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Thousands of litres of beer were spilled on a motorway near Duisburg in western Germany on Monday night, when a truck carrying several hundred crates of Bitburger toppled over, shutting the Autobahn. Germans damage World Cup trophy at afterparty (21 Jul 14) Police find cannabis growing on motorway (18 Jul 14) Burglars steal 300,000 litres of beer (15 Jul 14) The truck was on the A40 motorway heading towards Dortmund and was approaching the A3 motorway towards Arnheim at the Kaiserberg interchange. The 66-year-old driver then lost control of the vehicle and slid off the road. Hundreds of bottles were...

“Berlin police cower before Jew-haters,” proclaimed a headline in the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel—and this line has been posted numerous times on social networking sites. It was reported that a group of Arabs shouted “Jew, Jew, cowardly pig, come out and fight alone” at a recent demonstration and police officers did not interfere.In many European cities, what began as peaceful protests turned into outpourings of anti-Jewish sentiments and violence against counter-demonstrators. […] The Gaza conflict has stirred up public opinion in Europe, and it has brought Israel-hatred to Germany along with it, according to political scientist Stephan Grigat. […] Grigat has...

A man set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Berlin on Monday night. Police said it was too soon to say whether it was part of a political protest. Amid tensions in Berlin over pro-Gaza protests and a rise in anti-Semitism, the 46-year-old doused himself in a flammable liquid and then set himself alight with a cigarette lighter at 11.45pm on Monday. Police said the man, who is of Arab descent, only suffered minor injuries outside the Israeli embassy in south-west Berlin. …

An imam in the German capital, Berlin, recently gave a sermon in which he expressed support for Gaza and called for “the annihilation of Jews”. […] “Oh Allah, destroy the Zionist Jews. They are no challenge for you,” he continued. “Count them and kill them to the very last one. Don’t spare a single one of them. Shake the ground beneath their feet. Make them suffer terribly. Deflect their bullets. Disperse them. They behave tyranically all over the world and spread corruption.” …

Now that the U.S.-Russia relationship has broken down, Moscow could throw a wrench into the teetering nuclear negotiations with Iran. The escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow, brought to fever by the MH17 airliner disaster, are finally to the point where they threaten to spoil the number one item on President Obama’s foreign policy agenda: the nuclear talks with Iran. The man doing the threatening is Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier this week, Putin promised to retaliate against the United States for new sanctions targeting his friends and business associates, as well as large Russian defense, energy, and financial firms....

This week marks the 70th anniversary of a plot whose success might well have spared millions of lives, while claiming that of history’s most infamous mass-murderer, Adolf Hitler. The elaborate conspiracy centered on Claus von Stauffenberg was the most well-prepared and organized attempt to put an end to Hitler, but it was scarcely the first. The number of serious attempts on Hitler’s life would fill a book and indeed have; Roger Moorhouse’s Killing Hitler (2006), for example, covers the ground of several such attempts from the moment Hitler came to power in 1933, at which time his security detail...

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte says Russia's president has "one last chance" to show he is serious about helping rescuers recover the bodies of the victims of crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. The attack on the plane has claimed the lives of 28 Australians and eight permanent Australian residents, who were among the 298 passengers and crew on board. Mr Rutte's comments come amid reports pro-Russian rebels have taken 38 bodies from the site. Minutes after what he described as a "very intense" conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Mr Rutte said: "He has one last chance to show he...

I have a guest post this morning from Saxo Bank chief economist Steen Jakobsen regarding the slowing German economy. Steen says the German economy is decelerating too quick for comfort and faces a triple whammy from Asian rebalancing, the US economy, and a bad energy policy. From Steen JakobsenGermany May Have Won the World Cup, but Its Economy is Cooling Fast We need to congratulate Germany on its World Cup win. It was a victory for organisation and science, but unfortunately the Germany economy is slowing fast — and too fast for comfort when we look at Eurozone GDP. I...

Only a few months ago, a meeting between the Russian and German leaders would have raised few eyebrows in Washington. Now, in the middle of the most severe crisis in German-American relations in decades—and sharply escalated tensions between the West and Russia following the shooting-down of a civilian Malaysian airliner with many Westerners on board Thursday—there is a lot more at stake. A profound distrust has developed in U.S. governmental circles about what the Germans and Russians are discussing and whether Berlin is going its own way, especially as the Ukraine crisis has festered on.

