Germany edition

Hesse

The following articles have been tagged with "Hesse":

Rent-jumping family caught by police

National: 9 Feb 12
An eight-person family that avoided paying rent for years by moving house every two to three weeks has finally been caught in the northern German town of Schneverdingen. READ »

Frozen kraut jam leaves autobahn drivers sauer

Society: 7 Feb 12
An accident involving two trucks, a car and a large quantity of sauerkraut caused a 10-kilometre traffic jam on the A5 motorway in the German state of Hesse on Tuesday morning after the German delicacy froze solid on the road. READ »

Bestiality brothels spur call for animal sex ban

Society: 3 Feb 12
Animal sex abuse is on the rise in Germany, with bestiality brothels being set up across the country, according to a state animal protection officer demanding stronger laws to protect mankind's furry and feathered friends. READ »

EU blocks Deutsche Börse merger with NYSE

Business & Money: 1 Feb 12
Deutsche Börse, which runs the Frankfurt stock market, said Wednesday that the EU Commission in Brussels had told it that its planned merger with NYSE Euronext has been blocked. READ »

Fifth German body found on wrecked cruise ship

National: 29 Jan 12
The body of a fifth German victim has been recovered from the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, and identified as a woman from Baden-Württemberg, the police confirmed on Sunday. READ »

Grenade disguised as toy left on supermarket shelf

National: 28 Jan 12
A hand grenade disguised as a toy and placed at child’s eye level on the shelf of a supermarket could have killed someone, say German prosecutors investigating it as an attempted murder. READ »

Hollywood arsonist accused of 100 fires

Society: 25 Jan 12
Los Angeles prosecutors have announced 63 more charges against a German man accused over a four-day arson spree which gripped Hollywood over the year-end holidays. READ »

German victim's body 'recovered from ship'

National: 17 Jan 12
The body of a German man killed on the Costa Concordia cruise ship was found on Tuesday, the Italian media said. Divers have recovered five more victims, bringing the confirmed death toll to 11. READ »

Twelve Germans missing from cruise liner

National: 16 Jan 12
Twelve Germans are missing from the huge cruise liner which ran aground and partially sank off the Italian coast on Friday night, killing at least six passengers and leaving scores injured. READ »

Environmentalists urge better forest care

National: 13 Jan 12
In order to protect Germany's fragile forests, planners need to make their ecosystems more diverse, according to environmental groups who say the country hasn't learned enough from a devastating 2007 storm. READ »

Drunk neo-Nazi fined €600 for Hitler salute

Society: 24 Dec 11
A drunken neo-Nazi in the central German town of Kassel fell foul of Germany's law forbidding the Nazi salute this week. READ »

The Local's guide to skiing in Germany

Lifestyle: 21 Dec 11
There’s more to skiing in Germany than the northernmost bits of the Alps. As the new season begins, The Local introduces some alternative slopes that just might be closer than you think. READ »

Despite snow, Christmas only white in mountains

National: 20 Dec 11
Thick snow caused chaos in western Germany on Tuesday, with several trucks crashing, flights cancelled and public transport disrupted – but those dreaming of a white Christmas are likely to be disappointed. READ »

English town ends twinning with Germany

Society: 14 Dec 11
The English town of Bishop’s Stortford has been caught up in Britain’s euro row when the council ended its twinning programme with Friedberg in Hesse just as Prime Minister David Cameron wielded his fateful veto in Brussels. READ »

Afghan war criminal loose in Munich

National: 11 Dec 11
A former general in the Afghan secret service, allegedly responsible for 30,000 murders, has been living in Munich disguised as a newspaper seller for several years. Police are now investigating. READ »

States agree on plan to ban neo-Nazi party

Politics: 9 Dec 11
The interior ministers of Germany’s 16 federal states agreed Friday to launch a new attempt to ban the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). READ »

Wintry weather causes road chaos

National: 6 Dec 11
This winter's first snap of snowy and icy weather led to dozens of car accidents throughout Germany Monday night and into Tuesday morning, leaving one woman seriously injured. READ »

