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Minister calls for school 'Facebook lessons'

Science & Technology: 8 Feb 12
Family Minister Kristina Schröder has called on Germany’s high schools to teach the dangers of social networks on the internet. READ »

Cake in the face for 'Baron Cut-and-Paste'

Politics: 3 Feb 12
Critics of disgraced former German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg hit him in the face with a big cake on Thursday night, while he was meeting a Pirate Party politician in a Berlin café. READ »

Public transport fare dodging an 'epidemic'

Society: 3 Feb 12
An alliance of public transportation providers in Germany has called fare dodging a national epidemic and is demanding higher fines up to €120 for repeat offenders. READ »

Basketball star's sausage advert is the 'Wurst'

Sport: 16 Jan 12
One of Germany’s biggest banks has appealed for calm from vegetarians after an advertising spot featuring Dirk Nowitzki eating a peace of meat unleashed a furore on Facebook. READ »

Footballers outshines English on Facebook

Sport: 14 Jan 12
As long-standing football rivals England and Germany gear up for the Euro 2012 soccer tournament this summer in Ukraine and Poland, the competition is also heating up online. READ »

Blackface in Berlin play just 'tradition'

National: 6 Jan 12
A popular Berlin theatre troupe has denied accusations that its adaptation of a Tony Award-winning play featuring a white man in blackface is racist, saying it's "tradition" for whites to play blacks in German theatre. READ »

President to face TV grilling on loan scandal

Politics: 4 Jan 12
German President Christian Wulff said Wednesday he will submit to a TV interview on the spiralling loan scandal threatening to engulf him. The interview will be aired the same evening. READ »

Heavy metal band claims German Ebay ripoff

Society: 28 Dec 11
A member of the well-known American heavy metal band Mastodon has claimed that a German boy ripped him off in an Ebay internet scam. READ »

The Local's top five animal stories of 2011

Lifestyle: 28 Dec 11
Animals are always amusing, with their funny wet noses and their general gullibility, and no-one loves animal celebrities as much as the Germans, so we collected the year's big animal stories. What was that bear called again? READ »

50 trains damaged in Munich’s ‘farewell drink’

Society: 12 Dec 11
Munich’s public transport authorities reported that more than 50 of their trains had to be taken to the workshop on Sunday after around 2,000 people gathered to make merry Saturday night before an alcohol ban came into effect. READ »

Munich calls last orders on public transport drinking

Society: 10 Dec 11
Two thousand Munich residents will bid farewell to their right to drink alcohol on the S-Bahn on Saturday as they hop aboard for one last train party. READ »

Pirate leader says Twitter bitching divisive

Politics: 3 Dec 11
The leader of Germany’s latest political sensation, the Pirate party, has told members to stop airing their differences on Twitter, saying public arguments are divisive. READ »

Facebook holds Merck page over name fight

Business & Money: 29 Nov 11
Facebook will sideline a Merck page at the social network until the German and American companies which share the name work out which one gets the online address. READ »

Merck accuses US firm of Facebook page larceny

Science & Technology: 24 Nov 11
German pharmaceutical giant Merck KGaA has charged that US rival Merck and Co. somehow got control of its Facebook page and won’t give it back. The company says the social network won’t help resolve the situation. READ »

Data protection official accuses Facebook of new privacy breach

Science & Technology: 3 Nov 11
Data protection officials in Hamburg are accusing Facebook of a new breach of German privacy laws by tracking users even after they’ve cancelled their accounts. READ »

Battlefield 3 game firm accused of violating privacy rights

Science & Technology: 2 Nov 11
Top video game maker EA has been forced to modify the terms and conditions of its online distribution system Origin following allegations that it violated German privacy regulations. READ »

Schlecker man insults customers' intelligence

Society: 27 Oct 11
German drugstore Schlecker is trying to stem a public relations disaster after a spokesman said a derided advertising slogan had been chosen to fit the chain’s poorly educated customers. READ »

