Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel and several members of the new federal cabinet have responded to the interior minister’s remarks on the position of Islam in Germany. New Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had told Bild newspaper “Islam doesn’t belong to Germany,” but added that “the Muslims who live with us are, of course, part of Germany.” Seehofer, a former head of Bavaria’s …

New Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said Islam is not part of German culture. His comments underscore his efforts to push the government to the right. Rebecca Staudenmaier reports. Germany’s new government may now finally be in place, but Chancellor Angela Merkel’s grand coalition appears to be off to a rocky start. On Thursday, newly inaugurated Interior Minister Horst Seehofer …

Frankfurt police have praised the actions of a man who thought he stumbled across the fortune of a lifetime and still turned it over to the authorities. In the early hours of Monday morning, a 56-year-old bakery worker came across an astonishing find, police said in a statement on Tuesday (13 March). Sitting in a food waste bin, the man …

Germany’s parliament has elected Angela Merkel as the country’s new leader. The conservative Merkel will govern in a grand coalition with the Social Democrats. But the vote was much closer than expected. Merkel’s election by Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, on Wednesday ends 171 days of waiting after Germany’s national election on September 24, 2017. Merkel was elected …

A food bank in the city of Essen will once again serve non-Germans after it stopped offering membership to foreigners in January. The chairman had defended the decision, saying 75 percent of those served were foreigners. The Tafel food bank in Essen will once again offer membership to foreigners after its decision to provide that service only to Germans stirred …

Chances of being granted asylum may depend on the state in which the application is filed. Figures provided by the German Office for Migration and Refugees reveal significant differences in protection rates in individual states, reports Charlotte Hauswedell. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is responsible for the processing of asylum requests in all sixteen German states. In …

A memorial church service for Kenneth Chukwudi Alaekwe, who passed away recently, will hold on Saturday 17 March in Berlin Schöneberg. The president of the German chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) died on17 February at the age of 55 in a Berlin hospital after a brief but serious illness. Kenneth is survived by his wife Ulla and …

Horst Seehofer, Germany’s designated interior minister, has said he has a “master plan for faster asylum procedures, and more consistent deportations.” He also said there was a need for a strong state to protect Germany’s liberal values. The incoming interior minister, who is head of the conservative Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), made the comments in an interview published on …

German bus start-up Flixbus has announced that it will begin running two long-distance train services, in a challenge to the dominance of state-owned rail behemoth Deutsche Bahn. The “Flixtrains”, decked out in the trademark bright-green of the company’s low-cost buses, will travel from Hamburg to Cologne from March 24, while the Stuttgart to Berlin line will open in April. Prices …

After months of political upheaval, Chancellor Angela Merkel is now set for the final step before her fourth term. Merkel told the press Monday morning that many issues required the government to “start working soon.” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday (5 March) formally proposed Chancellor Angela Merkel be re-elected to her post, ending months of uncertainty following the German …

The German capital city saw a drastic increase in far-right crime last year with more than 1,942 incidents reported, the highest in ten years. Incidents of incitement, damage to property and public calls to criminal action accounted for most of the crime. The number of politically-motivated crimes in Berlin, however, declined by ten per cent compared to 2016. A total …

Berliners turned out on Saturday to register their protest against a public demonstration by the right-wing extremist organization “Wir für Deutschland (WFD). The alliance Bündnis für ein weltoffenes und tolerantes Berlin (Alliance for an open and tolerant Berlin), a joint effort of churches, trade unions, charities, Landessportbund Berlin and further actors of civil society, held a counter demonstration in the …

More than five months after Germans went to polls at the 24 September 2017 national election, Germany will finally be getting a new government. The final hurdle was cleared when the Social Democratic Party (SPD) members approved the coalition deal party leaders had negotiated with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU. Sixty-six percent of party members who voted supported a continuation …

Unemployment in Germany held steady at historic lows in February, official data showed Wednesday, as booming demand in Europe’s top economy fuels an ongoing hiring spree. The jobless rate was unchanged this month at 5.4 percent, the federal labour agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit or BA) said in figures adjusted for seasonal swings, remaining at the lowest level since German reunification …

Although the total number of attacks on refugees fell by about one-third from the previous year, the level remains high. More than 300 people were injured in the attacks. German newspapers reported Wednesday that there were 2,219 reported attacks on migrants and refugees and their accommodations in 2017. While this means there was an average of six attacks per day, …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticised a food bank for refusing to accept any more migrants, calling the decision “not good”. Essener Tafel, a charity that serves free meals to the poor, had come under fire after it said it would now require new customers to produce German identity papers as a huge migrant influx was displacing locals in need. …

The German conservative party Christian Democrat (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel has approved the grand coalition agreement with the Social Democrats (SPD) by a wide margin, as expected. Only 27 out of 975 party delegates at the CDU party conference in Berlin on Monday voted against the plan to form a new government. However, many in the party are known …

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 …

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. …

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 …