Free Republic

The legislation was passed in response to the widely reported incidents at Cologne’s main train station on New Year’s Eve 2015, where an estimated 1,000 women were sexually harassed, groped, and robbed by men operating in groups, who separated women from their friends in order to facilitate their actions. (Kate Connolly, Germany Toughens Rape Laws After New Year’s Eve Attacks in Cologne, GUARDIAN (July 7, 2016).)

...The German minister, who has just revised the number of asylum seekers who arrived in Germany last year to 890,000 -- down from a previous estimate of 1.1 million -- reiterated Berlin's commitment to taking its share of refugees who arrived in Greece and Italy in 2015 and the start of 2016. "Germany is ready to welcome up to 500 people per month" from the two countries, he said.

Angela Merkel was jeered and whistled as she arrived at German Reunification Day celebrations in Dresden on Monday. Shouts of “get out” were heard as the German chancellor arrived in Dresden — birthplace of xenophobic movement PEGIDA — for celebrations. The angry crowd in the east German city also waved signs saying “Merkel must go”. The German leader has been under pressure at home over her liberal refugee policy that saw an influx of nearly one million migrants last year. …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel cannot afford to bail out Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) given the hard line Berlin has taken against state aid in other European nations and the risk of a political backlash at home, German media wrote on Saturday. The government denied a newspaper report on Wednesday that it was working on a rescue plan for Germany's biggest bank, as its shares went into a tailspin fueled by a demand for up to $14 billion from U.S. authorities for misselling mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis. Germany, which has insisted Italy and others accept tough conditions in tackling their...

While it now seems that Friday's rumor of a substantially reduced Deutsche Bank settlement with the DOJ, which sent the stock price soaring from all time lows, was false following a FAZ report that CEO John Cryan has not yet begun the renegotiation process, and in the "next few days" is set to fly to the US to discuss the proposed RMBS misselling settlement with the US Attorney General, Germany's largest lender continues to be impacted by the public's declining confidence, exacerbated over the weekend by a disturbing "IT glitch." For one, it remains unclear if Friday's report halted, or...

BBC Wales viewers were left fearing that the apocalypse was nigh last night – after the subtitles for a weather forecast predicted that ‘Nazi ghosts’ were on the way.

Germany’s highest official responsible for refugees has again called for the return of asylum seekers to Greece as the first EU country they normally reach, saying the European Union’s Dublin Regulation should be implemented regardless of objections by Athens. “I would like the Dublin convention to be applied again... we will take up discussions on this in a meeting with (EU) interior ministers,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in an interview published in the Greek media on Sunday, saying talks on the issue will take place later this month.

A veteran ally of Angela Merkel urged Muslims in Germany on Sunday to develop a “German Islam” based on liberalism and tolerance, saying the influx of people seeking refuge, many of them Muslims, is a challenge for mainstream society. Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, stepping out of his usual finance remit, urged tolerance, saying the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants required a better understanding among Germans of what is important to them and how they want to live. […] Schäuble, a stalwart of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), said: “Without a doubt, the growing number of Muslims in our country today...

Drunken migrants in a refugee shelter in Germany have rioted, smashing doors and property as well as robbing, attacking and injuring security staff. The incident began in the facility in the district of Reinickendorf, north Berlin, after security discovered their office had been looted and the door broken down, Berliner Morgenpost reports. Tensions then escalated after the staff decided to switch off the lights at around 2am. Around 50 migrants began to riot, punching and kicking the security personnel and vandalising cars nearby.

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday that Britain would trigger the formal process for leaving the European Union before April, putting to rest weeks of speculation on the timing of the move. […] While the prime minister previously had hinted she planned to initiate Britain’s EU exit early next year, many observers had speculated she would wait until France’s presidential election ends in May. […] The prime minister also said she would ask Parliament to repeal the European Communities Act, which automatically makes EU rules the law of the land in Britain. May said her government instead would incorporate...

