Walton Ford’s lusty menagerie debuts in Berlin
For the first time ever in Europe, US artist Walton Ford’s vivid, sometimes pornographically violent animal paintings are on display in Berlin at an exhibition.
Day: January 22, 2010
Germany
Germany
Court rules excessive toilet time no grounds for docked pay
Frequent toilet visits are not grounds for an employer to dock a worker’s pay, according to a Cologne court ruling published on Friday.
Sweden
Cartwheels in underwear leave schoolgirl with frostbite
A schoolgirl in northern Sweden is recovering from frostbite injuries to her fingers and toes after turning cartwheels in the snow in her underwear as part of a day of events organized by her high school's student union.
Sweden
Painkillers fly off Swedish store shelves
In the first two months of trading after the government overhaul of pharmacies in Sweden, supermarkets and petrol stations reaped around 10 percent of the non-prescription drug market.
Germany
Is Germany dying out?
“Birth rates at an all-time low!” “The Germans are dying out!” “Catastrophic birth rates!” The headlines couldn’t be more alarming, but the statistics behind them lead to more complex conclusions. Jacinta Nandi and Ben Knight pick apart Germany’s demographic anxieties for Exberliner Magazine.
Sweden
‘Partner may have written Millennium books’
Stieg Larsson was practically incapable of putting a sentence together and could not feasibly have written the best-selling Millennium crime trilogy without major assistance, claims a former colleague of the deceased author.
Germany
Speed skater Pechstein makes provisional Olympic squad
The German Speed Skating Federation (DESG) on Friday included Claudia Pechstein in a provisional squad list for the German 2010 Winter Olympics team, despite her two-year suspension for doping.
Sweden
Burger King trades blows with regulator over headbutt advert
The Swedish advertising ombudsman has upheld a number of complaints about a Burger King TV commercial showing one chef headbutting another in a cooking contest feud.
Germany
Talks stall over future of troubled Airbus military plane
Talks in Berlin on the troubled Airbus A400M military transport plane ended without a breakthrough on Friday but the parties still aim to reach an agreement by January 31, Germany said.
Germany
‘Mailbox bomber’ gets life in jail after nearly killing 12-year-old
A Berlin man known as the “mailbox bomber” was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder on Friday for building a bomb that severely injured his 12-year-old niece in November 2008.
Germany
German TV is murder
In the latest installment of Portnoy’s Stammtisch, The Local’s column about life in Germany, Portnoy examines the country’s beloved TV treasure Tatort.
Sweden
Guilty verdict for child rape teacher
A male high school teacher in Skövde, south west Sweden, has been found guilty of a string of sex crimes with a pupil and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Sweden
Win Amy Macdonald concert tickets
Singer-songwriting sensation Amy Macdonald comes to Stockholm on Monday, January 25th. The Local has two pairs of tickets to give away for a chance to see the 22-year-old who taught herself guitar and took the music world by storm with her heady mix of youthful exuberance and vocal maturity.
Germany
Munich Airport admits to serious security mistakes
Munich Airport has acknowledged two serious mistakes that led to Wednesday’s security breach, which allowed a person to slip away after his laptop set off an alarm for explosives.
Sweden
Sony Ericsson losses lower than expected
Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson reported a quarterly loss on Friday that surpassed market expectations but, amid plunging sales for the company, it continues to face fierce competition in the smartphone market.
Sweden
Swedish customs crack cocaine gang plan
Customs officers in Gothenburg have unravelled a scheme that saw cocaine being smuggled into the country from Costa Rica. The gang used stolen identification from pensioners and the disabled to receive drug parcels.
Germany
English film buffs bring Mönchengladbach to the big screen
Mönchengladbach doesn’t exactly conjure up the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but as Gwen Moores reports, that hasn’t stopped some enterprising English filmmakers from making movies in the western German city.
Germany
Man hospitalised after nuclear plant leak
A leak in a uranium enrichment plant in Gronau, Germany exposed an employee to a high level of radiation but posed no danger to people outside the facility, the firm operating the plant said on Friday.
Germany
Merkel calls minister meeting on Afghanistan ahead of summit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called a meeting of top ministers to discuss the country’s plans for Afghanistan ahead of the international summit on the strife-torn country in London on January 28.
Sweden
Sharp interest rate rises in late 2010: report
Homeowners will have less spending power by the end of the year according to a new report from state-owned mortgage lender SBAB, which predicts the Riksbank will begin a sharp interest rate increase in the autumn.
Germany
Berlin ensures future of Stasi file archive
Work at the Stasi file archive in Berlin will continue in the future due to the “unbroken need” of people for the information collected by feared East German secret police, Chancellery Chief of Staff Ronald Pofalla ensured on Friday.
Sweden
Children’s hospital faces probe over baby death
Parents of an 18-month-old girl who died after being admitted to the Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital with pneumonia say a shortfall in the quality of care led to their child's death.
Germany
German embassy distributes anti-Mafia tourist maps for Sicily
German tourists can now obtain a map of Sicily's capital Palermo flagging the shops that refuse to pay extortion money to the Mafia, the German embassy in Rome has announced.
Sweden
French workers free hostages at Swedish firm
Four managers who were being held captive at a Swedish-owned metals plant in France were released on Thursday after workers took radical action in a bid to press demands for better severance pay.