Germany

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Safety Nets Help Europe Resist Stimulus
Safety Nets
Help Europe
Resist Stimulus
ANALYSIS

Safety Nets Help Europe Resist Stimulus

Protections for workers put in place long ago may lessen the need

(Newser) - Ahead of next week's G20 summit, the US and Europe are engaged in a major dispute over the best way to end the global recession: Washington wants more stimulus, while Germany and other EU nations say they've done enough. One overlooked factor in the debate, writes Nicholas Kulish in...

German Gunman 'Totally Normal Teen'
German Gunman 'Totally Normal Teen'

German Gunman 'Totally Normal Teen'

Classmates say school shooter was shy but never seemed strange

(Newser) - The 17-year-old who calmly gunned down his former classmates and teachers in Germany this week before taking his own life seemed like a normal teenager, Der Spiegel reports. Tim Kretschmer was inconspicuous and shy, schoolmates say, but he wasn't a loner and wasn't considered strange. Police say they have searched...

German Cops Nab Boy Amid Threats

(Newser) - Amid a wave of copycat threats, German police yesterday arrested a teenager suspected of planning to blow up a school near Düsseldorf, the London Times reports. Police discovered bomb-making instructions, gunpowder, and other weapons in the home of the 17-year-old after he threatened to destroy his school on April...

Stimulus Sours Obama's European Honeymoon

US urges more spending; EU focused on regulation

(Newser) - European leaders’ love affair with President Obama has hit its first snag: Obama is pushing Europe to spend more to battle the financial crisis, while Europe would prefer to focus on stricter regulation, the Los Angeles Times reports. “The Americans should be more modest about giving lessons, because the...

Germans Munch Obama Fingers
 Germans Munch Obama Fingers 

Germans Munch Obama Fingers

Firm 'pays homage' to US prez with frozen fried chicken, says company rep

(Newser) - A German frozen food company is trying to cash in on Obamania by selling fried Obama fingers, Der Speigel reports. The Southern-style fried chicken snack was renamed as part of an "America week' promotion. Makers say they were unaware that the name could be viewed as insensitive in light...

German Gunman Targeted Girls

(Newser) - German police are still seeking some twisted motive for a suicidal teen gunman who shot dead 14 people at his former high school, but he clearly appears to have targeted girls, reports the Telegraph. Tim Kretschmer, 17, killed nine former schoolmates, eight of them girls, as well as three female...

Grumpy Berliners Learn to Smile

Friendliness campaign gives city an image makeover

(Newser) - Berlin may not be a city of churlish insults and bad manners much longer. Long known for the rudeness of its residents, the German capital is on a “friendliness offensive,” Der Spiegel reports. Pegged to its annual tourism convention, Berlin’s campaign aims to boost the number of...

German Gunman Was Calm, Ruthless: Witnesses

Witnesses describe student's rampage

(Newser) - Tim Kretschmer was calm and silent as he gunned down his former classmates today in southern Germany, witnesses tell the Telegraph. Kretschmer, 17, moved between classrooms dispatching his victims—mainly girls—with a weapon he’d brought from home. The only words survivors heard him say were “Aren’t...

Ohioan Charged in 29K Nazi Camp Deaths

(Newser) - A retired Ohio autoworker born in Ukraine is facing charges in the murder of 29,000 Jews during World War II, the AP reports. German authorities allege John Demjanjuk was a guard at the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland between March and September 1943. Demjanjuk, 88, maintains his innocence. He...

15 Dead, Gunman Killed After German School Shooting

(Newser) - Fifteen people are dead after a 17-year-old went on a shooting spree at his former school in southern Germany; the gunman died hours later during a shootout in a nearby town. The assailant killed at least 11 people, mostly students, at the school before driving away. He then barricaded himself...

