Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Greece a glimmer of hope on Friday for a possible review of the terms agreed by Athens and its creditors on state debt, including a high primary surplus target.

Artists from over ten countries will participate in the sixth edition of the festival - the 180 ° Contemporary Art Lab. It will open doors tomorrow in the capital.

An Italian artist performed for a show called 'Moon Invasion' during the Bucharest International Theater Festival 2019, also known as 'B-Fit In The Street!', in the center of the Romanian capital on July 13. Photo: EPA-EFE/Robert Ghement.

Featuring performers from Greece, Germany, Georgia, France, Turkey, the United States, Russia and China, the 10th Samos Young Artists Festival bridges cultural divides with seven concerts at the open-air theater of Pythagoreion. The concerts pay tribute to 18th- and 19th-century European music and include performances of Italian Baroque and traditional Mediterranean classics.

In the interview with the correspondents in Berlin, Merkel pointed out that Germany has great interest for European integration of "Serbia and Kosovo", to make progress on this road, but, as she stressed, in order to do that, it is necessary to restore Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

In a post on Twitter in Greek and German, Germany's new ambassador in Athens, Ernst Reichel, announced his arrival.

Reichel, who said "Hello Greece!" in both Greek and Germany, previously served as Germany's ambassador to Ukraine and as the head of the German Foreign Ministry's office for Southeastern Europe and Turkey.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is on a visit to Germany and yesterday urged Europe to make a clearer stance on the Iranian nuclear deal, BTA reported.
    Lavrov expressed Russia's growing concern about the US's exit from nuclear arms control treaties.

Romanian tennis players Irina Begu and Patricia Tig will perform on Friday, on the Centre Court of the BNR Arenas, in the quarterfinals of the 250,000-USD BRD Bucharest Open tennis tournament, which takes place at the BNR Arenas in Bucharest. Irina Begu, WTA's 112th, will face off 6th seed of the tournament German Laura Siegemund in the second event of the day to be held on the Centre Court.

The election of Germany's Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president is a positive development. Had she been rejected, the European Union would have suffered a fresh blow at a time when it is under pressure from within and without. However, we cannot ignore the fact that von der Leyen was imposed from "above" rather than being selected in the traditional manner.

Customs officers from the Directorate-General for Customs Intelligence and Investigation / DG MRR) discovered undeclared 241,000 euros in a passenger's backpack on a bus selected for a thorough customs check.