Women's World Cup kicks off in Germany (The Christian Science Monitor)

Berlin – When host country Germany faces Canada tonight in the second match of the 2011 Women’s World Cup, they'll be playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 70,000 at Berlin’s Olympic stadium.

World soccer's governing body FIFA and Germany's national soccer associations hope that the sixth edition of the tournament will boost the popularity of a sport that is constantly a€“ and often unfavorably a€“ compared to the mena€™s version.

Sixteen teams compete over a course of four weeks. Reigning champion Germany and the US, both two-time winners of the cup, are favorites to win the trophy again, but there are a number of other contenders.

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Brazil lays claim to Marta, who many consider the world's best player. Norway, which took the title in 1995, has played a solid qualifying round, and everyone agrees that the two Asian teams – Japan and North Korea – could pose a serious threat.

Canada have yet to beat the Germans in nine previous games, but coach Carolina Morace is optimistic for the opening match. “The Germans could suffer stage fright, particularly given all the supporters who’ll be there to encourage them,” Ms. Morace told reporters. “If we play well in the opening match, anything is possible.”

The Canadian coach may have a point when she reinterprets the home advantage as a possible burden.

German team faces pressure to performGermany’s female soccer players are expected to repeat nothing less than the “summer fairly-tale of 2006” when the country hosted the men’s cup and the whole nation was entranced by the performance of the German team – and by the newly-found ability to exhibit national pride without restraint.

Suddenly, it was perfectly OK to fix the German flag to the car antenna or to paint one’s face black, red, and yellow – acts that previously would have been frowned upon as an embarrassing display of a nationalism, unbecoming for a country with Germany’s violent past.

The German women's squad may find it hard to raise this kind of excitement.

Name one player, just oneIn a nation-wide poll this week more than half of those questioned could not name a single player on the national team.

This must be frustrating for someone like record forward Birgit Prinz, who has played 212 caps for Germany (her debut was in 1994 against Canada), scored 128 goals, and is taking part in her fifth World Cup. Compare that to her counterpart on the men’s team, Miroslav Klose, who is one year her junior, has played 109 caps, and scored 61 goals. Mr. Klose has an estimated annual income of 7 million euros ($10 million), Ms. Prinz makes about 130,000 euros ($185,000).

“We hope that this tournament gives the decisive boost for women soccer’s professionalization,” says Steffi Jones, former German player and currently president of the 2011 World Cup’s organization committee. “I want female players to be able to live off their sport, and not be forced to have a day job.”

This may be far off in a country that does not have a professional women soccer’s league yet.

Until 1970, Germany’s soccer association explicitly banned women from playing, arguing that soccer “as a combative sport is fundamentally alien to the female nature,” and that the “display of the female body violates etiquette and decency.”

MONITOR QUIZ: Weekly news quiz for June 19-25, 2011

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Germany and France Reach Greece Deal, but Problems Remain (Time.com)

One down, one to go. A robust rescue package for Greece suddenly seemed a reality on Friday after Germany caved in to France and the European Central Bank by abandoning their demand to roll over Greek debt maturities. Details remain to be finalized on the Franco-Germany deal, but even as the Euro zone's two biggest economies reached agreement, a major obstacle remains - whether the Greek government can survive a vote of confidence next week following this week's cabinet reshuffle.

The collapse of the Greek government would cast doubt on the country's ability to implement the deep market and budget reforms required by the E.U. and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for aid, threaten to derail any bailout and indeed potentially derail other euro zone economies. (See pictures of protests in Greece.)

On Friday, however, German and French officials insisted on focusing on the success of a compromise agreement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reeling from five consecutive losses in state polls, has in the past few weeks been reluctant to reach a deal with France given the populist anger in Germany over the massive taxpayer-financed bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal over the past years. But with the global financial markets once again in turmoil over the last few days over fears that Europe's sovereign debt crisis could threaten the entire Euro zone, Merkel decided it was time to do a deal.

