Germany edition

Heidelberg

The following articles have been tagged with "Heidelberg":

Virus sweeps through hospital cancer wards

National: 24 Jan 12
A normally harmless virus has infiltrated the oncology department at Heidelberg University's hospital, infecting 19 severely ill patients and possibly leading to three deaths. Health authorities are searching for the source of the outbreak. READ »

Mickey Rourke trashes Germany

Society: 2 Nov 11
Mickey Rourke has launched a stinging attack on Germany, where the US actor recently bought a house in Wiesbaden for his Russian girlfriend. He slammed the country's doctors, its "boring" cities, and his girlfriend's "German personality." READ »

Details emerge of BND spy who aided Shalit deal

National: 18 Oct 11
The head of German intelligence service Ernst Uhrlau last week indicated that his agents helped secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinians. One spy’s role was particularly crucial. READ »

Occupy Wall Street comes to Germany

National: 15 Oct 11
Thousands of demonstrators joined the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in several German cities on Saturday, protesting against the global financial system. Similar demonstrations took place around the world. READ »

The Local's guide to German castles

Lifestyle: 6 Oct 11
Kicking off a month focusing on Germany’s castles, palaces and crumbling ruins, The Local introduces 12 of the best – and one of the spookiest – royal locales. READ »

Heidelberg home has huge hornet nest

Society: 31 Aug 11
Around 1,000 hornets have built a huge nest on the side of a house near Heidelberg – wowing bug experts and leaving the family bemused. READ »

Koch-Mehrin to contest loss of her doctorate

Politics: 17 Jul 11
Free Democratic Party politician Silvana Koch-Mehrin is to fight for the PhD title she was stripped of following accusations of plagiarism. Media reports say the prominent MEP will appeal against the University of Heidelberg's decision. READ »

USA and Sweden advance to World Cup quarter-finals

Sport: 3 Jul 11
Group C favourites the United States and Sweden advanced to the quarter-finals of the women's World Cup on Saturday beating Colombia 3-0 and North Korea 1-0 respectively. READ »

Ethnic Chinese fraternity man sparks racial row

Society: 24 Jun 11
Germany’s traditional Burschenschaften student fraternities sparked controversy recently by debating whether an ethnically Chinese German citizen could be a member. The Local spoke with him about race and Teutonic tradition. READ »

Koch-Mehrin gets European research post after losing doctorate

Politics: 23 Jun 11
Free Democratic European MEP Silvana Koch-Mehrin, who recently had her doctorate withdrawn for plagiarism, has been promoted to the European Parliament's committee responsible for research. READ »

FDP's Koch-Mehrin stripped of her doctorate

Politics: 15 Jun 11
Silvana Koch-Mehrin, once a leading members of the Free Democrats (FDP), on Wednesday became the latest public figure in Germany to be stripped of her doctorate for plagiarism after the country's defence minister was forced to quit earlier this year. READ »

Towns face shrinking budgets if census reveals smaller populations

Society: 19 May 11
University towns across Germany could face reduced budgets as a result of the census currently being conducted – as it is likely to reveal their populations are smaller than previously assumed. READ »

Koch-Mehrin resigns due to plagiarism row

Politics: 12 May 11
Free Democrats MEP Silvana Koch-Mehrin resigned from all her party positions, and her job as Vice President of the European Parliament on Wednesday evening in the wake of a scandal of alleged plagiarism in her doctoral thesis. READ »

University plagiarism report slams Guttenberg

Politics: 11 May 11
The chances for former defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg to return quickly to German politics seemed effectively buried on Wednesday after his alma mater said his thesis was full of deliberate plagiarism. READ »

Taxi killer nabbed after 36 hours on the run

Society: 9 May 11
The man known as the Bodensee taxi murderer, who escaped a secure psychiatric hospital on Saturday, has been caught after about 36 hours on the run. READ »

Koch-Mehrin plagiarism charges thicken

Politics: 20 Apr 11
Silvana Koch-Mehrin, a leading light of Germany's Free Democratic Party and vice president of the European Parliament, has been accused of widely plagiarising her doctoral dissertation. READ »