German Cops Raid Neo-Nazi Houses
German Cops Raid Neo-Nazi Houses

German Cops Raid Neo-Nazi Houses

Cops seize banned music as anti-Semitic violence rises

(Newser) - German police are searching houses nationwide for neo-Nazi propaganda that may be fueling anti-Semitic crimes, Reuters reports. The probe of 200 houses and businesses belonging to Germany's extreme right comes as extremism increases in East Germany, the country's poorer half. "The primary aim is to seize and confiscate prohibited...

German Car Firm 'Used Auschwitz Hair'

Nazi links may torpedo Schaeffler's hopes of a government bailout

(Newser) - A German auto parts firm's hopes of a government bailout have been dealt a serious blow with the discovery that it used the hair of Auschwitz prisoners to make fabric, the Independent reports. The Schaeffler company denies the accusations, but an Auschwitz historian says two tons of hair, shaved from...

Berlin Protesters Torch Luxury Cars
Berlin Protesters Torch Luxury Cars

Berlin Protesters Torch Luxury Cars

Sardonically named 'BMW' claims responsibility for arsons

(Newser) - As the financial crisis inflames class tensions, economic protest in Berlin has taken the form of arson attacks on luxury cars, Bloomberg reports. Activists have torched more than 2 dozen vehicles this year, and the pace is increasing. A group puckishly calling itself “BMW”—an acronym for "...

Germany's Scheme to Scrap Cars Sparks Sales Explosion

Sales mostly go to small cars

(Newser) - Automakers are running out of gas all over the world—except in Germany. Volkswagen expects to have its best February ever, selling 120,000 cars, while GM subsidiary Opel has sold 40,000, its best month in 5 years, Der Spiegel reports. It’s all thanks to the scrapping bonus,...

Germans Exalt Grocery Clerk Sacked Over $2

She's become a symbol of recession-time class struggles

(Newser) - A grocery clerk fired from her job of 31 years after allegedly stealing $1.66 has turned into a recession-time hero in Germany. While financial fat cats walk away with billions despite triggering a worldwide economic crisis, the sacking of a 50-year-old mother seems unfair, her supporters tell Der Spiegel....

Joyriding UK Soldier Crashes 2 Tanks

(Newser) - A few drinks apparently inspired a British soldier to go joyriding and crash two tanks today, the Guardian reports. The unnamed Desert Rat, stationed at the Bergen-Hohne army base in Germany, hopped in an armored vehicle and promptly drove it off the road. Undaunted, he walked back and commandeered another...

Heirs Decry 'Immoral' Sale of Gandhi's Stuff

'Insult' to India 'must be stopped,' says great-grandson

(Newser) - Mahatma Gandhi’s heirs have slammed a New York auction of his few belongings, calling it “immoral,” the Daily Telegraph reports. “It must be stopped," said Gandhi’s great-grandson. "It would be a grave insult to the nation if these items”—including sandals, pocket...

Winslet's Oscar Bid Battered by Nazi Furor

'Nazi porn' asks use to 'empathize with mass murderer'

(Newser) - Mounting criticism of The Reader as an apologia for the Nazis is seriously undermining Kate Winslet's chances for an Oscar, reports the Telegraph. Critics have blasted the film as "Nazi porn," and the author of a book on Hitler charged in a recent article in Slate that it...

Biden Vows 'New Tone' in Foreign Policy

In Germany, VP cites 'new tone in Washington'

(Newser) - Joe Biden offered an outline of "a new tone" in US foreign policy today, one that puts a priority on diplomacy over military force, Reuters reports. The US also will call on allies for help in handling world threats. “We will engage. We will listen. We will consult....

Tom's Geography Needs Work
 Tom's Geography Needs Work 

Tom's Geography Needs Work

Star confuses Brazil with Spain

(Newser) - Tom Cruise is on a roll with the gaffes as he promotes Valkyrie in Rio de Janeiro, the New York Post reports. First the star tried to be cute by saying hola and gracias to reporters—forgetting that Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish. Cruise also said he loves Brazil for...

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