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BERLIN - An Iranian businessman arrested a week ago in Germany on suspicion of illegal exports to Iran was a valued agent of the German foreign intelligence service BND, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Prosecutors had advised the BND before the arrest they had no choice but to detain the man, 61, who had the code name Sindbad, because of suspicions that he was supplying equipment needed to make Iran's Shahab missiles, Spiegel said. In a story to hit the streets in its Monday issue, Spiegel said Sindbad's intelligence deliveries to Germany included photographs of tunnel-drilling machinery,...

Near the conclusion of Tuesday night’s second presidential “town-hall” style debate, a questioner from the audience asked each candidate what he would do if Iran attacked Israel. Both candidates gave somewhat vague replies, focusing on the traditionally close relationship between the United States and Israel. In any event, if Iran ever attacks Israel, other than through its Lebanon-based surrogate Hezbollah, it will be with nuclear-tipped missiles, in which case Israel will be obliterated before the United States can respond.

Court rejects Germans' property restitution claims The Associated Press Published: October 9, 2008 BERLIN: A European court on Thursday threw out a restitution claim by Germans expelled at the end of World War II from what is now Poland — a decision welcomed by the leaders of both countries. The Prussian Claims Society, which represents a small group of expelled Germans, filed its case seeking restitution for lost property to the European Court of Human Rights in 2006. It accused Poland of violating the rights of those driven from their prewar homes as borders were redrawn in 1945. The Strasbourg-based...

Flamboyant American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is scheduled to begin production on his new World War II movie “Inglorious Bastards” in Germany next week, to the consternation of leading German film critics. The movie stars Brad Pitt, who plays an American-Jewish army officer who after being freed from a German prisoner of war camp leads a group of fellow American-Jewish soldiers in a spree of gruesome revenge killings against Nazi soldiers and officers.

European governments were reeling this morning from the shocking news that Germany had orchestrated a $68 billion emergency intervention to save Hypo Real Estate, one of the country's biggest banks, reports the BBC. In the process, German Chancellor Angela Merkel seemingly offered a "blanket guarantee," in the words of the Guardian, on all German personal savings—currently worth some $700 billion. (Has that number got a familiar ring to it?) The move left British treasury officials "furious," coming just hours after Germany had pledged to join a coordinated but imprecisely articulated European response to the fast-developing banking crisis. Merkel's somewhat vague...

Germany's governing coalition partners want to change the constitution to allow for military deployment within the country if needed to combat terrorism, officials said Monday. The proposal would allow use of the military only if police are overwhelmed and cannot properly respond to a situation themselves. "It is not to be used generally, but only in very specific cases," Interior Ministry spokeswoman Daniela-Alexandra Pietsch said. The center-left Social Democratic Party - which makes up half of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition - had been opposed to the proposal but agreed late Sunday after working out an agreement that includes strict guidelines...

Germany’s HRE says rescue collapsed By James Wilson in Berlin Published: October 5 2008 10:07 | Last updated: October 5 2008 10:07 Hypo Real Estate was racing to find a way to save itself on Sunday after the German property lender revealed the collapse of a previous rescue plan. A consortium of banks that was to provide HRE with an emergency liquidity line had now declined to do so, HRE said at the weekend. The reversal threatens a dramatic escalation of the financial crisis in Germany and leaves HRE and the Berlin government scrambling to come up with an alternative...

Both France and Germany on Thursday (25 September) said the current financial crisis would leave important marks on the world economy, with French president Nicolas Sarkozy declaring that the under-regulated system we once knew is now "finished," and German finance minister Peer Steinbruck saying the crisis marks the beginning of a multi-polar world, where the US is no longer a superpower. Speaking to an audience of some 4,000 supporters in Toulon, France, Mr Sarkozy said the financial turmoil had highlighted the need to re-invent capitalism with a strong dose of morality, as well as to put in place a better...

From Atlas Shrugs:Then, as now, I am confounded by the irrational position of those in the blogosphere that point fingers at those fighting the scourge of Islamic imperialism in Europe and America (myself included). In covering the spread of the global jihad, I am steeped in the evil of the hegemony of Islam, sharia law and the stealth jihad. One does not not have to go far to find hatred of the West, anti-semitism,and the careful dismantling of our freedoms everyday. Evil is all around us so it is nonsensical to me to spend unlimited energy trying to find an...

