Free Republic

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday offered US president-elect Donald Trump “close cooperation” based on the shared values of their liberal democracies. “Germany and America share the values of democracy, freedom, respect for the rule of law and human dignity, regardless of origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political belief,” said Merkel. “On the basis of these values, I offer close cooperation to the future president of the United States of America, Donald Trump.” Merkel also pointed to the global challenges Trump must tackle, saying that “whoever rules this country, with its tremendous economic might, military power and...

Hundreds of Berliners packed themselves into bars, cafés and other venues to watch the US presidential election results into early Wednesday morning as Donald Trump emerged as the next president. […] German Jan Hoepper, who came into the viewing party late, said that Trump’s wins across important states was not a surprise. “After Brexit, I was prepared,” Hoepper said. […] “I’m kind of not surprised, to be honest,” said American-Berliner Erin Single from Atlanta, Georgia. “There was a big discrepancy between what I was seeing in the media in Europe versus what I was seeing when I was visiting back...

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday said Russia could try to influence Germany’s general elections next year through cyber attacks or disinformation campaigns. […] The comments came in response to a question about whether Germany could experience the type of cyber attacks that have plagued the White House race, notably targeting Hillary Clinton’s Democratic party. …

A 12 foot wall is being built in Munich to separate a housing estate from a new migrant centre that will house 160 unaccompanied minors. Locals living in the Neuperlach Süd housing development in Munich, less than 100 metres from the site at which young migrants will be staying, went to court to get the wall built. Germans living in the area fear bad behaviour among the newcomers, and concern over likely levels of noise when they arrive, will lower the value of their properties if the migrant centre remains for an extended length of time, reports Der Spiegel. The...

The Federal Police reported on Friday that the number of crimes increased last year by 31.6 percent, mostly due to violations of immigration laws amid the influx of refugees into the country. The Federal Police recorded 436,387 crimes last year, which was an increase of nearly one-third on 2014. […] The biggest increase in crimes was in categories pertaining to immigration — violations of residency, asylum and freedom of movement laws. These made up nearly 40 percent of all crimes, or 171,477 cases, and an increase of 151.6 percent over 2014. The next largest increase was in the number thefts,...

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on Monday said he feared a messy stalemate in the US presidential election amid Republican candidate Donald Trump’s comments about the election being rigged. […] “(We) hope that it will be an election result which is accepted by everyone and that we do not possibly get a delayed stalemate,” Schäuble said as he arrived for talks with this eurozone counterparts in Brussels. “(Let us) believe in the rationality of democracy,” Schäuble added when asked if he was expecting turmoil in the markets after Tuesday’s election. …

A wall that will tower more than 12 feet is being built in Munich after locals raised fears young refugees would be moving into the area.

Snip: The real reason that left-wing Democrats, which is about all there are anymore, are so in favor of open borders is this. The Democrat Party politically, for its enduring power and thus survival, needs a permanent underclass of people dependent on government. And the fastest way to get them is to bring them here from poor nations when they're young, when they're uneducated and unskilled and can't work and thus they arrive totally dependent. And if this happens with a Democrat in the White House, they are going to grow very accustomed to the government of the United States...

Police arrested seven asylum seekers in raids on refugee shelters on Thursday on suspicion the men repeatedly raped an Iranian teenager and filmed the sexual assault. More than 30 police joined the raids on ten rooms in several accommodation facilities in the towns of Nagold and Wildberg in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, said police. “The Afghan asylum seekers are suspected of having raped a 17-year-old Iranian asylum seeker several times and of having filmed the acts,” police and prosecutors said in a brief joint statement. …

German President Joachim Gauck said he was worried about the prospect of Donald Trump winning the race for the White House, citing the US Republican hopeful’s “unpredictability” as a cause for concern, according to a magazine interview published on Sunday. […] The German president, whose role is largely ceremonial, said he hoped “that American democracy, which does not allow the president to act as an autocrat, that the system of checks and balances, of mutual control” of power would be maintained. …

German ministry wants migrants returned to Africa: report World News | Sun Nov 6, 2016 | 7:19am EST German ministry wants migrants returned to Africa: report left right 2/2 left right A migrant man carries a boy as refugees and migrants arrive on a raft on the Greek island of Lesbos, November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis 1/2 left right 2/2 left right 1/2 The German Interior Ministry wants to stop migrants ever reaching Europe's Mediterranean coast by picking them up at sea and returning them to Africa, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday. In what would be a...