The compromise agreement works essentially like this: instead of forcing investors to extend the maturities on Greek debt - as suggested by German Finance Minister Wolfgang SchAuble - Merkel and Sarkozy now support a bailout plan for Greece that is based on the 2009 deal for Eastern European countries facing similar threats of default. Using the so-called "Vienna Initiative" as a template, Merkel and Sarkozy want European banks to maintain their exposure to Greece but to voluntarily roll over their bonds as they come due. This would buy Greece sufficient time to allow its fiscal austerity measures, economic reform and privatization of state holdings to kick in. In the meantime, an estimated 80 billion to 100 billion euros in fresh aid from the E.U. and the International Monetary Fund would provide sufficient funding until 2013 to keep the government running. (See more on Greece's debt crisis.)

"We would like to have a participation of private creditors on a voluntary basis," Merkel told reporters in Berlin Friday at a press conference as Sarkozy stood by smiling. And pressing the point that financial markets were eager to hear - that Merkel would heed European Central Bank (ECB) warnings about forcing investors to roll over Greek debt - Merkel added that any deal regarding a debt rollover "should be worked out jointly with the ECB and there shouldn't be any dispute with the ECB on this."

The details of the Franco-German plan have yet to be made public. But it is fair to wonder just how the scheme is supposed to work. In a rollover, bondholders would reinvest the proceeds of bonds as they mature, putting their money into new securities with long maturity - but with a coupon that is significantly lower than going market yields. "It is hard to see why anyone in the private sector would do that voluntarily," David Mackie, an economist with JP Morgan Chase Bank in London wrote in a note to investors.

The drama could hardly have been more intense ahead of the Franco-German negotiations on Friday. About a month ago, Germany all but derailed talks over a new bailout for Greece by demanding that any deal force bondholders to agree to roll over maturities for Greek debt. Extending debt maturities, effectively restructuring Greek debt, would have forced banks, insurance companies and other investors holding Greek bonds to take losses. Independent economists, Germany's European partners, and the European Central Bank warned that such a forced measure would cause a further downgrade of Greek debt. It was feared that Greece's likely default as a consequence could trigger another global financial crisis.

That scenario, at least, seems to have been averted. "I'm fairly confident that there will be a rescue deal for Greece now," said Nicola Mai, an economist at JP Morgan Chase Bank in London. "Merkel and Sarkozy are sending a strong signal that European policy makers are becoming aligned now that Germany has backed down." (See a TIME story from 2009 on whether France and Germany could fall in love again.)

Now all eyes will turn back to Athens, where Greek citizens have been camped out by the thousands in front of the country's parliament for weeks. Angry protests over the government's austerity measures - a massive plan to privatize state holdings from the telephone company, to hotel chains and a state-owned casino - reached a peak this week and forced socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou to replace his embattled finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, in a broader cabinet reshuffle aimed at salvaging a weakened government.

The new finance chief is Evangelos Venizelos, a veteran politician and law professor who had been Defense Minister. Widely considered an astute and tough strategist with keen political instincts, Venizelos had challenged Papandreou in 2007 for leadership of the center-left PASOK party, which Papandreou leads and his father founded. Though Venizelos lost that race, he became a key powerbroker for Papandreou after PASOK won national elections in 2009.

Some analysts say Venizelos and the rest of the new cabinet are political insiders who won't sit well with many restless Greeks who distrust politicians, blaming them for Greece's economic woes. Others, like University of Piraeus economics professor Theodore Pelagidis, say the new cabinet is more unified than the previous one - and that Venizelos has the skills to convince both the Greeks and the Europeans that the austerity program will produce results. (See how one year after the bailout, Greece is still hurting.)

"Venizelos is in a position to tell the Europeans that Greece will make the reforms to get out of debt, but we also need time and some breathing space, not just new loans," Pelagidis says. "He is politically capable of saying to Brussels, look, we need to set up a new agenda to actually solve this problem, not put it off." Now, finally, Greece is getting concerted action from the major European powers. But the question remains - can it keep its own house in order long enough for that to make any difference?

With reporting by Joanna Kakissis / Athens

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Germany expecting more E.coli deaths (Reuters)

HAMBURG (Reuters) – Germany expects the death toll from the E.coli outbreak to rise although the number of new infections from the virulent strain of bacteria that has killed 24 people is likely to drop, the government said on Wednesday.

"There will be new cases and unfortunately we have to expect more deaths, but the number of new infections are dropping significantly," Health Minister Daniel Bahr told German TV .

