiday season and give her centre-right coalition some relief were dashed by a fresh outbreak of infighting at the weekend.

After agreeing a brief truce in recent weeks to end bickering that had cost Merkel’s government support in voter surveys, coalition partners started quarrelling again over the slow pace of reforms, pension levels and immigration policy.

BERLIN (Reuters) – The Love Parade death toll rose by one to 21 on Wednesday as Germans, who cherish order and organization, struggled to understand how such a tragedy could happen in their tightly regulated country.

A 25-year-old woman died from injuries suffered four days earlier in the stampede at the Love Parade on Saturday, when hordes of young people pushed through a tunnel into the techno festival area at a former freight rail yard in Duisburg.

BERLIN (Reuters) – The Love Parade, billed as the world’s largest techno dance party, was created in Berlin in 1989 as a demonstration for peace, tolerance and understanding through love and music.

On Saturday, 15 people were killed when mass panic broke out at this year’s Love Parade in the western city of Duisburg.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered another setback on Sunday when Hamburg’s popular mayor Ole von Beust resigned abruptly, the sixth state leader in her conservative party to abandon ship within the last year.

The charismatic 55-year-old von Beust has been a pillar of strength for Merkel and her Christian Democrats (CDU) for the last decade in the left-leaning northern port of Hamburg, one of Germany’s 16 federal states.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel will probably lose yet another powerful regional leader of her party on Sunday when Ole von Beust, the popular mayor of Hamburg, is expected to resign, German media reported on Saturday.

Von Beust, a charismatic 55-year-old who led the conservative Christian Democrats into power in the left-leaning port city in 2001 after 44 years of opposition, would be the sixth CDU state leader to leave office in the last 10 months.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germans are in a jolly good mood this summer.

An extraordinary run of good news has given them an unusually optimistic outlook for a change and replaced the usual angst-ridden gloom and doom.

A stylish performance by their team at the World Cup soccer tournament, a rare win at the popular Eurovision song contest, greater-than-expected economic growth and lower-than-expected unemployment are fuelling a remarkable “era of good feeling”.

BERLIN (Reuters) – German newspapers on Sunday praised the national team for recovering to beat Uruguay 3-2 in the third-place playoff game and for giving the country a shot of patriotic pride that recalled the 2006 World Cup at home.

Many commentators pointed out that the young Germany side should have a bright future after they enjoyed commanding victories over England and Argentina with thrilling attacking play before getting knocked out by Spain in the semi-finals.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s lower house of parliament agreed on Thursday to a compromise proposal for a slight reduction in cuts to solar power incentives over a three-month transition period.

The compromise was designed to resolve a political impasse over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s plans to cut the feed-in tariffs for new rooftop solar installations because prices for solar power equipment have fallen so steeply in recent years.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Some Germans are calling for a public roasting of the oracle octopus who correctly picked the winner of all six of their national soccer team’s World Cup matches — including a bitter defeat to Spain on Wednesday.

Paul, a two-year-old octopus in a German aquarium, turned into a global celebrity for his uncanny ability to predict the winner of all Germany’s matches — even a group stage defeat to Serbia and an ousting by Spain in the semi-finals.