The SPD is calling for a quick drop in secondary wage costs, as a means of putting more money in people's pockets and so stimulating the economy and creating new jobs. Federal Association of German Industry calls for immediate action Duesseldorf. The president of the Federation of German Industry, Henkel, has demanded that the federal government implement immediate action to relieve the economy. The action should include a substantial cut to personnel taxes and to the highest tax bracket for commercial incomes. Henkel said that the German economy could not withstand a blockade until the 1998 Bundestag election.
Trial dealing with East German sentences begins in Berlin Berlin.
The Regional Court in Berlin is re-examining the last death sentence carried out in former East Germany. The 2 officers, independently, wanted to take up residence in West Germany and had gathered secret material, but their escapes failed. The Public Prosecutor's Office in Berlin has taken the position that the sentences hung upon the officers were determined by the Stasi and the Military Prosecution, and approved by then-East German leader Erich Honecker, in the full knowledge that the death penalty in such cases was a serious offence against human rights. Flood situation continues to improve slowly Frankfurt on the Oder. The catastrophe alarm in the flood area south of Frankfurt on the Oder is to be cancelled tomorrow, the president of the Environment Ministry of Brandenburg, Freude, announced.