Married couple share German ambassador role

The foreign ministry in Berlin appointed a married couple to share the ambassador's job in Slovenia, an unprecedented arrangement for Germany that allows them to balance work and family life. Natalie Kauther, 45, and Adrian Pollmann, 43, said they will share the post in the capital Ljubljana for four years from August. They have both been working for the ministry since 2005 and foreign assignments are part of the job, but have three children, aged seven, eight and 10, and were keen to find a family-friendly arrangement. They came up with the idea of a job share and put it to Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who agreed to give it a try.  Pollmann will be ambassador for the first eight months and Kauther will then take over for eight months in a rotating system. They have already done a job share once before: as joint deputy ambassadors to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.