Germany edition

Hesse

The following articles have been tagged with "Hesse":

Banker transfers millions by napping on keyboard

Society: 11 Jun 13
An obviously tired German bank employee fell asleep on his keyboard and accidentally transformed a minor transfer into a €222 million ($293 million) order, a court heard this week. READ »

Floods kill cyclist and block roads

National: 31 May 13
Flooding in Germany has left one cyclist dead, cellars full of water and transport links disrupted. Rain should continue through Friday but, thankfully, begin to ease over the weekend. READ »

Police warn train ticket machines may explode

National: 30 May 13
Police in the German state of Hesse on Thursday warned train ticket vending machines might explode, after they found someone had been filling them with gas and trying to set them alight, possibly to get the money from inside. READ »

'Frankfurt weathers euro crisis better than rivals'

Business & Money: 26 May 13
With banking union brewing and London mulling an EU exit, analysts are wondering whether Frankfurt is ready to take on the mantle as Europe's unchallenged financial capital. READ »

Boy dies at Tropical Islands swimming pool

National: 19 May 13
A 15-year-old boy died on Saturday at the popular “Tropical Islands” swimming and entertainment centre outside of Berlin, the Bild newspaper reported. READ »

Sick staff ground new airport's first flight

National: 3 May 13
Germany's newest airport saw its first regular flight grounded after the entire cabin crew of a Croatian Airlines flight fell mysteriously ill. The company said on Friday it suspected they were faking in protest against staff cuts. READ »

German man's crocodile passion attracts tourists

National: 28 Apr 13
A small village in northern Germany has so many crocodiles - nearly one for every 60 people - that they have become something of a tourist attraction, even though they all live in one man's house. READ »

Union delivers postie pay rise after marathon talks

Business & Money: 26 Apr 13
Germany's biggest workers' union bagged higher wages for postal workers on Friday after a marathon 20-hour meeting. The agreement comes after country-wide post strikes disrupted deliveries last week. READ »

Family minister wants more time with her family

Politics: 22 Apr 13
German Family Minister Kristina Schröder could be approaching the end of her time in office, media reports hinted over the weekend. She reportedly wants to spend more time with her own family after the general election in September. READ »

Postal strike leaves letters in limbo

Society: 17 Apr 13
Millions of letters and parcels lay undelivered on Wednesday in Germany as postal workers walked out in a fight for more pay. In bigger cities, demonstrations are planned. READ »

German wins record €46 million lotto jackpot

National: 14 Apr 13
The statistical probability was one in 59 million, but a German man from the Rhine Main area beat the odds and won the €46 million Euro Lottery jackpot – the largest amount ever won by an individual in Germany. READ »

Authorities uncover neo-Nazi prison network

National: 11 Apr 13
German authorities are investigating a number of neo-Nazi prisoners who formed a secret nationwide network from behind bars, exchanging coded messages and possibly forging contact to members of far-right terror group. READ »

Bird traps hundreds in Cologne train overnight

National: 2 Apr 13
A bird is being blamed for trapping hundreds of passengers in a train for most of Monday night - stuck in a tunnel while en route from Frankfurt to Cologne. READ »

Drunk hitches ride on high-speed ICE train

Society: 24 Mar 13
A drunken reveler managed to hitch a ride on an ICE train over the weekend when a train driver took pity on the man after spotting him staggering down the train tracks. READ »

Migrating birds leave frozen Germany

National: 15 Mar 13
Migrating birds are doing what many people in Germany would dearly love to do - heading back south in the face of the continuing freezing weather. The east is expected to be particularly chilly over the weekend. READ »

Police mount nationwide raid against Islamists

Society: 13 Mar 13
Hundreds of German police officers raided suspected Islamist extremists in several states on Wednesday, aiming to confiscate possessions and funds belonging to three now banned groups. READ »

At least 20 hurt in 100-car autobahn pile-up

Society: 12 Mar 13
Around 20 people were hurt, six seriously, when at least 100 vehicles were involved in a huge pile-up amid horrendous weather in central Germany on Tuesday. READ »

Frankfurt Airport opens a runway after shutdown

National: 12 Mar 13
Heavy snow and ice forced the complete closure of Frankfurt Airport, Germany's largest, for several hours on Tuesday. One runway was reopened, for take-offs only, in the afternoon. READ »