Elvis museum rocks quiet Düsseldorf

Society: 2 Dec 11
The biggest Elvis museum outside the States opened in Düsseldorf this week, with exhibits including a guitar he bought while on military service in Germany – and practised on so he could go straight back to playing on his return home. READ »

Dying rural villages 'should be abandoned'

Society: 29 Nov 11
A shrinking population and the flight of young educated people to towns are killing off Germany’s small villages – but rather than fight to keep them alive, the decline should be made as painless as possible, according to a new survey. READ »

Thalidomide victims protest 50 years on

National: 25 Nov 11
Saturday marks 50 years since the deformity-causing drug thalidomide was banned in Germany. Thousands of victims will protest in Berlin to call for greater compensation and recognition of their suffering. Jessica Ware reports. READ »

What's on in Germany: November 17 - 23

Lifestyle: 17 Nov 11
This Week's Highlights: African film in Berlin, computer art in Dresden, and Al Di Meola plays Stuttgart. READ »

Network of helpers for neo-Nazi terror probed

National: 15 Nov 11
As the German authorities feverishly investigated whether a neo-Nazi terror group responsible for several murders had a network of accomplices, criticism of the country’s domestic intelligence services continued to grow on Tuesday. READ »

German cities becoming increasingly 'wild'

Society: 8 Nov 11
Wild boars digging up gardens, foxes roaming building sites, and raccoons ravaging allotments – city-dwelling Germans are reporting increasing sightings of and problems with wildlife. READ »

Western states likely to miss day-care targets

Society: 7 Nov 11
Latest statistics suggest that western German states will fall well short of a 2007 target of ensuring that one in three children would have a day care spot by 2013. READ »

Driver fled after causing deadly head-on crash

Society: 6 Nov 11
A driver who fled on foot after causing a multiple-car collision on a motorway in the state of Hesse has turned himself in to police. The man was driving the wrong way when he hit another car head-on, leaving one person dead and six others injured. READ »

Last-minute deal prevents doctors' strike

National: 6 Nov 11
Just two days before German university hospital doctors were due to go on strike, negotiators have broken the deadlock and both sides agreed on a pay rise for around 20,000 doctors in several German states. READ »

Cows can’t go home for fear of Hessian herpes

Society: 1 Nov 11
Bavaria’s veterinary authorities are preventing a herd of 69 cows that spent the summer grazing in the state of Hesse from coming home without having a blood test for herpes virus BHV-1. READ »

Voluntary service shows signs of acceptance

Society: 1 Nov 11
The Federal Voluntary Service (BFD), which replaced the civilian national service alternative to military conscription, is finally managing to attract volunteers after a slow start, but there is still unease about the scheme. READ »

Five killed in road accidents over the weekend

Society: 30 Oct 11
Five people were killed in two separate road accidents in Germany over the weekend. READ »

Berlin considers banning Hells Angels

Society: 11 Oct 11
Representatives across all major parties in the newly-elected state parliament of Berlin have spoken out in favour of banning the Hells Angels, a motorcycle gang linked with organized crime, in the German capital. 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 »

Merkel manager attacked euro fund sceptic

Politics: 2 Oct 11
Extraordinary exchanges between senior members of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union in the run-up to last week’s crucial vote on the euro bail-out fund have come to light, prompting claims of anti-democratic bullying. READ »

More than 30 hurt in Hessian motorway pileup

National: 19 Sep 11
A massive pileup and secondary accidents on a Hesse motorway caused traffic to be backed up for hours and injured more than 30 people Sunday afternoon, some severely. READ »

Fears grow of deadly tropical virus killing blackbirds

National: 14 Sep 11
Fears are increasing in Germany that blackbirds are being wiped out by a tropical disease, while tests are being conducted on a number of cadavers to try to find out why they died. READ »

Train wrecked after hitting deer

Society: 12 Sep 11
An Intercity train hit a deer at 160 kph (100 mph) travelling from Berlin to Hamburg on Sunday evening. The train was so seriously damaged it could not continue its journey. READ »

Berlin prepares for Greek insolvency

Politics: 11 Sep 11
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is making preparations for a Greek insolvency, according to newsweekly Der Spiegel. READ »