Germany marks first phone call anniversary - 15 years before Bell

Science & Technology: 26 Oct 11
Move over, Alexander Graham Bell, Germany is marking the anniversary of the first phone call today – a century and a half after Johann Philipp Reis first transmitted a spoken sentence over a cable. READ »

Facebook to give German state privacy exemption

Science & Technology: 21 Oct 11
Facebook has offered a special exemption from its data handling practices to Schleswig-Holstein after the northern German state's data protection commissioner complained about the online social network's popular "like" button. READ »

Merkel praises Nobel Peace Prize choice

National: 7 Oct 11
Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the decision by the Nobel Prize Committee to pick three women to win this year’s Peace Prize, deeming it a “wise decision” in a statement. READ »

Heidi the cross-eyed opossum dead at three

Society: 28 Sep 11
Heidi, a cross-eyed opossum who became an internet and real-life sensation in Germany, winning three times more Facebook admirers than Chancellor Angela Merkel, died on Wednesday, Leipzig Zoo said. READ »

Nearly 600,000 addicted to internet

Society: 26 Sep 11
Some 560,000 or around one percent of the population between the ages of 14 and 64 cannot control their use of online gaming or the web, with the youngest users the most vulnerable, said the government's top addiction specialist. READ »

Twittering tree nurtures online nature lovers

Society: 23 Sep 11
Gone are the days when magical trees simply guarded the little woodland creatures and made sure all was well in the forest – there is an oak in Germany which is online, twittering to its followers and competing for Facebook friends. READ »

Aigner warns fellow ministers against using Facebook

Science & Technology: 11 Sep 11
Germany's consumer protection minister has warned her fellow cabinet members against using Facebook to promote their work citing data security concerns. READ »

Facebook signs up to voluntary privacy code

Science & Technology: 8 Sep 11
Facebook said Thursday it would sign up to a voluntary code of conduct in Germany to protect user data, the first time the site has agreed to such measures in a nation known for vehemently protecting people's privacy. READ »

Air Berlin mulls in-flight dialect announcements after web sensation

Society: 5 Sep 11
Air Berlin is considering asking its flight attendants to make some announcements in regional German dialects after a YouTube video of one of its attendants speaking Swabian became a web sensation. READ »

Kids call Boetticher on voting age hypocrisy

Politics: 1 Sep 11
Pupils in Schleswig-Holstein have written an open letter to Christian von Boetticher, criticizing the former head of the state's Christian Democrats for opposing a lower voting age while having an affair with a 16-year-old. READ »

Local reader helps film legend Luise Rainer get spot on 'Boulevard of Stars'

Society: 26 Aug 11
Luise Rainer, a nearly forgotten yet beloved German actress will be honoured on Berlin's "Boulevard of Stars" next month after one man campaigned for the 101-year-old to receive the acknowledgment she deserves. READ »

Merkel named world's most powerful woman

Politics: 25 Aug 11
Forbes magazine has named German Chancellor Angela Merkel the world's most powerful woman, calling her the "undisputed" leader of the European Union and head of its only "real global economy." READ »

Facebook ‘like’ button declared illegal

Science & Technology: 19 Aug 11
Facebook’s ubiquitous ‘like’ button found on countless websites in Germany was declared in violation of the country’s strict privacy laws by a state data protection official on Friday. READ »

Police probe family tragedy after two girls found dead in burned car

National: 15 Aug 11
A post-mortem will be conducted on Monday on the bodies of two girls found in a burned-out car in Brandenburg after their severely injured father flagged down a car for help. READ »

Top CDU man resigns over love affair with teen

Politics: 15 Aug 11
The designated leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union in Schleswig-Holstein has resigned after intense internal party pressure over his love affair with a 16-year-old girl. READ »

Fare dodgers turn to Facebook and Twitter to avoid ticket checks

Science & Technology: 4 Aug 11
Fare dodgers in Germany are using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to warn fellow travellers of the presence of public transport inspectors on buses and trains. READ »

Facebook facial recognition called illegal

Science & Technology: 3 Aug 11
German data protection authorities say Facebook’s new facial recognition feature is illegal and have demanded the social networking site end its use and delete all related information. READ »

