Free Republic

German unemployment fell again in September, helped by the usual seasonal decline that accompanies the end of the summer holiday period, the Federal Labor Office reported Wednesday. Even after seasonal adjustments, the number of jobless fell by 12,000, resulting in an unemployment rate of 8.2%. Economists polled earlier by Dow Jones Newswires had predicted a rise of 25,000 in seasonally adjusted unemployed and a jobless rate of 8.3%. The Federal Labor Office also revised down the drop in seasonally adjusted unemployed in August to 6,000 from an initial estimate of only 1,000. In unadjusted terms, the number of jobless fell...

Complex of America? Not with us! Poles do not have the slightest reason to feel worse than the Americans. Quite the contrary. We are sending them to the head in almost every field. In our food is healthy - strawberry tastes like strawberry and tomato like tomato. And in the U.S.? Sam shocker! Americans wcinajÄ… Crap and the power of Tiya. How do they look? When you enter the elevator, wait for the next, so as not to be flattened on the cake. And that's not all. Presuming the citizens of the United States can only envy us ponadtysiÄ…cletniej history,...

U.S. wealth, measured in assets under management, has fallen farther than its transatlantic cousin's. LONDON -- As market participants reflect on the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, so emerges the sobering consequence of the market crash that followed: North America's wealth has now fallen the most out of any other region in the world, allowing Europe to step up to the plate as the world's richest continent. North America, defined as the United States and Canada, had $29.3 trillion in assets under management in 2008, while Europe had $32.7 trillion, according to a survey by the Boston Consulting...

Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has presented four soldiers with the country's new medal for bravery, the first to be awarded since World War II. The Cross of Honour for Bravery features a golden Maltese cross with an eagle in the centre, held on a black, red and gold ribbon with oak leaves. It is the Bundeswehr's first decoration for bravery since the Iron Cross was shunned due to its WWII association. The soldiers are being honoured for their bravery in Afghanistan in 2008. The four risked their lives to aid those wounded in a suicide attack near Kunduz that left...

Many of you will know Aldi, the international retail giant owned by two reclusive German billionaires (hence the "Deutsche Küche" German delicatessen special purchases from time to time). Some because you shop there regularly, others because you read in the Wall Street Journal how they drove Walmart out of Germany (Legend has it that Aldi is the only company Walmart is afraid of because their overhead is so very low that they cannot beat them on price.). Of course they offer 4th of July BBQ items on their US web page as well. But did you know that Aldi celebrates...

Three German soldiers died on Tuesday amid heavy fighting in northern Afghanistan. The casualties are just the latest indication that security in the north, the region in which Germany leads the peacekeeping effort, is deteriorating. For months, attacks on German troops operating in the northern Afghanistan region around Kunduz have been increasing. On Tuesday, three Bundeswehr soldiers died in yet another Taliban offensive. According to the Defense Ministry in Berlin, Islamist insurgents attacked a patrol six kilometers southwest of Kunduz with grenade launchers and small arms fire. In the ensuing firefight, an armored personnel carrier plunged into a deep ditch...

BERLIN -- Germany chooses its president Saturday, a contest for a mainly ceremonial post that could help Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of September's general election. The ballot pits incumbent President Horst Köhler, a conservative ally of Ms. Merkel, against Social Democrat challenger Gesine Schwan, a left-leaning intellectual, and will be settled by 1,224 delegates from Germany's national parliament and its 16 states. Although ordinary German voters can't take part, presidential elections are often a sign of which way the political wind is blowing in the European Union's most populous nation. Mr. Köhler, a former head of the International Monetary Fund,...

The Germans are responsible for the industrial-scale mass murder of 6 million Jews. But the collusion of other European countries in the Holocaust has received surprisingly little attention until recently. The trial of John Demjanjuk is set to throw a spotlight on Hitler's foreign helpers. [...] But it's already clear that this last big Nazi trial in Germany will be a deeply extraordinary one because it will for the first time put the foreign perpetrators in the spotlight of world publicity. They are men who have until now received surprisingly little attention -- Ukrainian gendarmes and Latvian auxiliary police, Romanian...

You know what state needs more smart fortwos? Texas. That must have been Daimler's thinking before approving an expansion of the car2go carsharing service there. Daimler started car2go in Ulm, Germany last October and it will be coming to Austin, Texas - that little blueberry in the big red cherry pie of a state - this fall. There are now more than 200 fortwo cdi models that anyone in Ulm, visitor or resident, can rent by the minute, hour or day, 24/7. Costs range from 19 euro cents a minute to 9.90 euros an hour to 49 euros a day....

