Germany to hold 2015 G8 summit at Alpine spa

Associated Press
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, points as she and Peter Altmaier, Head of the Federal Chancellery, right, attend a cabinet meeting as part of a two day closed meeting of the German government at the Meseberg palace near Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany says it will hold next year's Group of Eight summit at a secluded spa hotel in the Bavarian Alps.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday the meeting of leaders from the world's top eight economic powers will be held in the summer of 2015 at Schloss Elmau, near the ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and close to the Austrian border.

The G-8 summit has become a major security challenge for host countries over recent years, with protesters kept well away and many hosts choosing out-of-the-way venues. Russia, which holds the rotating G-8 presidency this year, plans to hold the 2014 summit in Sochi, the site of next month's Winter Olympics.

Germany last hosted the summit in 2007 in Heiligendamm, a small resort on the Baltic Sea coast.