City refuses to name tunnel after actor Bud Spencer despite internet support

Society: 28 Jul 11
Officials in Schwäbisch Gmünd in Baden-Württemberg have declared they won’t name a tunnel after spaghetti western actor Bud Spencer despite a massive internet campaign. The ageing action star will however get a pool in his honour. READ »

Friedrich warns of hidden far-right threat

National: 27 Jul 11
After Friday's massacre in Norway, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has warned of a hidden far-right threat. A police union, meanwhile, is calling for an internet ''alarm button'' for web users to report extremism. READ »

Groundswell grows to name new tunnel for spaghetti western star

Society: 21 Jul 11
Officials in Schwäbisch Gmünd have been surprised to discover their public search for name for a new tunnel has been hijacked by an online campaign hoping to honour spaghetti western star Bud Spencer. READ »

Gottschalk jumps to ARD after Wetten dass ..? accident

Society: 15 Jul 11
In the wake of an on-air accident that left a young man paralysed after a botched stunt, TV presenter Thomas Gottschalk has quit broadcaster ZDF to host a new chat show on rival public network ARD. READ »

CDU in teen-style Facebook party blunder

Politics: 13 Jul 11
A regional branch of the conservative Christian Democratic Union has cancelled its summer party after making the same blunder as excitable teenagers: it posted an invitation on Facebook and forgot to click “private.” READ »

Group tries to count American expats abroad

Society: 7 Jul 11
An organization is hoping to boost the political clout of Americans living in Germany and elsewhere overseas by using technology to count them this summer. Moises Mendoza reports. READ »

Ministers call for Facebook parties ban

Society: 3 Jul 11
After a number of Facebook-oragnized parties that have spun out of control, several state interior ministers are demanding tougher measures, including banning the gatherings in advance. READ »

Tens of thousands expected at Berlin yoga fest

Society: 2 Jul 11
Tens of thousands of yoga fans are expected in Berlin this weekend for a huge festival organized in the German capital's 1930s Olympic Stadium by one of India's best-known gurus, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. READ »

Leipzig Zoo unveils new home for Heidi the cross-eyed opossum

Society: 1 Jul 11
The jungle enclosure Gondwanaland at Leipzig Zoo opened Friday with crowds packing in to see its star attraction, Heidi the cross-eyed opossum. READ »

Nowitzki cheered by thousands upon return home

Sport: 28 Jun 11
German basketball star Dirk Nowitzki received a hero's welcome upon his return home to Würzburg, Bavaria on Tuesday. Dirk got cheers, but one super-fan earned a seat of honour for helping to galvanize thousands to attend the lavish event. READ »

Tentacled tipsters and prophetic pachyderm predict Women's World Cup

Sport: 24 Jun 11
During last year's Football World Cup in South Africa, Paul the Octopus shot to fame for his accurate match predictions. But a new batch of animal oracles are tipping the women's competition starting in Germany on Sunday. READ »

Hamburg metro braces for boozy Facebook party

Society: 23 Jun 11
The northern German city of Hamburg is bracing for a mass drunken party organised via Facebook on its metro system in September, a day before an alcohol ban on trains starts, authorities said Thursday. READ »

After violence, fearful Wuppertal tries to ban Facebook shindig

Science & Technology: 22 Jun 11
A week after a similar Facebook party turned chaotic, authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia are desperately trying to ban a July 1 bash organized on the social networking website that they fear could become unsafe. READ »

Salafist threat growing, interior ministers say

National: 21 Jun 11
German state interior ministers are warning of a rise in radical Salafist Islam that poses a risk of home-grown terrorism, with one politician calling for changes to residency laws so “hate preachers” can be more easily deported. READ »

Facebook-posted party turns into riot

Society: 18 Jun 11
A huge party in the western town of Wuppertal organized anonymously via Facebook resulted in a riot on Friday night, leaving 16 people injured and three charged with public order offences. READ »

