FRANKFURT, Germany, Feb 6, 2024 (AFP) – Up to 90 percent of Lufthansa’s flight schedule will be cancelled Wednesday due to a walkout by ground staff, the carrier warned, the latest strike-related travel chaos to hit Germany. Some 25,000 staff will take part in the walkout over pay, which will last for around 27 hours from 4:00 am (0300 GMT), the union Verdi announced this week. The strike will affect Germany’s biggest airport in Frankfurt […]
Tag: Germany
Global turbulence the ‘new normal’: EU’s von der Leyen
BERLIN, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned on Friday that global disruptions and volatility are the “new normal”, with more geo-economic tensions on the horizon. “2024 will be a decisive year, with more geo-economic tensions expected — from the Red Sea to the Taiwan Strait — which also means more frequent disruptions to supply chains and greater volatility on the energy markets,” she told a climate conference in […]
German train drivers’ union calls six-day strike
FRANKFURT, Germany, Jan 22, 2024 (AFP) – German train drivers will hold a six-day strike this week, the GDL union said, the longest walkout yet in an escalating row with Deutsche Bahn over pay and working hours. The strike is due to start at 2:00 am (0100 GMT) on Wednesday and last until 1700 GMT on Monday. For freight services, the stoppage is due to begin at 1700 GMT on Tuesday, GDL said in a […]
Hundreds of thousands protest against far right in Germany
By Pauline CURTET, with Sebastien ASH in Berlin MUNICH, Germany, Jan 21, 2024 (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands joined rallies against the far-right AfD party in Germany on Sunday, capping a week-long wave of protest that has seen demonstrators turn out in unusually large numbers across the country. Between Friday and Sunday alone, protests were organised in some 100 locations, with organisers Campact and Fridays for Future estimating that over 1.4 million people had gone […]
Schwarzenegger watch fetches $290,000
VIENNA, Jan 19, 2024 (AFP) – The Swiss watch that got Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger in trouble with German custom officials has been sold for 270,000 euros ($290,000), the actor’s charity said Friday. The action hero-turned-environmental campaigner was held at Munich airport Wednesday for failing to declare the bespoke Audemars Piguet timepiece that was being auctioned for his climate charity. Schwarzenegger called his brush with the law a “wild experience” at the charity dinner Thursday […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger held over luxury watch at Munich airport
MUNICH, Germany, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – Hollywood action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger was held at Munich airport on Wednesday for failing to declare an expensive watch, a customs spokesman told AFP. The Austrian-born actor and former governor of California, 76, was detained in the customs area on Wednesday afternoon after arriving from the United States, spokesman Thomas Meister said. Schwarzenegger was expected to be able to continue his journey later in the day but “the […]
Heavy snow, freezing rain hamper German travel
BERLIN, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – Severe winter weather prompted the cancellation of hundreds of flights Wednesday at Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, as the country faced heavy snowfall and freezing rain. A Frankfurt airport spokeswoman said 570 of 1,047 flights had been axed from the schedule by late morning as Germany’s business capital prepared for dramatic weather conditions. By early afternoon, all remaining departures were struck from the schedule due to the onset of freezing […]
Germany urges citizens to leave Lebanon swiftly
BERLIN, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – Germany on Wednesday urged its citizens to leave Lebanon quickly, warning that an expansion of the Israel-Hamas war could not be ruled out after a drone strike in Beirut killed a senior Hamas leader. “All German citizens, who are still in Lebanon, are asked to register on the ELEFAND crisis preparedness list and to leave the country as quickly as possible,” wrote the German foreign ministry on X, formerly […]
Scholz visits flood-hit northern Germany
BERLIN, Dec 31, 2023 (AFP) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled Sunday to parts of northern Germany hit by floods after days of heavy rains, urging the nation “to close ranks” in the face of the challenges posed by nature. The German leader arrived by helicopter at Verden an der Aller in Lower Saxony, one of the worst hit states, where he was briefed about the emergency situation as well as protective measures that had been […]
Arrests in Germany over ‘Cologne cathedral attack plot’
BERLIN, Dec 31, 2023 (AFP) – German police arrested three people on Sunday over an alleged attack plot targeting the cathedral in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. The “alleged means of attack” is a car, said police in the western city, adding that security measures have been stepped up around the site. The three suspects are believed to be linked to a Tajik who was arrested on Christmas Eve, said Cologne police chief Johannes Hermann. […]
Germany charges 27 over far-right ‘treason’ plot
By Deborah COLE BERLIN, Dec 12, 2023 (AFP) – German federal prosecutors said Tuesday they charged 27 suspected adherents of a far-right “terror group” arrested last year with involvement in a plot to attack parliament and overthrow the government. Among those charged are 26 people accused of membership of a nationwide extremist network around Frankfurt aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss, and one woman accused of supporting the group. “The accused are strongly suspected […]
Flights resume at Munich after snow, trains still disrupted
MUNICH, Germany, Dec 3, 2023 (AFP) – Flights resumed at Munich airport on Sunday, a day after they were suspended due to snowfall, but disruption to rail traffic in parts of southern Germany was set to continue. Germany’s second largest airport said on its website that flights resumed at 6:00 am (0500 GMT) but added that some “disruption to air traffic” would continue and advised passengers to check with their carriers well in advance before […]