Germany’s top ten tech inventions

Science & Technology: 9 Sep 11
The last century would have been very different if it hadn’t been for the German genius for technological innovation. The Local rates the top ten Teutonic inventions that have changed your life. READ »

One killed in bus crash on motorway

Society: 8 Sep 11
A fully-occupied travel bus hit a crane trailer on the A5 motorway in the German state of Hesse on Thursday morning, killing at least one person and injuring six others. READ »

Foreigners face pricey prep for universities

Education: 30 Aug 11
Germany’s affordable universities have long attracted foreign students, but free language and introductory classes could soon be a thing of the past. Erin Huggins explores the trend toward pricey preparatory courses. READ »

Small plane makes emergency road landing

Society: 29 Aug 11
An amateur pilot’s quick-thinking saved the lives of himself and his wife on Sunday, when technical difficulties forced him to land his hired sports plane on a road in the small Bavarian town of Stockstadt. READ »

Kaiser couple to marry in Potsdam

Society: 26 Aug 11
Germany’s high society event of the year is set for Saturday as the great-great grandson of Kaiser Wilhem II gets married at a royal palace in Potsdam. READ »

Unpopular tuition fees could soon be history

Education: 24 Aug 11
German universities have been allowed to charge tuition fees since 2007. But many states have decided to ditch them, soon leaving only Bavaria and Lower Saxony still taking money from their students. Hannah Cleaver reports. READ »

Deutsche Post struggles with rising mail theft

National: 23 Aug 11
Thousands of letters and packages are being stolen each year within Deutsche Post’s delivery chain in what German police say is a growing trend. READ »

Monster trucks may ply autobahn for field trial

National: 17 Aug 11
Monster trucks could soon be coming to a German autobahn near you. A controversial programme aims to test the 25-metre-long "gigaliners" on the country's roads. READ »

Saxony leads education vanguard

Education: 16 Aug 11
Germany’s education system from kindergarten to university is making noticeable progress with the state of Saxony leading the way, according to an annual education survey. READ »

One third of children born out of wedlock

Society: 12 Aug 11
One in three children are now born out of wedlock in Germany – double the proportion seen two decades ago – according to government figures signalling a strong shift in social norms. READ »

Air traffic controllers to strike Tuesday

National: 8 Aug 11
Air travellers face massive delays and flight cancellations after air traffic controllers announced they would carry out a six-hour strike on Tuesday morning. READ »

Child murderer awarded damages for police threat

National: 4 Aug 11
A German court on Thursday awarded more than €3,000 ($4,265) in damages to a child murderer over a threat by police to inflict "unimaginable pain" if he did not reveal his victim's whereabouts. READ »

Woman killed in Hesse house explosion

National: 21 Jul 11
Police have found the body of a 62-year-old woman killed in an explosion that tore apart her house in the southern Hessian municipality of Münster, police said on Thursday. READ »

Seeking a salty soaking

Lifestyle: 21 Jul 11
Summer in Germany is lovely, except for when it isn’t. Never fear: if you’ve hit a grey and rainy patch, a trip to the spa is sure to warm you up. Sally McGrane checks out the WerratalTherme in Hesse. READ »

Consumer food ingredient website crashes on launch

Society: 20 Jul 11
A German internet site promising to serve up dialogue with food producers about their products has crashed immediately after launching after attracting a hailstorm of criticism. READ »

Discovering Munich's best summer beer locations

Lifestyle: 19 Jul 11
Summer in Munich means one thing: drinking beer outdoors. Chris Cottrell discovers five of the best places to knock back a cold Maß in the Bavarian capital. READ »

Kohl says Merkel is 'ruining' Europe

National: 17 Jul 11
Helmut Kohl is apparently less than pleased with the work of his erstwhile protégé Angela Merkel. The former chancellor reportedly told a friend privately that Merkel's European policies were "very dangerous." READ »

Bank stress tests slammed as ideological

Business & Money: 16 Jul 11
The head of the Confederation of German Trade Unions has described the European Bank Authority's decision not to count silent participations, favoured by state banks, as core capital in its stress tests as ideologically motivated. READ »

