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While some have speculated that increased immigration could be a strain on Germany's social security systems, new figures reported by German media seem to show that the safety net is actually profiting greatly.

In a ruling which could have far-reaching consequences for how the European Union deals with migrants in future, the European Court of Justice on Wednesday upheld the right of member states to deport asylum-seekers to the first EU country they enter. The ruling amounted to an effective rejection of Angela Merkel’s controversial “open-door” refugee policy, which saw more than one million asylum-seekers flood into Germany. The court ruled that the EU’s Dublin regulations, under which refugees must seek asylum in the first member state they enter, still apply despite the unprecedented influx of 2015.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German business morale hit a record high in July as "euphoric" manufacturers, shrugging off the impact of a strong euro, anticipated a surge in already robust exports from Europe's biggest economy. The Munich-based Ifo economic institute said on Tuesday its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, hit its third record high in as many months with a rise to 116.0 from 115.2 in June.

Unmasking an Illegal Cartel The  German auto scandal just got much bigger according to a new report by the Spiegel.Audi, BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, and Porsche colluded in all aspects of diesel technology.Effectively, the five corporations acted as one via a series of secret working groups that met several times a year.The Spiegel broke the story with its report on the Auto Syndicate Scandal.The story is in German, and it’s also behind a pay wall. Eurointelligence has a nice Email report. Spiegel magazine has an absolutely shocking account of a cartel between the five motor companies – VW, Daimler, BMM, Porsche,...

GERMANY'S top stock index was flashing red after shares in the country's biggest carmakers plunged over a fresh investigation into the diesel emission scandal. The DAX tumbled to its lowest level in more than three months, as investors rushed to sell Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW. The manufacturing giants are being probed amid allegations of collusion over diesel emission treatment systems and cost agreements. Fears of heavy fines helped send share prices down by around three per cent.

After nearly a decade, India says it will finally move ahead with plans to team up with a foreign contractor to build advanced diesel electric submarines. The announcement comes amid reports that despite ambitious plans to upgrade their equipment, each of the country’s eight front line Sindhughosh-class submarines have only one working periscope instead of two. On July 24, 2017, the Indian government reportedly declared it would begin considering offers from six different countries to pair up with an Indian shipyard to build a total of six advanced diesel-electric “stealth” submarines, according to The Times of India, which described the...

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a TV interview that though he is “irritated” about a lot of things happening under US President Donald Trump, he still has hope for the transatlantic relationship. Steinmeier said in the interview with ZDF on Sunday that there has “never been so much uncertainty in the history of the German-American relationship and in the transatlantic relationship as there is at the present moment.” Still, the German President expressed hope that other elements within American politics would continue to keep the relationship intact. […] In Germany, the President is generally expected to show restraint in...

The German government has been accused of abandoning its Jewish community as a surging tide of anti-Semitism means there are parts of the country where it is considered dangerous to be a Jew. Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, made the call. He lamented a lack of action by the German government combined with mass, unfettered immigration from Muslim countries as being key contributors to the plight felt by the nation’s Jewish community. “In some districts in major cities, I’d advise people not to identify themselves as Jews,” Mr. Schuster said in an interview...

U.N. document reveals 2000 plan to push massive migration! Millions of migrants mostly from Africa and the Middle East have swarmed Europe in the last three years – the result of what has been explained by world leaders as a war-driven “refugee” crisis. Yet, a United Nations document, prepared in the year 2000 and rediscovered by WND, reveals the U.N. was already promoting the notion of “replacement migration” in Europe with the support of open-borders non-governmental organizations and “progressive” politicians. The document – “Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to Declining and Aging Populations?” – details the plunging birthrates across...

Germany’s government is signaling to Turkey that its patience is running out and it can hit back against escalating provocations, but has sought to stop well short of burning its bridges with its NATO ally. More than a year of strains in the countries’ relationship came to a head this week with Turkey’s jailing of a German human rights activist, Peter Steudtner, who had no previous links to Turkey but was accused of links to terror groups. A court jailed Steudtner along with five others from Turkey and Sweden days after Turkey blocked a visit by lawmakers to German troops...

Schoolteachers and other school officials in Berlin have noticed a rising trend of anti-Semitism among pupils and say the expression “You Jew!” has become a common insult. A report conducted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) of 21 schools in Berlin shows the level of antisemitism is growing among the primarily Turkish and Arab Muslim pupils. The group also found a disturbing rise in support for radical Islamism, according to German broadcaster RBB.