"I can't sound the all-clear, but after analyzing the latest data we have reasonable cause for hope," he said.

The German government has been criticized at home and around Europe for its failure to pin down the cause of the outbreak that has stricken over 2,400 people in 12 countries. All cases have been traced back to near Hamburg in northern Germany.

The European Union's health chief John Dalli, attending a crisis meeting with officials in Berlin, urged Germany to seek the help of international experts in dealing with what may be the deadliest outbreak of E.coli so far.

About one third of E.coli patients in the latest outbreak have developed a severe complication called haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) affecting the blood, kidneys and nervous system.

Analysis of samples from restaurants, canteens and kitchens which prepared food where patients ate has failed to yield conclusive evidence for the theory that organic sprouts from a farm in the state of Lower Saxony are to blame.

"EPIDEMIC POLICE?"

With the critical spotlight on the German federal system which divides responsibility for crisis response between state and central authorities, Bahr rejected calls for a national "epidemic police." He said it was "typically German" to call for a new authority every time there is a fresh crisis.

The EU faces compensation costs of more than 150 million euros ($220 million) for farmers hit by plummeting sales of raw vegetables, after Germany first blamed cucumbers from Spain and other salad vegetables, and then German bean sprouts.

"We must draw on the experience in all of Europe and even beyond," Dalli told Die Welt newspaper. "I emphasize strongly how important it is to cooperate closely and share specialist knowledge to bring the E.coli outbreak to an end quickly."

Dalli's visit comes as German authorities struggle to pin down the source of the month-old outbreak of a rare strain of E.coli. He advised Berlin to use the experience of countries which have dealt with E.coli outbreaks.

The United States and Japan have had similar deadly outbreaks linked to sprouts while it was a Chinese laboratory that used DNA sequencing technology to identify this E.coli outbreak as a new and "highly infectious and toxic" strain.

(Additional reporting by Christiaan Hetzner in Berlin; writing by Eric Kelsey; editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Qatar bans salad vegetables from Germany, Spain (AP)

BERLIN – The Gulf nation of Qatar has temporarily banned imports of fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuces from Spain and Germany because of concerns about a deadly strain of E. coli.

All other fresh fruit and vegetable shipments from Europe must carry a health certificate declaring they are free of the bacteria.

Qatar added that it will "not hesitate to ban all vegetable imports from Europe if that is necessary to preserve the people's health in Qatar."

Qatar's Supreme Council of Health said the decision was made during an emergency meeting of the country's food control committee on Thursday, the official Qatar News Agency reported Saturday.

The neighboring United Arab Emirates last week banned cucumber imports from Spain, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands because of concerns about the illness that has killed at least 18 people.

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Germany: Hidden Fallout from Sudden Nuclear Shutdown (Time.com)

By THOMAS SCHMID / DIE WELT / WORLDCRUNCH Thomas Schmid / Die Welt / Worldcrunch – Thu Jun 2, 3:25 pm ET

This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article below was originally published in Die Welt.

BERLIN - The biggest advantage of democracy is the possibility of getting rid of governments you don't like in a peaceful way. That doesn't sound like much. Yet it sums up all the wisdom and beauty at the core of a democratic system. In a democracy, you can say A, but you can also say B, just as you can rely on the assumption that nothing has to last forever. Everything can be changed, amended, courses reversed. In short, the very life and soul of democracy is that there are always other options.

Germany's federal government is now abusing that basic rule in a scandalous way. There can be no doubt that the country needs to be looking at a smart mix of different energy sources for the future, and that developing viable alternatives to atomic power is an urgent necessity. Yet the manner in which the federal government has rushed to its decision to put a definitive stop to the use of nuclear energy by 2022 runs counter to all rules of democratic procedure. It began when, for politically motivated and tactical reasons alone, the government went back on the agreement made last fall - just seven months ago - to extend the life span of nuclear power plants. After the Japanese plant Fukushima began leaking radiation, it felt compelled to cede to public pressure by making a rapid move away from atomic power. Backtracking in the blink of an eye, the government moved so quickly partly out of fear of the Greens, and entirely without discussion or reflection. (See why the Japan nuclear crisis triggered protests in Germany.)

