Berlin: "Can we have some more?"

Berlin's Mayor, Klaus Wowereit (SPD), has been part of a court process in the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe over the last few days in an effort to receive a special emergency grant from the federal government. The problem: Berlin's 60 billion Euro debt that shows no sign of decreasing.

Wowereit has attempted to show that despite conscious efforts at saving, Berlin is struggling to become the 'financial centre of Germany'. Representatives from other states, such as the Ministerpräsident of Saxony Georg Milbradt (CDU), have been critical in their appraisal of Berlin's saving efforts however. An opinion supported by many Berliners - who are constantly confronted with new elaborate street beautification schemes taking place across the capital.

Fear exists amongst the more prosperous states that they may be further required to assist Berlin financially - something they have already been required to do for many years following the reunification of Germany in 1990. al

Sürücü court case fires up German and Turkish media

There has been extensive coverage in the German media over the last few weeks of the case of Ayhan Sürücü - a turkish-german convicted of the honour-killing of his sister, Hatun, in Berlin last year. The punishment handed down from the Berlin Landesgericht today - a period of imprisonment of nine and a half years - has been particularly heavily criticised.

Berlin's morning paper the Berliner Morgenpost has printed controversial photos of other family members celebrating the reduced sentence, whilst Germany's most widely-respected national paper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, has also weighed in to the argument by featuring a front-page article quoting Berlin Senator, Körting, as saying that "the Sürücü family should leave Germany, if they themselves have any sense of honour ".

Meanwhile, on the other side of Europe, Turkey's most influential newspaper, Hürriyet, was of the belief that such an intrafamilial honour-killing would have been far more severely punished had it been tried in Turkey - following new regulations introduced there late last year.

The integration of turkish immigrants into german culture has been a not unproblematic one for the german state since the 1960's, when many turkish families immigrated to Germany as part of 'guestworker' programmes. Currently, approximately 2.2 million turkish citizens call Germany home. al

Berlin's half-marathon gets Spring up and running

Accompanied by temperatures of 17 degrees and bright sunshine, 150,000 spectators crammed some of Berlin's most famous streets on Sunday to watch over 20,000 athletes take part in the German capital's half-marathon. First athlete across the line was Kenya's Paul Kosgei in 59 minutes and 7 seconds, the second fastest time ever.

Meanwhile, in the nearby states of Saxony and Brandenburg, wet Spring weather has led to state-wide flood-warnings and evacuations. Despite very prevalent news coverage in the German media, early prognoses suggest that water levels on the River Elbe will not reach those attained by the major floods of Dresden and surrounding areas in 2002. al