Germany edition

North_rhine-westphalia

The following articles have been tagged with "North_rhine-westphalia":

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 »

Arctic cold wreaks quirky havoc across Germany

National: 8 Feb 12
The bitter cold is wreaking havoc across Germany in unexpected ways, with the subzero temps freezing an ice cream factory, forcing gravediggers to use jackhammers and driving penguins indoors. But Hamburg is having a party. READ »

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 »

Virus lays low thousands of farm animals

Society: 7 Feb 12
Thousands of cows, sheep and goats have been infected with a flu-like virus across Germany, with the number of infected herds increasing sharply over the weekend. READ »

Coldest night yet grips chilled Germany

Society: 4 Feb 12
The cold snap that has put much of Europe in a deep freeze reached its chilliest point in Germany on Friday, with minus 27-degree temperatures making for the coldest night of the winter season. READ »

Compassion needed for homeless out in cold

Society: 2 Feb 12
As a homeless man was found frozen to death on a bench in northern Germany on Thursday, authorities across the country called for people to show compassion for those in danger from the harsh weather. READ »

Manhunt after second Bochum prisoner flees

National: 1 Feb 12
German authorities are investigating how a prisoner being held on the request of Polish authorities on suspicion of attempted murder and arson managed to escape a North Rhine-Westphalia prison on Sunday and remains on the run. READ »

Language school grads 'barely spoke German'

Society: 31 Jan 12
Authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia are investigating a language school suspected of running fraudulent government-backed integration courses for immigrants that awarded language certificates while teaching no German at all. READ »

German held at elite ball protest 'had explosives'

Society: 28 Jan 12
A German man arrested while protesting against a right-wing elite student society ball in Vienna was carrying explosives, police said. READ »

Child poverty decreases

Society: 26 Jan 12
The number of children living on state benefits in Germany has dropped significantly in the past five years, it was reported Thursday. READ »

Costa passengers seek damages after wreck

National: 21 Jan 12
Five German passengers who were on the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship when it ran aground off the Tuscan coast are demanding thousands of euros in compensation. 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 »

Women discover thrill of the hunt

Society: 16 Jan 12
Germany has seen a tenfold jump in the number of women who hunt over the last 15 years, according to the German Hunting Association, heralding the fall of another male bastion. AFP's Kate Millar reports. 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 »

Five siblings suspected of killing Kurdish woman

National: 15 Jan 12
Police in northern Germany think they have found the body of an 18-year-old Kurdish woman who had gone missing in November. The police suspect that the woman’s family abducted her because they disapproved of her relationship. 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 »

Chicken infected with antibiotic-resistant germs

Society: 9 Jan 12
Chicken sold in German supermarkets is often contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to a spot test carried out by environmentalists who said the over-use of antibiotics in farming posed a danger to human health. READ »

Road accident turns into bizarre murder

Society: 6 Jan 12
Police investigating the death of a woman in a car accident were surprised when a man appeared later and confessed to killing his wife. He reportedly chased her down in his car and stabbed her. READ »

Ruhr ruins invite tourists for highwire hijinks

Travel: 5 Jan 12
The Ruhr Valley's Landschaftspark, once Germany's decrepit industrial armpit, has become a spectacular adventure park. David Sharp makes a hair-raising climb onto a disused furnace. READ »

Germany ravaged by New Year's storms

National: 4 Jan 12
People in Germany awoke after Tuesday night’s storm to scenes of destruction. The system of low pressure, known as “Ulli,” caused high winds and violent seas across the north of the country. READ »

Half a million kilometres of traffic jams this year

National: 29 Dec 11
Far from effortlessly zooming down Autobahns at limitless speeds, German drivers are increasingly sitting in traffic– with nearly half a million kilometres of jams recorded this year. READ »

State invests millions in revamping Nazi retreat

National: 28 Dec 11
Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state is investing millions of euros in a plan to turn a former elite school for Nazi children into a popular tourist attraction. READ »

House explodes while family on holiday

National: 26 Dec 11
A family from North Rhine-Westphalia will come home from their Christmas holiday to find their house exploded while they were away, leaving nothing but a big pile of rubble. READ »

'Tis the season for severe traffic jams

National: 23 Dec 11
Motorists association ADAC has warned of serious traffic jams that could cause hundreds of kilometres of tailbacks on Friday and into Saturday as Germans begin their Christmas holidays. READ »

Islamic studies gain foothold in state schools

Education: 22 Dec 11
German Education officials are making moves to establish Islamic studies as a regular subject in North Rhine-Westphalia's public schools, in line with other religious courses about Catholic or Protestant Christianity. 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 »

Leftists wants police pepper spray ban

Society: 16 Dec 11
The socialist Left party is trying to ban police in North Rhine-Westphalia from using pepper spray in what could be a precursor to attempts to forbid its use by cops nationwide. READ »

