Plans to go nuclear-free by 2022 in the aftermath of atomic disaster in JapanGermany, Europe

Merkel's nuclear U-turn driven by Fukushima disaster
BERLIN: Germany wants to shut all nuclear reactors by 2022, Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition declared on Monday, in a policy reversal drawn up in a rush after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

The coalition, sensitive to accusations it may increase dependence on highly polluting brown coal, said it planned to cut power use by 10 pe

With 10 people dead of infection and 400 cases reported, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said Sunday that a bacterial outbreak in northern Germany was one of the largest of its kind ever reported worldwide.

The infection, from a strain of Escherichia coli, can lead to kidney failure and death and is difficult to treat with antibiotics, according to the Robert Koch Institu

Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition is expected on Sunday to formulate a timetable for closing Germany's nuclear power plants and a plan for replacing their output.

Merkel in March backtracked on an unpopular decision just months earlier to extend the life of aging nuclear stations in Germany, where the majority of voters opposes nuclear energy.

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), he

Drought will sharply cut the rapeseed harvest in Germany, which produces about a quarter of the European Union's crop, and is likely to force biodiesel producers to cut output.

About 75 percent of Germany's rapeseed is used by its biodiesel industry, the largest in the EU.

"The biodiesel producers must seek to find alternative supplies or may face the prospect of cutting their production," s

Berlin: A virulent form of E coli bacteria blamed on infected cucumbers from Spain has killed 10 people in Germany and sickened 300, health officials said on Sunday while warning people not to eat suspect vegetables.
European health experts on Saturday said the outbreak of hemolytic-uremic syndrome, which affects the blood, kidneys and, in severe cases, the nervous system, was the largest eve

GERMAN tree-huggers have always hated nuclear power. The accident at an earthquake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant in March added to Germany’s nukeophobia.

The German authorities reported three deaths from a strain of the E. coli bacterium and warned that more were likely because of a

Germany is coping without about three quarters of its nuclear power capacity by burning more climate-warming coal, reaping the rewards of renewables investments, and importing more French atomic energy.

The shutdown over the weekend of another nuclear plant means almost 16 gigawatts (GW) of German nuclear power capacity was offline Monday, with nearly half of the capacity ordered to shut by the

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday backed proposals to shut down all of the country's 17 nuclear power plants within about a decade.

Speaking at a meeting of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Bavarian sister party to her conservatives, Merkel said a 2022 date proposed by the CSU was appropriate and that her government will eventually fix a date for Germany's nuclear exit.

"I find th