BERLIN -- Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for making change possible in East Germany as she visited what was once a fortified border crossing on Monday - retracing her steps on the night 20 years ago the Berlin Wall fell.

LONDON -- Government programs to support the auto industry helped Germany and France return to economic growth in the second quarter, rebounds that stoked hopes the recession in the wider 16-country euro area may also end sooner than thought.

CAIRO, Egypt - Islamic militants threatened to attack Germany and Austria unless the two European nations break ranks with the U.S. and withdraw their personnel from Afghanistan, according to a Web statement.

A new Tempe-based bioscience company is linking up with a German company to distribute its technology in Europe, a move that could triple the local firm’s annual revenue.

BERLIN - Germany's biggest political parties reached a deal Friday to form a coalition government, sealing an accord that would make Angela Merkel the nation's first woman chancellor. Merkel's primary task will be reviving Germany's economy while taming its huge budget deficit. The deal still needs to be endorsed by her Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only Christian Social Union sister party and the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

BERLIN - Conservative Angela Merkel struck a power-sharing deal Monday that will make her the first woman and politician from the ex-communist east to serve as Germany's chancellor, forging a coalition with ousted leader Gerhard Schroeder's party to reform the faltering economy.

BEIJING — Already the biggest auto market and steel maker, China edged past Germany in 2009 to become the top exporter, yet another sign of its rapid rise and the spread of economic power from West to East.

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday won the center-right majority that eluded her four years ago - nudging Europe's biggest economic power to the right as it claws its way out of a deep recession.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Deported by the United States, retired autoworker John Demjanjuk was carried in a wheelchair onto a jet that departed Monday evening for Germany, which wants to try him as an accessory to the murders of Jews and others at a Nazi death camp in World War II.

MUNICH - NATO's top official chastised Germany and France for refusing to commit more troops to Afghanistan, but the two European powers skirted the issue Saturday even while agreeing that Washington should not be left to fight international conflicts alone.

This was inevitable, but when it came this week it was still a little bit of a shock: China surpassed Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy.

Germany on Sunday guaranteed all private bank accounts and negotiated a $69 billion bailout deal for Hypo Real Estate AG as Europe’s second largest economy sought to ward off financial crisis.