Elderly Nazi killer begins life prison term

National: 16 Dec 11
As a last drive to arrest elderly Nazi war-criminals heats up, a 90-year-old former SS assassin began his life jail sentence Thursday handed down by a German court for shooting dead three civilians in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. READ »

Teen fined for sitting on train's first class stairs

Society: 14 Dec 11
A German teen has been fined by railway operator Deutsche Bahn for sitting on a set of stairs that technically was part of a train's first class section. READ »

Germany's weirdest Christmas markets

Lifestyle: 12 Dec 11
Christmas markets are an intrinsic part of the holiday season in Germany. But for those fancying an odd twist on the standard stalls offering Glühwein, The Local has uncovered markets with erotic, nautical and various other themes. 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 »

Germans rage against the road works

National: 10 Dec 11
A new survey has given Germans the chance to vent over road works where nothing seems to be going on and other problems in the country's transport system. 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 »

Welcome needed to attract skilled foreigners

Business & Money: 1 Dec 11
Germany needs to make it easier for skilled workers to move there – and be more friendly to them – to get the professionals needed to keep the country running, a new report says. READ »

No Mayan apocalypse expected next year

Society: 1 Dec 11
The world won’t actually end next year despite widespread fears that Mayans long-ago predicted humanity’s demise in 2012, according to a German expert. READ »

Pope escapes German seat belt fine

Society: 1 Dec 11
Pope Benedict XVI will not face charges for not wearing a seat belt in his popemobile during a visit to Germany, after officials confirmed normal traffic rules had been suspended for him. READ »

800 weapons taken from neo-Nazis in two years

National: 30 Nov 11
Authorities have confiscated more than 800 weapons from right-wing extremists over the last two years, including handguns and knives, plus a few larger weapons, according to the German government. READ »

Neighbours complain deaf couple is too loud

Society: 30 Nov 11
A deaf couple have decided to move out of their apartment in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia after neighbours complained they were just too loud. READ »

Vodka laced with methanol sold by mistake

Society: 22 Nov 11
Consumer protection authorities in the state of Thuringia are requiring retailers to stop selling three brands of vodka produced by spirits company Bärenkrone after they were found to contain methanol. READ »

Daddy longlegs on invasion march

National: 22 Nov 11
Germany’s Ruhr region is facing an invasion of countless huge daddy longlegs, also known as harvestmen, as the creatures begin to colonize all of Western Europe. READ »

Deutsche Bahn hopes DNA will curb metal theft

National: 22 Nov 11
Germany railway operator Deutsche Bahn is spraying so-called “artificial DNA” on its tracks, as well as overhead wires and other metal to hinder thieves from selling it later on the black market. READ »

Murdered cop had ties to neo-Nazi killers

National: 22 Nov 11
The National Socialist Underground (NSU) deliberately targeted policewoman Michele Kiesewetter in 2007 because of a connection between her family and the neo-Nazi terrorist cell, according to the German authorities. READ »

Mid-sized towns hit worst by bike crime

Society: 22 Nov 11
Nearly 180,000 bikes were stolen across Germany in 2010, estimated at a value of €120 million. According to a new study, more than over 90 percent of bicycle thefts go unsolved. READ »

Neo-Nazi killings spark intelligence revamp plan

National: 21 Nov 11
The chairman of parliament's interior affairs defended the German authorities' approach towards far-right extremism on Monday, but said state domestic intelligence agencies needed reform in the wake of a neo-Nazi murder spree. READ »

Eight die in mass pile-up and head-on collision

National: 19 Nov 11
Eight people were killed in road accidents in North Rhine-Westphalia on Friday night - three in a mass pile-up on an Autobahn near Münster involving more than 50 vehicles, and five in a two-car collision near Aachen. READ »

Amazon under fire for unpaid Christmas helpers

National: 17 Nov 11
Online retail giant Amazon has come under fire in Germany for using nearly 1,500 people on the most basic social support as unpaid packers in its logistics centres in the run-up to Christmas. READ »

Scientologists try to board Pirate Party

Politics: 17 Nov 11
Scientologists are trying to join Germany’s upstart Pirate Party, it has emerged, just weeks after it was revealed that two regional party figures had previously belonged to the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD). READ »

Antibiotics for poultry widespread in NRW

National: 15 Nov 11
Almost all chicken farms in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia feed antibiotics to their birds in order to keep them healthy, something that can cause lasting resistance to medicine in humans, according to a state minister. READ »

British troops to start pullout in January

National: 10 Nov 11
British soldiers stationed across Germany are preparing to leave in as soon as a few months, after the UK Ministry of Defence on Thursday released details of its mass withdrawal of forces from the country. READ »

Girl fighting for life after measles complications

Society: 7 Nov 11
A six-year-old girl in Bavaria who caught measles as a baby has developed a chronic and incurable brain inflammation, it was reported Monday. German doctors are warning that not enough parents are inoculating their children. 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 »

