Germany News in English - Page 5815 of 5833 - Expat Guide to Germany

January 7, 2004

Federal police agency to move to Berlin

7 January 2004 , BERLIN – In a further centralisation of authority in post- reunification Germany, the Interior Ministry announced plans Wednesday to move the federal police agency (BKA) to Berlin, from its current location in Wiesbaden. Interior Minister Otto Schily said that the BKA’s top management would be moved to Berlin in the year 2006. By the year 2008 the BKA will have 2,500 employees in the German capital, as against the current figure of 500. The announcement of the plans to move the BKA to Berl

January 6, 2004

German economyon track for pickup

6 January 2004 , BERLIN – Germany’s economy is set for a modest upturn of 1.4 percent annual growth both this year and in 2005 with Berlin expected to return to European Union stability pact rules as well next year, the DIW economic research institute said Tuesday. The influential Berlin-based DIW said the German government this year would run up a deficit of EUR 73 billion or 3.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. But in 2005, Berlin will manage to lower the deficit to the EU’s three perce

January 6, 2004

German job numbers drop

6 January 2004 , WIESBADEN – Employment in Germany in 2003 averaged 38.3 million, down by 392,000 or one percent from the year before, despite a rise in self-employment, the Federal Statistics Office reported Tuesday. The office said the drop was the worst in 10 years, when in 1993 the German economy had shed 513,000 jobs. Employees were the worst hit in 2003, with their job-holding numbers falling 1.3 percent to 34.1 million. But self-employment, under the Berlin government’s new “Ich AG” (Me, Inc.) schem

January 6, 2004

Man carried firecrackers on flight

6 January 2004 , BOSTON – A Saudi man appeared Monday in federal court in Boston after being charged with carrying firecrackers in his hand luggage on a flight from Germany to the United States. The arrest was made Saturday after the man arrived on board Lufthansa Airlines flight 422 from Frankfurt to Boston’s Logan Airport. Customs officials allegedly discovered three small firecracker-type devices in his carry-on bag. The man began his journey in Riyadh and stopped in Frankfurt before flying to Boston. I

January 6, 2004

NATO takes command of German Afghan team

6 January 2004 , KABUL – More than 170 German soldiers in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Tuesday officially came under the command of NATO’s International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF). Until now, US troops maintained one so-called Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kunduz. The German PRT is the first to operate under the ISAF and not under the anti-terror mandate “Enduring Freedom”. During a handover ceremony, ISAF commander and German NATO general Goetz Gliemeroth said: “I believe that in t

January 6, 2004

Terror trial rejects al-Jazeera witness

6 January 2004 , HAMBURG – German prosecutors trying to obtain another conviction in connection with the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States have been told they cannot call a correspondent for al-Jazeera television as a witness. It was a further setback for the prosecution after the court in Hamburg had already released the accused, Abdel-Ghani Mzoudi, from custody for the remainder of the trial. The prosecution had also failed last month in a bid to persuade the court to call as a witness

January 6, 2004

Task force probes letter bombs

6 January 2004 , ROME – A European team of security experts have been assembled to investigate a series of letter bomb attacks on European Union officials and to suggest preventive measures, Italian media reported Tuesday. Italy is to chair the task force initially, after the decision in Rome. On Monday, a letter mailed anonymously to German Christian Democrat European parliament member Hans-Gert Poetterings exploded in Brussels. A second device to Spanish conservative MEP Jose Ignacio Salafranca was succe

January 6, 2004

Commerzbank hit by takeover talk

6 January 2004 , FRANKFURT – Speculation about Commerzbank becoming a takeover target was rampant Tuesday in the wake of the bank’s surprise decision to cancel company pensions for the parent firm’s 24,000 employees effective the end of 2004. “The difficult business situation has made this step necessary,” a bank spokesman said in confirming reports about the pension fund move. “The bank’s savings drive is being pushed forward.” Commerzbank is expected to post red-ink figures for 2003 after the bank’s thir

January 6, 2004

We must do better, say Bayern bosses

6 January 2004 , MUNICH – Bayern Munich club bosses have called for more effort and better performances from their players for the second half of the season as they attempt to defend their league and cup double and take on Real Madrid in the Champions League. “Our football has to be a lot more solid, and for this we’ll have to work hard,” chairman of the board Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld welcomed his squad back to training after the Christmas holiday period with an appeal to his playe