Add to this a generation of officials and politicians on both sides of the Rhine who neither studied at each other's universities nor even speak each other's language and, despite the tight institutional mesh that still ties the two together, there is a sense that the Germans no longer need the French as they once did.

ECONOMIST: France loses ground to Germany

Some pollsters reckon that in Germans' voting preferences only a couple of points separate the two main parties of left and right.

ECONOMIST: Germany's Christian Democrats

Two Germans kidnapped by the group are "in good health", the rebel said in a statement on opposition websites.

BBC: Ethiopia rebels blame troops for Afar tourist deaths