Mubarak rejects medical trip to Germany

National: 9 Feb 11
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said he will not come to Germany for a medical check-up. US officials had allegedly suggested such plans as a way to get him out of Egypt and several German politicians had signed on to the idea. READ »

Support grows for hosting Mubarak

National: 8 Feb 11
More German politicians are supporting allowing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to come to Germany for medical treatment in the hopes it might calm the turmoil his country. But a human rights activist is preparing to press charges. READ »

Rumoured plan to bring Mubarak to Germany

Politics: 6 Feb 11
A rumour published in The New York Times that President Hosni Mubarak could be brought to Germany to facilitate a transition of power in Egypt caused a diplomatic stir at the weekend. READ »

Floodwaters still rising

National: 14 Jan 11
Rivers in some parts of Germany continue to rise due to rain and melting snow. Officials in Bavaria and Saxony are still concerned about floodwaters while Heidelberg is breathing easier as the situation there improves. READ »

Police raid neo-Nazi youth group

National: 21 Dec 10
Police in Germany staged nationwide raids Tuesday on members of a far-right group suspected of trying to organise a camp to train young extremists, seizing neo-Nazi material. READ »

Winter travel havoc persists

National: 10 Dec 10
Winter weather continued to wreak havoc on German air travel on Friday, with more snow, sleet and freezing temperatures forcing airports to cancel flights across the country. 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 »

What's on in Germany: October 21 - 27

Lifestyle: 21 Oct 10
This week's highlights: A night run in Berlin, Irish writers recite in Hamburg, and the BBC Scottish National Orchestra takes the bandstand in Munich. READ »

Thuringians are best life-savers

National: 19 Sep 10
A Thuringian Red Cross association won the honour of being Germany's best life-savers in an all-German Red Cross competition held on Saturday in their hometown of Sondershausen. READ »

Storm slams northwest

National: 27 Aug 10
Storms bringing heavy rain and a tornado swept over parts of northwestern Germany on Thursday night, causing chaos and widespread flooding. READ »

Hospitals review hygienic standards after infant deaths

National: 25 Aug 10
German hospitals are reviewing their hygienic standards this week after the tragic deaths of three infants at a Mainz clinic where they were exposed to bacteria through dirty feeding infusions, a survey of facilities showed on Wednesday. READ »

Ullrich could be charged after court says he paid doping doctor

Sport: 14 Aug 10
Former cycling champion Jan Ullrich could face renewed criminal charges after a civil judge ruled that he had paid €55,000 to a doping doctor – despite having denied the payment on oath in court. READ »

August, nein Danke!

Analysis & Opinion: 11 Aug 10
Not much happens in Germany during the summer holidays in August. But that’s just enough to annoy Roger Boyes, the Berlin correspondent for the British newspaper The Times. READ »

DNA tests to reveal secrets of the 'iceman'

Science & Technology: 28 Jul 10
German scientists are helping decode the genome of the 5,300-year-old Tyrolean “iceman” Ötzi, which could answer the tantalising question of whether he has living descendants, it was revealed this week. READ »

'Flat rate sex' brothel owners jailed for fraud

Society: 24 Jul 10
A judge has jailed a group of men and women who ran a chain of brothels where more than 200 Romanian women provided ‘flat rate’ sex to customers in circumstances which prosecutors had described as gang-run forced labour. READ »

Germany sizzles through hottest day of the year

National: 11 Jul 10
Germany sizzled through the hottest day of the year Saturday, with temperatures near 39 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country – and there's no cool-down in sight for the rest of the weekend. READ »

US Army announces base closures in Baden-Württemberg

National: 23 Jun 10
The US Army on Wednesday announced a three-phase plan for further consolidation of its bases in Germany, reducing troop numbers in Mannheim and Heidelberg by nearly 1,500 over the next five years. READ »

Sharing the steering wheel

Lifestyle: 6 Apr 10
Germany might be a car-crazy country, but it can also be a prohibitively expensive place to have your own ride. Rhea Wessel reports on the growing interest in car-sharing services. READ »

