On Tuesday a German newspaper breathlessly described the advancement of a new technology into the shops of Hamburg - the self-service checkout terminal.
Germany's famous port city has a wealth of impressive sights, districts and landmarks, here are eight that you won't want to miss while on a trip there.
Hamburg police are hot on the heels of an unusual band of suspected burglars - a gang of three young women who have been spotted near the sites of break-ins in the south of the city.
Germans will soon be legally divided into three genders - those born as hermaphrodites have the right to not identify as male or female. It has been described as a revolution, effectively creating legal recognition of a third sex.
One of the most popular holiday spots with Germans - the party beach Ballermann on Majorca - is set for a revamp, with local politicians keen to kick out the boozy, brawling tourists and attract a better class of guests.
Germany's women footballers made it through to the European championship semi-finals on Sunday with a return to form which gave them a 1-0 victory over Italy.
Germany's women footballers reached the end of a remarkable run of victories on Wednesday night - their defeat at the hands of Norway was their first loss in 20 years of European Championship games.
Grab a bottle of mosquito repellent, a German minister urged on Monday, and head on down to show solidarity with Germany's worst affected flood regions for your holidays this year.
Germany's women football team missed out on a victory over the Netherlands in their opening game of the European championship on Thursday night, settling instead for a 0-0 draw.
Cyclists who suffer head injuries in a collision but are not wearing helmets are at least partly to blame – even if the crash itself was not their fault, a German court has ruled.
Germany confirmed on Thursday it would be setting up a fund worth about €8 billion to help victims of record floods which forced thousands from their homes and left a path of destruction across parts of the country.
As communities in north-eastern Germany hoped soaked dykes would hold back rising floodwaters on Wednesday, one man died in Saxony-Anhalt after being electrocuted in his flooded cellar.
Since the last extreme floods in 2002, a total of €530 million has been invested in flood prevention. Der Tagesspiegel's Robert Ide argues that this money was wasted on containing rivers with concrete, rather than giving them vital space.
German authorities urged over 20,000 people to flee their homes in Magdeburg on the swollen Elbe River, as the worst floods in a decade also began to burst through water-soaked dykes.
As northern Germany continued to battle historic flooding on Monday, people in the south of the country were slowly returning to their homes to survey the devastation and start the massive cleanup.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised the "wonderful solidarity" of tens of thousands struggling against central Europe's worst river floods in over a decade and promised more help for the victims on her second visit in three days to disaster-hit areas.
Cities and towns along the Elbe braced for a huge flood wave to roll downriver on Thursday, as German officials estimated the natural disaster would cause billions of euros in damages.
Large sections of Germany remained underwater on Wednesday morning, forcing thousands of people from their homes. But as the waters receded in Passau, the eastern part of country was bracing for a flood wave.
Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged €100 million in emergency aid for flood-ravaged areas on Tuesday, as surging waters that have claimed lives and forced tens of thousands of evacuations across Europe bore down on Germany.
Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit flood-devastated parts of Germany, her spokesman said Monday, as authorities grapple with surging rivers and waters that have left at least two people dead.
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.
Germany must limit traffic in many cities and congested urban areas in order to cut pollution, the European Commission has said, while some are warning that certain areas may have to ban all cars.
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.
