Categories
Society

Why A New Book About Hitler Returning Has Become A German Bestseller

GENEVA – He’s back. Adolf Hitler is back, in a book by Timur Vermes – a comedy in which Hitler returns to Berlin in the summer of 2011. The book, which has reached the top of the German bestseller list, is causing much controversy in a country that would rather forget it has been 80 […]

Categories
Economy

How Family Cash Between Germany And Turkey Started Flowing East-To-West

A reversal in direction of the traditional route of remittance payments – now family members in Turkey are sending money to relatives in Germany.

Categories
Ideas

Wake Up Germany, You’ve Got A Serious Sexual Harassment Problem

Both men and women must change their attitudes

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Society

An Ode To Procrastination – Why Do It Today When You Can Do It Tomorrow?

Feel free to read this article later…!

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Society

Why The English Language Rules The World – No Really, Why?

BERLIN – In the musical “My Fair Lady,” Professor Henry Higgins expresses outrage at the “cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.” The guilty parties are the Scots, the Irish, the Welsh – and of course Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower girl from London with whom the linguistic purist falls in love. If Americans escape his […]

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Society

How A Nine-Year-Old Stirred Debate About The N-Word, Past And Present

BERLIN – “I think it totally sucks that you think that word should be left in children’s books. You can’t imagine how it makes me feel to hear or read that word. It’s really really terrible. My Dad is not a ‘negro’ and neither am I.” That was written by nine-year-old Ishema Kane in her […]

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Society

Social Envy – Study Finds Facebook Causes Depression And Isolation

BERLIN – Social networks like Facebook make many things easier. You can find out right away if Alex got the job or not, and you can not only read about Marie’s vacation, but you can also see all those pictures of her on the beach, too. There’s also a downside to this. Researchers have conducted […]

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Society

Poland’s Seasonal Workers Face Grim Conditions In Germany

At an employement agency in southeastern Poland, notices offer a variety of job opportunities abroad. One particular post advertising agricultural work in Germany looks, at first glance, to be a good offer. The reality is very different. To be able to send people to work abroad, Polish employement agencies need to be signed into a […]

Categories
Future

Kim Dotcom’s New Encrypted Cloud: German Pirate Back Making Waves In New Zealand

In his native Germany, Mr “Dotcom” is called by his real name, Kim Schmitz; but Germans joined with the rest of the world to see the roll-out of his new outsized Internet file-sharing site.

Categories
Future

You Don’t Even Know My Name – A Daughter Faces Her Mother’s Alzheimer’s

Her eyes tear up when I come into the room although the word “daughter” holds no meaning for her anymore. When friends and relatives ask me “How’s your mother?,” they are not referring to the woman I used to relate to in that role, but to a whole other person behind an invisible wall. I […]

Categories
Economy

Why So Many See 2013 As Breakthrough Year For Emerging Markets

Some skeptics, though, wonder whether all the enthusiasm for the developing world has created a sort of emerging market “bubble”.

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Society

After Miraculously Escaping Nazi Destruction, Munich Synagogue Is Saved Again

MUNICH – Our meeting takes place at Munich’s old Jewish synagogue on Reichenbachstrasse. Rachel Salamander and her Synagogue Reichenbachstrasse charity co-chair, attorney Ron Jakubowicz, are telling us about their plans for the synagogue’s future. The mission of the charity, which was launched in November 2011, is to save and restore the pre-war synagogue that was […]

Categories
Future

When Crowds Kill: How Apps, Drones And Psychology Can Improve Crowd Control

KAISERSLAUTERN – It’s been more than two years since 21 people were killed and more than 500 injured in the Duisburg Love Parade, a tragedy that shocked Germany and reopened wider questions about how to control large crowds. In an article published in the EPJ Data Science journal, physicist Dirk Helbing of the Swiss Federal […]

Categories
Food / Travel

A Waldorf Astoria Hotel Tries To Brighten A Gray Berlin Neighborhood

Located near the Berlin zoo, the address is the first in Germany for the famed US luxury hotel brand.

Categories
Geopolitics

A Kurdish People, The Kurdish Questions

The killing of three Kurdish activists in Paris shines new light on a longstanding fact of a millions of people spread across large swaths of terrritory, but with no nation of their own.

