Volkswagen’s smallest model – the up! – will launch in December. We tested it, and much more than the price is right about this little gem of an automobile.
Tag: germany
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Yvonne, The Cow On The Lam, Is Back!
Last May, this humble bovine in Upper Bavaria, Germany, went missing. For months she hid in the woods, prompting a Facebook page and cash reward for her return — and becoming an international media star in the process. And now, of her own free will, she’
Already locally regulated, Bonn’s street walkers will now be taxed on a per-night basis. Well-organized as ever, the German city has built a handy automatic dispenser where prostitutes can purchase a 6-euro ticket per night.
They look like a cross between a prison cell and an office container, but go by the fancy name of “Wies’n-Loft” — or “Field Loft.” They’re not cheap, but it’s better than nothing if you can’t get a hotel during Munich’s Oktoberfest.
Among the documents found in the dead terrorist leader’s house in Pakistan was one that appears to have been destined for a terrorist operative in Düsseldorf who was planning an attack in Germany.
Seventeen winners of the Nobel Prize for economics are gathered this week on Lindau, an island in Germany’s Lake Constance. Die Welt asked the laureates for their take on the ongoing debt crisis and the splintering of the euro zone. The bad news is they a
With its handling of an ongoing spill in the North Sea, it would seem oil multinational Shell has not absorbed the lesson of BP’s 2010 catastrophe. Small compared to last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill, the Shell leak is nevertheless the worst for the North
The Chaos Computer Club is hosting a summer camp for 3,000 hackers from around the world in Brandenburg, formerly in East Germany. Participants talk, try stuff out on their computers and party. They’re also planning an ambitious project: a trip into outer
Anonymous offshore bank accounts are nearly as old as banking itself. While pressure in Europe may be mounting to crack down on tax evaders, there are still plenty of options — from Asia to some familiar European havens.
The bankruptcy of America’s Evergreen Solar has sent chills down the spines of German solar manufacturers. Solar energy company stocks are crashing on the market. But just how vulnerable is the industry?
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Kursumlija, Serbia’s City Of Women
The municipality of Kursumlija is the poorest in all of Serbia. But a determined lady mayor and fellow female officers intend to turn it into “a Serbian Switzerland.”
The standing wave of Munich’s Eisbach River has encouraged a lively surf scene – and a new niche industry along with it. Some of the city’s river riders are starting to make a name for themselves outside of Germany as well.
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Don’t Bet On A Global Recession
Op-Ed: deep uncertainty in markets around the world doesn’t change two basic structural facts that will stave off recession: credit is available, and emerging countries are joining the world economy’s top ranks.
Yvonne, a dairy cow, has been hiding since May in the woods near Zangberg, a tiny Bavarian municipality. So far, she has eluded all attempts at capture – but now it’s Ernst the bull’s turn to be trucked in, in the hopes he can woo her out.
Lower salaries and a well-structured bailout have made Ireland competitive again, though its export-driven growth is still vulnerable to the fallout of a reeling world economy. Looking for signs of a way out for us all.
Op-Ed: The worldwide debt crisis means that citizens, governments and the financial world must confront a bitter reality: living on credit has to stop, and dangerous deficits should be forbidden. The transition will be painful. But it’s high time.
After an ineffective weekend flurry of phone calls among world leaders, confidence in governments’ ability to react is eroding. And the uglier it gets, the more politicians will focus on their own skin rather than finding a common solution. Buckle up.
A new German law requires therapy for criminals who served their full sentences but are still deemed too dangerous for release. In the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, therapy sessions are set to begin in a refurbished facility that looks a lot like a prison
Charged with redefining the way well-being is measured in Europe’s biggest economy, German social scientist Meinhard Miegel sees the national debt crises as a sign that people will need to find new ways of being satisfied with less.
Modern medicine makes it possible to perform ever riskier operations on ever older patients. The result? A rising rate of post-anesthesia deaths, according to a study published in the Germany Medical Association’s Deutsches Ärzteblatt journal.
After outing some high-profile tax evaders by selling Liechtenstein bank account information to investigators, Heinrich Kieber disappeared. Recently, he turned up in Australia, only to disappear again.
Humans often hurl animal-based insults at each other. But in Germany, crass language can be costly, especially if you call someone an “alte sau.” Silly goose, not so much.
Exclusive: Things haven’t been the same for Germany’s E.ON since the March 11 nuclear catastrophe in Japan. The subsequent phase-out of nuclear energy in Germany is costing the company billions. E.ON is now planning radical cost-cutting measures that are
The privately-run German postal service has more logistics business than any other single enterprise. Now it is taking its stab at competing in the Internet age – and the news business.
Graffitist “OZ”, who’s been tagging Hamburg buildings for two decades, was sentenced again Friday to 14 months for continuing to deface property. An underground hero to some, criminal vandal to others, the spray painter insists that not even jail
Analysis: After the deadly Norway attacks carried out in the name of fanatical conservative ideology, it is time for Northern Europe to take stock of its increasingly extreme views on the political right: from rabid defense of Danish cartoons to the rise
Israelis have traditionally considered Richard Wagner the “composer of the Holocaust soundtrack.” This week, the Jewish state’s top Chamber Orchestra faced the taboo head on, performing a Wagner piece for the first time in his native Ger
Spurred by soaring unemployment at home and Berlin’s active recruitment of skilled workers, young educated Spaniards are heading for Germany like southern Europeans last century.
For years, the German government has steadily raised the price of cigarettes. But rather than rake in revenue, the tax policy has sparked a spike in cigarette smuggling. Jin Lings, snuck in from Russia, Moldavia and the Ukraine, are particularly popular.
Prora, a 4 km-long monster of a building on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen, was originally a Nazi project. Now the bizarre structure – which is arguably more moderne than National Socialist — is part youth hostel, part tourist attraction.
A report has resurfaced that says radioactive waste from World War II was brought in1967 to a storage facility in Asse, in northern Germany, raising old questions about Hitler’s quest for an atomic bomb. But historians dispute that Nazi scientist
Scientists working for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are researching the many different ways human waste can be put to good use — such as powering electrical current with human excrement, or purifying urine into drinking water.
Like hundreds of others in Germany, and a few cases popping up elsewhere, one 29-year-old is lucky to be alive, but otherwise facing major health problems.
Despite some signs of decrease right-wing extremist violence in Germany as a whole, the former Communist eastern part of the country has registered an uptick in Neo-Nazi action.
Op-Ed: Germany is doing itself no favors by sticking with the euro. Instead of bailing out the hapless likes of Greece and Portugal, Germany should join other countries that share a similar economic culture and create a new hard currency: the “nordeuro.’’
As a potential place to invest, Berlin ranks high. At least that’s what the polls say. But when it comes to putting its money where its mouth is, big business is shying away from launching into a long-term relationship with the attractive German capital.
Mercedes is building a hybrid Popemobile for Benedict XVI’s upcoming visit. That’s a departure from the usual—for every day getting around, His Holiness sticks to Italian makes.
OpEd: It’s time for European leaders to stop playing for time. Taxpayers alone cannot foot the bill for Greece’s debt disaster, and private creditors must quickly become a part of the equation.
Op-Ed: The new generation of German businessmen is the most female-friendly in history. Yet they are the ones who stand to lose if Germany’s older, chauvinistic business leaders decide to address the problem of workplace inequality with female quota laws.
Op-Ed: Germany is abuzz over the exploits of native son Dirk Nowitzki, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA championship. One German sportswriter says Nowitzki is proof that European-style team ball has eclipsed the star-driven approach Michael Jordan