In the past few weeks, I have listened to Barrack Obama's speeches. I have also talked to many people who believe Obama's plans or changes for this country is what we need. This is wrong. For 32 years I lived in East Germany. I didn't have a choice. For four years, I suffered as a political prisoner in a Russian East German Prison Camp. They tried to re-educate me by forcing me to read Marx, Engels, and Lenin and the communist manifestoes. When I hear Obama speaking, I hear Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Please, the people should listen to what...

German commandos storm KLM airliner arresting two suspected 'terrorists' - local media. More soon.

Teenagers plot a deadly attack against police officers A 26 years old policewoman from Cologne and her 38 years old colleague have narrowly escaped attempted murder. According to a report, three teenagers led the officers into an ambush and threatened and shot at them when the police arrived on the scene. Cologne - Three teenagers [Not mentioned in DER SPIEGEL article, but all three are Arabs, one suspect is named Yussuf Ahmed] from Cologne have attempted to kill two police officers. On Tuesday evening a 26 years old policewoman and her 38 years old colleague were led into an ambush,...

Germany blamed the United States on Thursday for spawning the global financial crisis with a blind drive for higher profits and said it would now have to accept greater market regulation and a loss of its financial superpower status.

Wittenberg, the city where Martin Luther famously nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Schlosskirche, launched a decade of events this weekend to celebrate the German reformer who forever changed the face of Christianity. Luther Decade was opened on Saturday with a re-enactment of Luther’s arrival in the city, where he came in 1508 to continue his theological studies. A church service will be held on Sunday with a sermon delivered by the president of the Lutheran World Federation, Mark Hanson. As part of Luther Decade, concerts, exhibitions and lectures will be among the events taking place in...

The US government is buying bad debt for $700 billion. Now Washington is asking other countries to jump in and help, too, but the Germans are bowing out. Believing that the rescue package sends the wrong signal, experts from the country's leading economics think tanks argue it's the right call.It's not a call for assistance; it's a scream for help. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is asking other countries to help buy up bad US debt. The US government is putting up $700 billion in taxpayer money in the hopes that the measure might restore stability in the financial system....

German economists endorse the government's refusal to buy up bad U.S. debt, saying it would reward reckless investment behavior --- SNIP Economics experts think that's the right response. As they see it, in the long run, those responsible for the crisis—who have been cashed out with high salaries and bonuses for years—will not be penalized for billions "but will be let off the hook like everyone else," says Carsten Meier of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW). According to Meier, by injecting capital into the market, the US government is putting everyone who speculated and lost back on...

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, now a lobbyist for a Russian-German energy consortium dominated by Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy monopoly, recommends a “more conciliatory relationship with our Russian neighbors.” Schröder characterized recent aggressive actions carried out by Russia—invading Georgia and threatening to cut off gas supplies to Western Europe—as “no cause for alarm.” “Europe should accept that Russia must defend its security interests,” Schröder said. As a show of good faith, Schroder suggested that Germany and Russia could divide Poland between them. “There is historical precedent for this as a means of keeping the peace between our two great...

WITTENBERG, Germany: The town where Martin Luther tacked his 95 theses to a church door is kicking off a decade of celebrations leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

Cologne is bracing for violence this weekend as far-right supporters from all over Europe gather for an "anti-Islamification congress" and rally defending the continent against an "immigrant invasion." Those attending the event starting Friday in the west German city include Filip Dewinter, head of Belgium's far-right Vlaams Belang party, and Andreas Mölzer, the Euro MP once ejected from Austria's Freedom Party for being too extreme. Also adding his support to what organisers call Europe's "shared, thousand-year history", identity and "Western values and Christian traditions" will be Mario Borghezio from Italy's anti-immigration Northern League. Jean-Marie Le Pen, the veteran head of...

WORDS OF WARNING AND HOPE Written by: Lori Kalner on Thursday, September 18, 2008 Words of Warning and Hope by Lori Kalner Dear Friends, It becomes more difficult for me to write to you these days with a difficult time of dialysis as diabetes advances. Now I must write at least this one last time. Bodie and Brock are gracious and let my voice of warning be heard. I was a young girl in Germany and lived through difficult times. We have since then had a wonderful life. The world, as difficult as it has been, at least for many...

Cologne bracing for anti-mosque demo 18/09/2008 00:00 Officials expect 1,500 right-wingers from around Europe to attend – plus 40,000 leftist opponents. Cologne, Germany -- An anti-mosque demonstration on Friday in Germany is likely to attract 1,500 right-wingers from around Europe, according to an organizer, Markus Beisicht as fears grew of violent clashes. Riot police throughout North-Rhine Westphalia state have been put on standby to separate the right-wingers from up to 40,000 opponents. The two groups are at odds over the start of building work for Cologne's grand mosque. The right-wing Pro Cologne group rejects the house of worship for the...