Germany plans security investigations of all military recruits from July 2017 after its military counter-espionage service (MAD) identified 20 Islamists in the country's armed forces, German media group Funke reported on Saturday. A spokesman for the agency confirmed the figure, adding that 60 additional potential cases were under investigation. Draft legislation to be considered by the German parliament in the coming weeks would mandate investigations of all recruits to counter efforts by Islamic State to infiltrate the military and get weapons training, Funke Mediengruppe reported.

German police have arrested a Syrian man in Berlin suspected of plotting a terror attack on a city airport, it has emerged. The man, who has lived in Germany since 2015 and claims to be 27, was seized late last night at an apartment in the Schoeneberg district of the capital. He is suspected of belonging to a foreign terror organisation - believed to be ISIS, according to reports in Germany.

Leading economic advisers to the German government have called on European politicians to stop Britain’s exit from the European Union. “The German Council of Economic Experts calls for constructive negotiations to prevent an exit, or at the least to come to an agreement that minimizes the damage on both sides,” the experts wrote in their annual report. […] Even after Britain has activated Article 50, Brexit can still be prevented, they argue. They also encourage European leaders not to draw red lines on certain concessions which London might demand — a possible reference to Britain’s desire to impose immigration controls...

Germany’s justice minister is proposing legislation which would dissolve child marriages, with limited exceptions in cases where spouses are at least 16. Amid the recent influx of migrants to Germany, authorities are seeing a growing number of minors who claim to be married. The exact figure of child marriages in Germany isn’t known, but officials estimate there are more than 1,000. …

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing catastrophe over her failed migrant policy, according to a new report. During the first six months of 2016, migrants committed 142,500 crimes, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office. And the country has been hit by a spate of horrendous violent crime including rapes, sexual and physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking. Adding to the country's woes is the fact that thousands of people have gone missing after travelling to the country on invitation from the country's leader. Germany took in more than 1.1million migrants in the past year and...

Berlin/Beijing (dpa) – Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Germany would protect its position as an industrial centre amid tensions between Beijing and Berlin over Chinese attempts to buy into key technological sectors in Europe's biggest economy.

Germany’s representative on the European Union’s executive is facing criticism for appearing to make a derogatory reference to Chinese people and mock gay marriage. Guenther Oettinger, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party, referred to “slanty eyes” in a speech that surfaced on YouTube over the weekend. He also said “the German agenda doesn’t in any way do justice to my expectations of German responsibility,” listing alongside actual initiatives “obligatory gay marriage.” …

..... Local police in many parts of the country admit that they are stretched to the limit and are unable to maintain law and order. "Drug trafficking takes place right before our eyes. If we intervene, we are threatened, spat on, insulted. Sometimes someone whips out a knife. They are always the same people. They are ruthless, fearless and have no problems with robbing even the elderly." — Private security guard. According to Freddi Lohse of the German Police Union in Hamburg, many migrant offenders view the leniency of the German justice system as a green light to continue delinquent...

BERLIN, Oct 30 (Reuters) - A follower of Islamic State was responsible for a stabbing attack on two youths in the German city of Hamburg two weeks ago, the militant group's Amaq news agency said on Sunday. In the incident, the unknown perpetrator attacked a young couple sitting under a bridge at the Alster river in downtown Hamburg. He stabbed the 16-year-old man repeatedly from behind and kicked his 15-year-old female companion into the river. The stabbing victim died of his injuries shortly afterwards in hospital while the young woman managed to escape.