Bank fails EU stress test

Business & Money: 15 Jul 11
The only German bank that would have failed a European Union stress test, Helaba, decided it would not accept a disputed method used for the review and published its own results separately on Friday. READ »

Europe's anger grows towards US debt police

National: 15 Jul 11
The German government fears that the big US credit ratings agencies, Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, are aggravating the eurozone's debt crisis. But, as The Local's David Wroe reports, the alternatives are not simple. READ »

iPhone tax fraud scheme sparks huge raid

National: 6 Jul 11
Frankfurt prosecutors announced Wednesday that nationwide police raids had brought down a major fraud scheme based on buying the latest mobile phones overseas without paying sales tax and then reselling them in Germany. READ »

State minister calls for Denmark holiday boycott

National: 5 Jul 11
With Denmark poised to reintroduce customs checks at its borders after decades of unfettered travel in Europe, a German state minister has called for people to boycott holidays to the Scandinavian country. READ »

UNESCO puts five German beech forests on world heritage list

National: 25 Jun 11
The UN's education, scientific and cultural organization, UNESCO, named five German beech forests as Natural World Heritage sites on Saturday. READ »

Last Red Army Faction prisoner freed

National: 21 Jun 11
Birgit Hogefeld, the last member of the German leftist terror group the Red Army Faction behind bars, was freed prison on Tuesday after serving 18 years. 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 »

Hessian official wants alcohol ban during football matches

Society: 20 Jun 11
Hesse’s interior minister wants to crack down on drunken hooligans who disrupt sporting events. But his prescription is likely to rankle beer-loving Germans: A total alcohol ban in football stadiums and public transportation taking fans there. READ »

Top 500 firms book stellar sales amid boom

Business & Money: 20 Jun 11
Germany’s top 500 companies are booming, lifting their sales by nearly 12 percent last financial year, the largest rise in more than a decade, a survey has found. READ »

Deadly E. coli found in Frankfurt stream

National: 18 Jun 11
The dangerous strain of E. coli that has claimed the lives of nearly 40 Germans has been found in a stream in Frankfurt, it was confirmed Friday evening. But authorities said there was no risk to the city's water supply. READ »

Group says little people still disadvantaged in Germany

Society: 3 Jun 11
German society must better accommodate the needs of little people, according to the national organization representing their interests. READ »

Conservative criticism of Merkel grows

Politics: 29 May 11
Chancellor Angela Merkel is reported to be facing growing criticism from within her own party, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU). READ »

Farm girls calendar casting begins

Society: 27 May 11
Casting for the 2012 German Farm Girls Calendar kicked off Friday in Hamburg. But this is no typical beauty contest, as candidates must be able to drive a tractor or milk a cow – and look good doing it. READ »

What's on in Germany: May 26 - June 1

Lifestyle: 26 May 11
This week’s highlights: Contemporary design in Berlin, classic cars in Hamburg, and a night of music in Munich. READ »

Nine children injured in Hesse bus blaze

National: 26 May 11
Nine school children were injured, three of them seriously, when a fire broke out on a tour bus on the A4 motorway in Hesse on Thursday, police said. READ »

Deadly E. coli outbreak claims first victims

National: 24 May 11
Three people in Germany have died from an outbreak of virulent EHEC bacteria, as potentially deadly diarrhoea continues to spread across the country. Many of those infected are fighting for their lives in intensive care units. READ »

Scientists hunt source of life-threatening stomach bug

Society: 23 May 11
Public health officials in northern Germany are trying to trace the origins of an outbreak of life-threatening diarrhoea which has infected around 80 people, putting many of them in intensive care. READ »

Burglary rate surges

National: 17 May 11
Not known as a hotbed for burglary, Germany suffered a jump of nearly 7 percent in break-ins last year, according to police figures cited on Tuesday. The eastern state of Saxony saw the strongest increase in crime. READ »

Fire breaks out on high-speed ICE train

National: 16 May 11
A fire broke out in the roof of a high-speed ICE train carriage occupied by 400 passengers in Bavaria on Monday morning, police announced. READ »