The Local's guide to Berlin's Pride Week

Lifestyle: 17 Jun 11
Nearly a million people are expected to participate in Berlin’s Pride Week, one of Europe’s biggest gay and lesbian events. The Local brings you the highlights including the Stadtfest festival and the Christopher Street Day parade. READ »

Police union says Facebook party posters should have to pay up

Science & Technology: 14 Jun 11
A major German police union says Facebook users who put their party invitations online and then have to call the police to deal with the ensuing chaos, could be landed with a bill to pay for the law and order. READ »

Cross-eyed opossum gets new enclosure, prepares for big debut

Society: 10 Jun 11
Germany's latest animal sensation, Heidi the cross-eyed opossum, has made her media debut three weeks before her new tropical enclosure at Leipzig Zoo is revealed to the public. READ »

Hundreds of Facebook users crash teen's birthday party

Society: 4 Jun 11
Some 1,500 people showed up outside the house of a Hamburg girl celebrating her 16th birthday on Friday, after she posted an invite on social networking site Facebook but mistakenly listed the party as a public event. READ »

Daimler chides workers who insulted CEO on Facebook

Society: 25 May 11
Daimler has complained against a Facebook group and contacted employees who said they ‘liked’ a comment on the page calling the car giant’s CEO a liar. READ »

Azerbaijan scoops Eurovision first place

Lifestyle: 15 May 11
Azerbaijan scored a spectacular first-ever victory in the 56th Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, Europe's annual pop extravaganza watched by tens of millions of people. READ »

Scientology struggles to find followers amid recruitment drives

National: 5 May 11
The Church of Scientology is losing members in Germany but is campaigning to recruit more followers and increase its size, the German government says. READ »

Riesch's row with Vonn simmers on

Sport: 5 May 11
An ongoing row between alpine ski stars Maria Riesch of Germany and Lindsey Vonn of the US hit more bumpy terrain Wednesday when Riesch's manager and husband accused the American of lying. READ »

Mother of Frankfurt club victim seeks justice

Society: 29 Apr 11
Lee Heath, a British man living in Germany, died after being brutally assaulted by bouncers in a Frankfurt club this week. The Local spoke with his mother about seeking justice for her son. READ »

Löw dismisses gay and toupee rumours

Sport: 27 Apr 11
In an unusually frank personal interview, Germany's national football coach Joachim Löw has denied wearing a toupee and waved away rumours that he is homosexual. READ »

Silent dancers descend on Frankfurt to break Christian law

Society: 23 Apr 11
More than 1,000 people met in the centre of Frankfurt on Friday to break the law that bans dancing in a public place on Good Friday. READ »

Flashmob to break Easter dance ban in Frankfurt

Society: 20 Apr 11
A flashmob is set to descend on central Frankfurt on Friday morning to deliberately break the law – by dancing in public between the hours of 4 am and 12 noon during the Easter holidays. READ »

Scientology recruiting kids through Facebook

Science & Technology: 15 Apr 11
The Church of Scientology has been using social networks such as Facebook and SchülerVZ to gain young German followers, prompting intelligence officials to ramp up surveillance on the controversial group, a media report said this week. READ »

Cyberbullying website sparks growing outrage

Society: 13 Apr 11
A website enabling teenagers to post insults and racist comments about their peers has prompted an outcry in Germany after 20 youths beat another teen senseless over remarks made on its forums. READ »

Spammers love Germany, new study finds

Science & Technology: 5 Apr 11
One in every five harmful European internet bots has come from Germany, according to a study published Tuesday by security software firm Symantec. READ »

Teens warned of risks from 'vodka tampon' use

Society: 30 Mar 11
Police in southern Germany warned this week of a dangerous new form of alcohol abuse among teens – using tampons soaked in vodka to get drunk quickly and hide the smell. The practice poses grave health risks, they said. READ »

Feathers fly at mass pillow fight in Berlin

Lifestyle: 21 Mar 11
A mass pillow fight erupted in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Sunday with the aim of breaking the world record for pillow-wielding participants. In the festive atmosphere, even city police got a piece of the action. READ »

