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Merkel meets pope for private audience

Agence France-PresseMay 18, 2013 11:01

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis for private talks at the Vatican Saturday which addressed the state of Europe and its role in the world, the Vatican said in a statement. Merkel flew in especially to meet the new pontiff, an encounter that lasted 45 minutes -- unusually long for a private papal audience. "These discussions covered the long relationship between the Vatican and Germany as well as common concerns including the social, political, economic and religious situation in Europe and the world," the Vatican said.

ThyssenKrupp to axe 3,000 jobs as losses widen in Q2

Agence France-PresseMay 15, 2013 03:31

German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp said Tuesday it plans to axe 3,000 administrative jobs worldwide as its losses widened in the second quarter. "Overall the number of employees in administrative functions in the group worldwide is to be reduced by around 3,000 from its current level of around 15,000," ThyssenKrupp announced as it calculated that its net loss stood at 89 million euros ($116 million) in the period from January to March. ThyssenKrupp runs its business year from October to September. spm/lc

Courtroom wrangling in German neo-Nazi murder trial

Agence France-PresseMay 14, 2013 14:17

Lawyers for a German woman on trial over a neo-Nazi group's murder spree that targeted mostly Turkish migrants demanded Tuesday that the hearing be moved to a larger courtroom, as legal wrangling dominated the high-profile proceedings. The request was among several procedural motions put forward on the delayed second day of the trial against Beate Zschaepe, 38, and four alleged supporters of the self-styled National Socialist Underground (NSU).

Germany says still feels effect of Nazi book burnings

Agence France-PresseMay 10, 2013 21:31

Germany on Friday marked 80 years since mass book burnings by the Nazis, as officials said the country had yet to recover from its self-inflicted "intellectual decapitation". On May 10, 1933, less than four months after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, his followers burned thousands of books by leading writers and scholars. The speaker of the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Norbert Lammert, joined a commemoration at Berlin's Humboldt University near where fascist students took part in the mass torching of works.

Neo-Nazi murder trial highlights German 'blind spot' for far right

Thomson ReutersMay 7, 2013 11:30

By Alexandra Hudson MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Wearing an elegant trouser-suit and an air of defiance, the suspected surviving member of a German neo-Nazi cell strode into a Munich court on Monday to stand trial for a series of racist murders that scandalized Germany and led to intense soul-searching about the lack of vigilance towards the far right.

Neo-Nazi murder trial highlights German 'blind spot' for far right

Thomson ReutersMay 7, 2013 11:21

Merkel's Bavarian ally loses support after nepotism scandal

Thomson ReutersMay 7, 2013 10:48

BERLIN (Reuters) - Accusations of nepotism within Germany's Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, have hit support for the party's leader some four months before elections, a poll showed on Tuesday. According to a Forsa poll, 57 percent of Germans do not view Horst Seehofer, a combative and polarizing politician, as credible. That number rose to 65 percent for voters over the age of 45. No comparative figures were immediately available.

Neo-Nazi murder trial highlights German far-right 'blind spot'

Thomson ReutersMay 7, 2013 10:37

By Alexandra Hudson MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - The surviving member of a German neo-Nazi cell went on trial on Monday for a series of racist murders that scandalized Germany and exposed the security services' inability or reluctance to recognize far-right crime. The chance discovery of the gang, the National Socialist Underground (NSU), which had gone undetected for more than a decade, has forced Germany to acknowledge that it has a more militant and dangerous neo-Nazi fringe than previously thought.

German conservative plunge in poll amid tax, nepotism scandals

Thomson ReutersMay 7, 2013 10:35

By Annika Breidthardt BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives plunged to their lowest rating in seven months in a leading opinion poll on Sunday as a tax evasion scandal embroiled an ally and their Bavarian sister party faced questions about nepotism. Support for Merkel's Christian Democrats and Bavarian partner the Christian Social Union fell three percentage points from a week earlier to 37 percent, their lowest ranking since October, the Emnid poll for Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed.

ThyssenKrupp eyes sale of railway, construction ops

Agence France-PresseMay 6, 2013 12:30

German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp said Monday it is looking to sell its rail and construction activities due to the limited growth prospects. The management of ThyssenKrupp's material services division informed the group's supervisory board "of its decision to initiate a sale process for the railway and construction operations, with combined sales of around 400 million euros ($523 million) and roughly 800 employees," the group said in a statement