Fake census forms probe drug consumption and penis size

Society: 11 May 11
Forms masquerading as Germany's 2011 census but instead asking questions about drug consumption and penis size have been arriving in post boxes around the country. READ »

Sarrazin blasts SPD immigrant quota plan

Politics: 4 May 11
Former Bundesbank executive Thilo Sarrazin has made further inflammatory remarks about immigrants just days after he was given a reprieve by his own Social Democratic Party. 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 »

Politicians driving 'climate killer' cars

Politics: 19 Apr 11
Despite Germany‘s recent tilt towards clean energy, most politicians are still being ferried around in gas-guzzling government cars, according to a survey by environmentalists which grades individual leaders. READ »

Luxembourger triumphs in German office chair race

Sport: 17 Apr 11
Luxembourger Pierre Feller beat out the homegrown talent to win the downhill speed discipline at the third annual German office chair championships in the town of Bad König-Zell in Hesse on Saturday. READ »

President Wulff pelted with eggs

Politics: 14 Apr 11
German President Christian Wulff shrugged off an egg attack by a lone assailant Thursday, saying it was the price of having the common touch. READ »

Electricity imports making up for nuclear suspension

Business & Money: 4 Apr 11
Electricity shortfalls created by the German government's suspension of seven old nuclear reactors is being filled by a jump in imports from neighbouring countries, the German Association of Energy and Water Industries said Monday. READ »

Germany briefly basks in the sun before spring returns

National: 3 Apr 11
Record temperatures across Germany over the weekend raised momentary hopes that the summer may have arrived, with the hottest measurement of 26.6 degrees measured in northern Baden-Württemberg. READ »

Nuclear suspension faces court challenge by RWE

Business & Money: 1 Apr 11
Energy company RWE has become the first firm to launch a legal challenge against the Merkel government’s controversial three-month suspension of older nuclear reactors. READ »

Deutsche Bank to pay investing compensation

Business & Money: 22 Mar 11
Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, on Tuesday was told to pay €541,000 in compensation to a client who had not been sufficiently informed of the risks of certain financial products, the court said. READ »

Oldest reactor goes dark

National: 19 Mar 11
Germany's oldest nuclear power plant has been completely shut down, operator RWE said on Saturday. The Biblis A facility, with a capacity of 1,225 megawatts, first went into operation in 1974. READ »

Japan quake fuels German nuclear debate

National: 12 Mar 11
On the heels of an explosion at a Japanese nuclear power plant following a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake in the country, politicians in Berlin spoke out Saturday against plans to extend the lifetime of nuclear reactors in Germany. READ »

Strike cripples rail traffic nationwide

National: 10 Mar 11
A strike by train drivers for both freight and passenger routes crippled rail traffic in Germany Thursday morning, with hundreds of cancellations and countless delays reported across the country. READ »

Hesse promises action after airport attack

National: 7 Mar 11
Hessian Interior Minister Boris Rhein on Monday reacted to the deadly shooting of two American servicemen at the Frankfurt Airport last week, announcing better security for the US military and increased surveillance of terrorist suspects. 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 »

Two Americans shot dead at Frankfurt Airport

National: 2 Mar 11
Two US servicemen were shot dead at Frankfurt Airport and at least two others seriously injured on Wednesday after a man opened fire on bus for American soldiers. President Obama and Chancellor Merkel expressed shock and outrage. READ »

Public sector strikes hit two more states

Business & Money: 1 Mar 11
After initial strikes in the states of Hesse and Saarland on Monday, public workers' unions called temporary strikes for members in North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein on Tuesday. READ »

Guttenberg gives up Dr. title for good

Politics: 22 Feb 11
Germany's Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, embroiled in a plagiarism scandal, has asked for his doctorate to be scrapped and admitted "serious errors" in his dissertation. READ »

Wiesbaden tops real estate investment ranking

Business & Money: 18 Feb 11
For those investing in real estate, forget the sexy, better-known cities like Munich and Hamburg. The biggest rate of return on property is in Wiesbaden, according to a new ranking just published in manager magazin. READ »