http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/germany-news/ en-us Mon, 6 Jul 2009 18:03:25 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2286631/posts 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... BBC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2286631/posts#comment Mon, 6 Jul 2009 18:03:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2286195/posts BERLIN (JTA) -- A Dresden politician was fined for playing loud klezmer music outside City Hall to disturb a neo-Nazi march. Stephan Kuhn of the Green Party was ordered Wednesday to pay a $210 fine, which will benefit an organization that helps victims of right-wing violence. Neo-Nazis held a commemorative march on Feb.13, 2008, on the anniversary of the World War II firebombing of Dresden by Allied forces, which right-wing extremists have taken to calling the "bombing Holocaust." In protest, Kuhn blasted the music at the neo-Nazis from the windows of the Green Party parliamentary fraction offices. According to the... JTA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2286195/posts#comment Mon, 6 Jul 2009 00:54:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284086/posts 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... www.aldi-sued.de http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284086/posts#comment Thu, 2 Jul 2009 14:43:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283139/posts Meet the "wonder weapon" that could have won the war for Hitler. Called the Horten 229, the radical "flying wing" fighter-bomber looked and acted a lot like the U.S. Air Force's current B-2 — right down to the "stealth" radar-evading characteristics. Fortunately for the world, the Ho 229 wasn't put into mass production before Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945. But American researchers boxed up and shipped home the prototypes and partially-built planes that existed — and now the same company that builds the B-2 has rebuilt one. FoxNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283139/posts#comment Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:36:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282370/posts As the summer begins, White House watchers have spotted a new look by President Obama: The Evil Eye! Staffers have joked about the menacing glance, which comes when the president meets with world leaders who are not aligned with his progressive view. White House photographers have captured the "evil eye" in recent weeks, during sessions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Colombia's Alvaro Uribev. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi got hit with the commander's malocchio last week in the Oval office. And at least one White House reporter has been on the receiving end of the daggers during a press... drudge report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282370/posts#comment Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:29:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282428/posts BEWARE THE OBAMA 'EVIL EYE' Tue Jun 30 2009 07:43:56 ET As the summer begins, White House watchers have spotted a new look by President Obama: The Evil Eye! Staffers have joked about the menacing glance, which comes when the president meets with world leaders who are not aligned with his progressive view. White House photographers have captured the "evil eye" in recent weeks, during sessions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Colombia's Alvaro Uribev. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi got hit with the commander's malocchio last week in the Oval office. And at least one White House reporter... The DRUDGE REPORT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282428/posts#comment Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:38:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281662/posts Navy Drops US Warship for Made-in-Israel Option by Yehudah Lev Kay (IsraelNN.com) The Israeli navy has dropped plans to purchase U.S. made warships and instead is exploring the possibility of a home-grown military shipbuilding industry, according to the website of Defense News. The Ministry of Defense had originally planned on purchasing either the small Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) from Lockheed Martin or similar corvettes built by Northrop Grumman. However, costs for the LCS ships skyrocketed to $637 million, and costs for the corvettes were estimated at $450 million, both deemed prohibitive to the navy. “As much as we sought commonality... Israel National News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281662/posts#comment Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:35:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280959/posts ON TV Hitler's Stealth Fighter airs Sunday, June 28, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel. Preview Hitler's Stealth Fighter >> July 25, 2009--At a Northrop Grumman facility in California, top stealth-plane experts admire their handiwork in late 2008—a full-size, though flightless, replica of a Horten 2-29, aka Hitler's stealth fighter, created for a documentary airing June 28 on the National Geographic Channel. (Read the full story.) The team tested the re-created Nazi jet against World War II-style radar. With its radar-resistant design and 600-mile-an-hour (970-kilometer-an-hour) speed, the team concluded, the Ho 2-29 would have allowed British antiaircraft... National Geographic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280959/posts#comment Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:30:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280507/posts Despite the president's claim at a joint appearance this afternoon that "I like Chancellor Merkel a lot," President Barack Obama and Germany's Angela Merkel are widely believed to have a somewhat frosty relationship. The biggest perceived rift between the two? How best to respond to the global financial crisis. Mr. Obama, of course, has pushed through a massive stimulus package and pressed for greater government spending worldwide to end the recession. Merkel, who helms the largest economy in Europe, has resisted such spending; her government has passed only a pair of small stimulus packages in response to the economic crisis.... CBS News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280507/posts#comment Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:08:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280375/posts LANDSTUHL, Germany, June 26, 2009 – The boxes arrive daily from the United States, 15 to 20 each day, along with $8,000 to $12,000 in cash every week from Americans and U.S. nonprofit groups. Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael D. Dubie, the adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, stands in the Wounded Warrior Ministry Center -- nicknamed the "Chaplains' Closet" -- at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, June 17, 2009, during a visit to wounded warriors. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The boxes and the money are meant for the... American Forces Press Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280375/posts#comment Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:32:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280291/posts Neo-Nazis in Germany are applauding the repression of protests in Iran and publishing statements supporting the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his hard-line government. Two extremist parties, the NPD and DVU, have managed to contort their racist thinking to embrace the Iranian leader because Ahmadinejad openly advocates the elimination of Israel – and presumably has no plans to move to Germany. The NPD website defended Ahmadinejad against what it called a “media attack on the Iranian people’s spirit,” referring to widespread doubts being expressed about the president’s reelection and described him as the “true leader of his people,” according... The Local http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280291/posts#comment Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:23:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280283/posts A Turkish dad stabbed his own 15-year-old daughter to death in an honour killing which has shocked Germany. Mehmet Ö. (45) sneaked into Bürsa’s bedroom at 3.30am and repeatedly struck the helpless teen with a knife. Her grandparents called an ambulance but medics could not do anything for Buersa as she bled to death. Bild http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280283/posts#comment Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:13:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280213/posts