Fossil-hunter finds ancient hedgehog

Science & Technology: 1 Mar 13
An amateur fossil-hunter in Germany has dug up the remains of a long-extinct relative of a hedgehog. It is in such good condition that scientists reckon they may even find remains of the animal's last meal - eaten 47 million years ago. READ »

Police raid child abuse suspects nationwide

National: 26 Feb 13
Police in Germany launched a nationwide raid targeting dozens of suspected child abusers, raiding the homes of around 40 people over the last few days, state officials announced on Tuesday. READ »

Aigner warns horse meat scandal may grow

National: 19 Feb 13
The scope of Europe's meat scandal is likely to widen, German Consumer Minister Ilse Aigner warned on Monday, after it was revealed that horse and pork have been found in German döner kebabs. READ »

Minority chancellor a 'problem' for many voters

Politics: 13 Feb 13
A large majority of Germans have no problem with their Asian vice-chancellor, a new survey suggests. Yet for many voters an ethnic minority or gay national leader would be a step too far. READ »

Online Merkel death threat video removed

National: 11 Feb 13
A radical Islamist jihadist platform hosting death threats against Chancellor Angela Merkel and calls to attack Germany has been taken down by a blogging site for breach of terms, a newspaper reported on Monday. READ »

German voters 'won't accept' Asian politician

Politics: 9 Feb 13
Comments by an FDP politician suggesting his party's dismal approval ratings may be linked to party leader Phillip Rösler's ethnic Vietnamese background have kick started yet another debate about underlying racism in German society. READ »

Condor claims force court to employ more

Business & Money: 7 Feb 13
A German court is taking on four extra officials to help deal with a flood of law suits against Condor holiday airline which now make up two-thirds of their work. READ »

Bavaria, Hesse challenge aid to poorer states

Politics: 5 Feb 13
Bavaria and Hesse announced on Tuesday they would mount a constitutional challenge to Germany's federal system of financial transfers between poorer and richer states. READ »

English uni would attract best brains to Berlin

Analysis & Opinion: 28 Jan 13
Berlin can still be a provincial place – especially in higher education. One of the city's universities should switch to English in order to attract the skilled workers Germany so desperately needs, argues Tagesspiegel's Markus Hesselmann. READ »

Germany to get 20C warmer in two days

National: 26 Jan 13
Temperatures in Germany will be riding a rollercoaster over the coming days, as chills of -19C in some areas are set to leap well above zero at the start of the week. READ »

Football fans heat up stadium security debate

Sport: 23 Jan 13
After hooligans forced a Bundesliga game to be delayed by throwing flares at the weekend, Germany coach Joachim Löw is leading the call for tighter security measures in the country's football stadiums. READ »

Nearly a third of Germans fail their driving test

Society: 22 Jan 13
A European motoring club says greed has led to the situation where around a third of those who take the German driving test fail and must take extra lessons before trying again. READ »

Six billion tonnes of snow smother Germany

National: 22 Jan 13
Germany shivered under a thick blanket of snow on Tuesday, causing endless flight cancellations, accidents and public transport nightmares. READ »

Icy roads cause widespread traffic chaos

National: 16 Jan 13
Widespread black ice and snow resulted in chaotic scenes on the Germany's roads on Wednesday, claiming at least one life. Several main motorways were closed due to accidents, causing long traffic jams and delays for motorists. READ »

Bavaria and Hesse want to pay other states less

Business & Money: 8 Jan 13
New figures on how much Germany's 16 federal states give or receive from a fund meant to narrow fiscal gaps between them could encourage main contributors Bavaria and Hesse to mount a legal challenge, it emerged on Tuesday. READ »

Greater green zones ban more gas guzzlers

National: 4 Jan 13
Green traffic zones were extended to eight new cities across Germany this month, banishing vehicles which fail to meet exacting emissions standards to the outskirts of town. READ »

Last minute shoppers give high street boost

Business & Money: 25 Dec 12
The German retail industry received a much needed last minute boost this year, as panicking present-hunters logged off from the Internet and flocked to the shops in the week before Christmas. READ »

