Germany’s Social Democrats narrowly won Sunday’s national election, projected results showed, and claimed a "clear mandate" to lead a government for the first time since 2005 and to end 16 years of conservative-led rule under Angela Merkel.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday urged Germans to give her conservative would-be successor Armin Laschet the vote to "shape Germany's future", in a last-ditch push ahead of the Sunday’s general elections.

Germany joined France on Tuesday in berating the United States for negotiating a security pact in secret with Australia and Britain that cost Paris a lucrative defence deal, while the European Union's top official said such behaviour was unacceptable.

Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate bidding to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel in this month’s election, said he was confident the European Central Bank (ECB) would achieve price stability, as accelerating inflation hits savers.

Arts & Culture Desk

The Iran-Germany co-production, ‘Extra Sauce,’ directed by Iranian filmmaker Alireza Qasemi, won the Best Cinematography Award at the 18th edition of the Francesco Paziniti Film Festival in Italy.

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the Social Democratic candidate for German chancellor, cemented his position as the front-runner to succeed Angela Merkel, giving a competent if wooden performance to see off attacks from rivals.

The campaign over who will replace German Chancellor Angela Merkel heated up on Sunday after a new opinion poll showed the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) opening up a bigger lead over Merkel's conservatives.

Arts & Culture Desk

Germany disregards West’s noncompliance, blames Iran

Flash floods hit southern Germany on Sunday, killing at least one person and adding to the flooding devastation that has claimed the lives of more than 180 people in Europe in recent days.

The death toll from devastating floods in Europe soared to at least 126 on Friday, most in western Germany where emergency responders were frantically searching for missing people.

The Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Commission on Foreign Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs views time inconsistencies in the draft report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the alleged poisoning of blogger Alexey Navalny as proof of Germany’s link to the anti-Russian provocation, the commission’s chairman Vasily Piskarev said.

A joint film of Iran, Germany, and Canada, ‘Metamorphosis in the Slaughterhouse,’ directed by Iranian director Javad Daraei and produced by Mehdi Koohzadeh, won the grand prize of the 17th edition of the Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival in Texas, the US.

The German military late on Tuesday concluded its withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost two decades, finishing Germany's deadliest military mission since World War 2.