Today in Germany: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Strikes continue to bring local public transport to a standstill, inflation falls to 2.5 percent, and more news from around Germany on Friday.
Public transport strikes continue on Friday
Local public transport workers from across Germany will continue carrying on a week of warning strikes set to stretch through Saturday.
On Friday, workers will join a protest action with climate group Fridays for Future in organising numerous parallel demonstrations against the climate crisis.
The strikes are leading to cancellations of many U-Bahn lines, trams, trains and ferries. In most cases, the S-Bahn and regional Bahn are still running.
Workers are pushing for higher salaries and improved conditions as soaring inflation erodes real wages. In its negotiations with transport bosses, Verdi is seeking a reduction in working hours, increased holiday entitlement and other benefits.
READ ALSO: Where are German public transport strikes taking place in Thursday and Friday?
German inflation falls to 2.5 percent
Consumer price growth fell sharply to 2.5 percent in Germany, Europe's largest economy, according to preliminary data from federal statistics agency Destatis.
The figure was the lowest reading since June 2021, and comes after Germany's annual inflation eased to 2.9 percent in January.
The February slowdown was driven by lower energy prices and slowing food price inflation, Destatis said.
In the EU's second-largest economy, France, inflation slowed to 2.9 percent in February after reaching 3.1 percent last month, the INSEE statistics institute said.
Eurozone inflation figures will be released on Friday. In January, inflation in the 20-nation currency club stood at 2.8 percent.
While still above the ECB's two-percent target, eurozone inflation has fallen significantly below the peak of 10.6 percent recorded in October 2022 after the war in Ukraine sent energy prices soaring.
READ ALSO: 'Tired' German economy needs reforms, says finance minister
Two new tick risk areas announced in Germany
Two new risk areas have been identified in Germany for the tick-borne encephalitis TBE. They are located in Brandenburg and Thuringia and border on known risk areas, as the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Thursday.
The areas in question are the urban district of Frankfurt (Oder) and the rural district of Altenburger Land. This brings the number of TBE risk areas in Germany to 180, based on reported infection figures from 2002 to 2023.
TBE stands for tick-borne encephalitis. According to the RKI, there is a risk of TBE infection primarily in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, southern Hesse, southeast Thuringia, Saxony and, since 2022, southeast Brandenburg.
There are also individual risk areas in central Hesse, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. However, cases have also been reported outside these areas.
Police hunt two more Baader-Meinhof fugitives in Berlin
Two accomplices of a member from the radical anti-capitalist group Baader-Meinhof gang arrested this week after decades on the run could also be hiding in Berlin, police said Thursday.
Police on Monday swooped on Daniela Klette, 65, at an apartment in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. Klette had been a member of the group which carried out several bombings, kidnappings and killings that traumatised Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.
Investigators are "intensifying search measures in and around Berlin" in a bid to find the two accomplices, the LKA criminal investigation service in Lower Saxony said.
Klette was part of a long-sought trio from the group, alongside fellow members Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who remain on the run.
Police on Thursday said they had found "several dangerous objects and weapons" at Klette's flat, including a grenade, explosives and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The building was evacuated on Wednesday and parts of the street cordoned off.
The contents of the other two fugitives' homes "may also pose a potential threat to the population", the police said.
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Public transport strikes continue on Friday
Local public transport workers from across Germany will continue carrying on a week of warning strikes set to stretch through Saturday.
On Friday, workers will join a protest action with climate group Fridays for Future in organising numerous parallel demonstrations against the climate crisis.
The strikes are leading to cancellations of many U-Bahn lines, trams, trains and ferries. In most cases, the S-Bahn and regional Bahn are still running.
Workers are pushing for higher salaries and improved conditions as soaring inflation erodes real wages. In its negotiations with transport bosses, Verdi is seeking a reduction in working hours, increased holiday entitlement and other benefits.
READ ALSO: Where are German public transport strikes taking place in Thursday and Friday?
German inflation falls to 2.5 percent
Consumer price growth fell sharply to 2.5 percent in Germany, Europe's largest economy, according to preliminary data from federal statistics agency Destatis.
The figure was the lowest reading since June 2021, and comes after Germany's annual inflation eased to 2.9 percent in January.
The February slowdown was driven by lower energy prices and slowing food price inflation, Destatis said.
In the EU's second-largest economy, France, inflation slowed to 2.9 percent in February after reaching 3.1 percent last month, the INSEE statistics institute said.
Eurozone inflation figures will be released on Friday. In January, inflation in the 20-nation currency club stood at 2.8 percent.
While still above the ECB's two-percent target, eurozone inflation has fallen significantly below the peak of 10.6 percent recorded in October 2022 after the war in Ukraine sent energy prices soaring.
READ ALSO: 'Tired' German economy needs reforms, says finance minister
Two new tick risk areas announced in Germany
Two new risk areas have been identified in Germany for the tick-borne encephalitis TBE. They are located in Brandenburg and Thuringia and border on known risk areas, as the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Thursday.
The areas in question are the urban district of Frankfurt (Oder) and the rural district of Altenburger Land. This brings the number of TBE risk areas in Germany to 180, based on reported infection figures from 2002 to 2023.
TBE stands for tick-borne encephalitis. According to the RKI, there is a risk of TBE infection primarily in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, southern Hesse, southeast Thuringia, Saxony and, since 2022, southeast Brandenburg.
There are also individual risk areas in central Hesse, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. However, cases have also been reported outside these areas.
Police hunt two more Baader-Meinhof fugitives in Berlin
Two accomplices of a member from the radical anti-capitalist group Baader-Meinhof gang arrested this week after decades on the run could also be hiding in Berlin, police said Thursday.
Police on Monday swooped on Daniela Klette, 65, at an apartment in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. Klette had been a member of the group which carried out several bombings, kidnappings and killings that traumatised Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.
Investigators are "intensifying search measures in and around Berlin" in a bid to find the two accomplices, the LKA criminal investigation service in Lower Saxony said.
Klette was part of a long-sought trio from the group, alongside fellow members Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who remain on the run.
Police on Thursday said they had found "several dangerous objects and weapons" at Klette's flat, including a grenade, explosives and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The building was evacuated on Wednesday and parts of the street cordoned off.
The contents of the other two fugitives' homes "may also pose a potential threat to the population", the police said.
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