German government wants to facilitate immigration of skilled workers

Berlin (dpa)- Germany’s Federal Government wants to significantly facilitate the immigration of qualified workers from abroad with a new law. Under the plans approved by the Federal Cabinet, the rules for entering Germany and having professional qualifications recognised are to be simplified. Among other things, the idea is for a points system to enable people from non-EU countries to come to Germany to look for work.

Quiz_2022_Bundeslaender_2

Ticker: Solidarity with Ukraine

Berlin (dpa) - In order to better coordinate their investigations into war crimes committed in Ukraine, the justice ministers of the G7 countries have agreed to set up a specific contact point in each state. German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said after a meeting of the ministers in Berlin: “We all agreed that the most heinous war crimes are taking place in Ukraine.” He explained that improved cooperation was primarily about securing evidence and avoiding duplication. In addition to Germany, the G7 group of economically strong democracies also includes France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the USA and the UK. The Federal Republic of Germany holds the presidency until the end of the year; Japan will take over in 2023.

Tracking the spread of coronavirus in Germany

According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), a further 46.552 people in Germany have contracted the virus SARS-CoV-2 in the past 24 hours. (As per: November 29).

Scholz wants to make it easier to obtain citizenship in Germany

Berlin (dpa)-The German government wants to reduce the legal hurdles for obtaining citizenship and also to actively promote German citizenship to foreigners who have lived in Germany for a prolonged period. This was announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, Reem Alabali-Radovan, at an event entitled “Germany. Immigration Country. Dialogue for Participation and Respect”.

The desire to start-up

Perhaps Konrad Zuse invented the first computer only because he hated doing sums. The civil engineer from Berlin was looking for an alternative to doing the calculations himself. In 1941, he further developed his first mechanical calculating machines into the Z 3, the world's first programmable computer - and thus inaugurated the digital age.

A culinary journey

Typically German? Not when it comes to food. The different landscapes in Germany, each with its own unique ingredients, shape the dishes in north and south, east and west, just as much as the influence of the respective neighbouring countries - and with almost 3,900 kilometres of national borders, quite a few influences come together. Three examples.

High German and Low German

Stephan Elspaß, a linguist at the University of Salzburg, is co-editor of the Atlas zur deutschen Alltagssprache (Atlas of Everyday German, www.atlas-alltagssprache.de). The interactive atlas collects information about dialects in the German-speaking world and shows how different they are.

Celebrations create a sense of unity

There are many ways to drive away winter in Germany: on North Sea islands such as Sylt or Amrum, people try large bonfires on the beach called “Biikebrennen”. In North Rhine-Westphalia, loud, colourful Carnival parades with plenty of sweets, shouts of "Alaaf" and "Kamellen" are supposed to expel the winter demons. Nothing compared with the Swabian-Alemannic Carnival as celebrated in Baden-Württemberg, a far more sombre affair with scary wooden masks. However different all these customs may be, they have one thing in common: they are important festivals in their regions that have always brought people together. And as such, they are now also recognised by UNESCO as intangible World Heritage.