The meeting with Donald Trump’s emissary was discreet, the location carefully chosen — it was supposed to seem informal. Ultimately, an unremarkable café in Washington D.C. was picked. And in April, Markus Ederer, state secretary in Germany’s Foreign Ministry, met there with Trump advisor Sam Clovis. Ederer was tasked with finding answers to a central question. What would a Trump victory mean for German-American relations? And how serious is the Republican candidate with his foreign policy blustering? The German government long doubted that the real estate magnate would even become the Republican candidate for president. Now, though, even after the...

Germany’s economy ministry believes a Donald Trump presidency would severely damage the U.S. economy, according to an internal memorandum reported by Der Spiegel magazine on Saturday. The ministry expects “shrinking gross domestic product, fewer jobs and higher unemployment,” in the United States if the Republican candidate were to implement his campaign pledges, the magazine cited the memo as saying. […] Trump’s pledges are “not feasible”, Spiegel cited the memorandum as saying. Moreover, the plans would violate international or U.S. law and could be “no basis for a realistic economic policy.” …

The mayor of a village in Germany had to be hospitalised after he was severely beaten in a suspected far-Right attack over his support for asylum-seekers. Joachim Kebschull, the mayor of Oersdorf in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, was attacked from behind as he walked to a planning meeting on Thursday night. The 61-year-old was beaten with a club by unknown assailants who fled after he lost consciousness. Police believe the attack is linked to the mayor’s support for plan to accommodate asylum-seekers in the village. Hours before the attack, he received a threatening letter which contained the phrases “He...

Looking for any confirmation. Rumor is tanks and sharpshooters, news embargo, web cams shut down. Found one Dutch blog, would like more info, especially if it's false (or true!)...

Previous reports had suggested that around 1.1 million people entered Germany to seek asylum last year. But now the German government has confirmed the number was actually lower. On Friday Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière confirmed in a press conference that around 890,000 asylum seekers came to Germany last year. […] De Maizière had previously explained that the first number reported was probably too high due to multiple registrations and the inclusion of people who did not stay in Germany, such as people who went back to their homelands or left for other EU states. “The number 890,000 is still...

U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as her favourite world leader, choosing specifically to praise her record on the migrant crisis — despite her policies on opening Europe’s borders now providing a source of immense regret for her party and Germany. The comments were made during a question and answer session on board Mrs. Clinton’s campaign aeroplane in Chicago yesterday, when a member of the press asked what the presidential candidate’s favourite world leader is. Initially leaving her answer quite open, remarking: “Look, I like a lot of the world leaders”, Mrs. Clinton then settled...

Commerzbank aims to cut around 9,000 jobs in the next few years and will scrap its 2016 dividend as part of efforts to reduce costs in the face of negative interest rates. This is according to a source close to the bank's supervisory board. The job cuts will be spread over the next few years up to 2020, but the size of the cull, representing nearly a fifth of the workforce at Germany's second biggest bank, implies that compulsory layoffs cannot be ruled out, the person said. "This is much more radical than previous measures," the person said. The revamp...

European Union nations pressed ahead Tuesday with plans to boost military cooperation as Britain vowed to oppose the creation of an EU army or headquarters. With Britain leaving the EU, France and Germany have been spearheading moves to boost Europe’s capacity to run its own security operations. […] “We are in a very strong Franco-German relationship and we think we will be able to make significant progress before the end of the year,” he said, standing alongside German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen insisted that “it’s not about a European army.” …

Optimism in Germany's boardrooms about the nation's economic outlook has surged, the Munich-based Ifo think tank has reported. Its closely watched business confidence index reached a new high despite Brexit worries. Business confidence among German executives surged to a more-than-two-year high in September, with optimism in boardrooms across the country rising faster than forecast by analysts. ..."German industry is expecting a golden autumn," Ifo President Clemens Fuest said in a statement.

Parenting magazine Baby & Family has told readers to beware of families who are “inconspicuous” and “cheerful”, as these warning signs indicate they are right wing and thus “dangerous”. Depicted with illustrations featuring solely blonde women and children, the report says ordinary parents must take action against right-wing families and make clear that their ideology has no place in the world. Asserting that the term “right wing” “stirs up anxiety” and brings to mind “burning refugee homes”, skinheads, and the National Socialist Underground (NSU) group who carried out a string of violent attacks on foreign people, Baby & Family notes...