Major news items in leading German newspapers

The following are major news items in leading German newspapers on Wednesday.

Die Welt:

-- The minimum wage which came in force in January in Germany increases the informal economy in Germany by 1.5 billion euros (about 1.7 billion U.S. dollars), and thus prevents a further decline of illegal work and employment, said a recent study of the Tuebingen Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) and the University of Linz.

The black economy's share of gross domestic product (GDP) therefore remains unchanged at 12.2 percent.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung:

-- The Jordanian military pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh caught by the radical militia Islamic State (IS) is presumed dead. Pictures from a video posted on Tuesday on jihadist websites showed how a person who should be the hostage was burned alive. It was initially not clear whether the pictures are authentic.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:

-- During their travel to several European capitals, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis didn't receive any open support for their debt plans yet.

It was clear that the Greek government is still elaborating on their position, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday. The German government is waiting for proposals, "and then we go into discussions." Enditem