Germany celebrates Good Friday – in its way

Society: 2 Apr 10
As Germany celebrated Good Friday, it was a day of protest for some and frustration for plenty of others. READ »

'Holocaust cabaret' about Demjanjuk case plays Heidelberg

Society: 29 Mar 10
A Canadian-Jewish playwright is bringing his version of former Sobibor death camp guard John Demjanjuk’s story to the stage in Heidelberg, even as a war crimes trial against the 89-year-old contiunes in Munich. READ »

Israeli drugmaker Teva buys Ratiopharm

Business & Money: 18 Mar 10
Israeli pharma group Teva on Thursday said it would buy generic drugmaker Ratiopharm, formerly owned by a German billionaire who killed himself, for €3.6 billion. READ »

Egypt's Mubarak undergoes surgery after visiting Merkel

National: 6 Mar 10
Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif temporarily took over the reins of the Egyptian government as President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday underwent surgery in Germany to remove his gall bladder, news agency MENA said. READ »

Baden-Württemberg to ban nighttime alcohol sales

Society: 19 Feb 10
As of March, Baden-Württemberg will become the first state in Germany to institute a ban on retail alcohol sales between the hours of 10 pm and 5 am, the state Interior Ministry announced on Friday. READ »

Snow and ice freeze traffic

Society: 17 Dec 09
Snow and ice caused numerous accidents and road closures around Germany on Thursday, as meteorologists warned more winter weather was on the way. READ »

Hopp blackmailer jailed for nearly four years

National: 9 Dec 09
A man accused of trying to blackmail German billionaire Dietmar Hopp for more than €5 million was handed a prison sentence of almost four years on Wednesday by a Heidelberg district court. READ »

Man faces court for blackmail of SAP founder

National: 6 Dec 09
A man accused of trying to blackmail billionaire Dietmar Hopp for more than €5 million will face court this week, after a classic Hollywood-style sting conducted in top secret. READ »

Leipzig University celebrates 600th anniversary amid student protests

National: 2 Dec 09
The University of Leipzig celebrated its 600th anniversary on Wednesday, as German President Horst Köhler warned the country’s educational system was “chronically underfinanced.” READ »

Police bust dope-dealing bodybuilders

National: 19 Nov 09
Police in Heidelberg said on Thursday they had uncovered a massive anabolic steroid dealing operation, leading to the arrests of three people. READ »

Students stage education protests nationwide

National: 17 Nov 09
Tens of thousands of German students took to the streets on Tuesday to demonstrate against contentious reforms to the country's educational system and lacking funds for universities and schools. READ »

Academic slams Google's library plans

National: 18 Oct 09
“Garbage” and “hysterical propaganda” was one angry reaction at the world's biggest book fair this year when Internet search service Google defended plans to turn millions of books into electronic literature available online. READ »

German universities slip in world rankings

Society: 8 Oct 09
Four of Germany’s universities have made it into the top 100 of a new global higher education ranking, but the country’s overall standing has worsened compared to last year. READ »

Study finds regional food products not necessarily ‘greener’

National: 25 Sep 09
Regionally produced food is not always as environmentally friendly as many may assume, according to a new study cited by daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau on Friday. READ »

Germans footing the bill for big pharma's drugs

National: 23 Sep 09
German politicians say they’re concerned about the spiralling cost of health care. But as Hannah Cleaver reports, they also appear content to let pharmaceutical firms charge far more for medication that is cheaper elsewhere. READ »

Munich stays Germany's priciest place to rent

Business & Money: 11 Sep 09
Rents in Germany are on the rise, but there continues to be wide geographic disparity in the cost of a flat, according to a new survey. Unsurprisingly, Munich remains the country's priciest place to live. READ »

Doctors implant smallest artificial heart pump ever

Science & Technology: 18 Aug 09
German doctors in Germany have successfully implanted the world's smallest artificial heart pump, billed as more effective and unobtrusive than earlier devices, a hospital in Heidelberg said. READ »