Ukraine's President Poroshenko escalating war in the East. Comprehensive revenge for killed government soldiers. Report insurgents heavy losses Seconded by the Kiev transitional government military forces are to beat the resistance movement in eastern Ukraine devastating. The army has launched an offensive to the weekend. Ruthlessly cities are bombed, sometimes houses in neighboring Russia. The rebels said on Monday by heavy losses in their own ranks. In attacks of the Air Force 30 fighters were killed in Alexandrovka. This was announced, according to Interfax, a spokesman of the "Information Centre southeastern front," Konstantin Knirik, on Monday. The data are consistent...

German officials are considering switching from computers back to manual typewriters for sensitive documents to prevent United States’ spying, according to a July 14 statement. “Are you considering typewriters?” an interviewer asked Patrick Sensburg, head of the Bundestag’s parliamentary inquiry into the U.S. National Security Agency activity in Germany. “As a matter of fact, we have, and not electronic models either,” he replied.

Germany has honoured a Bangladesh farmer and diehard fan for making a 3.5-kilometre-long (2.2 mile) flag of the country in support of Philipp Lahm's World Cup team, officials said on Sunday. The massive flag was on display Saturday at a stadium in the western town of Magura, which the German charge d'affaires, Ferdinand von Weyhe, visited to pay tribute to the farmer. "The 3.5-kilometre-long German flag circled the stadium four times and hundreds of people have turned up to see this amazing sight," said Ishrat Hossain, a German embassy spokeswoman. She said Von Weyhe handed the farmer, 65-year-old Amjad Hossain,...

The head of Germany's parliamentary inquiry into the NSA spying scandal has suggested the government return to using typewriters to protect national secrets from prying eyes. German soldier allegedly spied for US (09 Jul 14) 'Wake up Germany and smell the cyber-coffee' (08 Jul 14) 'Enough!' Germans say in latest US spy scandal (07 Jul 14) Germany's politicians are considering going back to using old-fashioned typewriters to create sensitive documents, head of the inquiry committee Patrick Sensburg told ARD broadcaster on Monday. “Unlike other inquiry committees, we are investigating an ongoing situation. Intelligence activities are still going on, they are...

To say that that the First World War was the greatest cataclysm in human history since the fall of the Roman Empire is to put it mildly. The war destroyed so many good things and killed so many good people that civilization has not recovered and probably never will. Long after it officially ended, it continued to cause millions of deaths and tragedies, most obviously during its encore performance of 1939-45. But it did not stop even then. Many of its worst consequences came during official periods of peace and are unknown or forgotten, or remain unconnected with it in...

RIO DE JANEIRO – Mario Goetze volleyed in the winning goal in extra time to give Germany its fourth World Cup title with a 1-0 victory over Argentina on Sunday. Goetze controlled the ball with his chest and then shot past Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero in the 113th minute.

BRAZIL––The German National Team today stunned soccer fans across the globe with their announcement that they would abdicate the World Cup title, effective today. UEFA, the administrative body for association football in Europe and part of Asia, said today it has voted the largely unknown Argentinian National Team to assume the title of champions of the soccer world. In a statement issued today, the German National Team wrote: “…in today’s game, subject to so many rapid changes on the pitch and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the beautiful game, in order to govern the bark of the World...

As Germany seek their first World Cup win since 1990, when they beat Argentina in Rome, Low, 54, relished the prospect of re-writing the history books with winning on this continent. "We know we can write history," he said. "In the past we have never had this. Latin Americans, on this continent, have dominated all the time. So why not? This could be an additional joy for us if we were to win as Europeans on Latin American soil." And the prospect of facing Messi as he tries to emulate Diego Maradona, who inspired Argentina to their last World Cup...

Life is a challenge these days in Germany if you are not a football fan. You simply cannot avoid it. The media is awash with interest in Sunday's World Cup final, with the 'Nationalelf' (national 11) involved against old rivals Argentina. The stunning 7-1 semi-final win over hosts Brazil resulted in football euphoria only seen before in the country when West Germany won previous World Cup tournaments in 1954, 1974 and 1990. "Three days to go", "two days to go", "one day to go" - these have been the headlines from Germany's biggest selling tabloid Bild. It's the countdown to...

Kerry Admits: Iran Negotiations Not WorkingPosted By Majid Rafizadeh On July 10, 2014 @ 12:35 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | No Comments In less than two week, the interim nuclear deal will expire, most likely without a final deal being struck between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the G5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany).The Islamic Republic has been given years to come clean and halt its ideological and regional hegemonic ambitions of obtaining nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, the Obama administration believes that we need to give the Islamic Republic another chance, trusting the...

Many of the graphic images being shared on social media are really from Syria or Iraq, finds the broadcaster. […] “A #BBCtrending investigation has found that many of these images are not from the latest conflict and not even from Gaza. Some date as far back as 2009 and others are from conflicts in Syria and Iraq.” …