The Berlin administration is reportedly going to suspend military cooperation with the Turkish state on top of the sanctions announced by the German Foreign Minister. According to an article in Bild, one of the best selling daily newspapers in Germany, the Merkel administration is suspending all armament projects with Turkey. The newspaper cites government sources for the article. This will be the first time a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member country suspends military cooperation with another member. Several German arms manufacturers have factories in Turkey. In the previous months, the German government had barred arms sales deals with Turkey,...

The number of Islamist extremists suspected of being potentially willing to carry out terror attacks in Germany has now grown to 690, federal BKA police chief Holger Münch says, compared with a figure of 600 issued by the Interior Ministry in February. In an interview with the daily Frankfurter Rundschau published on Friday, Münch said that radical Islamists posed the greatest terrorist threat in Germany, while the potential danger from left- and right-wing extremists was considered minor in comparison. “In the left-wing scene, the [German] states have up to now estimated a number that can be counted on the fingers...

President Donald Trump has picked former U.N. spokesman Richard Grenell as U.S. ambassador to Germany, a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity said on Thursday. Grenell served as U.S. spokesman at the United Nations from 2001 to 2008, during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush. Currently, Grenell is a contributor to Fox News.

Reports of sexual assaults and attacks on police during a small town festival have again sparked debate in Germany about integration, while also leading police to correct what they say are “misinterpretations” of what happened. The news that around 1,000 young people gathered on Saturday night during a festival in Schorndorf, Baden-Württemberg where some began throwing bottles at officers has grabbed national attention in Germany, particularly because police said many came from “immigrant backgrounds”. This coupled with the fact that cases of sexual assaults or harassment were reported by women on Friday and Saturday, with Iraqi and Afghanistani men being...

The massive number of court cases challenging asylum decisions have stretched authorities “to the limits”, a leading judge told German media on Thursday. The chair of the Association of German Administrative Law Judges told publishing group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) that the number of people bringing legal challenges against their asylum request decisions has overwhelmed the administrative courts. “The situation is dramatic for administrative courts.” said the organization’s chair, Robert Seegmüller. “We are now completely stretched to our limits.” RND further calculated based on national and European data that there are currently around 250,000 asylum decisions waiting to be challenged in...

For years, far-left activists in Berlin followed the strategy of attacking property, not people. But that is changing, the Berlin interior ministry claimed on Tuesday. “2016 was marked out by a spiral in left-wing violence that not only led to a multitude of serious crimes, but also in part to a radicalized tone — which has seen calls for the murder of police officers and politicians,” the ministry warned in its security report for 2016, released on Tuesday. “The inhibition threshold regarding physical attacks is sinking, and we are now at the stage where targeted assassination of political opponents no...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German economy is humming and set for solid growth despite external risks such as the unknown outcome of Brexit negotiations and U.S. President Donald Trump's future trade policies, the German Finance Ministry said on Thursday. "The current picture of economic indicators suggests that the economic upswing continued vigorously in the second quarter," the ministry said in its monthly report, pointing to rising industrial output and buoyant business morale. German gross domestic product (GDP) likely expanded in the second quarter by a similar rate as in the previous three months when the economy grew by 0.6 percent...

A Germany nuclear plant was damaged because its operators increased and decreased its output to respond to energy grid fluctuations. The incident supports the theory that nuclear and renewable energy generation are incompatible. EURACTIV’s partner Der Tagesspiegel reports. The Brokdorf nuclear power station, located in northern Germany, was taken offline in February after maintenance showed its reactor’s fuel rods had begun to unexpectedly oxidise. A regional nuclear supervisory body has now ruled that the plant can be booted back up but only in “safe mode”, according to Schleswig-Holstein’s energy transition minister. State Minister for Energy Robert Habeck (Greens) added that...

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Thyssenkrupp among bidders MUMBAI, JULY 19: Six advanced submarines, to be built under Project 75(I) to scale up the Navy’s warfare capabilities, are set to get off the starters’ block, with the Navy issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to six foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for the €8.3-billion submarine project. “The Indian Navy has issued an RFI asking competent companies that have independently designed and constructed a modern submarine, which is either currently in service or is undergoing sea trials,” confirmed officials who got the RFI, adding that “the L1 for P-75(I) will...