BERLIN, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Angela Merkel’s supporters
praised her for getting France to drop demands to use the
European Central Bank to leverage euro crisis funds, but looked
like making a meal out of the German parliament’s new right to
be consulted on how these are used.

“Merkel’s Battle for our Euro,” was Monday’s headline in the
mass-circulation conservative paper Bild, saying she taught
France’s Nicolas Sarkozy “that the EFSF rescue fund cannot be
used to print money” to solve the debt crisis.

BERLIN, Oct 21 (Reuters) – German business sentiment fell
for the fourth month in a row in October, dropping to its lowest
level since mid-2010 and compounding fears Europe’s powerhouse
economy is headed for a sharp slowdown.

The Munich-based Ifo economic think tank said on Friday that
its closely-watched business climate index, based on a monthly
survey of some 7,000 companies, fell to 106.4 in October from a
revised 107.4 in September.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s government nearly halved its forecast for growth next year to one percent on Thursday due to dampened expectations for exports, compounding fears that Europe’s powerhouse economy is facing a sharp slowdown.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government cut its forecast for 2012 growth from a previous 1.8 percent, as well as reducing its outlook for this year to 2.9 percent from three percent.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s 30 top companies set voluntary targets on Monday to raise the number of women in leadership positions, in the hope of averting legally imposed quotas as a campaign to smash the glass ceiling gains momentum.

While the political leader of Europe’s largest economy is a woman, corporate management is still heavily dominated by men. There was not a single woman on the management board of a blue-chip firm until 2008, and today only 3.7 percent of top German managers are female.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Shimmering giant bubbles carpeted with exotic plants are suspended within the vaulted hallway of a former Berlin railway station, in a new exhibition of the artworks of Tomas Saraceno.

Visitors can enter the soap-like bubbles and experience a sense of floating in a futuristic galaxy at Berlin’s contemporary art museum and former station, Hamburger Bahnhof.

BERLIN, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The greatest risk to Germany’s
economy is a worsening of the European debt crisis which could
lead to tighter credit conditions, leading economic institutes
said on Thursday in their keenly-eyed twice-yearly report.

The eight institutes, which are seen as influential policy
advisers to the German government, cut their growth forecast for
Europe’s bulwark economy to 0.8 percent next year. In April,
they had forecast 2.0 percent.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Europe must be prepared to exert pressure on its banks to shore up their balance sheets while bracing to support them if necessary, Bundesbank chief and ECB policymaker Jens Weidmann was quoted as saying in a German newspaper on Thursday.

“Ultimately, we also have to be prepared to exert pressure,” Weidmann told the Bild daily. “Banks should strengthen their capital on their own.”

BERLIN, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Europe must be prepared to exert
pressure on its banks to shore up their balance sheets while
bracing to support them if necessary, Bundesbank chief and ECB
policymaker Jens Weidmann was quoted as saying in a German
newspaper on Thursday.

“Ultimately, we also have to be prepared to exert
pressure,” Weidmann told the Bild daily. “Banks should
strengthen their capital on their own.”

BERLIN (Reuters) – German exports rose to their strongest level ever in August, widening the trade surplus more than expected, official data showed on Monday, suggesting Europe’s bulwark economy remains on a growth path despite weakening expectations.

Exports rose by 3.5 percent on the month to 90.5 billion euros (78 billion pounds), data from the Federal Statistics Office showed, after faltering in the past few months.

BERLIN, Oct 9 (Reuters) – The leaders of Germany and France
promised on Sunday to unveil a new comprehensive package for
solving the euro zone’s debt crisis by the end of the month, but
offered no details and papered over differences on how to shore
up European banks.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas
Sarkozy said after talks in Berlin their goal was to come up
with a sustainable answer for Greece’s woes, agree how to
recapitalise banks and present a plan for accelerating economic
coordination in the euro zone by a G20 summit in Cannes on Nov.
3-4.