The German government has admitted that it does not always know the whereabouts of rejected asylum seekers, but argues that the number doesn’t tell the whole truth. The government’s asylum agency faces a file backlog. Ben Knight reports. Around 30,000 rejected asylum seekers have simply disappeared from Germany’s records, a German newspaper has claimed, though the government and refugee organizations …
Read More »German unemployment lowest since 1990
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 …
Read More »Singapore edges out Germany as world’s most powerful passport
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, …
Read More »Schäuble elected speaker as new German parliament takes off
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 …
Read More »Newly-elected German parliament sits for the first time today
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. …
Read More »bankomo: download the app and open an account
Are you looking for access to an account without the need for a credit check? You can have that with bankomo, ReiseBank’s mobile account. ReiseBank’s cash experts specialise in business with people from overseas. They exchange foreign currencies and provide Western Union services, and now also offer a smartphone account that you can simply download as an app from Apple’s …
Read More »African Youth Education Awards ceremony holds in Hamburg
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 …
Read More »German court jails Ghanaian for 11 years for rape
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. …
Read More »Germany: Asylum-seekers’ chances vary from state to state
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 …
Read More »CDU, CSU agree on Germany’s new ground rules for migration
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 …
Read More »Angela Merkel announces coalition talks with FDP and Greens
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 …
Read More »57 members of Germany’s new parliament have a migration background
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 …
Read More »German unemployment hits surprise record low
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 …
Read More »Germany and Ghana mark 60 years of diplomatic relations
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 …
Read More »Germans back Angela Merkel’s coalition plans – survey
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 …
Read More »bankomo: the mobile smartphone account with a credit card
bankomo is an account that’s open to absolutely anyone – there’s no minimum deposit amount and there’s no credit check. All you need is an appropriate piece of ID. And a smartphone or Internet access. bankomo isn’t free, of course. It costs 4.90 euros a month in 2017, with the monthly fee rising to 8.90 euros from 1 January 2018. …
Read More »Merkel to continue in office with liberals and greens after election ‘earthquake’
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 …
Read More »Some Facts and Figures about Sunday’s General Election in Germany
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 …
Read More »German voters undecided hours before polls open
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 …
Read More »How will Germans with foreign roots vote on Sunday?
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 …
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