Новости за 01.10.2015

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.

Newly-arrived British Ambassador to Berlin Sir Sebastian Wood said on Thursday that he hopes relations between the UK and Germany will get closer on his watch – and that more young Brits will make the leap of coming to live here.

Germany's wind power generation by September surpassed last year's total, thanks to favourable weather conditions and an expansion of wind farms, industry bodies said Thursday.

Why would you want to rent a concealed bunker built for the Stasi on the outskirts of Berlin in the 1980s? The Local tracks down the company behind the listing - and the history of the bunker under the GDR.

On October 3rd, Germany celebrates 25 years since reunification. But by that date in 1990, the cogs of reform had already been turning for quite some time. The Local looks at just what happened during this momentous year - from the night the Wall fell to the day two countries truly became one.

The number of German universities among the world's top 200 has almost doubled since this time last year. The Local asked rankings compilers Times Higher Education what's put such a spring in their step.

Europe's top human rights watchdog on Thursday voiced concern at mounting racism in Germany, citing a wave of far-right, anti-Islam demonstrations at odds with the more recent image of a country ready to open its doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees.

A mass brawl involving around 200 refugees from Afghanistan and Syria broke out on Wednesday night at an asylum centre in Hamburg which has been beset by problems.

German clubs suffered in the Champion League on Wednesday, as VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach both lost to the money-laden clubs of Manchester.

German prosecutors said Thursday that they had not launched a formal inquiry against Martin Winterkorn, the former chief executive of auto giant Volkswagen, contrary to what they originally stated this week.

A former top executive of German giant Siemens pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the US to a massive bribery scheme to win a $1 billion contract with the Argentine government.