Polar bear's death brings tears and criticism

Society: 20 Mar 11
The news of polar bear Knut's unexpected death in a Berlin zoo on Saturday has shocked and saddened people around the world, although other voices are criticizing the way he was raised. READ »

Cartoon strip mocks Hitler and hipsters

Society: 11 Mar 11
Can a cartoon about Hitler be funny or is it just in bad taste? Exberliner magazine spoke with the creators of a strip poking fun at both hipsters and the most-hated man of the 20th century. READ »

Facebook becoming popular sacrifice for Lent

Science & Technology: 8 Mar 11
In addition to guilty pleasures such as chocolate, alcohol and cigarettes, some German Christians are also planning on giving up social networking site Facebook during the traditional fasting period of Lent. READ »

German media roundup: Frankfurt's lone terrorist

Analysis & Opinion: 4 Mar 11
What caused a young man in Frankfurt to turn to radical Islam and kill two US airmen? Newspapers in The Local’s media roundup on Friday try to make sense of a senseless act. READ »

Islamist shooter radicalized in Germany

National: 3 Mar 11
Arid Uka, the 21-year-old Kosovar who has admitted to killing two US airmen in Frankfurt, was a loner only recently turning to radical Islamist ideology, according to investigators. READ »

Police see no wider terrorist plot in attack

National: 3 Mar 11
German authorities said Thursday a man arrested over the fatal shooting of two US airmen was an Islamic extremist, but played down fears he was part of a terrorist cell. READ »

Data protection officials target web advertising

Science & Technology: 23 Feb 11
Data protection authorities are stepping up their efforts to make it harder for German websites to pass along visitors' IP addresses. If they succeed, it could mean the end of online advertising in Germany in its current form. READ »

Heidi the cross-eyed opossum to tip Oscars

Society: 11 Feb 11
A cross-eyed opossum called Heidi, Germany's latest animal sensation after "Cute Knut" the polar bear cub and Paul the Octopus, has been hired as a tipster for the Oscars, her zoo said Friday. READ »

What's on in Germany: February 3 - 9

Lifestyle: 3 Feb 11
This week's highlights: Berlin celebrates James Dean, Paris Hilton parties in Frankfurt, and the orchestra plays Leonard Bernstein in Hamburg. READ »

Facebook launches 'deals' marketing tool

Business & Money: 31 Jan 11
Social networking site Facebook announced Monday it was launching its “deals” service, on which members can look up special offers on anything from a cup of coffee to a football scarf on their smart phones. READ »

Cross-eyed opossum on diet to improve health and eye alignment

Society: 30 Jan 11
A cross-eyed opossum from Leipzig Zoo made famous on Facebook has been put on a diet which will not only make her slimmer and healthier – it may also help Heidi's eyes look in the same direction. READ »

In privacy-crazed Germany, web users neglect online security

Science & Technology: 28 Jan 11
Despite the frequent politicization of internet privacy laws in Germany, a survey released this week revealed that an alarming number of people are still going online with inadequate privacy protection. READ »

Online sex harassment among youths common

Society: 26 Jan 11
One sixth of German girls aged 10 to 18 have been sexually harassed on the internet, and one third of youngsters in that age group have had disturbing experiences online, a government study has found. READ »

Facebook beefs up 'Friend Finder' privacy for German users

Science & Technology: 25 Jan 11
Under pressure from German privacy watchdogs, Facebook has agreed to beef up privacy protections in its Friend Finder feature, a data protection official in Hamburg said this week. READ »

Aquarium to honour octopus oracle Paul with memorial

Society: 17 Jan 11
Paul, a 'psychic' octopus who shot to fame last year for his ability to predict World Cup matches, will get a shrine three months after his untimely demise, his German aquarium said Monday. READ »

The best of Berlin in January

Lifestyle: 14 Jan 11
Exberliner, Berlin’s leading English-language magazine, in January tells you where to go batty, finds the knitty gritty in Mitte, and gets cozy in Kreuzkölln. READ »

Firm develops internet ‘eraser’ for web photos

Science & Technology: 13 Jan 11
A German firm is poised to launch software allowing users to have photos uploaded to websites such as Facebook, MySpace and Flickr erased automatically after a certain time. READ »