Categories
Future

Inside BMW’s Race To Build Electric Cars With Lighter, “Greener” Carbon Fiber

MUNICH – To many, “i” was just a letter of the alphabet – until it was used by a then unknown computer company to skyrocket to the global position Apple holds today. And now BMW is hoping to go far on “i” too, investing billions in the i3 electric car due to come onto the […]

Categories
Society

Germany’s Catholic Church Suddenly Halts Major Study On Priest Sex Abuse

MUNICH – A major research project set up to shed light on sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Germany has been shelved, according to information obtained by Süddeutsche Zeitung. Germany’s Catholic Church has cancelled the project, and a letter to that effect has been sent by the German Bishops’ Conference to the Criminal Research Institute […]

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Society

Awkward At Online Dating? This Ghostwriter Service Can Sex Up Your Internet Profile

MUNICH – Wearing a bright checked shirt, the man is strikingly tall, fit, with very short brown hair and brown eyes. He smiles a lot. Right now he’s looking for a suitable female partner – not in cafés or bars as such a search might have been conducted just a few short years ago, but […]

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Society

When Dad Lives In Jail: A Soft New German Way For Kids To Visit Prisoner Parents

NUREMBERG – Paul wanted glitter on his Christmas tree ornament; at his age – six – he doesn’t think glitter is too girly. His dad took in the request and patiently started applying the glitter to the wet paint of the ornament they’re making together. “What does an angel look like?” a little boy at […]

Categories
Ideas

The Dark Side Of Feminism – Why Women Don’t Like Powerful Women

-Essay- BERLIN – It would have been better if she had dark circles under her eyes. Maybe a little bit of flab around the middle. At the very least a stain on her blouse – anything. Instead, in her first public appearance since the birth of her son, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was as slim […]

Categories
Society

Germans And Chinese: A One-Sided Love

BERLIN – What is the first thing Chinese people think about when asked about Germany? Sure, Oktoberfest, the Cologne carnival, but mostly: the car industry. German automakers Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen were mentioned spontaneously by nearly 25% of Chinese people polled in a recent survey. Asked about China, Germans made associations like “economic power” and […]

Categories
Future

For The Grace Of Geeks – Teaching Social Skills To Engineers

BERLIN – Christian Hummel knew he would suddenly be confronted with all sorts of new situations when, after nine years at a major German steel company, his boss offered him the job heading up a three-person development unit. Hummel thought long and hard before accepting. He would not only bear the responsibility for the work […]

Categories
Geopolitics

The Hidden Victims Of The Cold War, Shot Down At The Berlin Wall

BERLIN – She’ll never know why, on August 7 1970, her father was in the border area near the Berlin Wall. The only thing she knows is that East German border guards fired 177 shots at him. Monika N. was 13 when she lost her father. Her sister was a year older. The worst thing […]

Categories
Geopolitics

The Germany-Bashing And Conspiracy Theories Of Berlusconi’s Comeback

BERLIN – Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former Prime Minister who harbors ambitions to return to his old job, has had a year to adjust reality to his private world view. And now he’s letting fellow Italians and Europeans know how he thinks. The widening of the Italo-German government bond “spread” shortly before his government fell last […]

Categories
Economy

YouPorn Founder Jailed: A German Geek’s Fast Track To Dominating Internet Pornography

By some calculations, Fabian Thylmann is the biggest porn king of all time. But right now, he’s stuck inside a Belgian jail.

Categories
Society

Holocaust Survivors In Standoff With German Government Over Reparations

BERLIN – Uri Chanoch has sent a statement to the Committee on Labor and Social Affairs of the German Parliament reminding them of the historic significance of the task they now face. The 12 members of the Committee are debating whether to make an amendment to the Ghetto Pensions law. The law, enacted in 2002 […]

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Society

Is It Better For Her? The Latest Science On The Female Orgasm

BERLIN – Inner tension mounts. Heart rate increases, breathing is faster, small body hairs stand on end. Sudden muscle contractions, spasms, indescribable feelings of pleasure: an orgasm, over relatively quickly for men but sometimes lasting up to 30 seconds for women. Along with intense feelings of release following an orgasm, come feelings of happiness and […]

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Society

Re-Entry Shock – When Expats Move Back To Find *Home* Now Feels Foreign

FRANKFURT – After the plane landed, the Baier family felt a little lost. The customs officer didn’t smile; the taxi driver seemed annoyed by the amount of baggage they had. The Baiers (not their real name) were “home,” back in Germany – but it seemed foreign to them. The family breadwinner, Markus, had spent nearly […]