A GERMAN teenager accused of engraving a swastika into her hip and blaming the injury on right-wing militants has gone on trial in eastern Germany. The 18-year-old, known only as Rebecca K., had last year been hailed as a local hero when she reported saving a five-year-old from being pushed and shoved by four neo-Nazi youths, risking her own safety and subsequently being attacked herself. ... "We have often had cases where individuals fake a chargeable offence, but this one is extraordinary," said Lutz Hasselmann, spokesman for the district court of Hainichen, near the eastern city of Chemnitz.

August 30, 2008 Categories: John McCain Palin's travels Sarah Palin's abrupt appearance on the national stage sparked an enormous array of questions, one of which is: Has she ever traveled abroad? I asked her new spokeswoman, Maria Comella, who noted that Palin visited Germany and Kuwait in 2007 to visit Alaska National Guard troops. Comella said she'd also visited one other country: Ireland.

On September 4 in Hamburg, Germany, an unusual event occured: Germany's Department of Interior Affairs' Ursala Caberta held a 3-hour seminar on the dangers of Scientology while members of the Church were told to "stay away". Caberta has been head of the "Working Group on Scientology" since 1992. The 3-hour seminar, titled, "That is Scientology! Reports from the USA" included actor and former Scientologist Jason Beghe, former Scientologists Marc Headley and and Larry Brennan, attorney Graham Berry, as well as representatives from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous. The Church of Scientology, who was not invited, sued to be allowed in the...

Cologne, Germany - An Islamic theology professor in Germany who doubts the existence of the Prophet Mohammed won partial backing Thursday from another German scholar. Professor Sven Muhammad Kalisch, who trains imams, had upset the Muslim community with publications in which he said there was no proof that the Prophet was a historical person or that the Koran originated as Islam teaches. Professor Gudrun Kraemer, who teaches Islamic studies at the Free University of Berlin, said Thursday on German public radio she agreed there was no indubitable historical evidence of the Prophet's existence. Kalisch runs the Centre for Islamic Religious...

Nit-picking German police insisted on taking statements from theft victims - during their wedding ceremony. Constanze, 34, and Rocco Zahn, 36, from Glauchau in Saxony were furious when the cops insisted on halting the service to quiz the couple. Earlier the couple had reported the theft of a laptop and wedding presents from the groom's stag party the night before. The over-dutiful officers failed to announce to the wedding party why they were leading the groom away though. “Everyone thought Rocco was in trouble with the police when two officers waltzed into the ceremony and led him away – after...

A prosecution solicitor was caught out when he called a defendant an a***hole in a letter he then sent to him by mistake. The unnamed German prosecutor from Augsburg drafted a joke draft of a letter to the defendant which read: "The accused a***hole is to be assigned a legal counsel appointed by court." But the note from the lawyer - now sacked from the case - was accidentally sent to the defendant who is facing charges for importing protected Greek tortoises.

One day after Germany's Social Democrats leaked the news that Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier would be the party's candidate for chancellor, SPD leader Kurt Beck resigned in frustration. Party bigwig Franz Müntefering may take over. For much of the last year, Germany's Social Democratic Party has been stumbling from crisis to crisis with plummeting membership and abysmal popularity. On Sunday, party leader Kurt Beck finally took the last move available to him: He stepped down. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced Beck's decision from a SPD leadership retreat in the small town of Werder, located just outside of Berlin. Steinmeier said...

World history, as most Westerners interprets it, very much revolves around nations like France, Russia/Soviet, Britain, Italy and USA. These corners of the Earth, undeniably, have played major roles in the development of mankind. BUT, there seems to be a gap in the historical knowledge of several, otherwise well educated, Westerners concerning what took place during the period of approximately 1620-1720 on European soil. A lot of people seem aware that Britain at that time was not really, yet, the world's leading power and that France, Spain, Austria and Holland excersised much of influence over world affairs. However, during this...

WorldNetDaily staff reporter and columnist Jerome Corsi's book "The Obama Nation" contributed to a decision by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga not to accept Sen. Barack Obama's invitation to attend the Democratic National Convention, according to a prominent Kenyan newspaper. "The cancellation of the trip by Mr. Odinga comes hot on the heels of the publication of a book that is being used to attack Mr. Obama in which the PM [Prime Minister] features," wrote Kenya's Daily Nation. "The book, The Obama Nation, by Jerome Corsi depicts Mr. Obama as a covert sympathizer of radical Islam and communism." "In the...

