German writer Gunter Grass passed away in Lubeck, near the farmhouse where he lived with his second wife, Ute. He was 87.

Five German aspiring models have been flown to New Zealand with the help of the Government's tourism department in a bit to boost visitor numbers.

German neo-Nazis are suspected of being behind threats to 'behead' a conservative politician for continuing to back a controversial refugee housing project.

Critics say German Chancellor Angela Merkel's unwillingness to spend is holding back the euro-area economy.

One year before he made the cut for Lufthansa's elite flying school, Andreas Lubitz worked at a Burger King behind a car wash, flipping Whoppers and frying fries and talking to co-workers about his dream.

The father of the Germanwings co-pilot who allegedly deliberately crashed his plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board, is said to be “completely shattered”.

Media reports tell of a disturbed young man in relationship crisis as friends say he was happy in job.

A judge has taken a German tourist's word that she will voluntarily pay thousands of dollars in compensation to a motorcyclist that she seriously injured in a head-on crash.

German retailing giant Aldi has brought a new supermarket experience to Australian shoppers.

Despite its dark past, this visitor-friendly city in former East Germany takes its history very seriously, as Mathew Dearnaley finds out.

The Christchurch child diagnosed with measles has passed the infectious period and has been given the green light to return to preschool, with no secondary cases being reported to health authorities.

New measles outbreaks are the result of New Zealand’s historically low vaccination rates, says immunisation expert Dr Nikki Turner.

Hundreds of thousands of German women were raped by British, American and French soldiers after the end of the Second World War, a German historian has claimed.

Passengers on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland last month have been exposed to measles, public health officials have confirmed.

She had spent seven months living and working in New Zealand as an au pair, but German woman Janine Baer lost her life after a crash that killed her mother.

As 4500 tonnes of explosives fell from 800 British planes, 25,000 Dresdeners died in a raging firestorm and the heart of their historic city was obliterated.

Jozef Paczynski recalls the "welcome" speech the deputy commandant of Auschwitz gave on his arrival in 1940, down to the last chilling word.

A Duesseldorf court has ruled in favour of a man's right to urinate while standing up after his landlord demanded money for damage to the bathroom floor.

Europe is on high alert following anti-terror raids and arrests of suspected Islamist militants.

Munich's Oktoberfest is the largest festival in Europe and one Josh Martin enjoyed a little too much.

The controversial anti-Islamic Pegida movement and terror attacks in neighbouring France are polarising Germany.

Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a stinging attack on Germany’s growing anti-Islamic protest movement, accusing leaders of preaching prejudice and of hijacking positive political slogans.

A 93-year-old German man Oskar Groening, who claims he was an accountant at Auschwitz, to go on trial for being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 prisoners.

Marco Rojas is likely to leave his current club SpVgg Greuther Furth in January - and is almost certain to be playing his football outside Germany next year.

After nearly three years of tough talking, British Prime Minister David Cameron is facing a crunch moment in his troubled strategy towards the European Union.

World War II's greatest escape, which involved Kiwi officers scaling barbed wire fences instead of the previously favoured method of tunnelling, has been told for the first time.