'Red Riding Hood and the wolf is an erotic story'

Lifestyle: 20 Dec 12
The first edition of Brothers Grimm fairytales was published 200 years ago on Thursday. The Local profiles the German brothers who changed children's bedtime forever - and gave Walt Disney a start in movies. READ »

WWII Christmas cards delivered 71 years late

National: 19 Dec 12
Christmas greetings from German soldiers occupying the British island of Jersey during the Second World War have finally been delivered 71 years later. READ »

'Too sick to work' teacher rakes in Swiss cash

Society: 19 Dec 12
A German teacher who went into early retirement on a state pension after he was classified as too sick to work was found to be earning €9,900 a month in Switzerland. A court this week handed him a €20,000 fine for pension fraud. READ »

Festive prisons release 1,000 inmates

National: 16 Dec 12
Over 1,000 German prisoners will be let out early in time to spend Christmas at home as part of a traditional seasonal amnesty, according to media reports over the weekend. READ »

Upper house launches new bid to ban NPD

Politics: 14 Dec 12
German lawmakers in the upper house of the German parliament launched a new bid on Friday to press the country's top court to ban the neo-Nazi NPD party, nearly 10 years after an earlier attempt failed. READ »

Frankfurt cuts 150 flights as snow storm hits

National: 9 Dec 12
Frankfurt airport cancelled 150 incoming and outgoing flights on Sunday because of snowfall and warned that more cancellations could be expected. READ »

Eight die as two small planes collide in Hesse

National: 9 Dec 12
Eight people including four children were killed on Saturday afternoon when two small planes crashed into each other in central Germany, leaving investigators sifting through a snowy field looking for clues. READ »

Doh! Court must choose between two Duff Beers

Society: 5 Dec 12
A top German top court busied itself on Wednesday with the question of which Duff Beer brand had the right to imitate the brand invented specifically for yellow cartoon boozer Homer Simpson. READ »

State considers forced HIV and hepatitis tests

Society: 30 Nov 12
People living in Saxony-Anhalt could soon be forced to take HIV or hepatitis tests if they are deemed to pose a danger to another person, state officials confirmed on Friday. READ »

Following the Brothers Grimm fairy trail

Lifestyle: 29 Nov 12
Centuries after two German brothers changed bedtimes for children around the world with their collection of fairy tales, Jeff Kavanagh visited the places where Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm lived and their stories took place. READ »

Fear of power grid collapse grows

National: 27 Nov 12
A growing number of incidents threatening the stability of the German power grid has sparked concern of a widespread collapse, according to newspaper report on Tuesday. READ »

Brezel ban for bug-ridden Bavarian bakery

Society: 23 Nov 12
Cockroaches, weevils, worms and maggots: authorities have shut down a wholesale bakery after they repeatedly found pests on the premises. It's the third serious hygiene scandal in Bavarian bakeries this year. READ »

Police offer reward for motorway shooter

National: 21 Nov 12
German police have put up a €100,000 reward in their fight to find a mystery shooter who has been firing at car transporters and trucks on motorways for four years - hitting one woman driver in the throat. READ »

Porn-actor teacher moved to new school

Education: 17 Nov 12
A German teacher has been suspended and moved to a different school after students discovered he had starred as a “luscious lad” in two porn films easily accessible on the internet. READ »

Teacher-student sex ban to be tightened

National: 15 Nov 12
Teachers who have sexual relationships with students but escape punishment because their lover is not in their class could find themselves in trouble - state justice ministers want to tighten the rules. READ »

Main parties start tug-of-war for Greens

Politics: 12 Nov 12
The Green Party leadership choice for the election campaign raised talk of a possible shift towards Angela Merkel's conservatives, prompting the Social Democrats to call for a clear statement in favour of a coalition with them. READ »

Frankfurt cops in focus after 'racist attack'

National: 8 Nov 12
Growing public outrage in Frankfurt over an alleged attack by four police officers which left a black man unconscious and suffering concussion has prompted a debate in the state parliament over claims of racism in the police force. READ »

Cash and vouchers top German present list

Society: 5 Nov 12
People in Germany are planning to spend more on Christmas presents this year than last, despite the financial crisis. Yet the shaky economic situation may be influencing their choices - cash and vouchers are the most popular presents. READ »

