European Travel News from WhereWhenWhy.EU

GERMANY TRAVEL NEWS

Hotel offers eastern bloc chic at modern day prices

15 June 2007

Long after the Berlin wall has fallen, an enterprising new-old fashioned hotel \"Ostel\" has opened in Berlin to offer guests a communist era experience.

The hotel, complete with Spartan furnishings and brown wallpaper offers clients a taste of eastern bloc chic at modern day prices.

The hotel is a former ‘Plattenbauwohnung’, a mass-produced concrete apartment block favoured by the old regime. Much of the furnishing is authentic, having been saved by the hotels creators, two ex-circus performers, from old store rooms, private homes and furniture dealers.

Germany

Alpine ski resorts to become unviable within decades?

13 December 2006

Global warming could make some Alpine ski resorts unviable within decades. A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said lower-lying slopes may soon be unusable. Resorts in Germany were most at risk with areas of the Austrian and Italian Alps being the next most vulnerable, these are followed by some slopes in France and Switzerland.

The study covered 666 Alpine slopes. At present 90% of the 666 slopes have a covering of snow for at least a 100 days each year. The report warned that just a 1 degree centigrade rise in average temperature would reduce this to 500 viable slopes. On current predictions this is likely to happen between 2020-2025. A two-degree rise, predicted by some to occur by 2050, would reduce the number of viable resorts to 400.

Germany,Austria,Italy,France,Switzerland

Moroccan convicted over 9-11 plot

16 November 2006

Following several trials and successful appeals, Mounir al-Motassadek, a Moroccan national, has been found guilty of being an accessory to murder in the 11 September 2001 World Trade Centre attacks.

He now faces up to 15 years in jail when sentenced. He has acknowledged that he was close to the hijackers and admitted attending an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan but insists he knew nothing of the 9/11 plans.

germany

Algerians to move more freely in Europe

13 November 2006

The 15 Schengen zone members (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) today announced that they would no longer consult each other before issuing visas to Algerians. This move is expected to cut waiting times from 15 days to one to three days.

Algeria,Austria,Belgium,Denmark,Finland,France,Germany,Iceland,Italy,Greece,Luxembourg,Netherlands,Norway,Portugal,Spain,Sweden

Germany challenge Turkey to lift Cypriot boycott

4th October 2006

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Turkey to lift its boycott of Cyprus. Turkey has not recognised the government of Cyprus since the country was split in 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the north of the island after a Greek-inspired coup. Merkel said that such a move is a "necessary condition" for progress in talks towards the integration of Turkey into the European Union. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded by stating that there was no chance of the boycott being lifted until the EU eased its embargo on Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.

Germany,Turkey,Cyprus

Bird Flu

Updated September 2006

To date there have been no cases of the deadly H5N1 virus in poultry or wild birds in the UK. However, birds in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Turkey have been affected.

UK,Austria,France,Germany,Greece,Hungary,Italy,Slovakia,Slovenia,Turkey