The Swiss Energy and Environment Minister Doris Leuthard - who had the determining vote in her government's decision not to build any more atomic power plants and to stop the use of nuclear energy by 2034 - stated: "The change needs time, but we also have time." That deliberate tone is sorely missed in Germany. From the Christian Social Union to the greenest of the republic's Greens, over the past few weeks it's as if everyone is trying to outdo everyone else in signing the death warrant on nuclear power. It's a climate that only engenders more excitability, not good sense.

Why the rush?
It is rather astonishing to see how radically the federal government has avoided examining alternative solutions on this issue. Indeed, such an evasion of a debate on the so-called Fukushima Package, which comes up for parliamentary vote on July 8, could be said to skirt legality. Hans-JUrgen Papier, a former president of Germany's Federal Constitutional Court, not known for making unconsidered remarks, called the moratorium an "illegal measure" and something that "[German Chancellor] Angela Merkel, the magician, pulled out of her hat like a rabbit a couple of days after Fukushima." There was no reaction from Berlin.

The Federal Network Agency, also not known for rash pronouncements, stated that consequences of the moratorium would be "questionable in terms of the energy industry, economically inefficient and ecologically damaging" - again, no reaction from antinuclear Berlin, which steamrolled right over it. (See why Germany is abandoning nuclear power by 2022.)

And nobody really seems to be perturbed that the body created by Merkel to wind down the use of nuclear power has impertinently been assigned the name of Ethics Commission - as if the issue at stake were an ethical one, and not one of practical and technical common sense. Supporters of atomic energy comprise a tiny minority of the 17-person commission, and within the government only the most faint voices can still be heard raising a timid "But? ..." What a wonderful victory for the robust give-and-take that nurtures democracy!

And then there's Europe. When a founding E.U. member as powerful as the Federal Republic of Germany wants the continent and the rest of the world to head down a new energy path, then it would be vital not only for that member to take the matter up at the European level, but to give it time - we need time, and we have it. Germany has shown no respect for the energy policies of other E.U. countries, and particularly no trace of consideration for the East-West split that exists in Europe over nuclear power. Instead, Germany has chosen to go it alone on this issue, assuming a kind of avant-garde, "moral high ground" role that is not always going to play well elsewhere. (See pictures of nuclear reactors.)

Sustainability also means not getting caught up in the fluster of every passing pressure. It means taking time, in the clear knowledge that a "no" to nuclear power does not constitute an answer to the complex question of how to find viable future sources of energy.

Weighing the pros and cons, hearing out the opposition, putting things in longer-term perspective: we're not seeing any of this. Instead, there is an unholy alliance between those who want to "govern without hindrance" and those who would usurp the will of both Parliament and the people in favor of morally charged environmental pressure. In a rational Germany, haste on such weighty issues should not be tolerated.

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E. coli outbreak spreads in Germany

Berlin (CNN) -- The outbreak of E. coli in Germany has killed several more people and sickened hundreds, authorities said Tuesday.

News reports citing local authorities reported 16 deaths linked to E. coli in some raw vegetables. CNN has confirmed at least 12 deaths.

As more people have died, the outbreak has shown itself to be spreading geographically as well. No longer contained in northern Germany, the outbreak has killed at least two people in the western part of the country.

One of the 16 deaths was in Sweden. A woman died after visiting Germany, the Swedish Ministry for Health and Social Affairs said.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's federal unit responsible for disease control and prevention, said 373 people have been confirmed sickened. But figures coming in from local authorities and hospitals made clear many more people are believed to be infected.

"Here in Hamburg we're pretty much at the epicenter," Jorg Debatin, medical director of the Hamburg Medical Center, told CNN. His hospital has 600 to 700 infected patients, Debatin said. About 20% to 30% of them develop hemolytic-uremic syndrome, or HUS, "a very severe complication," he said.

The hospital is especially concerned about 85 patients -- 20 children and 65 adults -- who may go into renal failure and develop neurologic symptoms, he said.

Sweden's health ministry said there have been 39 confirmed cases of people sickened by E. coli in Sweden, 16 of which are being investigated for complications caused by HUS. All 39 patients recently visited 39 Germany.

No contaminated vegetables have been reported in Sweden, the ministry said.

