Complete with a chill-out area for exhausted elephant keepers and a resuscitation room for distressed tropical fish, Frankfurt Airport's new Animal Lounge opened its doors on Friday.
<b>Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt has the reputation of being a grey place full of boring bankers. But Kasia Dawidowska discovers it’s actually not so dull along the banks of the Main River after all.</b>
Deutsche Bank was the only big European bank to bid for Bear Stearns in last week's fire sale and it might get another shot as shareholders balk at the takeover by JP Morgan Chase.
Dresdner Bank, part of Germany’s giant Allianz insurance group, will split up its investment and retail banking activities, a spokesman said on Friday.
German consumer prices rose 2.8 percent in January on a 12-month comparison, driven by increases in the food and energy sectors, but fell 0.4 percent from December, official data showed on Friday.
<b>The euro has surged to a record high against the US dollar, as Europe’s single currency broke through the important psychological barrier of $1.50 late on Tuesday.</b>
Public clinics across Germany will be staffed only by essential personnel on Thursday due to a strike by health workers. The strike by members of the Ver.di united services union has been called to press for an eight percent pay rise. The German Business Institute calls the claim “unserious.”
Hessian Minister of Education Karin Wolff has resigned, after coming under fire in the recent state parliamentary elections for her rapid pace of reforms. On Wednesday, Wolff published a letter to Hessian Premier Roland Koch (CDU), saying that she will not be in the next state government.
Politicians in the German state of Hesse have still not formed a government due to disagreement between the parties. A coalition has yet to be formed along traditional lines and the CDU and SPD refuse to form a grand coalition emulating that of the federal government.
Younger voters’ anger over CDU candidate Roland Koch’s harsh rhetoric and plan to combat youth crime was a blow to the centre-right party in Hesse’s state parliamentary elections on Sunday.
The Dax, an index of the top 30 German companies, made a 5 percent gain on Thursday, as good earnings in the real economy, as well as gains in Asian and American markets helped calm the mass panic on the bourses.
