Mannheim, Germany - Economic-stimulus projects in Germany are to begin with roading upgrades in early spring after decisions in January, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech Tuesday.

Merkel again rejected calls for tax cuts or handouts to consumers, insisting it was better to accelerate planned investment in German infrastructure to infuse the economy with new money.

Berlin - Criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's so-far modest attempts to shield Europe's biggest economy from the global economic downturn has triggered a slump in her popularity, a poll released Tuesday showed.

A poll drawn up by the Forsa institute for Germany's Stern magazine and RTL television showed support for Merkel and her conservative political bloc edging down over the last week amid signs that Berlin was considering piecing together a new fiscal stimulus package.

Berlin  - Chancellor Angela Merkel and key members of her cabinet held talks Sunday with industrialists and financial experts in a bid to hammer out an economic strategy to help Germany out of recession.

"We want to study the possibilities of reacting quickly to a worsening of the crisis," Merkel told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag ahead of the meeting at the federal chancellery in Berlin.

Berlin - Tensions grew Thursday within German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition over plans to spur growth in Europe's biggest economy in the face of the global economic slowdown.

A leading member of Merkel's conservative bloc roundly lashed out at German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck over his criticism of Britain's attempt to limit the fallout from the economic downturn by boosting public spending.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice Wednesday to calls for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to step down.

"Especially in Zimbabwe's case, we must do our very best to attain life without the terrors of President Mugabe," she said in Berlin in a speech marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel broke into a broad grin when her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) overwhelmingly reelected her chairman at a party convention early December.

It was welcome relief for the party leader, whose low-key response to the global financial upheaval has disappointed Germany's neighbours and raised questions by some in the conservative camp.

An economic stimulus package of more than 30 billion euros (38 billion dollars) was seen as too little and also led to opposition charges that Germany had sleepwalked into the crisis.