Most German Christmas markets don’t begin business until the end of November. But in some cities, the winter wonderlands are opening earlier than ever. What's going on?
Last year the Green Party suffered the humiliation of being ejected from the Saarland state parliament before limping in last in the national election. 12 months later they scored a stunning success in the Bavarian state election, a feat they are set to repeat on Sunday in Hesse. What explains this remarkable turnaround?
From the splendour of Neuschwanstein, swathed in the mystery of “Mad Ludwig’s” sudden death, to Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther translated the New Testament, you can learn a lot about Germany through its castles.
More than 900 German police, tax and customs investigators raided Berlin's biggest brothel, charging it is linked to the Hells Angels biker gang, and making six arrests, authorities said on Thursday.
Convicts forced to work in one German prison have started to refuse food - the only means they have of protesting against miserable wages and missing welfare payments.
When pet cat Aljosha disappeared from his home in North Rhine-Westphalia for seven weeks, his owner feared the worst. But Aljosha hadn't gone far – he'd been holed up in a neighbour's wine cellar lapping up €40 worth of Riesling.
German reunification has been an expensive 25-year project that hasn't always gone according to plan. Jörg Luyken asks if things would have been better if the two states never united.
The Sudeten German Homeland Association has given up its claim to the group's former home in parts of the Czech Republic, quieting one of the final echoes of the Second World War.
Security personnel's “warning strike” over pay at three German airports has led to travel chaos, with tens of thousands of passengers hit by cancelled flights and police barracading doors at Hamburg Airport.
The US National Security Administration was amazingly well-informed about German affairs even before it tapped the internet - newly released documents show it knew about plans to build the Berlin Wall ahead of time, but failed to tell President John F Kennedy.
Are Germans losing interest in tool belts and hammers? One of the country's biggest DIY supply chains Praktiker declared itself insolvent on Wednesday night, with nearly 20,000 jobs now at risk.
A violent thunderstorm swept through Germany on Thursday night, uprooting trees, flooding houses and causing massive transport disruption. An elderly man died when his basement flooded, while several more people were injured.
A German consumer watchdog has put together a “blacklist” of 500 products on sale, the contents of which have been systematically reduced while their prices have not, it was reported on Tuesday.
German airline Lufthansa said on Wednesday it will cancel nearly 500 European flights on Thursday during planned warning strikes by ground staff and other divisions within the group.
German police have carried out a string of busts against a network of companies alleged to have stolen more than €100 million from would-be real estate investors, prosecutors in Frankfurt said.
Germany’s drive to recruit highly-qualified workers from abroad has awarded more than 4,000 "Blue Card" work permits since it was launched last August, business magazine <i>Wirtschaftswoche</i> reported.
Passengers at the Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf airports on Thursday faced long waits and cancelled flights, after security personnel went on strike as part of an ongoing labour dispute. More disruption is expected, an airport spokesman said.
Chief medical officers can only communicate with one-third of their staff in German and more patients are complaining about many physicians' poor command of the German language, the head of the Berlin Medical Association said on Monday.
Travellers at several German airports could experience delays and flights cancellations on Monday, after security personnel walked off the job in a labour dispute.
The housing boom in Germany is continuing despite the eurozone debt crisis, with more individuals and investors applying for building permits this year than last.
German officials on Friday said they had found the first direct evidence of deadly E. coli bacteria on vegetable sprouts thought to have killed 33 people and left over 3,000 ill.
Regional train commuters across Germany may need to find alternative transport after drivers from 21 private rail operators went on a two-day strike Thursday morning.
The German government on Wednesday made it more difficult to file complaints about the sound of children playing in residential areas by altering noise pollution laws.