Myspace shuts German office amid major cuts

Science & Technology: 12 Jan 11
The German branch of Myspace has become a casualty of major cutbacks at the online social networking website, as the company aims to restore profitability as rivals like Facebook race ahead. READ »

Cross-eyed opossum wins legions of fans

Society: 7 Jan 11
A cross-eyed opossum at Leipzig Zoo named Heidi has won worldwide adoration, with nearly 50,000 fans on her Facebook page. READ »

Huge snowball fight called off amid crowd concerns

Society: 1 Jan 11
Organisers of a giant annual New Year's snowball fight in Berlin have been forced to call it off after around 8,000 people signed up online for the next battle, according to city authorities. READ »

Jan O. confesses to Bodenfelde murders

Society: 27 Nov 10
Jan O., a 26-year-old suspect arrested Monday night, has confessed to murdering two teenagers in the Lower Saxony town of Bodenfelde. READ »

Suspect boasted of teen murder on Facebook

Society: 25 Nov 10
The man suspected of murdering two teenagers in the Lower Saxony town of Bodenfelde boasted about the first killing – that of a 14-year-old girl – on the website Facebook, media reported Thursday. READ »

Crowd funding comes to Germany

Society: 16 Nov 10
A new “crowd-funding” website in Germany is hoping to help finance creative projects by harnessing the power of the masses. Mark Ehrman reports. READ »

Aquarium unveils heir to Paul the psychic octopus

Society: 3 Nov 10
Paul II, octopus successor to the tentacle tipster that wowed the world with his uncanny knack of correctly predicting World Cup football games, was unveiled amid great fanfare at an Oberhausen aquarium on Wednesday. READ »

Top German firms ban Facebook in the office

Science & Technology: 24 Oct 10
A host of leading German companies are banning the use of the social networking site Facebook in their offices. While the official reason is IT security, firms are apparently also concerned that too many worker hours are being lost. READ »

Facebook under fire for privacy glitch

Science & Technology: 18 Oct 10
German ministers have criticised social networking site Facebook for failing to respect privacy, following a report of a serious flaw that allowed non-subscribers access to private data. READ »

The Local's English-language movie listings for Germany

Lifestyle: 6 Oct 10
Find movies playing in English in Germany with The Local's cinema guide. READ »

Neo-Nazis targeting children online

Science & Technology: 25 Aug 10
German right-wing extremists are increasingly targeting children online, luring minors to websites by disguising their hate-filled ideology. READ »

German-born Roma teens face tough new life

Society: 19 Aug 10
For two teenage Roma sisters, life has turned into a nightmare since they were expelled from Germany, the only home they had ever known, and forced to settle in Kosovo, a country they had never seen. READ »

Google to launch 'Street View' for 20 cities

Science & Technology: 10 Aug 10
Internet giant Google announced Tuesday it would launch its controversial Street View service in 20 German cities by the end of the year but would give residents the chance to opt out if they were worried about their privacy. READ »

Rhineland students need Facebook lessons, minister says

Science & Technology: 5 Aug 10
Students in North Rhine-Westphalia needed to learn responsible online behaviour on social networks like Facebook, the state government said on Thursday, as it proposed a new education programme for internet manners in schools. READ »

The Local launches new mobile site

Science & Technology: 2 Aug 10
Want to stay informed about what's going on in Germany while on the move? Check out The Local's new mobile edition, allowing you to read our news, features and analysis easily on your phone. READ »

Remembering the Love Parade victims

National: 26 Jul 10
They came from all over Germany and from as far as Australia, Bosnia and China, each pursuing their own adventure. Fourteen young Germans and seven foreigners died in the hellish crush at the Love Parade in Duisburg on July 24. READ »

Minister calls for internet code of conduct

Science & Technology: 12 Jul 10
Germany's consumer minister, who vowed to delete her Facebook account in protest at the networking site's privacy policies, called Monday for an Internet "honour code" to protect personal data. READ »

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