Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel revived on Saturday Germany's campaign of a year ago for global regulation of financial markets to prevent another crash like the past week's.

In an interview with a Munich newspaper, the Muenchner Merkur, she criticized the US and British governments for obstructing Germany's efforts in the first half of 2007 to bring greater transparency to the markets.

Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel dug her heels in Friday in a dispute with the European Union and Porsche about state influence over Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen.

Her spokesman said Germany would not repeal legislation that grants the state of Lower Saxony veto powers at VW.

Only the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, home of luxury carmaker Porsche, has spoken up in favour of the EU. But on Friday it quietly dropped a challenge in the Bundesrat upper chamber to the German legislation.

Berlin - Plans for a controversial museum dealing with the ordeal of post-Second-World-War German refugees were approved Wednesday by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet in Berlin.

Work may begin within weeks to set up the permanent exhibition in a government office block in the capital's Anhalter Bahnhof area.

Poland and the Czech Republic worried the museum would portray them as villains. Millions of ethnic Germans were expelled from eastern Europe as borders were revised after Nazi Germany's defeat. Warsaw has now granted a cautious blessing to the museum.

Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated her criticism of Russia's decision to recognize the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in a phone conversation with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev Wednesday.

"I made clear that I would have expected that one would discuss the issue in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) or in the UN security council, before unilateral recognition," the chancellor told journalists.

She noted that Georgia's territorial integrity had been stressed in several security council resolutions on which Russia had cooperated.

Tallinn  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel sharply criticized the decision Tuesday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to recognize the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Speaking on a visit to the Estonian capital of Tallinn, Merkel said Medvedev's decision was "absolutely not acceptable."

Medvedev justified his decision to sign decrees recognizing the independence of the two regions on the grounds that they needed protection from Georgian aggression.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped up her calls Monday for Russia to fulfil the Georgian peace plan and to undertake an immediate and complete withdrawal of its troops from the nation after a conflict lasting more than two weeks.

"We expect that the points that have been agreed to, but not yet met, will be fulfilled in the next few days," said a German government spokesman Thomas Steg.

In particular, this includes dismantling control points stationed along key transport routes and the Russian troop presence in the port city of Poti, Steg said.