Germany

The number of jobless people in Europe’s biggest economy has reached a new low, fresh data has shown. Germany’s labour market experienced its traditional autumn increase in employment in both adjusted and unadjusted terms. The number of unemployed people in Germany dropped below the 2.4-million mark in October, the lowest figure logged since German unification in 1990. The Nuremberg-based Federal …

By removing visa requirements for Singaporeans, Paraguay helped Singapore edge out Germany for the top spot in the Passport Index published by global financial advisory firm Arton Capital. Singapore was previously tied with Germany for the number-one spot. Paraguay recently removed its visa requirements for Singaporeans, giving citizens easy access to 159 countries, compared to 158 for German passport-holders. Historically, …

Germany’s Bundestag has chosen outgoing Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble to be its parliamentary president or speaker. Accepting the post, Schäuble stressed the need to maintain mutual “respect” amid heated debates. Germany’s new parliament held its first session since the September elections in Berlin on Tuesday, with one of its first acts being to choose Wolfgang Schäuble from Angela Merkel’s Christian …

Following its election on 24 September, the German Bundestag will hold its constituent sitting on Tuesday, 24 October, at 11 a.m. in the Plenary Chamber of the Reichstag Building in Berlin. The agenda includes the election of the Bundestag President and the other members of the Presidium, along with the adoption of the Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag. …

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The youth empowerment initiative to promote educational achievement in the African community in Germany holds its annual award ceremony at the premises of the IHK in Hamburg on Saturday, 21 October 2017. The annual African Youth Education (AYE) Awards aim to motivate young people of African origin in Germany to seek excellence in school. The scheme was initiated in 2011 …

A rejected asylum seeker accused of raping a girl in front of her boyfriend at a nature reserve in April has been sentenced to more than 11 years in jail. A 31-year-old man from Ghana was found guilty of rape by a court in Bonn on Thursday (19 October) and was sentenced to eleven and a half years in custody. …

Success rates for asylum applications in Germany vary widely from state to state, according to a new report by Funke Mediengruppe. But the varying rates raise questions over how Germany processes asylum requests. Iraqis much more likely to get asylum in Bremen than in Berlin, official figures show. For example, the protection rate for Iraqi refugees in Bremen during the …

The ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) and their sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) have agreed to put a limit on the number of refugees Germany would accept on humanitarian grounds each year. They also laid out further steps to regulate migration in a regulatory framework. What are the key points of the plan? Charlotte Hauswedell reports. The new plan …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her CDU will hold talks with the FDP and the Greens on forming a coalition government. The move was widely expected after the Social Democrats said they wanted to be in opposition. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that her Christian Democratic Union would hold talks with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the …

Research of the MEDIENDIENST has found that 57 members of the newly-elected German Parliament have a migration background. This corresponds to 8 per cent of the members of Parliament – a slightly higher ratio than 2013. They were born or have at least one parent born as a foreigner. However, 22.5 per cent of the German population has a migration …

Unemployment in Germany hit a surprise new low in September, newly-released official data show, the latest in a string of sunny indicators as the upswing continues in Europe’s top economy. The proportion of people out of work fell to 5.6 per cent this month, the Federal Labour Agency said, while analysts had expected the figure to hold steady at 5.7 …

German movies, cultural and media workshops are part of celebrations marking 60 years of co-operation between Germany and Ghana, reports Isaac Kaledzi  from Accra. For Yibor Kojo Yibor, a Ghanaian cultural analyst, Saturday, 30 September’s event in Accra offered an opportunity for Ghanaians to reflect more on Germany’s culture and way of life. “I think that what is interesting for Ghanaians is …

Chancellor Angela Merkel has the backing of nearly 60 per cent of voters to form a ruling coalition with the Greens and FDP, a new survey says. However, Germany may have to wait until the New Year for a new government. Fortunately for Chancellor Angela Merkel, the most likely option when it comes to forming a governing coalition in the …

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Angela Merkel looks set to govern Germany for another four years together with liberals and greens, but there is a new troublemaker – the far-right AfD party – on the scene, reports Andrew Rettman. The likely CDU/CSU-FDP-Greens coalition emerged after exit polls on Sunday (24 September) said Merkel’s centre-right CDU/CSU party won with 32.5 per cent and the centre-left SPD …

German voters go to the polls on Sunday, 24 September, to elect the 19th Bundestag. Here are some important facts and figures about the election. Polling Time Polls are open from 8am to 6pm The Electorate About 61.5 million German adults are eligible to vote. According to official numbers there are 400,000 less voters than in 2013. The breakdown of …

With opinion polls suggesting a third of the electorate is still undecided about who to vote for a day before the federal parliamentary election, candidates have been out and about doing some last-minute campaigning. While Angela Merkel is widely predicted to be re-elected chancellor, her conservative CDU party seems to have taken a last-minute dip in support. It has slipped …

The number of voters with a migration background, meaning that they or their parents were not born as German citizens, is growing. The SVR Forschungsbereich, a research group, presented an investigation in November 2016 that shows the parties with the strongest appeal among Germany’s migrants, providing a hint on how they will vote as the nation goes to the polls to …

A German court on Monday fined three people for failing to help a pensioner lying unconscious on the floor of a bank, instead walking around and even stepping over him. In the nearly one-year-old incident captured on video camera, the 83-year-old man had collapsed and hit his head. He then fell unconscious on the floor of a cash machine room …