Deportations to Afghanistan restart as Germany takes action after Solingen attack

A deportation flight from Germany took off to Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban took power.

According to a report in Spiegel, a chartered Qatar Airways flight took off from Leipzig towards Kabul early on Friday morning with 28 criminal offenders from Afghanistan. The operation was organised by the Interior Ministry.

“This morning, for the first time since August 2021, Germany returned Afghan nationals to their country of origin,” government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit told Spiegel. “These were Afghan nationals, all of whom were convicted criminals who had no right to stay in Germany and against whom deportation orders had been issued.”

As well as tightening knife laws, the German government said on Thursday it would refuse benefits payments to migrants set to be deported to other countries in the EU.

Three people were killed and eight others injured at a festival in the western city of Solingen on Friday, in an attack allegedly carried out by a 26-year-old Syrian man with links to the Islamic State group.

READ ALSO: 

• Germany announces tougher knife laws after Solingen attack
• German chancellor backs deportations to Afghanistan after policeman killed

Real wages in Germany rise for fifth time in a row

Collective wage increases and inflation compensation premiums are gradually making up for the previous loss of purchasing power for employees, new figures show. 

In the months from April to June, real wages in Germany rose once again, according to figures.

While salaries in Germany were nominally 5.4 percent higher between April and June than a year earlier, inflation was only 2.3 percent during this period.

The result is that in the second quarter of the year, real wages rose by 3.1 percent, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

The renewed quarterly increase in real wages is the fifth in a row. Real wages are calculated as nominal wages minus inflation and show what employees can actually afford from their earnings.

Consumer advice centre calls for monitoring of food prices

Consumer prices fell to their lowest level in August this year since 2021, initial figures show. 

But with the hikes in food costs in the last years, the Consumer Advice Centre is urging for more transparency. 

Food prices have risen by a total of 33 percent since 2021 in Germany, while the overall inflation rate is 20 percent. The hike is always explained by rising production costs, but citizens’ rights groups have questioned this. 

Ramona Pop, Director of the Consumer Advice Centre, said: “The high turnover of the food industry gives rise to the assumption that money is being made here at the expense of consumers.”

The centre is calling for more monitoring of food prices. 

READ ALSO: German inflation falls to lowest level in more than three years

Last day of strike at Discover Airlines 

Friday is the final day of a four-day strike by cabin crews and pilots at Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines.

Throughout the action there has been some flight cancellations, but not widespread disruption. 

The unions Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) and the Independent Flight Attendants’ Organisation (UFO) called on pilots and cabin crew to go on strike for four days up to and including Friday over a collective bargaining row. The strike will end at midnight on Friday. 

READ ALSO: Pilots and cabin crew to stage four-day strike at German airline Discover

Berlin’s BVG to change timetable on some U-Bahn lines

BVG is changing the timetables on several U-Bahn lines from September.

The aim is to make the entire system more stable, the company said this week. Due to technical problems with the outdated subway fleet, there are currently frequent delays and cancellations.

The changes include the U2 running every four and a half minutes instead of four minutes for around a year during school hours. Trains with a maximum length of eight cars will be used. 

From September 2nd, the U9 will only run every five minutes during rush hour (previously every four minutes).

There are also some changes on the U1/U3 lines and the U4 line.