Inflation in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, slowed to 1.7 percent in January from 2.0 percent in December, official data showed on Wednesday.

On a monthly basis, the German consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.5 percent last month, according to final data compiled by the national statistics office Destatis.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will embark on a two-day visit to Turkey starting Sunday, her spokesman said, taking with her a delegation of German business chiefs and visiting German troops.

On February 24, Merkel will visit German military stationed in the southeastern city of Kahramanmaras, Steffen Seibert told a regular government briefing here.

The German government said Tuesday it had approved sending up to 330 soldiers to help train the Malian army and support the French deployment in its battle against Islamists.

Up to 180 German soldiers have been earmarked for the European Union Training Mission (EUTM), formally approved by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, will avoid the recession that has engulfed many of its partners in the region and return to growth in the first quarter of 2013, the Bundesbank said on Monday.

"As it currently looks, a plus in economic output can be expected in the first quarter of this year," the German central bank said in its February monthly report.

Germany's finance minister on Friday warned of the dangers of countries intervening in the foreign exchange markets, as top officials from the group of 20 met amid fears of a "currency war".

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon condemned Tuesday North Korea's nuclear test as "deeply destabilizing" and U.S. President Barack Obama called for swift and credible international action.

Ban condemned the nuclear weapons test as a "deeply destabilizing" provocation, his spokesman said Tuesday.

France, Germany and Briton expressed on Monday respect for Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign due to old age.

A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German-born pope deserved "respect" and "gratitude" for his nearly eight years as pontiff after he announced he was to step down.

A top European Central Bank official is pressing for an agreement soon on a rescue package for Cyprus — a prospect viewed with little enthusiasm in Germany.

ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen was quoted Monday as telling Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper that he expects an aid program to be drawn up by the end of March.

The European Union now faces the difficult task of dealing with demands to designate Hizbullah as a terrorist organization after Bulgaria announced Tuesday that the Lebanese party was behind a bomb attack in July that killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that the EU should “respond robustly to an attack on European soil.”

Two Germans being held hostage by the leftist ELN guerrilla group in Colombia are tourists, the German embassy said Tuesday after the rebels accused the two of being spies.

"They are retirees who were in the region as tourists," the embassy said in a statement, acknowledging that they were being held against their will.