While authorities in Germany worked to contain and respond to the outbreak, the specific cause remained unclear.

The European Food Safety Alert Network said EHEC, or enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, a strain of E. coli that causes hemorrhage in the intestines, was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany, and distributed to countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg and Spain.

But the source has not yet been pinpointed, authorities said.

Hans-Joachim Breetz, executive director of Hamburg's Institute for Sanitation and Environment, said it can take days or weeks to find a source of infection.

In the meantime, "the warning remains not to eat raw cucumbers, leaf lettuce or tomatoes," said Cornelia Pruefer-Storcks,

Hamburg's top official for health and consumer protection.

European Union spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen told CNN that German authorities were examining cucumber batches from the Spanish cities of Almeria and Malaga as potential sources of infection. She also said a shipment originating in Denmark or the Netherlands is being checked.

The questions surrounding produce from Spain have "paralyzed" vegetable exports, a spokeswoman for Fepex, the Spanish export producers group for vegetables and fruits, said Tuesday.

The industry in Spain expects weekly losses of about 200 million euros ($288 million), Fepex officials said.

Fepex President Jorge Brotons and Director General Jose Maria Pozancos called on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to step in, the spokeswoman said. The Fepex officials argue that German authorities have accused the Spanish cucumber of being the source of the outbreak, without proof.

Spanish Health Minister Leire Pajin discussed the outbreak on Twitter. "In the absence of proof. we're not ruling out using all necessary measures to make sure there's compensation for the (economic) damage," she wrote. "From the first day, the government launched a diplomatic offensive to prevent the linking of this health crisis with our products."

Germany is the top purchaser of Spain's produce, according to Fepex. In 2010, Spain exported 9.4 million tons of produce; a quarter of that went to Germany, Fepex said.

A Spanish health ministry spokesman told CNN that Spanish authorities are investigating the outbreak. Initial results that could cite a potential casue are expected by Thursday, or possibly as early as Wednesday, the spokesman said.

Spanish authorities are sharing their investigative results with German and European Union authorities, the spokesman added.

The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition said two Spanish companies producing cucumbers may be involved in the outbreak. The agency was awaiting further results from Germany's investigation.

The Robert Koch Institute said Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment "advised against eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuces to prevent further cases."

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen and Eileen Hsieh contributed to this report.

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Germany turns back on nuclear power (The Christian Science Monitor)

Frankfurt – In a move officials called "irreversible," German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition agreed Monday to phase out nuclear power by 2022, setting Europe’s biggest economy the formidable challenge of finding a replacement for 20 percent of its current energy supply.

The government's decision comes after a 17-member ethics panel appointed after the Fukushima nuclear accident recommended giving Germany a "10-year exit corridor" to change its ways and go nuclear free. The panel, which included a Roman Catholic bishop and industrial and scientific leaders, called for keeping the seven oldest nuclear plants shut down after the Japan disaster off the grid and gradually switching off the other 10. But their report, released today, said weening Germany off nuclear power won't be successful "without efforts of all segments of the political, business and societal world."

"It has to happen sooner or later," says Miranda Schreurs, chair of the Brussels-based European Environmental Sustainable Development Advisor Council, a network of advisors appointed by 16 European countries.

"If Germany does it first, it will become the technological leader globally, it will be the country that others turn to for advice, for equipment, it can set the standards for others.This decision gives Germany planning certainty and stability: If you know that you have a 10 year window to replace 20 percent of your electricity supply, it gives society a chance to come to terms with the decision, to start thinking about it."

Last fall, Merkel had called for Germany to get 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050. Today's announcement increases the pressure to make that happen faster than planned.

RECOMMENDED: Is nuclear energy a safe idea? Seven reasons to abandon nuclear power and five reasons why it's safe and reliable.

To rely more on sun and wind power, Germany must expand its energy grid to bring green energy from its windy northern coast to its sunny south. That will entail building what experts say could be an estimated 3,000 kilometers of 260-feet-high power-lines through some of Germany's most picturesque landscapes with a pricetag of billions of Euros in the coming decades.

"We have to have a new approach to the supply network, energy efficiency, renewable energy and also long-term monitoring of the process," Merkel told reporters today. She stressed the importance of lifestyle changes to consume less energy.

