What’s on in Germany: April 16 – 22
This Week's Highlights: Lionel Richie takes the stage in Frankfurt, a spring festival swirls through Munich, and one of Germany's biggest art fairs kicks off in Cologne.
Day: April 16, 2009
Germany
Germany
US soldier sentenced to life for Iraqi murders
A US soldier will be jailed for life for the murder of four bound and blindfolded prisoners in Iraq, a court martial in Germany ruled on Thursday.
Sweden
Introducing…Filip and Fredrik
This pair of zany, youngish guys have made one heckuva splash on Swedish television in the last year, and are now set break more TV barriers with a talk show to be broadcast live in Sweden from New York City.
Germany
No Angels star could leave prison soon
Nadja Benaissa, the No Angels singer accused of grievous bodily harm for allegedly having unprotected sex without telling her lover she was HIV positive – and infecting him – may soon be out of custody.
Germany
Crocodile on riverbank spooks cops near Berlin
Police in Berlin are trying to find out how a 1.20-metre-long dead crocodile turned up on the banks of the Oberhavel in Spandau.
Germany
Germany to boycott UN anti-racism conference
The German government is set to boycott the United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva next week, according to
Sweden
Sweden’s Filip and Fredrik get lost in the Big Apple
Live television is often full of surprises – even in Sweden. And when comic duo Filip and Fredrik are involved, there’s no way to predict what sort of wackiness may ensue when the cameras start rolling, The Local’s David Landes discovers.
Germany
Sleepless couple sues over loud snorer in upstairs flat
A couple from Bonn is suing their landlord for promising them a quiet flat – but failing to tell them about the man living above who snored so loudly they could not sleep.
Sweden
More Swedish unions approve pay cuts to save jobs
The number of unions in Sweden’s manufacturing sector agreeing to pay cuts and shorter working hours in an effort to save jobs is increasing dramatically.
Sweden
Suitors tour Saab headquarters
Buyers interested in purchasing in beleaguered Saab Automobile have been visiting the company’s main base of operations this week to get more information about its factories, organization, and business plan.
Sweden
Prosecutor: giving the pill to teens aids rape
A Swedish prosecutor thinks that health professionals who prescribe birth control pills to girls younger than 15-years-old should be charged as accomplices to rape.
Germany
Bayern’s Ribery fuels speculation on switch to Barcelona
Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery on Thursday fuelled further speculation over a switch to Barcelona after saying he understands why compatriot Thierry Henry plies his trade for the Spanish giants.
Germany
Blogs attack Facebook for neo-Nazi content
Critique from bloggers has spurred social networking site Facebook to block several profiles and groups preaching neo-Nazi rhetoric – but these are a small fraction of the hundreds of offenders, critics say.
Sweden
Confiscated Pirate Bay server on display in Swedish museum
A server previously used by The Pirate Bay file sharing site and taken by Swedish police in January 2008 is now on display at a Stockholm-area museum.
Sweden
Eccentric Swede turned empty cans into gold
The relatives of a man who spent the last three decades collecting empty cans on the streets of a town in northern Sweden were surprised to learn he was worth millions when he died.
Germany
iTunes launches movie downloads in Germany
Apple Deutschland now offers films for purchase and rent via iTunes, with some 500 available so far, the company announced on Thursday.
Sweden
ISP sabotages file sharing law
Broadband operator Bahnhof is continuing to destroy the IP address details of its customers in an open and fully legal bid to undermine Sweden's new anti-file sharing laws.
Germany
High rents threaten thousands of retailers
Some 5,000 German retailers are on the verge of ruin due to rising rents, the HDE industry association told daily Neue Rhein Zeitung on Thursday.
Sweden
‘Dad killed kids’ in Good Friday crash
Police believe that a car crash in southern Sweden in which two young boys died on Good Friday may have been planned by their 37-year-old father, who also died in the frontal collision with a local bus.
Germany
Desperate Opel: GM owes us millions
Troubled German carmaker Opel will likely soon demand millions of euros from its beleaguered US parent General Motors, which is threatened by impending bankruptcy.
Germany
Artists give Berlin Wall murals anniversary makeover
Restoration work began this week on murals painted on the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, 20 years after the Cold War barrier fell, organisers said. But some of the original artists are unhappy with their plan.
Sweden
Swedish navy set to join hunt for pirates off Somali coast
Sweden, along with Germany, is set to add manpower and materiel to a European Union anti-piracy operation currently underway off the Somali coast, according to the Spanish captain heading up the mission.
Sweden
Father confesses to gassing children
A father of three from Dalarna in central Sweden has been charged with attempted murder for trying to poison his children with the exhaust from a running car.
Sweden
Ex-girlfriend botches stun gun castration
A 26-year-old woman from Malmö has been charged for pointing a stun gun at her ex-boyfriend's genitals.