Here are some big stories that have been in the German news!

 Here are some big stories that have been in the German news! 

German Green politicians Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir were faced with credible far-right death threats according to authorities and were placed under protection. 

In Dresden a politician belonging to the satirical party, die Partei (the Party), declared a Nazi-Notstand (Nazi state of emergency) to draw attention to the city's, and Saxony's (eastern German state Dresden is the capital of) problems with the far-right. 

Hate crimes have gone up in Saxony and I have seen some worrying statistics related to racist attitudes in the state.

 Dresden is also were the far-right group PEGIDA meets every week.

Nonetheless other politicians fear that the declaration (which is symbolic) well hurt Dresden's tourism industry as the city is very beautiful and historic having rebuilt much of its structures after the horrific bombing it faced in WWII. 

I visited Dresden last year and was impressed by its beauty and hip modern areas as well.

 I want to be clear that there are still plenty of good people in eastern Germany and most don't vote for the far-right. 

But I still think the declaration was the right thing to do as Saxony does have issues with racism including within its police force.

 Police vehicles have been issued in Saxony which contained symbols similar to those used by the Nazis and a former police applicant spoke out on the racism that he saw within Saxony's police force.  

The German government plans to roll out more charging stations for E-Autos to encourage greater use of environmentally friendly vehicles. 

Germany's main court declared certain sanctions in Hartz-IV, Germany's welfare system, to be unconstitutional. 

Cutting benefits by 60% if a Hartz-IV user refuses a job offer was among the measures declared to be unconstitutional.