Hesse acts to recruit Spanish carers

National: 5 Nov 12
The central German state of Hesse is making active attempts to recruit unemployed workers from Spain look after the state's elderly people. READ »

Eastern states in the black - with western cash

Business & Money: 31 Oct 12
Half of Germany’s federal states have pulled themselves into the black, new figures show, while their overall debt has practically halved over the last year. The eastern state of Saxony has the healthiest finances. READ »

Rascal raccoons wreak havoc in suburbia

Society: 27 Oct 12
Hungry raccoons are increasingly entering German towns in search of food, causing damage in orchards, gardens and even living rooms, according to a report published on Saturday. READ »

Surprise October snow hits central Germany

National: 27 Oct 12
Winter appeared overnight in many parts of Germany on Saturday with unseasonal heavy snow fall and sub-zero temperatures hitting central and southern areas. READ »

Raids in three states crack sex-trafficking ring

Society: 25 Oct 12
Over 150 police officers in western Germany took part in raids across three states on Tuesday, cracking what they believe to have been a human trafficking ring. They freed at least two teenage girls thought to be living in “enslavement.” READ »

Army officer 'found to be a neo-Nazi'

National: 3 Oct 12
An officer in the German army on duty in Afghanistan has been found to be an alleged far-right extremist, it was revealed on Wednesday. He apparently attended neo-Nazi meetings whenever he was in Germany. READ »

Four feared dead among house fire wreckage

Society: 24 Sep 12
Fire fighters have found the bodies of two women killed in a house fire on Monday morning. Two young girls are missing, presumed dead – but German police said the building was so dangerous they cannot be retrieved. READ »

Court: Jeweller shot teen in 'self-defence'

Society: 12 Sep 12
A 67-year-old German jeweller was spared prison on Wednesday despite killing a teenager who attempted to rob her shop. A regional court ruled that shooting the intruder in the back of the head was self-defence. READ »

Greens call for €200 'cash for clunker fridges'

National: 3 Sep 12
One of Germany’s largest environmental organizations and the Greens are calling for consumers to get an extra €200 when they turn in old household appliances to buy the most energy-efficient models. READ »

Minister wants to ban stolen tax-dodger details

National: 1 Sep 12
Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has said she backs calls to stop regional authorities from buying stolen information about tax evasion from Switzerland. READ »

First medal for Paralympians in shooting

Sport: 30 Aug 12
Germany won its first medal in this year's Paralympic Games on Thursday after triumphing in the air rifle shooting. Manuela Schmermund had already bagged a silver medal in the Beijing Paralympics, and gold in Athens. READ »

First report against rabbi for circumcision

National: 22 Aug 12
A rabbi in Bavaria who has been reported to the authorities on suspicion of committing bodily harm because he carries out circumcisions, says he will not stop. READ »

Vigilante pigeon hunter regains license to kill

Society: 17 Aug 12
A vigilante pigeon killer has regained his license to capture and kill the birds, after a court ruled local authorities had imposed unreasonable restrictions on his activities. READ »

Luftwaffe escort startles holidaymakers

National: 25 Jul 12
Holidaymakers on their way to Majorca got a fright on Wednesday morning when out of the blue two Luftwaffe Phantom jets showed up right next to their plane and escorted it for 15 minutes. READ »

States split as Bavaria fights finance transfer

Society: 17 Jul 12
The southern German state of Bavaria is challenging the system whereby it sends more than €3 billion a year to less well-off states. The state government decided on Tuesday to take its complaint to the Constitutional Court. READ »

Weather and mice hit grain harvests

National: 15 Jul 12
Farmers across Germany are preparing for a difficult year as heavy rain and storms – and an explosion in the mouse population – take their toll on grain harvests. READ »

Mystery deepens - did agent aid murder?

