Germany

12 November 2023; MEMO: German police temporarily detained a Jewish Israeli woman who held up a sign condemning Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid an increased crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices in the country.

BERLIN (AP) — Five U.S. servicepeople were killed when a military helicopter crashed over the eastern Mediterranean Sea during a training mission, U.S. officials said Sunday.

The military’s European Command said all five crew members on board were killed when the aircraft went down “during a routine air refueling mission as part of military training.”

BERLIN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Germany will strengthen its military to make it the backbone of deterrence and collective defence in Europe, its defence minister pledged on Thursday as Berlin issued new defence policy guidelines for the first time in over a decade.

The 19-page document details what the "Zeitenwende" - the major shift of policy German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 - means for the workings of the Bundeswehr.

BERLIN (AP) — German police said Thursday evening that a student with a handgun is suspected of having killed another student at a high school in the country’s southwest, German news agency dpa reported.

The suspect, a teenager, was detained as part of a large-scale police operation earlier in the day in the town of Offenburg.

He had allegedly entered a classroom at the high school for children with special needs, and fired at least one shot from a handgun at a classmate, police said.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank and other policymakers across Europe need to keep interest rates at current elevated levels until they’re sure inflation is under control despite sluggish growth, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday, warning against “premature celebration” as inflation declines from its peak.

The Washington-based IMF said that cost of underestimating inflation’s persistence could be painfully high and result in another painful round of rate hikes that could rob the economy of a large chunk of growth.

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz is to meet Germany’s 16 state governors on Monday to address ways to deal with large numbers of migrants, an issue that has become a huge political problem for the government.

Shelters for migrants and refugees are filling up and Scholz, who faces enormous pressure from the opposition and elsewhere to halt that trend, has said that “too many are coming.” The country also has seen more than 1 million Ukrainians arrive since the start of Russia’s war in their homeland.

BERLIN (AP) — The hostage situation at Hamburg Airport ended Sunday afternoon, around 18 hours after a man drove his vehicle through the gates of the airport with his 4-year-old daughter inside, authorities said. The man was arrested and the girl appears to be unharmed.

Hamburg police posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the hostage situation is over. The suspect has left the car with his daughter. ... The child appears to be unharmed.”

Police also said that “the man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance.”

BERLIN, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Faced with a steep increase in the number of migrants and refugees arriving in the country, the German government approved a draft law on Wednesday which aims to accelerate the deportation of rejected asylum seekers.

In order to give authorities more time to prepare for deportations, the maximum duration of pre-deportation custody is to be increased from 10 days to 28 days. The draft law still needs to be approved by the lower house of the German Parliament (Bundestag).

BERLIN, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The star of Germany's left-most parliamentary party has quit to set up her own populist formation, based on scepticism on both green issues and on support for Ukraine, that polls suggest could capture up to 20% of the vote.

Sahra Wagenknecht, who grew up in East Germany as the daughter of a German mother and an absent Iranian father, told reporters on Monday she would aim to win over disgruntled voters of left and right.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — For months after Ukraine’s Western allies limited sales of Russian oil to $60 per barrel, the price cap was still largely symbolic. Most of Moscow’s crude — its main moneymaker — cost less than that.

But the cap was there in case oil prices rose — and would keep the Kremlin from pocketing extra profits to fund its war in Ukraine. That time has now come, putting the price cap to its most serious test so far and underlining its weaknesses.