The agreement was struck between Hamburg city authorities and the council of Islamic communities (Schura), the Turkish-Islamic Union (Ditib), the association of Islamic cultural centres (VIKZ), as well as the city's Alevi community. Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz was set to sign it on Tuesday, the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reported.

Religious instruction in schools and state recognition of Muslim holidays are among the cornerstones of the deal, which ties into existing agreements with Christian churches and Jewish communities.

In future, Muslim teachers will join Protestant pedagogues at the front of the classroom, the paper said. Moreover, Muslim holidays would be given equal status with other religious holidays, such as the Day of Prayer and Repentance celebrated by Christians.

The agreement, which was launched by the city's former mayor Ole von Beust in 2007, also sees Muslim groups pledge to adhere to the core values set out in Germany's constitution - including religious tolerance and gender equality.

Yet despite broad support for the deal in Hamburg's legislative assembly, not all politicians have endorsed it.

Members of the pro-business Free Democrats have taken a critical view, with the party's deputy in the assembly, Anna von Treuenfels, telling the Hamburger Abendblatt that such agreements "fundamentally contradict the liberal world view that calls for maximum possible separation of religion and churches and the state."

She also warned that "imprecise" formulations in the agreement could open the city up to legal headaches - saying it does not expressly regulate the wearing of headscarves or other religious clothing, such as the burka, during school instruction.

Hamburg's school board dismissed those concerns, however, saying decisions on such issues would be made on a case-by-case basis.

"As soon as clothing has a de-personalising effect, the line has been crossed and wearing it would not be allowed," spokesman Peter Albrecht told Hamburger Abendblatt. "Wearing a burka during class in Hamburg is not permitted."

The Local/arp

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The data, released by the German government at the request of the parliamentary faction of the socialist Left party and published in the daily Thüringer Allgemeine, shows the buying power of seniors in eastern Germany dropping 22 percent since 2000, and 17 percent for those in western Germany.

Left party co-chair Bernd Riexinger criticized the government over the figures, and said the "downward spiral in pensions" must be stopped. He added that in eastern Germany, more than anywhere, there is an "avalanche" of old age poverty on the horizon.

The average pension payments, after deductions, in western Germany are €1,062 (up €17 since 2000), in eastern Germany the figure is €1,047 – a drop of €23 since 2000, the paper reported. Over the same period, the consumer price index rose about 20 percent.

More seniors in Germany are continuing to work into their old age. In 2000, 280,000 pensioners had €400-a-month jobs, which are exempt from taxes and national insurance contributions.

This figure has risen to about 761,000, the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported last month. Of those, 120,000 were 75 and older, the newspaper said.

Critics views those statistics with alarm, arguing that the seniors are not staying in the workforce because they want to, but because they can't live off their pensions.

The issue of pension reform has recently pitted Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen against younger members of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Von der Leyen supports supplements to raise the current basic pension of €688 per month to €850. In a letter to her party's junior members, she said: "At stake is nothing less than the legitimacy of the pension system for the younger generation."

FDP leader Philipp Rösler told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper last month that the plan would "cost millions. We do not have the money for that in the pension fund."

Young members of the FDP and CDU are promoting more private pension savings for low income earners.

The government has proposed reducing pension contributions from 19.6 to 19 percent by the end of the year, but the proposal has stalled in the Bundesrat, or upper house of parliament, where members refused to take a stand on the issue, the daily Die Welt reported Saturday.

The Local/mbw

At around 6:30am, a 23-year-old man was shot in the central Alexanderplatz area. He was found lying in a doorway at the train station with life threatening injuries by passersby. Police said that the bullet went through his groin.

Paramedics were called to the scene and the victim was taken to one of the capital city's hospitals, where he received emergency surgery. He was reported to be in a critical condition.

The identity of the attacker is not known - nor is the motive behind the shooting. An investigation has been launched.

The attack came around just 24 hours after another man was shot elsewhere in the city. A 22-year-old was returning from a party at 5am when the group he was with was approached by a stranger.

An argument broke out and the attacker pulled out a gun and fired a shot into the air. The seven-strong group of friends tried to carry on walking but the young Berliner was shot in the stomach as he left.

Police are appealing for witnesses, and have been asking taxi drivers working in the Schöneberg area at the time if they say anything. So far, no clues have emerged.

DPA/DAPD/The Local/jcw