Germany and the European Union are in a position to decide on further sanctions against Russia in the event of a complete Russian invasion of Ukraine, which cannot be ruled out, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Scholz said Russia's recognition of the two breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine was not compatible with international law and endangered the sovereignty of Ukraine. "We cannot accept this," Scholz was quoted as saying by broadcaster RTL, adding that respecting borders was important for peace in Europe.

A former employee of investment bank Lazard was sentenced on Friday to an 18-month suspended jail term by a German court after being found guilty of insider trading, a court spokesperson said, Reuters reported. The ruling by the Frankfurt regional court came after the ex-employee was charged in 2021 for passing on tips about upcoming takeovers of listed firms to the former head of an insurance company for almost two years.

Germany is set to ease COVID-19 restrictions as a wave of infections from the Omicron coronavirus variant seems to have passed its peak in most federal states, a draft plan seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday. In the three stage plan, restrictions on private indoor meetings will be dropped for those vaccinated or recovered from the virus, according to the draft, prepared for a meeting between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the heads of the federal states on Wednesday.

Britain should respect post-Brexit trade rules or else face consequences, a German official said on Thursday as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was "crazy" to have checks on goods heading from Britain only to Northern Ireland, Reuters reported. Tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, signed as part of Britain's exit from the European Union, flared again after Belfast ordered an immediate halt on Wednesday on checks on agri-foods, earning a rebuke from Brussels.

German annual inflation slowed in January but was still higher than expected by analysts and well above the European Central Bank's price stability target of 2% for the euro zone as a whole, preliminary data showed on Monday, Reuters reported. Consumer prices, harmonised to make them comparable with inflation data from other European Union countries (HICP), rose 5.1% year on year compared with 5.7% in December, the Federal Statistics Office said. The national consumer price index (CPI) rose by 4.9% on an annual basis, easing from 5.3% in December.

France assumed Germany’s traditional role as the driving economic force in Europe after a strong finish to last year, while the German economy contracted in the final three months as it grappled with a resurgence of the coronavirus, official data showed Friday, the New York Times reported. Economists expect growth across Europe to return to pre-pandemic levels in the first part of this year but with the pace varying by country.

Two former Deutsche Bank AG traders were cleared by an appeals court in the latest blow to the troubled transatlantic crackdown on manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, Bloomberg News reported. Matthew Connolly and Gavin Black were found guilty of wire fraud in 2018 for rigging Deutsche Bank’s Libor submission. But the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Thursday threw out their convictions, saying prosecutors failed to prove the two men influenced the bank into making false or misleading submissions. Prosecutors in the U.S. and the U.K.

The German government expects consumer price inflation to rise further this year, contrary to earlier projections, which will likely lead to higher wage demands by labour unions, the economy ministry said in its annual economic report yesterday, Reuters reported. The government predicts a national inflation rate (CPI) of 3.3% for 2022 after 3.1% in 2021 as higher energy costs and a scarcity of semiconductors and other intermediate products continue to push up overall prices, the ministry said.

Germany on Monday extended its current pandemic measures as the experts panel appointed by the government has warned the fast spreading Omicron coronavirus variant could bring critical infrastructure in Europe's biggest economy to a breaking point, Reuters reported. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he had agreed with the heads of the federal states to extend restrictions such as limiting private gatherings to 10 ten people and requiring proof of booster vaccination or a negative test at restaurants. "Now it's time to stay on course," said Scholz after a meeting on Monday.

Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa is in talks to buy a 40% stake in state-owned Alitalia's successor ITA Airways, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Sunday, following a newspaper report that a deal could be unveiled next week, Reuters reported. The talks about a tie-up between Germany's partly state-owned Lufthansa and ITA Airways are still ongoing with all outcomes possible, one of the sources said on condition of anonymity, adding the stake price was still under negotiation.