Page 24 - Germany

German central bank sees economy stagnating again in third quarter

Germany's central bank anticipates that the country's economy, Europe's biggest, will be more or less stagnant again in the current quarter adding to a string of weak performances. German gross domestic product stagnated in the second quarter after declining in both of the two previous quarters as the country struggled with high energy prices, rising borrowing costs and weakness in China, which has been a key trading partner. The International Monetary Fund forecast last month that Germany would be the globe's only major economy to shrink this year, even with feeble economic growth around the world amid rising interest rates and the threat of growing inflation. A monthly report Monday from the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, indicated that the picture isn't about to improve. In the third quarter of 2023, German economic output will probably remain largely unchanged again, it wrote. The bank said that, while private spending should continue to recover thanks to stable employmen

German embassy praises India's UPI, shares video of minister making payment

The German embassy on Sunday described digital infrastructure in India as one of its success stories and shared a footage of its Digital and Transport Minister Volker Wissing using UPI at a vegetable shop here. "One of India's success story is digital infrastructure. UPI enables everybody to make transactions in seconds. Millions of Indians use it," the embassy said on X. It said Germany's Federal Minister for Digital and Transport Volker Wissing was able to experience the simplicity of UPI payments first hand and is very fascinated. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant payment system.

Indian air pistol team clinches first bronze in World Championship

The Indian men's 10m air pistol team, comprising Shiva Narwal, Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema won the country its first medal -- a bronze -- in the ISSF World Championship, which got underway here on Thursday. Their aggregate score of 1,734 was nine points adrift of Germany, who clinched the silver medal. China took the gold medal in the event. Narwal shot 579, Sarabjot 578 and Cheema 577 to aggregate 1,734 points. The World Championship also serves as the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification tournament. The Chinese team of Zhang Bowen (587), Liu Junhui (582) and Xie Yu (580) took the top podium with an aggregate of 1749 points, while the German team, comprising Robin Walter (586), Michael Schwald (581) and Paul Froehlich (576) bagged the silver medal with an aggregate score of 1743. However, none of the three Indian shooters could make the eight-player final and are not in contention for individual medals.

Rain in Germany causes flooding, leads to flight cancellations in Frankfurt

Heavy rain in parts of Germany caused flooding and led to dozens of flight cancellations at Frankfurt Airport, the country's busiest and a major European hub, authorities said Thursday. The airport said large quantities of water accumulated on the tarmac Wednesday evening and ground handling was suspended for more than two hours, German news agency dpa reported. The airport website showed about 70 flights were cancelled by 11 pm, when flying is ordinarily halted for the night, while 23 flights headed for Frankfurt were diverted to other airports. Downpours in parts of southwestern and central Germany led to flooded basements and streets. In Gelsenkirchen, in the western Ruhr district, the fire service said people were rescued from their cars where several highway underpasses were under water.

Child onboard Frankfurt flight injuried, expenses to be reimbursed: Vistara

Vistara on Wednesday said a child onboard a flight from the national capital to Frankfurt last week sustained injuries due to spillage of hot beverage and that all medical expenses due to the incident will be reimbursed by the airline. The incident happened on flight UK25 on August 11. The girl child, around 10 years old, was travelling with her parents, according to a person in the know. In a detailed statement, the airline also said it is reviewing and refining processes, wherever required, to avoid such situations in the future. An unfortunate incident occurred where a child sustained injuries due to spillage of hot beverage on the body, an airline spokesperson said. "Our cabin crew had served hot chocolate to the child on the request of her parents, however, the hot water spilled on her since the child was playful during the service. In line with the SOPs, our crew immediately provided first-aid as warranted for the spill, and sought support from a paramedic onboard, who ...

Germany and Spain in contest for $4.8 billion Indian submarine deal

Indian officials are currently evaluating competing bids to build six of the vessels in the country, senior Indian officials aware of the developments said, asking not to be named

Climate change: Life-threatening heat forcing Germany to ramp up defences

The country is already experiencing some of the worst-case effects of rising temperatures. Roughly 1,600 people have died this year as a result of the heat

India has maximum foreign students in Germany: Ambassador Ackermann

The highest number of foreign students in Germany are from India with over 42,000 students, a 25 per cent rise within a year, German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann said on Thursday. "Great! 42,000+ Indian students in Germany, 25 % more within one year. India now no. 1 group of foreign students in Germany, much faster than expected! Germany is popular among Indian students - and Indian students are popular in Germany, I hear from professors very often," Ackermann wrote an X. In an effort to keep up with the growing number of Indian students wanting to move to Germany on a student visa, the German Embassy's Academic Evaluation Centre had in April announced that it would replace the mandate for paper-printed certificates with digital certificates. "With the goal of accelerating processing times and making it easier for applicants to apply to a greater number of German universities, APS India is pleased to announce that starting from next week, paper printed certificates will be

Processing time for Schengen visa for travel to Germany reduced to 8 weeks

The processing time for Schengen visa for travelling to Germany has been brought down to eight weeks and efforts are on to reduce it further, Georg Enzweiler, Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy here, said Wednesday. "Visa is an important issue. We are striving to get better with application times. The thing is, we would like to change it from today to tomorrow but bureaucracy takes its toll. We are working on that through various means. We have increased our staff substantially in Mumbai and I think the waiting time has substantially gone down. "We are at roughly eight weeks now. We hope to get better with regard to that because of course it is what we want. We don't want to invite you here to promote tourism of Indians to Germany and then ask them apply for a visa three years in advance then you'll have a good chance," Georg Enzweiler said in response to a question at a press conference here. A Schengen visa is a short-stay (up to 90 days) visa that allows a person to ...