Some are skeptical that Germany will achieve its goal, and point out that it remains heavily reliant on coal-fired and gas-fired power plants. They predict that Germany's abandonment of nuclear power will lead to greater reliance on fossil fuels. Last year, about 25 percent of Germany's power was produced with coal.

Germany's "electricity will be more expensive and polluting,” French Industry Minister Eric Besson predicted in a statement. France is a major proponent of nuclear power. So far, Germany has been compensating for its closure of domestic nuclear plants in part by importing nuclear power, most from France.

A big test of whether Germany can go the green route will happen in the southern state of Baden Wurttemberg, which has just sworn in the country's first Green state governor, says Marcel Vietor, climate and energy specialist at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin says. There, most residents are anti-nuclear, but many are also opposed to an "Energie Autobahn" that could disfigure their rolling hills. Car-maker Daimler Benz fears the new decision could hurt German industry.

"There is a long way to go but it’s doable," says Claudia Kemfert, an energy economist at the German Economist Institute in Berlin, who called the green sector "a growth machine for the German economy for the next decades."

Encouraging, she said, is that all parties in Germany now agree on the need to get out of nuclear. From "a historical perspective, that’s a completely new situation," says Kemfert.

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E. coli outbreak kills six in Germany

(CNN) -- An E. coli outbreak linked to some raw vegetables has killed at least six people and sickened hundreds in Germany, national and global health authorities said Monday.

The first investigation results released by the German federal unit responsible for disease control and prevention -- the Robert Koch Institute, under Germany's Ministry of Health -- indicated that the most recent infections were likely caused by consuming raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.

The agency said it is advising consumers to avoid eating those foods, specifically in northern Germany.

The institute is investigating six deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Three of those fatalities, all adults, were caused by hemolytic-uremic syndrome, or HUS, from E. coli. The other three fatalities -- all of them elderly -- were caused by an infection linked to HUS and E. coli, said Dr. Guenael Rodier of the World Health Organization.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said 329 cases of HUS have been reported since May 2. Though HUS is normally seen in children younger than 5, the vast majority of the current outbreak's cases are adults, and more than two-thirds are women, the center said Monday on its website.

"The source of the outbreak is under investigation, but contaminated food seems the most likely vehicle of infection," it said.

Most of the patients are from, or have been to, northern Germany, primarily Hamburg, Northern Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it said.

Cases have been reported in Sweden, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark among people who have visited Germany, most of them northern Germany, it said.

The European Food Safety Alert Network said EHEC, or enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, a strain of E. coli that causes hemorrhage in the intestines, was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany, and distributed to countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg and Spain.

The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition issued a statement saying that two Spanish companies producing cucumbers may be involved in the outbreak, and the agency is awaiting further results from Germany's investigation.

"This is the eye of the storm," said Oliver Grieve, a spokesman for the University Medical Centre Schleswig-Holstein, where one of the deaths occurred. "We're working 24 hours here, and we're getting patients from all over northern Germany including Hamburg."

As of Monday, 115 patients were infected with EHEC -- 68 in the medical center's Kiel campus and 47 in its Lubeck campus. Eighty-two patients were stricken by HUS -- 42 in Kiel and 40 in Lubeck, he said.

The fatality, an 86-year-old woman, died of HUS; her husband remains hospitalized with EHEC, Grieve said.

"Patients are coming in waves," he added.

Cases of bloody diarrhea associated with HUS were first reported in Germany in the second week of May. The detection of E. coli on cucumbers was first reported on May 26.

Germany's Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection advised consumers to cook their food to a minimum temperature of 70 degrees Celsius (about 160 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least two minutes to kill any E. coli bacteria. Freezing food does not kill bacteria reliably, the ministry added.

Russia said Monday it is suspending all imports of vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers and salad leaves, produced in Germany and Spain.

The Russian Federal Agency for Health and Consumer Rights, Rospotrebnadzor, said on its website that it has not received information from the European Union on the causes of the infection and the measures taken to "localize and eliminate the outbreak."

"A decision might be taken in the next few hours regarding the ban on imports and sales of vegetables in Russia from all EU countries," the agency said.

