Rob Schmitz

The center-left Social Democrats have won the biggest share of the vote in Germany's national election, beating outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Union bloc in a closely fought race.

Germany's two largest parties have emerged from Sunday's election in what amounts to a dead heat, according to preliminary results.

Although about a third of Germans vote by mail, millions of voters go to polling places today to choose a new government, and a successor to Angela Merkel, who is stepping down as Chancellor.

As Germans prepare to vote in a general election, the country appears unsure about who would be the best sucessor to Angela Merkel, who is stepping down as chancellor after 16 years in power.

Sunday's federal election will determine who will follow Merkel, who has served as Germany's chancellor for 16 years. The country's next government is expected to be a coalition of three parties.

The election in Germany will make the end of an era — after 16 years as chancellor, Angela Merkel plans to step aside. The vote could also see her party out of power.

On Sunday, German voters will choose a successor to Angela Merkel, who is stepping down as chancellor after 16 years. Some of her earliest supporters recall the day in 1990 when they first met her.

Social Democratic Party leader Olaf Scholz, the front-runner in the polls to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is credited for transforming Hamburg when he was the city's mayor.

Here's what it's like at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where many of the tens of thousands of Afghans evacuated from Kabul over the past few weeks are awaiting travel to the United States.

The largest airlift in U.S. history continues as thousands of Afghans are on their way to new homes, fleeing Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. Many evacuees are being processed at the base in Ramstein.

As part of NPR's summer travel series, Rob Schmitz takes us to a remote corner of southern Germany, where a nun has been brewing Bavarian beer for nearly five decades.

A massive cleanup is underway in Germany in areas badly hit by last week's storms, which caused billions of dollars worth of damage and more than 160 deaths.

Authorities are assessing the toll of historic floods that devastated parts of western Germany that killed more than 150 people. German Chancellor Merkel described the situation as "terrifying."

Germany and Belgium are still reeling from devastating floods that have killed more than 180 people.

The wealthy merchant city of Dubrovnik, in present-day Croatia, had a problem. The Black Death was killing much of Europe, but Dubrovnik didn't want to lock down and lose business.

A small farming town which lies in the path of an expanding open-pit coal mine is hoping German climate policy will eliminate the use of dirty coal before their village is consumed by the pit.

The thousand-year-old farming village of Keyenberg lies in the path of an expanding open-pit mine. Fighting to save the town is about more than Keyenberg. It's also about climate change.

In southeastern Europe, Montenegro needed a good road and China offered to build it. Montenegro is not sure now if it can pay for it, and it owes China the equivalent of a quarter of its economy.

Germany is reeling under a heatwave. Temperatures are expected to rise to the high 90s — a bigger deal when a country has little to no air conditioning.

Hungarians have taken to the streets of Budapest to protest plans build a Chinese university there.