Overnight stay by Indians in Germany up 209% in '22; 65% of pre-Covid level

Indian tourists spent more than 6.23 lakh nights in Germany in 2022, a 209 per cent increase compared to the previous year, but the number was still 65 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels, according to new data from the German National Tourist Board. Romit Theophilus, director India for the German National Tourist Office (GNTO), said Indians spent more than 2.01 lakh nights in Germany in 2021. "The record level of 2019 with over 9.61 lakh overnight stays by Indians has not yet been reached. However, we have already reached 65 per cent of the level of 2019, leaving room for continuous growth as Indians return to travelling. There is huge demand among Indians for international travel," Theophilus said at a press conference here. "Germany is an attractive destination with exceptional offers. Our goal in the medium term is to reach the number of overnight stays we had before the COVID-19 pandemic. We have achieved a remarkable increase this year compared to 2021, which shows that our ..

Vodafone enters exclusive national roaming partnership with Germany's 1&1

Vodafone's new Chief Executive Margherita Della Valle is leading a turnaround of the group, and as part of that is seeking to improve performance in its largest market, Germany

US ratings downgrade puts focus on remaining nations with top credit grade

Countries with highest credit rating at S&P Global Ratings, Fitch and Moody's Investors Service include Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore and Australia

German data watchdog probing Worldcoin crypto project, says official

Worldcoin, which launched last week, requires users to give their iris scans in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free cryptocurrency as part of plans to create a new identity

Samil to acquire Germany-based Dr Schneider Group for over Rs 1,000 crore

Apart from the aforementioned three major global acquisitions, Samil has done seven other smaller acquisitions in India and other parts of the world in 2023

German firm Valtech Mobility enters India with Pune centre of excellence

German mobility firm Valtech Mobility on Monday announced its entry into the Indian market with the setting up of a centre of excellence in Pune. A joint venture between global business transformation agency Valtech Group and European auto major Volkswagen Group, Valtech Mobility has a robust global network and expertise in connected vehicles, shared mobility, electrification, and data monetisation. The decision to bring Valtech Mobility into the fold aligns with the company's global expansion strategy, underscoring its commitment to growth and establishing a strong presence in diverse markets, the company said in a statement. "Valtech's (Group) success in India, with established offices in Gurugram and Bengaluru, now extends to Pune with Valtech Mobility. Leveraging Pune's automotive hub, we aim to scale our team with 300 engineers in the next 2-3 years. We'll continue to foster close collaborations with our clients as we drive innovation right from the design and development phase

India skilled workers in huge demand as Germany tries to woo nurses

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed the country's intention to simplify work visa rules for Indian IT workers in February to fulfil the demand for software expertise

Jaishankar meets German V-C, discusses 'opportunities' for bilateral ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday held "productive" talks with visiting German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck focusing on "new opportunities" for bilateral ties. In a Twitter post, Jaishnakar said he and Habeck exchanged perspectives on the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in the Indo-Pacific. "Delighted to welcome German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck in New Delhi. A productive discussion on the many new opportunities of India-Germany cooperation that a rising India presents," he said. "Also exchanged perspectives on the conflict in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific situation," Jaishankar added. Habeck, who is also Germany's Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, is in India on a three-day visit. He is accompanied by a high-ranking official and a business delegation comprising top executives of large and medium-sized German companies. Habeck said India and Germany want to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and increase investments and collaboration

India engaged with Germany for return of baby Ariha Shah, says MEA

India on Thursday said it remained engaged with Germany for the return of an Indian baby girl, who has been living in a foster care in Berlin for over 20 months. Ariha Shah was placed in the custody of Germany's Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) on September 23, 2021 after the then seven month-old baby suffered an accidental injury. She has been in foster care since then. India has been maintaining that it is important for the child to be in her linguistic, religious, cultural and social environment. At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said sending back the child to India is important for her cultural and national identity. "We have made very clear our desire to safeguard the child's cultural and national identity and ensure her return to India. We remain engaged with German authorities in this regard," he said. "There are separate parallel judicial proceedings underway and we are keeping close track of that," Bagchi said, replying to a questi

India, Germany to strengthen bilateral ties: German Vice Chancellor

Germany's Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck on Thursday said India and Germany want to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and increase investments and collaboration among companies. He arrived on a three-day visit to India on Thursday. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Indo-German Business Forum here, Habeck also said China is Germany's biggest trading partner and a lot of German and European companies have invested in that country. "It is a huge market and this goes the same for India and for the US for example. On the other hand we see that being dependent on only one market could be a risk and even more so if we see that economic issues are not politically neutral, that interests are interwoven in the economic relations," he said. He further said "we can't decouple from China" but de-risking and diversification is of highest importance. Diversification, he said means that other partnerships, the Indo-German ...

Madrid, Rome shut down tourist places as temperature rises to 40 degrees

The high heat in the continent is a result of an anti-cyclonic high pressure system, named 'Cerberus' by the Italian Meteorological Society