Finding the fairytale wedding setting

Lifestyle: 19 Oct 11
For couples wanting a fairytale wedding, holding the ceremony or reception in a castle could be the perfect setting. Sally McGrane reports. READ »

Consumer group warns of dangerous supplements

National: 6 Oct 11
Nearly one in three supplements Germans can buy online from other countries contain dangerous or illegal substances, a consumer group has warned. READ »

Linke split by rumours of a Lafontaine return

Politics: 5 Oct 11
The socialist Left party (Linke) is being wracked by speculation that former leader and one-time Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine could return to the top ranks of the party. READ »

FDP rebels force party member vote on euro rescue plans

Politics: 5 Oct 11
Angela Merkel’s junior coalition party, the Free Democrats (FDP), is being forced by its members to take an internal referendum on whether to oppose Germany’s involvement in measures to rescue the euro. READ »

Optimism shines in Unity Day celebrations

National: 3 Oct 11
As Germany celebrated its Unity Day on Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that much work remained to be done to ensure the country remained strong and united, as well as a vital part of Europe. READ »

Bonn focus for Unity Day and NRW celebrations

National: 2 Oct 11
A three-day festival in Bonn this weekend and Monday marks not only the October 3 Day of German Unity, but also the 65th anniversary of the founding of North Rhine-Westphalia. READ »

Mirco's murderer sentenced to life

National: 29 Sep 11
The murderer of a ten-year-old boy whose sexual abuse and murder sparked outrage across Germany was sentenced to life in prison Thurday. READ »

Authorities to keep tabs on Islamophobic scene

Society: 27 Sep 11
Germany's domestic intelligence agency the Verfassungsschutz is reportedly set to debate whether the country's Islamophobic scene represents a new form of extremism, and should be kept under surveillance. READ »

Credit Suisse ends tax probe with €150 mln

Business & Money: 19 Sep 11
Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse said on Monday that it has reached a deal with German authorities to end a tax evasion probe, and that it would pay €150 million ($205 million) to settle the case. READ »

Toddler takes accidental solo train journey

National: 17 Sep 11
An 18-month-old boy was separated from his father while on a regional train in the town of Jena on Friday. The doors closed while the child's father was still on the platform and the train left the station. READ »

Discovering the Eifel on two wheels

Travel: 7 Sep 11
North Rhine-Westphalia might be Germany’s most populous state, but a vast expanse of untouched nature lies not far from the dense urban area surrounding Cologne. Alexander Bakst goes cycling in the Eifel. READ »

Investigators probe hospital deaths of three infants

Society: 4 Sep 11
Three babies born prematurely died within a span of two days at a children's hospital in the central western city of Siegen. The hospital's administrator said she was "shocked" by the cases. READ »

Police clash with anti-Nazi protesters

Society: 3 Sep 11
Violence broke out at a counter-demonstration against a neo-Nazi rally in Dortmund on Saturday. Police said officers were "severely attacked" by about 1,500 "leftist extremists." Some 200 people were taken into custody. READ »

Frankfurt dubbed Germany’s crime capital

National: 29 Aug 11
Frankfurt has been declared the most dangerous city in Germany according to still unreleased crime statistics for 2010, which apparently show the city had the largest number of murder and manslaughter cases per 100,000 residents. READ »

Hailstorms cut western swath of damage

National: 27 Aug 11
Parts of western Germany are busy cleaning up on Saturday after heavy thunderstorms bringing hail caused hefty damage overnight. READ »

Rhineland cops under investigation for faking attack

National: 24 Aug 11
Two police officers in North Rhine-Westphalia have been suspended while officials investigate whether they faked a violent attack, which put them in the hospital. READ »

Police ditching the German Shepherd for Belgian breed

Society: 22 Aug 11
Police in Germany are phasing out the use of German Shepherds as police dogs in favour of a sturdier Belgian breed. READ »

Storms chaos hits North Rhine-Westphalia

National: 19 Aug 11
Violent storms felled trees and flooded roads and basements throughout North Rhine-Westphalia, leaving emergency workers struggling to make it to all the calls for help. READ »

Antimatter spotted on the edge of the world

Science & Technology: 17 Aug 11
Earth is wearing a belt of antimatter – a twin of ordinary matter that could one day be used to create fuel for interstellar space travel – according to a breakthrough study by German and Italian scientists. READ »

Swine flu vaccine worth €250 mln to be destroyed

National: 17 Aug 11
German health authorities are making arrangements to burn around 15 tonnes of swine flu vaccine worth around €250 million which people refused to take, and is now past its use-by date. 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 »

Despite skills shortage, many qualified workers remain jobless

Business & Money: 1 Aug 11
Despite the serious skills shortage facing the German economy, qualified workers are continuing to lose their jobs, a union study has found. READ »

