Germany

Community mourns African pastor murdered in Berlin

The corpse of the 54-year-old clergyman was found in his office in the Berlin district of Berlin Charlottenburg last Thursday.  Rev. Father (Dr) Alain-Florent Gandoulou is believed by the police to have been murdered. German media say the suspected assailant is from Cameroon. Berlin’s French-speaking Catholic community held funeral rites Sunday for Father Gandoulou in the city’s St Thomas Aquinas …

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German free-food charity bars new migrant clients

A German food bank said Thursday it would temporarily stop accepting new non-German clients, citing a huge influx of migrants that was displacing locals in need. “We want the German granny to be able to keep coming to us,” said Joerg Sartor, chairman of the charitable group that serves free meals to the poor in the western city of Essen. …

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Germany: Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo addresses business conference in Dortmund

The economy of many African countries are booming. How can German small and medium enterprises profit from this success? The 5th German-African Business Forum  NRW (das 5. Deutsch-afrikanische Wirtschaftsforum NRW) will deal with this question on Tuesday 27 February 2018 in the western German city of Dortmund at which President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana will deliver a keynote speech. Under …

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Germany: SPD members vote on coalition agreement with CDU/CSU

A postal vote among some 450,000 German Social Democratic Party (SPD) members has begun in order to get their approval for another ‘Grand Coalition’ led by Chancellor Angela Merkel. Deadline for voting is 2 March with the result expected on 4 March. SPD’s youth and left wings are fiercely opposed to another governing coalition with Merkel. “We were against this …

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Germany: Protesters confront AfD demonstration in Berlin

Residents of Berlin’s multicultural district of Kreuzberg turned out in large numbers on Saturday to confront a march of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD). Protestors clashed with police during the heated counter-demonstration against the far-right party.   Several arrests were made when demonstrators tried to obstruct AfD supporters as they marched through Kreuzberg, a district of Berlin known for …

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Kenneth Alaekwe, NIDO Germany president, passes away

The President of the German chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), Kenneth Chukwudi Alaekwe, has passed away. He died at the age of 55 on Saturday 17 February 2018 at a Berlin hospital after a brief illness. Kenneth is survived by his wife Ulla and son Henry. At the time of his death, Kenneth was Director for Conference …

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Two-thirds of SPD supporters back German grand coalition

Two-thirds of supporters of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) back forming a coalition government with Angela Merkel’s conservatives, an opinion poll published on Friday shows. The poll conducted by Kantar Emnid for the Funke group of regional newspapers showed that 66 percent want a “grand coalition” and only 30 percent favour new elections, while 78 percent of supporters of the conservatives …

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Germany: Syrians, Iraqis and Nigerians top asylum applications in January

German officials say 12,285 people applied for asylum in the country in January. That is a 15 percent drop compared with the same month last year. In January 2017, Germany recorded 14,476 new asylum requests, while some 13,082 people applied for asylum in December 2017. Figures published by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday show most new asylum-seekers last month originated …

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Refugees find work in Germany via Munich start-up Social-Bee

Displaced people have a hard time finding employment. Five hundred thousand refugees are currently on the job market — and prospects look bleak. A Munich startup has founded a non-profit temporary work agency. Temporary work employment refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization.  …

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Germany: Afghan refugee sentenced to life in prison for killing Christian convert

An Afghan man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing a woman because she had converted to Christianity. The court recognized a ‘very high degree of culpability’ in handing down its decision. A court in the southern German city of Traunstein on Friday sentenced a 30-year-old Muslim refugee from Afghanistan to life in prison for killing a woman …

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Germany: What you should know about the coalition deal

After protracted talks, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc reached a deal for a new coalition government with the centre-left Social Democrats on Wednesday. If approved by the SPD’s 460,000 members, the deal would end Germany’s longest period without a government since the Second World War. Here are the key points agreed in the draft coalition contract: Health insurance The …

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Germany: Angela Merkel finally reaches coalition deal with SPD

The conservatives and Social Democrats have finally managed to settle on a coalition agreement 136 days after the federal election. Negotiators from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU); their Bavarian partners, the Christian Social Union (CSU); and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) have finally hashed out a contract for a new grand coalition government — probably ensuring that Angela Merkel …

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Germany’s Social Democrats back coalition talks with Merkel in narrow vote

Talks can now begin on ending months of political deadlock after members of the centre-left SPD voted to open formal talks on a “grand coalition” with the Chancellor Angela Merkel-led conservative CDU/CSU bloc. “Today, it’s not just about whether we’re entering coalition negotiations. No. Rather today we finally decide which direction our country and Europe are going. And that’s why …

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How new German law punishes online fake news and hateful Facebook comments

Many users on social networking sites in Germany don’t know that publishing fake news or hateful comments can have legal ramifications. How does German law treat the subject? Aref Gabeau reports. On New Year’s Eve the German police in the Federal State of North Rhine Westphalia published a tweet in Arabic wishing a happy new year. German politician Beatrix von …

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Germany, land of woefully slow internet

A new report has found that only a small fraction of German users get the internet speeds that providers promise. And, according to a study of service providers, the problem is only getting worse. Elizabeth Schumacher reports. A new report from Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has revealed that the country — known the world over for ingenuity and efficiency …

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Germany: Another Kenyan found dead in Essen, police calling for information

As the Kenyan community is still mourning one of their own, Brian Nyawade Owino, an asylum-seeker whose death was announced in Berlin on 5 January, the police found the remains of a Kenyan woman in the western German city of Essen on Wednesday (17 January). The body of the 27-year-old Mary Waithera Kamathi, popularly known as Carrie Jones, was discovered in …

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Refugees easing health insurance costs in Germany

As many refugees that arrive in Germany are younger than the aging native population, they help keep certain medical costs down. However, this is only expected to last for a few years. Kai Dambach reports. The arrival of primarily young migrants and refugees has had a stabilizing effect on statutory health funds in Germany. In 2015 and 2016, most new …

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