Small Muslim group opens up to outsiders

Society: 14 Aug 09
Germany has some four million adherents to Islam, but as David Wroe reports, a small group of Muslims is making a big effort to become a recognised part of German society. READ »

Making music class child's play

Lifestyle: 11 Aug 09
Looking for a way to expose her young daughter to both music and English, Rhea Wessel discovers singing children’s songs can be a challenging yet rewarding pastime. READ »

Flat-rate brothel allowed to reopen after raid

Society: 30 Jul 09
One of the two so-called flat-rate bordellos closed down this week after police raids has been allowed to reopen in Heidelberg, a spokesperson said on Thursday. READ »

Freiburg public drinking ban overturned

National: 28 Jul 09
A Freiburg court overturned a city ban on consuming alcohol in public Tuesday. Freiburg and many other German cities have been putting such bans in place to combat public drunkenness and underage drinking. READ »

Two flat-rate bordellos closed after police raids

National: 27 Jul 09
Two of Germany’s controversial flat-rate bordellos were closed over the weekend after nationwide raids uncovered poor conditions and illegal sex workers, police reported. READ »

Hamburg ranked as city with best economic outlook

Business & Money: 21 Jul 09
Hamburg has pipped Munich to be ranked the city with the best economic outlook in Germany, Capital magazine reported on Tuesday. READ »

German teen victim of 'South African Fritzl'

National: 6 Jul 09
A man living in South Africa allegedly held his visiting 18-year-old German daughter captive as a sex slave for two months, a South African newspaper reported. READ »

Gang of geriatric kidnappers arrested

Society: 23 Jun 09
Police have arrested five elderly people accused of being vicious kidnappers who were holding a middle-aged man in a cellar, allegedly trying to extort money with menaces. READ »

Police break up student university occupation

National: 20 Jun 09
Police in Heidelberg moved into the university on Saturday morning to evict students who have been occupying the rector’s offices as part of nationwide protests. READ »

Merkel urges Germans to vote in EU poll

Politics: 7 Jun 09
Germans head to the polls on Sunday to elect representatives for a new European Parliament amid fears of a low voter turnout. READ »

Heidelberg pushes nighttime booze ban to curb youth drinking

Society: 3 Jun 09
After repeated problems with publicly intoxicated young people, the city of Heidelberg wants to implement a law banning late-night alcohol sales sooner than the planned 2010 start date. READ »

US Army offers literary lessons for warrior writers

Lifestyle: 28 May 09
It’s no surprise many US soldiers stationed in Germany often have unique stories to tell, so Rhea Wessel sat in on a recent writing workshop with best-selling author Daniel Wallace in Heidelberg. READ »

Steppin' out for a smoke

Analysis & Opinion: 11 May 09
English musician and Berlin resident Joe Jackson explains why he’s delighted Germany’s smoking ban appears to be unravelling faster than a self-rolled cigarette. READ »

Whistling orangutan brings out CD of songs

Society: 8 May 09
It might not be “Wind of Change” by the Scorpions, but could a self-taught whistling orangutan become Germany’s next pop superstar? The Heidelberg Zoo thinks so and is putting out a CD of the primate’s musical stylings. READ »

Thousands of students travel to Obama speech

National: 3 Apr 09
Thousands of German and French students turned out to witness US President Barack Obama’s speech in Strasbourg, France on Friday afternoon ahead of the 60th anniversary summit. READ »

Creationists taking on evolution in Germany

Society: 26 Mar 09
Many Evangelical Americans might consider Europe a godless place, but as David Wroe reports, questioning the theory of evolution and teaching Creationism is on the rise in Germany. READ »

Heidelberger printing to nix another 2,500 jobs

Business & Money: 26 Mar 09
Printing press producer Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG will lay off some 2,500 workers in Germany this year, the company announced on Thursday. READ »

Opel teeters on the brink

Business & Money: 7 Mar 09
German carmaker Opel is reportedly threatening to close three of its plants in Europe and sack 11,000 people as it teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. READ »