Crippled by record unpopularity and uncharismatic, rudderless leadership, Germany's oldest political party has erupted into open revolt over the hot-button issue of welfare reforms. SPD, Germany's major mainstream Leftwing party, pushed through controversial liberalising reforms several years ago under the chancellorship of Gerhard Schroeder. But the reforms, which made it easier to sack workers and reduced unemployment benefits, have now come back to haunt the party, with its leading left-wingers demanding centrist economic policies be scrapped. The SPD, which governs in a grand coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party, is currently at a historic low in polls. Since the...

(Tried to do a literal translation, with minimal paraphrasing) SIE wird McCains Vize [She is McCain's running mate] John McCain hat seinen Kandidaten für das Amt des Vizepräsidenten gefunden: Es ist eine Frau. Und was für eine! [John McCain has found his candidate for Vice-President and he is a she. And what a lady!] Sarah Palin (44), die junge Gouverneurin des US-Bundesstaates Alaska, ist ein konservativer Hardliner. Und deswegen genau die Richtige für McCain. Vor allem die religiöse Rechte steht McCain nach wie vor skeptisch gegenüber. Und das soll Palin jetzt richten. [Sarah Palin, 44, the young Governor from the...

On August 25 Patrick Donahue of Bloomberg breathlessly informed us that a recent poll showed that Germans love Barack Obama. In a week where Obama's soft polling numbers with Americans who will do the actual voting, you'd be excused if you wondered who cared, but apparently Bloomberg thinks this Obama puffing "news" is worth reporting. It's more reason to be suspicious that the Old Media is in the tank for Barack Obama, in any case. This particular Bloomberg story has little substance and is centered on a population that cannot even vote for Obama in the first place. Interestingly, however,...

German military attache found Russian response in Georgia 'appropriate' IANS Sunday 24th August, 2008 The German military attache in Moscow described the Russian military response in Georgia as 'appropriate' in an internal document, according to a report in the Sunday edition of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). 'The extent of the use of military force by the Russian side appears - seen from here and despite reports to the contrary from Georgia and the picture conveyed by the media - not inappropriately high,' Brigadier General Heinz G. Wagner wrote Aug 11. According to the report, the general said...

Berlin, Aug 24 (DPA) The German military attache in Moscow described the Russian military response in Georgia as 'appropriate' in an internal document, according to a report in the Sunday edition of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). 'The extent of the use of military force by the Russian side appears - seen from here and despite reports to the contrary from Georgia and the picture conveyed by the media - not inappropriately high,' Brigadier General Heinz G. Wagner wrote Aug 11. According to the report, the general said some three days after the outbreak of hostilities that Russia...

NATO warships, which passed through Istanbul's Bosporus Strait Thursday, entered the Black Sea for long-planned exercises and routine visits to ports in Romania and Bulgaria, the alliance said. A U.S. Navy warship entered Turkey's Dardanel Strait on Friday taking relief supplies to Georgia. Three warships - from Spain, Germany and Poland - sailed into the Black Sea on Thursday. The move is not linked to the tensions over Russia's invasion of Georgia, which lies on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, about 900 kilometers (550 miles) from the Romanian coast, said officials at NATO's military command in southern Belgium....

TBILISI (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday assured Georgia would join NATO as she strongly backed the ex-Soviet republic's President Mikheil Saakashvili in his conflict with Russia. "Georgia will become a member of NATO if it wants to -- and it does want to," she told reporters before talks with Saakashvili in Tbilisi. It was one of the strongest statements yet of support for Georgia's NATO membership bid, which is fiercely opposed by Russia. "We are on a clear road towards NATO membership (for Georgia)," she added at a later news conference.

The other half of the diplomatic pincer movement took place in Sochi, as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel used a pre-planned trip there to try to lean on the Russian president to withdraw his troops. The talks were short. Afterwards it appeared there had been no meeting of minds. Russia said it was too late to turn the clock back. “Nobody rejects the principle of territorial integrity as one of the fundamental principles of international law,” said Dmitri Medvedev. “But if we look at this concrete situation we see it is very complex. Unfortunately, after what has happened, the people...