The German-owned grocery chain plans to expand its U.S. operations rapidly and grab market share from Wal-Mart. But its ownership and ubiquity has earned it some enemies. Aldi’s low prices—up to 40 percent lower than those of regular supermarkets—have won the chain many vocal fans. Amy Clark, creator of MomAdvice.com, a site focusing on lifestyle for stay-at-home mothers, “I often tell my friends and family that Aldi Supermarket is how I can afford to be a stay-at-home mom. Although I say this jokingly, I do credit Aldi a lot for allowing the room in our budget that we needed for...

After months of doom and gloom in the auto industry, we're finally starting to see some good news. Today, Ford announced that the new Fiesta is flying out of European showrooms and the company has increased its market share across Europe. "It is very encouraging to see Fiesta doing so well and also our market share developing so positively, given the declining market we are continuing to face in Europe," said Ingvar Sviggum, vice-president of marketing, sales and service for Ford of Europe. "With 56% of our March sales generated by retail customers - up from 43% in March 2008...

Fiat would walk away from a tie-up with US carmaker Chrysler unless unions agreed to a new, lower wage deal, Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of the Italian motor manufacturer, said. In an interview with Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, Mr Marchionne said he would scrap the deal unless Chrysler unions agreed to match the lower costs of Japanese and German-owned plants in Canada and the US. "Absolutely we are prepared to walk. There is no doubt in my mind," Mr Marchionne said in comments published online. "We cannot commit to this organisation unless we see light at the end...

The international automotive industry has undergone some massive changes over the past year (to put it lightly). It wasn’t that long ago that General Motors was the number one carmaker in the world, with Ford a not-too-distant second. Of course, the top spot was usurped by Toyota last year, forcing GM and Ford down to second and third respectively. And then there was Volkswagen. Not long ago, the German giant began talking of plans to take the top spot, and it would seem now that its ambitions are not quite so distant anymore. R.L. Polk Germany says that Volkswagen is...

VW Introduces Fifth Generation Polo; Weight Down, Fuel Consumption Down Volkswagen unveiled the fifth generation of the supermini Polo at the Geneva Motor Show. Despite improvements in all aspects of the car, Volkswagen was able to reduce the Polo’s body weight by 7.5%. The introduction of new TDI and TSI engines, as well as the 7-speed dual clutch transmission (DSG), has resulted in reduced fuel consumption and emissions over a wide range of engine power outputs. As an example, the 1.2 TSI turbocharged four-cylinder direct injection gasoline engine produces 77 kW (103 hp), while consuming 5.5 L/100km (43 mpg US),...

FRANKFURT (AFP) — Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, said on Monday its 2008 profit rose 15 percent and it expected to gain market share during the current global automotive sector crisis. A VW statement said 2008 net profit came to 4.75 billion euros (6.0 billion dollars) as sales rose 4.5 percent to a record 113.8 billion euros, with operating profit up 3.0 percent to 6.3 billion euros. The 2008 dividend was increased seven percent to 1.93 euros per share. "We met our target and surpassed our record results for 2007 even though conditions were tougher," chairman Martin Winterkorn said. VW...

BERLIN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The leader of Germany's Social Democrats in Hesse does not have enough support in her own party to win a vote in parliament on Tuesday and become premier of the influential western state, party sources said on Monday. The news is an embarrassment for the SPD and strengthens Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservative ally Roland Koch will continue for now as premier of an important state which is home to Germany's financial centre of Frankfurt. Merkel's conservatives rule in an uneasy federal coalition with the SPD in Berlin, but will battle them in the next...

Two German soldiers and five Afghan children have died in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan, capping a day of bloodshed which also saw a British woman aid worker gunned down on the streets of Kabul. A third soldier and a civilian were injured in the suicide attack, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) confirmed. The Germans were on foot patrol in Kunduz province when the bomber rode up to them on a bicycle and triggered his explosives, according to Mohammad Omar, the provincial governor of Kunduz. “The blast took place on a main road. This is...

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...

Volkswagen announced this morning that it would build a manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. where it will build a vehicle specifically for the North American market. The plant will employ 2,000 workers from the tri-state area and is expected to invest $1 billion in the local economy. The plant is an integral part of Volkswagen's plan for expansion in the N.A. market, with sales expected to crest 800,000 units by 2018. The 1,350-acre site will produce 150,000 vehicles annually – specifically a midsize sedan – in 2011.

Rising fuel prices, both in the U.S. and abroad, means that automakers can now offer similar engines in vehicles sold throughout the world. According to Automotive News, General Motors' next small car, the Chevrolet Cruze, will be offered with a new 1.4-liter force-fed four-banger, putting out between 120 and 140 horsepower and returning fuel mileage in the 40 mpg range.