German mayors push to keep US military bases

National: 14 Feb 09
The mayors of Mannheim and Heidelberg who visited Washington this week to rally support to retain US army bases in the southwestern German region say there’s a chance they might succeed. READ »

Porsche test driver dies in autobahn crash

National: 13 Feb 09
A Porsche test driver lost control of a secret prototype car and died in an accident on the A5 motorway near Darmstadt early on Friday morning, police in the German state of Hesse said. READ »

Bartender faces jail for boy's booze death

Society: 11 Feb 09
A Berlin bartender faces court on Wednesday for serving a 16-year-old dozens of Tequila shots that led to his death in February 2007. READ »

Should I junk my old car for the Abwrackprämie?

Lifestyle: 6 Feb 09
Got a question about life in Germany? This installment of Ask The Local explores the government’s Abwrackprämie – a €2,500-premium for junking your old jalopy and buying a new car this year. READ »

Virtual world crime increasing

Science & Technology: 30 Jan 09
Crime in online virtual worlds is on the rise, according to the Baden-Württemberg state office of criminal investigation (LKA) on Friday. READ »

Peanut butter crisis hits US military in Germany

National: 29 Jan 09
The US military is recalling peanut butter products from their German and European facilities after Salmonella-tainted foods caused eight deaths and some 500 illnesses in America this week, authorities said on Thursday. READ »

Man with no memory dodges extradition, appears in Zurich

Society: 17 Jan 09
A Scottish man suffering complete amnesia who had been staying in a retirement home near Heidelberg for more than two years before he fled when authorities tried to send him to the UK, has shown up in Switzerland. READ »

Von Hagens brings Bodyworlds back to Heidelberg

Society: 11 Jan 09
The controversial exhibition of bodies, ‘Körperwelten’ or Bodyworlds, is back in Germany after five years touring the world. READ »

Late billionaire Merckle agreed to sell Ratiopharm

Business & Money: 7 Jan 09
German billionaire Adolf Merckle sealed the breakup of his industrial empire before committing suicide on Monday – agreeing to the sale of Germany’s biggest generic drugmaker Ratiopharm. READ »

Troubled billionaire Merckle takes own life

National: 6 Jan 09
German billionaire Adolf Merckle, who was in talks with banks to save his troubled industrial empire, has committed suicide by stepping in front of a train. READ »

German to be awarded Nobel Medicine Prize for cancer work

National: 10 Dec 08
German researcher Harald zur Hausen will receive half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine on Wednesday in Stockholm, Sweden, for his discovery of human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. READ »

Disgusting beer coasters to discourage teen binging

National: 6 Dec 08
A new campaign to combat an epidemic of teenage drunkenness in Germany will distribute 1.5 million beer coasters with pictures of teens passed out in puddles of vomit. READ »

Cologne Cathedral named Germany's top tourist site

National: 20 Nov 08
The Cologne Cathedral is the most beloved tourist attraction in Germany, according to a new poll published by the German Tourism Association (DTV) on Thursday. READ »

'Don't ask, don't tell' voting for US soldiers in Germany

National: 4 Nov 08
The US military makes up a large but insular bloc of voters in Germany. As the nation turns its attention across the Atlantic on Tuesday, The Local looks at Election Day on base – where most events will be below the radar. READ »

Chocolate cigarettes labelled a gateway drug

Society: 4 Nov 08
German cancer researchers and consumer protection experts on Tuesday called for a ban on chocolate and candy cigarettes, labelling them a threat to the future health of children. READ »

German Nobel winner criticizes big pharma

Science & Technology: 8 Oct 08
German Nobel Prize winner Harald zur Hausen discovered that a virus causes cervical cancer, and now he has criticized pharmaceutical companies for charging too much for the new vaccine against the virus. READ »

German awarded Nobel Medicine Prize for cancer virus work

Science & Technology: 6 Oct 08
German researcher Harald zur Hausen has been awarded half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery of the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, the Nobel Assembly announced in Stockholm on Monday. READ »