German, French economies contract By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch Last update: 3:13 a.m. EDT Aug. 14, 2008LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The German and French economies contracted during the second quarter, figures out Thursday showed, the latest evidence demonstrating how European activity has not been able to decouple from the U.S. slowdown. In Germany, gross domestic product dropped 0.5% compared to the first quarter, the Federal Statistics Office said, the first drop in nearly four years. Weaker consumption, capital investment and construction activity led to the decline.

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

BERLIN - The number two at the German foreign ministry on Saturday said Georgia is breaking international law by launching military action to reclaim South Ossetia. Gernot Erler said Tbilisi had breached a 1992 ceasefire agreement struck with Russia over the renegade Caucasus enclave, monitored essentially by Russian peacekeepers. "In this sense, it is also a question of a violation of international law as soon as you start to go down the road of military action," Erler told German radio station NDR Info. Erler acknowledged prior provocation of the Georgian leadership from Russian-backed South Ossetia's separatists, but said he understood...

German original text: "Unter Feinden" Translation: Anthony Pfriem Criminality: the new fear of the German police A few German districts the police hardly dares to enter anymore, because they are attacked immediately. A visit to “dangerous areas” of the Ruhr. One further step over the Viehofer Straße, and a line has been crossed. It is invisible; there is no warning sign on the usual road maps of Essen. Yet there are other laws on this side of the line. At the Viehofer Strasse the “dangerous area” starts. This is how the local police call the northern part of the inner...

A young Israeli man who studied in Germany has been arrested on espionage charges in Israel. Khaled K., of Palestinian descent, allegedly spied for the Hezbollah Shiite militia. His case is expected to highlight Hezbollah recruiting activities in Germany. When Khaled K. stepped off the plane from Germany to start his summer vacation, it wasn't his family that awaited him at the gate. Instead Shin Bet agents and police greeted the 29-year-old Israeli man of Palestinian descent when he arrived on July 16 at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport. He was arrested and disappeared into custody for two weeks until...

Khaled Kashkush, 29, of the Israeli-Arab town of Kalansuwa, was indicted in the Petach Tikva District Court on Wednesday for contact with a foreign element connected with the Hizbullah enemy - and with Hizbullah itself. Kashkush allegedly made contact with a Lebanese Hizbullah-affiliated organization that attempts, among other goals, to transfer money to the families of dead Hizbullah terrorists. In 2002, the charge sheet states, he worked in the German headquarters of the organization, and had constant contact with the chairman, Dr. Hasham Hassan. Kashkush was arrested three weeks ago when he returned from Germany. It is not felt that...

German manufacturing orders fell by an unexpectedly steep 2.9 per cent in June, data released on Wednesday showed, underlining the rapid deterioration of the country’s economic performance and raising fears about the health of the European economy as a whole. The drop, which was much larger than expected, was the seventh consecutive month-on-month fall, the longest such downward spell in nearly 20 years. “This is all quite worrisome,” said Dirk Schumacher, an economist at Goldman Sachs. “There is no denying that the underlying trend has weakened more than I would have expected.” The latest figures left the average order level in...

Holidaymakers feeling nostalgic for the Cold War can now tour what was once a top secret bunker in the former East Germany. Opened to the public for the first time on Friday, it was meant to house the ruling Communist elite in the event of a nuclear attack.Something some visitors said they were relieved was no longer a concern:“What goes through my mind is that it is quite nice to stand around here, look at the bunker and talk to each other peacefully,” one man said.Close to the size of a football field, the bunker was designed to function...

The building of true civilization has always been exposed to various difficulties. But in the end, periods of unemployment, war and political turboil is nothing but small potatoes. Personally speaking, I'll turn 39 years old soon and one of the things that make me get out of bed and drive off to work each morning - a part from the luxury of driving a wonderful Volvo V70 to the place - is the magnificence of toiling in the company of certain younger Swedish work mates who I daily encounter there; people in their 20s who believe in hard work and...

BERLIN - Soaring oil prices combined with fears about energy security and climate change are softening Germans' hostility towards nuclear energy, a new survey showed on Wednesday. The results provide fodder for members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) who have in the last few weeks have renewed their calls for a rethink of the planned phase out of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors by 2021. The Forsa poll for Stern weekly magazine showed that voters in Germany, Europe's biggest power market, were now evenly divided on the question of whether some of the plants should be allowed to...

First it was France, and now Germany. German authorities are reporting that, within their cities, areas now exist where police fear to tread. In many German urban areas drug dealing, theft, brawls, and assaults on police officers are the order of the day. The problem is becoming so severe police scarcely dare enter some quarters except in strength, while in others they concentrate on their own safety first.

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....