CNN's Maxim Tkachenko contributed to this report.

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Germany wants nuclear exit by 2022 at latest (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition declared on Monday it would shut all nuclear reactors by 2022, in a policy u-turn 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 percent by 2020. But Merkel may be hard pressed to present the plan as anything but a political defeat at the hands of Social Democrat and resurgent Green rivals.

The proposal may be even more ambitious than the nuclear exit planned when the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens were in power in 2000. It takes eight of 17 nuclear plants offline now and six by 2021.

But it could still face opposition from utilities.

Only nine months ago Merkel announced an extension of the lifespan of unpopular nuclear plants by an average 12 years. In March, after Japan's earthquake and tsunami, she reversed that and put Germany's entire energy strategy under urgent review.

"Our energy system has to be fundamentally changed and can be fundamentally changed. We want the electricity of the future to be safer and, at the same time, reliable and economical," Merkel told reporters on Monday.

To accompany the nuclear exit, Germany plans to cut electricity usage by 10 percent by 2020 and double the share of renewable energy sources to 35 percent over the same period, according to a government paper seen by Reuters.

Merkel did not outline further details of the plan but the government paper said Germany's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 remained in place.

Most voters in Germany oppose atomic energy, which provided 23 percent of overall power before the seven oldest stations were shut down in March.

A disputed 2.3 billion euro a year tax on spent fuel rods will not be scrapped even as the coalition plans to go ahead with the shutdown, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said early on Monday after late-night talks in the chancellor's office between leaders of the center-right coalition.

"(It's) definite: the latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022," Roettgen said after the meeting and before leaving on his bicycle.

Merkel's about-turn has done little to gain her support, but has drawn scorn from the opposition and within her own party ranks. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against nuclear energy at the weekend all across Germany.

Nuclear policy is heavily disputed in Germany and the issue has helped boost the Greens, which won control of one of the CDU's stronghold states, Baden-Wuerttemberg, in a March vote.

Merkel's majority in the Bundesrat upper house, where the states are represented, vanished last year after the CDU failed to hold onto the populous North Rhine-Westphalia state. Losing Baden-Wuerttemberg, a vote held in the shadow of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, dealt another blow to Merkel's authority.

Germany's largest power provider RWE, which had suggested ending nuclear power in 2025, signaled its opposition to the deal. A spokesman for the company said the firm would keep "all legal options open."

"The end (of nuclear power in Germany) by 2022 is not the date we had hoped for," the spokesman said, declining to comment on the effect of the decision on the company's earnings.

The decision could still face opposition from RWE's peers E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW, the other three utility companies that run the 17 plants.

German baseload power in the wholesale market on Monday rose 70 cents from Friday to 60.20 euros a megawatt hour.

"Prices must go up to account for permanently lower capacity. Neighboring Europe will have to price in the potential absence of German power in case of unfavorable supply situations," one trader said.

Shares in utilities E.ON and RWE fell 2.2 and 2.4 percent respectively at the open.

NO WAY BACK

Some politicians had wanted a clause allowing for revision of the agreement in future. The Free Democrats, junior partners in Merkel's center-right coalition, wanted no firm date but a flexible window for exit, plus the option of bringing back at least one of the seven oldest nuclear reactors in an emergency.

"There will be no clause for revision," Roettgen said.

The coalition agreed to keep one of the older reactors as a "cold reserve" for 2013, if the transition to renewable energies cannot meet winter demand and if fossil fuels do not suffice to make up for a potential shortfall.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March crippled Japan's Fukushima plant, causing releases of radioactivity, sparking calls for tougher global safety measures and prompting some governments to reconsider their nuclear energy strategy.

The German decision still needs to go through parliament and leaders of the opposition Social Democrats and the Greens were present at parts of the meeting to enable a broad consensus.

The coalition wants to keep a nuclear tax, which was expected to raise 2.3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) a year from this year, but so far has not been levied. With the immediate exit of eight plants it will raise less than envisaged.

It had mulled dropping the tax in return for the utilities supporting and not suing the government over an early exit.

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt, Andreas Rinke and Hans-Edzard Busemann; additional reporting by Vera Eckert, Peter Dinkloh, Josie Cox and Jonathan Gould in Frankfurt, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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