The Czech social democrat party is discussing the possibility of suspending president Vaclav Klaus' powers if he does not sign the EU's Lisbon treaty. The temporary suspension would require a simple majority of 41 votes in the country's 81-seat senate and would allow caretaker prime minister Jan Fischer to sign the document instead. Social democrat senator Alena Gajduskova is leading an "intensive debate" on the subject in her party, the secretary of the senate's constitutional commission, Jan Kysela, told EUobserver. Ms Gajduskova's campaign is also linked to president Klaus' refusal to sign off on the Rome Statute of the International... EU Observer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280213/posts#comment Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:13:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279145/posts German Chancellor Angela Merkel is traveling to Washington this week to discuss the financial crisis and climate change with US President Barack Obama -- two issues where Germany and the US are deeply divided. In the new world order, Europe is looking increasingly irrelevant for the US. Der Spiegel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279145/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:15:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278532/posts 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... SPIEGEL Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278532/posts#comment Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:19:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277616/posts The Wall Street Journal reports on the German firm's shady dealings with the Iranian regime, which included helping the country develop "one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale." This story was even more shocking the first time I read it in the Washington Times. Weekly Standard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277616/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:40:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277172/posts German chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the ruling regime in Tehran to allow a full recount of the disputed presidential elections of June 12. “Germany sides with those Iranians who want to exercise their right to freedom of expression and assembly”, Merkel declared on Sunday; making it one of the strongest messages sent by any Western leader to Iran so far. Chancellor Merkel also called on Tehran to allow peaceful demonstrations, to refrain from using force against protestors, and to release imprisoned opposition figures. “Human and civil rights have to be fully respected,” she stated. Merkel further demanded that restrictions... Weekly Standard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277172/posts#comment Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:33:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276761/posts MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia remembers on Monday the start of the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, the term used in Russia and other ex-Soviet states to describe WWII. Nazi Germany and its allies attacked the country's west, delivering massive air strikes on key air, railroad and military facilities and advancing 250-300 km deep into Soviet territory on June 22, 1941. The war, planned to be a matter of months, lasted for four years and became the world's bloodiest conflict in history. At least 26.5 million Soviet civilians and soldiers died during the conflict, according to official statistics. Veterans,... RIA Novosti http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276761/posts#comment Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:28:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276532/posts Two European companies — a major contractor to the U.S. government and a top cell-phone equipment maker — last year installed an electronic surveillance system for Iran that human rights advocates and intelligence experts say can help Iran target dissidents. Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens, delivered what is known as a monitoring center to Irantelecom, Iran's state-owned telephone company. Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276532/posts#comment Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:50:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275866/posts The fate of three of nine foreigners abducted in Yemen last week is known — their bodies were found, shot execution style. The whereabouts of the other six — including three children under the age of 6 — remain a mystery. But terrorism experts say their abductors and killers are almost certainly not a mystery. They say the crimes bear the mark of Al Qaeda, and they fear they are the handiwork of the international terror organization's No. 2 man in the Arabian Peninsula: Said Ali al-Shihri, an Islamic extremist who once was in American custody — but who was... FOX News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275866/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:34:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275841/posts A GROUP of foreigners were warned against going on an outing before a kidnapping which led to the killing of three of them, Yemen's interior minister said. "The authorities received the threat of an attack and there was a warning given to the Germans asking them not to travel outside their area of work," Muttahar al-Masri said. The killing of three women, identified as two German nurses and a South Korean teacher, coincided with a rise in separatist and militant tensions in Yemen whose instability has alarmed Western countries and Saudi Arabia. The nine were seized last week outside the... reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275841/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:43:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275621/posts Telegraph reporter Stephanie Gutmann describes her reaction to Barack Obama’s appearance in Berlin: “After it was over I picked up the phone and called a friend back home. ‘It’s worse than we thought,’ I told him. ‘The guy’s actually crazy.’” Guttman was talking about candidate Obama’s agenda as he presented it that day, in which he promised to take on the terrorists in Afghanistan, take on the drug dealers, rebuild Afghanistan, eliminate the building nuclear threat, secure all loose nukes, decrease arsenals from another era, form a new global partnership that will end terror networks, redistribute wealth, save the planet,... Canada Free Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275621/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:13:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273881/posts The hostility toward Pope Pius XII in the years following World War II was the unjustified result of his firm stance against communism and an unfair comparison with his successor, Pope John XXIII, said the editor of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. In the introduction to a compilation of essays by historians and church officials, editor Giovanni Maria Vian said that the esteem awarded Pope Pius during and immediately after the war changed after his death into criticism over his failure to strongly condemn the Nazi plan to exterminate Jews. The book, "In Difesa di Pio XII," ("In Defense of... CNS News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273881/posts#comment Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:47:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273257/posts They have a beer ration of up to a litre a day, and wurst for dinner. Taleban or no Taleban, Germans take a little bit of home with them when they serve in trouble spots. Even their carefully sorted rubbish gets dumped in wheelie bins before being sent from Afghanistan to Germany for recycling. Now Germany’s most senior officer has berated his troops for going soft. “We cannot guarantee soldiers that they will have an all-round feel-good experience,” said General Wolfgang Schneiderhan. His outburst follows complaints made by German soldiers to the official ombudsman about their tours abroad. Some have... The Times (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273257/posts#comment Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:27:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271979/posts SAN'A, Yemen — A Yemeni security official says three German women hostages have been found dead, their bodies mutilated. FOX/AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271979/posts#comment Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:58:35 GMT