Rob Schmitz

Tesla is creating a vast new plant near Berlin to build its electric vehicles. And the move threatens to upend Germany's traditional combustion engine car culture.

AstraZeneca fell short of its vaccine promise and the EU isn't happy. The firm will provide another 9 million doses, which is good news for the EU but is still less than half of what was agreed to.

Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has wrapped up a two-year investigation into the Alternative for Germany. The party's far-right branch is already under surveillance.

Angela Merkel has been one of Germany's most popular leaders. She's stepping down at the end of this year. Over the weekend, her party chose a new leader and possible successor to her.

Countries are taking a variety of approaches to their mass COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. NPR's international correspondents discuss the results in Germany, Israel and Brazil.

Alexei Navalny said he has purchased a Sunday plane ticket to return to Moscow. He has spent months in Germany recovering from nerve agent poisoning.

The storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump extremists has shocked America's allies, and prompted denunciations. They've called it an assault on democracy, and urged a peaceful transfer of power.

There's growing concern in Germany about the slow start to the campaign. German politicians blame EU leaders for moving too slowly, and for wanting to control the rollout for its 27 member states.

While daily new infections have declined somewhat, more than 1,000 Germans are dying per day. All 16 German states are in favor of keeping restrictions in place.

Critics say the ruling party overhauled public media to serve as a mouthpiece, and a state-backed oil refiner's purchase of a newspaper chain brings more outlets under party loyalist control.

The European Union concluded the deal with China after seven years of negotiations. Last week, the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden had urged the EU to wait.

Poland and Hungary had blocked the EU budget over a provision requiring each member nation to uphold the bloc's rule-of-law principles. The two nations are under investigation for not doing so.

Whether it's officers participating in neo-Nazi chat groups or hoarding ammunition to prepare for a doomsday scenario, extremism is a persistent problem among those who enforce the law in Germany.

Leaders of nations like Poland, Slovenia and Hungary are having a hard time accepting that President Trump lost the election. Joe Biden says he is committed to rebuilding ties with the European Union.

Strongmen leaders in Eastern Europe have lost a powerful ally in Donald Trump, and his election loss threatens to isolate them even more.

With the daily number of new infections hovering around 20,000, Chancellor Angela Merkel told Germans this week that her government may move to extend restrictions into the new year.

Thousands of demonstrators, most without masks, had gathered in a tightly packed crowd at the city's Brandenburg Gate, objecting to government measures intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The last four years under President Trump encouraged Europe to be more independent of the U.S. Now that pressure might relax, given the prospect of a friendlier relationship with Washington.

The two Eastern European countries are in a long-running dispute with the European Union over their consolidation of state power and restrictions on free speech and an independent judiciary.

In Poland, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest further abortion restrictions. Demonstrations provoked a rare climbdown, but the relief may be only temporary.