Bavaria

Bulgaria and Romania should not be admitted to Schengen. This was stated by the future prime minister of the German province of Bavaria Markus Söder.

"We need constant border control, and I hope you will forgive me, we do not want enlargement of the Schengen area and the inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania, this is the wrong signal," said Markus Söder, quoted by bTV.

Writer Mircea Cartarescu was awarded the "Thomas Mann" Prize for Literature on 2018, one of the most important German literary awards.

The operation of the BMW, Daimler, Audi and Porsche car manufacturing plants has stalled in Germany over a round-the-clock warning strike organized by the IG Metall trade union to pressure employers for a higher salary, local media reported on Friday.

European leaders will be forced to bow to public opposition to migration and concern over terrorism threats in 2018, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after meeting Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies in the German region Friday afternoon.

From the Russian Federation, the holiday messages came from President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill.

From the People's Republic of China, Vucic received greetings from President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

The German government wants to encourage rejected asylum seekers to voluntarily return to their home countries with a cash incentive, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told newspaper Bild am Sonntag on Sunday, Deutsche Welle reported. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel won the national election for the fourth time in September. However, she is yet to form a stable government in Berlin. Many people in Germany and other European countries feel that Germany is heading towards a snap poll.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the head of Bavaria's conservatives, and the leader of the center Social Democrats (SPD) on Thursday, his office said on Friday, quoted by Reuters. 

Representatives of the largest industrial union in Germany will be visiting Bulgaria next year to explore investment opportunities and launch new projects. This was agreed at a meeting of Deputy Economy Minister Alexandar Manolev with the Executive Director of the Bavarian Regional Union of German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers Elgar Straub, the Ministry of Economy and Energy said.

An unknown man took a hostage in a youth service in the German town of Pfaffenhofen in Ilm, province of Bavaria, the police said.

Police have isolated the area around the social office building, DPA news agency reported.

The criminal is believed to be armed with a knife. On-site special teams arrived. Security forces are trying to establish contact with the kidnapper.