Ski season starts early on the Zugspitze
Some 1,500 skiers and snowboarders defied the climate change doomsayers to usher in the new season on Germany's highest mountain on Saturday, where over a metre of snow has already fallen.
Day: October 24, 2009
Germany
Germany
The political agenda of Germany’s new government
Germany's new governing coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on Saturday the main points of a common programme.
Germany
The main players in Merkel’s new cabinet
Germany's new centre-right coalition will be sworn in on Wednesday, with Chancellor Angela Merkel at its head for a second four-year term. The Local introduces the main players in her cabinet.
Germany
Clocks go back amid rising winter-time discontent
The clocks will be turned back one hour in the night from Saturday to Sunday, with more and more young people baffled about the purpose and annoyed by the consequences of daylight savings time. The Free Democrats have even made it a political issue.
Germany
Audi to invest massively in German plants
The Volkswagen subsidiary Audi is set to invest €1.9 billion in its own factories, it was announced Saturday. The move is part of a crisis-defying trend among Germany's luxury car brands.
Sweden
Söderling keeps home title hopes alive at Stockholm Open
Top seed Robin Söderling becomes the last Swede standing after defeating Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the Stockholm Open quarter-finals on Friday. Joachim Johansson was unable to fend off the challenge from Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci in his quarter-final draw.
Sweden
Ping pong prisoner’s pricey claim for injured pinky
A prisoner serving time in Gävle jail has received a pay out of 18,300 kronor ($2,700) in compensation, after injuring his little finger during a game of table tennis.
Germany
Coalition unveils agenda with tax relief
Germany's newly elected government unveiled its plans for the next four years on Saturday, spearheaded by €24 billion of tax cuts despite the country's mammoth debt mountain.
Germany
Stubborn doctors told to get swine flu vaccine
The chairman of Germany's official vaccination committee (STIKO) has told doctors to have themselves immunised against the H1-N1 virus whatever their personal opinions on the vaccine, it emerged Saturday.
Sweden
Electrolux phases out production home and abroad
Swedish appliance maker Electrolux is considering plans to phase out production at one of its factories in Motala in central Sweden. The company has also announced the closure of a plant in Spain which employs 450 people.
Sweden
Bergman’s island home to become arts centre
A Norwegian businessman has bought the home of the late Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman on the remote island of Fårö and plans to turn the property into an arts centre.
Sweden
Writer Guillou admits KGB connection
Prominent Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou had liaisons spanning five years with the Soviet intelligence service in the 1960s. Guillou maintains he was trying to reveal how the KGB was operating in Sweden.
Germany
Former prisoner to re-enact Stasi jail time
A former prisoner of East Germany's fearsome secret police will return to one of its jail cells in a reenactment of the communist regime's oppression 20 years after the Berlin Wall fell.
Sweden
Further deaths linked to swine flu vaccine
Health investigators are under more pressure as two elderly women are reported to have died, days after receiving the swine flu vaccine. It brings the total number of deaths linked to the vaccine in Sweden to four.