Miserable weather looms for the weekend

National: 29 Jul 11
After heavy rains caused havoc in North Rhine-Westphalia in recent days, it was northeastern Germany’s turn for drenching on Friday, with downpours hammering Berlin and coastal areas. The weekend forecast is just as dismal. READ »

Weekend drivers face massive traffic jams

National: 29 Jul 11
With summer vacation starting for schools in Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden Württemberg, some of Germany’s most populous regions are bracing for massive traffic jams this weekend. READ »

Vandals pee in holy water of Catholic church

Society: 28 Jul 11
Vandals broke into a Catholic church in North Rhine-Westphalia and peed into the bowl of holy water, the police announced on Thursday. READ »

Aachen employs smart phones to bust illegal parkers

Science & Technology: 27 Jul 11
Authorities in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Aachen are clamping down on illegal parking by using cameras on smart phones to make it almost impossible to challenge a citation. READ »

Police probe neo-Nazi link to Roma arson attack

Society: 26 Jul 11
Police investigating an arson attack on an apartment housing Roma and Sinti families in Leverkusen were continuing Tuesday morning to probe the possibility that neo-Nazis may have been behind the attack. READ »

Duisburg mourns Love Parade victims

Society: 24 Jul 11
Thousands of people are expected to attend a memorial event at the MSV football stadium in Duisburg on Sunday to remember the 21 people killed in a crush at the Love Parade one year ago. READ »

Passengers shun airports after flight tax

Business & Money: 20 Jul 11
Passenger statistics for this year’s first six months appear to show that Germany’s new flight tax is driving thrifty flyers away from German airports and to neighbouring countries. READ »

Cops losing tobacco smuggling battle

Society: 19 Jul 11
Untaxed cigarettes and tobacco are costing the German government an untold amount of money in lost tax revenue each year, and as new fronts in tobacco smuggling open, authorities seem powerless to stem their market penetration. READ »

Cheap software led to police hack

National: 16 Jul 11
A leaked government report has revealed that police servers were only protected by cheap software, making a recent hack on databases much easier. Police were forced to shut down several servers with data on serious criminals. READ »

Doctor fined for killing UK patient keeps licence

Society: 13 Jul 11
A German doctor who killed an English patient with an accidental morphine overdose has been fined €7,000, but frustrated medical authorities say they do not have the power to strip him of his licence to practice. READ »

UK soldiers in Paderborn hit by car killing one

National: 7 Jul 11
A British soldier based in North Rhine-Westphalia was killed and five were injured when a car accidentally ploughed into them as they were walking, police said Thursday. 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 »

Munich to enforce dedicated bike parking

Society: 1 Jul 11
With footpaths increasingly clogged with chained-up bicycles, Munich is set to mandate bike parking spaces be installed at newly constructed buildings. It's a positive step, but cyclists around Germany deserve even more, one expert says. 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 »

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 »

E. coli patients may need kidney transplants

National: 12 Jun 11
Karl Lauterbach, health spokesman for the opposition Social Democrats, has warned that some of those who have fallen ill in the E. coli epidemic could face severe health problems. READ »

Farm behind E. coli not likely to face prosecution

National: 11 Jun 11
German officials say that the likely source of the deadly E. coli epidemic, a vegetable sprout farm in Lower Saxony, will probably not face criminal prosecution. READ »

Warming climate causes honeybees to oversleep flower bloom

Science & Technology: 10 Jun 11
As the climate grows warmer, flowers are blooming earlier in the spring and this year many German honeybees awoke to find many blossoms already gone. Researchers are working to find out why. READ »

Deadly E. coli found on bean sprouts

National: 10 Jun 11
German officials on Friday said they had found the first direct evidence of deadly E. coli bacteria on vegetable sprouts thought to have killed 33 people and left over 3,000 ill. READ »

Car salesman accused of killing customer to hide cash theft

National: 9 Jun 11
A 29-year-old car salesman in North Rhine-Westphalia has confessed to stealing a customer’s money and then killing the man to hide his crime, the police said on Thursday. READ »

Fierce storms batter northern Germany

National: 7 Jun 11
Terrific thunderstorms late on Monday left emergency services overstretched in parts of Germany, as phone calls flooded fire departments. Hamburg was especially hard hit. READ »

Holidaymakers face summer transport chaos

National: 6 Jun 11
Holidaymakers face unusual transport chaos in Germany this summer, with the ADAC car club forecasting a sharp rise in traffic jams, while there have been early signs that overheating on trains may once again become a problem. READ »

Search for E. coli clues leads to Lübeck eatery

National: 4 Jun 11
German health authorities scrambling to find the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak are zeroing in on a restaurant in Lübeck. Reports also say a harbour festival that took place in Hamburg in May could be linked to the killer bug. READ »