Germany's government says that Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first such conversation in two years.

Support for Chancellor Olaf Scholz to lead Germany’s Social Democrats into an early election is starting to crumble within his own ranks, according to people familiar with the situation.Most Read from BloombergIn Cleveland,

Olaf Scholz, Germany's least popular chancellor on record, is facing growing calls within his Social Democrats (SPD) to step aside and let his Defence Minister Boris Pistorius instead lead the centre-left party into next year's federal election.