Deutsche Bahn loses S-Bahn monopoly

National rail operator Deutsche Bahn is to lose its monopoly on Berlin’s suburban S-Bahn train network when its current contract ends in 2017. According to The Local Deutsche Bahn has been branded “incapable” by city transport head Ingeborg Junge-Reyer of...

Berlin film festivals screens The Ghost Writer

Berlin is to screen the premier of controversial director Roman Polanski’s film The Ghost Writer at next February’s Berlin International Film Festival in its Competition section. Polanski is currently awaiting extradition to the United States from Switzerland on charges related...

Berliners on welfare benefits

Almost 20 per cent of Berlin residents were claiming state benefits at the end of 2007. The latest figures released by Destatis, the government statistics office show that Berlin was well above the German national average, at 19.9 per cent,...

Berlin’s Sunday shopping hours

Berlin’s shop opening hours have been ruled unconstitutional by Germany’s Constitutional Court in a move that was labelled a “real step backwards” by Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit. Germany’s Christian churches, which still have a strong voice, had argued that Sundays...