Categories
Future

From Arafat To Euthanasia, When Death By Poison Is The Prime Suspect

BERLIN – Yes, he has investigated cases of murder by poisoning, says Burkhard Madea. The forensic pathologist at the University of Bonn, an expert in unexplained causes of death, recalls “a series of deaths about 20 years ago when a nurse deliberately gave old, helpless patients the wrong medication. The victims all died suddenly, but […]

Categories
Future

Battlelines Drawn As EU Threatens To Sink Doha Climate Conference

BERLIN – In the Qatari capital of Doha, the decisive phase of the UN Climate Conference has begun. Ministers and government representatives from over 190 countries have until Thursday to adopt concrete measures to save the world’s climate. Part of the ritual at conferences like this is that shortly before the end of negotiations, the […]

Categories
Economy

Exclusive: Massive German Tax Evasion Probe, Billions Stashed In Swiss Banks

One estimate is that some 150 billion euros have been stashed in secret Swiss accounts.

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Society

Putting The XXX In X-Mas At Hamburg’s Holiday Market Of Sex And Sin

HAMBURG – A chocolate penis – with bite marks – hangs around an angel’s neck. Olivia Jones breaks out in a loud, naughty laugh at the sight of it and declares it awesome. Hamburg’s most famous drag queen is wearing a Dalmatian coat and enough red glitter to deck out a whole Christmas tree. “I […]

Categories
Society

A Real Animal Lover? Meet The Man Fighting To Keep Bestiality Legal In Germany

A photograph on the Internet shows Michael Kiok gazing into the eyes of his life partner, Cessy. Cessy is an eight-year-old German shepherd. Kiok, 52, is a zoophile — by his estimation one of 100,000 in Germany. The university librarian is sexually attracted to animals. Hans-Michael Goldmann, an animal protection expert who chairs the federal […]

Categories
Ideas

Why New EU Quotas For Women Executives Are No Threat To Male Domination

-Analysis- BRUSSELS – “It’s done,” a relieved Viviane Reding tweeted in several languages. The European Union Commission had finally approved her plan for women to constitute 40% of non-executive board directorships in large listed companies in Europe by the year 2020. In October, Reding had delayed the launch of her proposal which, having now been […]

Categories
Future

Road Hackers – The Perils And Possibilities Of Internet Car Connectivity

BERLIN – Drivers have been communicating with each other for 125 years with brake lights, turn signals and horns. But a new era is beginning: Car-to-X Communication (C2X). This is connectivity between vehicles making it possible for them to exchange information and warn of dangers. In early 2007, with about 40 million euros of taxpayer […]

Categories
Future

“Obesity Paradox” – More And More Studies Find The Overweight Live Longer

Being overweight is unhealthy. The medical community never tires of predicting an early demise for obese people, and strongly urging them to lose weight. But in fact, the latest science says that fat people live longer and can tolerate higher levels of stress. “The classic view is that obesity is an illness that has to […]

Categories
Future

More Reasons To Thank Grandma – She May Be The Secret To Human Longevity

BERLIN – It is a scientific theory of longevity that has the whiff of homemade pie: people live longer thanks to the grandmothers who help raise them. Though first put forth more than a half-century ago, the “grandmother hypothesis” has gotten renewed attention with a recent study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society […]

Categories
Society

Are You Man Enough To Sport Colored Socks?

BERLIN – Men are hunters — constantly on the lookout for challenges, for the thrill of danger. But how does our modern adventurer spice up his everyday life? At the office for example, where instead of hunting prey figuratively or literally, he’s more likely to get his schnitzel served — breaded and cooked by somebody […]

Categories
Food / Travel

No Kids Allowed: When Hotels Look For Select Clients

BERLIN – The Tannhof, a wellness hotel in Germany’s Black Forest, is for adults only. So is the Ringhotel Dolce Vita in the Bavarian Forest. According to the Adults-Only-Holidays website, there are five hotels in Germany where children are not welcome. There are five such establishments in Austria, the UK and Turkey; four each in […]

Categories
Society

What Do They Call A Man Who Works Half-Time? Half A Man, Of Course

MUNICH – When is a man a man? The business world has an answer to that: when he works full-time and is focused on his career advancement. To explore this a little further, we met up at a café in downtown Munich with Norbert Meier (not his real name) who by that definition is only […]

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