National: 5 Jul 12
A German intelligence agent was suspected of being involved in one of the immigrant murders attributed to the neo-Nazi terrorist group, a newspaper has claimed. All attempts to figure out his story have failed. READ »

Intelligence chief resigns over mistakes

National: 2 Jul 12
The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service resigned on Monday following revelations of mistakes made by his office relating to the neo-Nazi terror group that claimed the murder of nine immigrants and a policewoman. READ »

Footballers 'should be forced to sing anthem'

Sport: 2 Jul 12
Conservative politicians in Germany have come up with a novel way to inspire the national football team after their dismal defeat in Euro 2012 - force them to sing the national anthem. READ »

Weekend of storms kills four, injures 100

National: 1 Jul 12
Four people were killed and over a hundred injured as heavy electrical storms lashed Germany over the weekend. Many areas sustained severe structural damage causing power cuts and disruption to train services. READ »

Fossilised turtle orgy a world first

Science & Technology: 20 Jun 12
Palaeontologists have dug up fossils of turtles literally caught in the act at a German site – the first time fossilised vertebrates having sex have ever been found. READ »

Poisonous caterpillars plague Germany

Science & Technology: 15 Jun 12
A rapidly-spreading population of poisonous caterpillars is causing alarm all over Germany after migrating out of forests to build their nests in gardens, parks, and even streets. READ »

Fake suicide vest prompts Salafist raids

National: 14 Jun 12
The discovery of a fake suicide vest at a Berlin flat used by an extremist Salafist Islamist rapper prompted raids of around 70 addresses across the country by more than 1,000 police officers, it emerged on Thursday. READ »

Go-ahead for €1.6 billion particle accelerator

Science & Technology: 13 Jun 12
Plans to build a €1.6 billion particle accelerator in Germany cleared the first main hurdle on Tuesday when authorities gave the go-ahead for construction to begin. READ »

Kassel opens 13th 'documenta' art show

Society: 9 Jun 12
One of the biggest events in the art world's calendar, documenta 13, kicked off on Saturday and is expected to attract more than 750,000 visitors to the western German town of Kassel over its 100-day run. READ »

Beekeeper's illegal castle demolished

Society: 6 Jun 12
Diggers moved in to begin the demolition of an illegally-built castle in the German state of Hesse on Wednesday morning, crushing the dreams of the beekeeper who built it. READ »

No widow's pension for suicide pact survivor

Society: 5 Jun 12
A woman who killed her husband on his wishes in a suicide pact – but survived – has been told she has no rights to a widow's pension, a German court ruling published on Monday revealed. READ »

Locals pull three from burning car wreck

National: 19 May 12
Quick-witted locals living near the small German town of Coesfeld saved three young people whose car smashed into their courtyard entrance and caught fire. READ »

Three die in fireball car crash

National: 18 May 12
Three people were burned to death in central Germany when their car hit a bridge, flipped over and caught fire on Thursday evening. READ »

Greeks and Spanish flee to Germany in job hunt

Business & Money: 16 May 12
Fleeing rising unemployment, people from Greece and Spain poured into Germany last year, fuelling the highest rise in immigration for 16 years, data released by the Federal Statistics Office on Wednesday showed. READ »

Court: Bin man's knee injury like athlete's

Society: 15 May 12
A German bin man who developed chronic knee pain from jumping out of rubbish collection trucks was told by a court his work-related injury was comparable to those suffered by top athletes. READ »

Statue scares public, angers art buffs

Society: 10 May 12
Firefighters in central Germany rushed to what they thought was a man about to jump off a church tower only to find a statue which is now causing a row in the art world. READ »

Aldi staff 'filmed women shoppers bending over'

Business & Money: 29 Apr 12
Employees of Aldi Süd secretly filmed female customers – especially those wearing short skirts and revealing tops – and traded the videos among themselves, according to allegations published in Der Spiegel. READ »

Three dead babies found in cooler boxes

National: 26 Apr 12
Police are questioning a woman after the bodies of three babies were found in cooler boxes stored in the cellar and a garage at her home in western Germany. READ »

Long school days 'hinder new sports stars'

Sport: 20 Apr 12
Germany's future Steffi Grafs and Dirk Nowitzkis may not have the same chance to become world-class athletes as longer school hours cut into afternoon sports, officials worry. READ »

Cops 'can't fit in' fancy new patrol cars

Society: 16 Apr 12
A German police force that spent €25 million on new sporty cars found that not only was the visibility rubbish for chases - the fancy seats were so narrow the cops could not get in while wearing their guns, truncheons and other equipment. READ »

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