Politicians, newspaper editorials and even their own co-workers lambaste pilots for all but shutting down country's biggest airline Striking Lufthansa pilots have faced criticism across Germany and from their co-workers for demanding higher pay and early retirement terms while ranking among the nation's best paid workers. Politicians joined newspaper editorials and TV commentators in lambasting the...
Thierry Noir was the first to daub the ultimate symbol of communist repression with cartoonish graffiti, and his creations became world famous. Here, he talks about playing cat and mouse with the death strip guards, meeting Wim Wenders, and what happened when the wall came down Thierry Noir: the first graffiti artist fired up by the Berlin Wall ...
Monstrous as the Wall was, it offered artists like Noir and musicians like Bowie a dark subject matter that is lacking in safe consumerist societies Graffiti in the death strip: the Berlin wall's first street artist tells his story Has culture ever recovered from the fall of the Berlin Wall ? Seriously. The division of Berlin and state surveillance endured by people trapped in the eastern half of the...
Switzerland, Iceland and the Netherlands also scored well in Social Progress Index, which takes focus off economic output New Zealand has come first in a global index that ranks countries by social and environmental performance rather than economic output in a drive to make social progress a priority for politicians and businesses. The Social Progress Index (SPI) , published on Thursday, rates 132...
Declassifying the CIA's Bush-era atrocities will prove what we already knew. Now comes the part we must never forget Today, the Senate Intelligence Committee will finally vote on whether to make public a disputed report on years of torture conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency. They should vote to declassify this landmark document, as much for what it will remind us as that which we can never...
German artist's retrospective charts progress from early watercolours to controversial 1970s re-enactments of Nazi salute Anselm Kiefer is probably best known for his dramatic, monumental paintings, which are sometimes so heavy that gallery walls have to be reinforced for them to hang. But his first full retrospective shows there is much more to him than just size. For example, his early watercolours...
Growth for French and Spanish manufacturers tempered by weaker-than-expected UK data and slowdowns in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria There are renewed hopes that the eurozone economy picked up steam as it entered 2014 after a return to growth for France's manufacturers and a surge in activity at Spanish and Italian factories. The news from a batch of closely watched manufacturing surveys by data...
OECD findings show 15-year-olds are outperforming peers in most of Europe and the US, but lag behind those in Asia Teenagers in England have above-average skills in creative problem solving, performing better than their peers in most of Europe and the US, but still lagging behind the emerging economic powerhouses of Asia, according to findings released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation...
Top codebreaker at Bletchley Park who helped to decipher Hitler's messages Jerry Roberts, who has died aged 93, was one of the leading Bletchley Park codebreakers working on the Fish teleprinter messages sent between Hitler and his generals which revealed that the Germans had been fooled by British deception, so ensuring the success of the D-day landings. Roberts worked in the Testery at the Buckinghamshire...
Fans including Nobel prizewinner JM Coetzee petition to buy site where composer lived in his 20s currently in use as a car park Museums, archives, palaces and memorials are dotted around the German cultural city of Weimar celebrating famous writers Goethe and Schiller, Bauhaus painters Kandinsky and Klee and other important cultural figures over hundreds of years. But for one of Weimar's most famous...
Special databank said to hold 300 reports on chancellor Der Spiegel and Intercept cite document supplied by Snowden The National Security Agency appears to have included Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, on a list of world leaders subject to surveillance. The news, the latest extracted from documents supplied to media outlets including the Guardian by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden ,...
With German plans to curb 'benefit tourism' and Osborne writing about EU fairness with Schäuble relations appear to be warming The British government has a new best friend, and it won't let anyone else leave the playground before they've heard all about it. Since rolling out "the reddest of red carpets" for Angela Merkel last month, no further sign of the new British-German alliance has been...
Current account deficit "horrible" at £22.8bn Eurozone sentiment hit 5-yr high in March Germany backs UK demand to protect interests of non eurozone members Insurance stocks hammered as UK regulator plans probe of 30m policies 1.54pm GMT In Berlin the red carpet has been rolled out for China's president Xi Jinping, the first state visit to Germany by a Chinese president in 8 years. The Chinese president...
George Osborne publishes article with counterpart Wolfgang Schauble arguing countries not using euro must be treated fairly David Cameron's hopes of renegotiating Britain's relationship with the EU have received a boost after Germany said the UK must not be put at a disadvantage by eurozone nations' moves to integrate more closely. In a joint article for the Financial Times the chancellor, George...
German government reportedly plans to remove residency rights from EU immigrants if they fail to find work after three months David Cameron has welcomed proposals by the German government to deny residency rights to jobless EU migrants and to prevent the re-entry of those who abuse EU rules on the free movement of people. The prime minister, who has been holding talks with Angela Merkel and his Dutch...
Article by chancellor and finance minister confirms signals that Germany is keen to provide assurances over EU membership David Cameron has received a highly significant boost to his campaign to renegotiate the terms of Britain's European Union membership after Berlin said that any EU treaty change must protect the interests of non-eurozone members. In a sign of Angela Merkel's determination to keep...
Collector who stashed away collection of masterpieces signals that he will return artworks to descendants of original owners Cornelius Gurlitt, the reclusive elderly collector who was in 2012 discovered to have stashed away a unique collection of modernist masterpieces in his Munich flat, has signalled that he will return looted artworks to descendants of their original Jewish owners. According to...
More paintings found in Austria, including one by Monet, as lawyer says some may be Nazi loot A recluse who hoarded a priceless art collection at his homes in Germany and Austria including works possibly looted from Jewish owners by the Nazis has for the first time agreed to hand back a piece of art, his representatives said on Wednesday. The unidentified artwork belonged to a trove of some 1,400 works...
Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst was removed from his post after church inquiry into the cost of his new complex Pope Francis has permanently removed a German bishop dubbed the 'bishop of bling' from his Limburg diocese after his €31m (£26m) residence complex caused an uproar among the faithful . Francis had temporarily expelled Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst from Limburg in October...
German company gives boost to offshore wind industry with £160m investment Manufacturing company Siemens is to invest £160m in wind turbine production and installation facilities in the UK, creating 1,000 new jobs. The German company had been working on plans to invest £80m, which would have led to 700 jobs, but it has decided to revise its plans, giving a boost to the offshore wind industry. The...