Worldcrunch
MUNICH — Shortly after the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane by a splinter group of the Shiite Hezbollah militia, Britain’s then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, blasted the media for its handling of the affair and called for a new code of conduct. If the press would simply stop covering terrorist attacks, she argued before […]
The IB group says they just want to preserve their country’s identity. But officials warn they are using “camouflage tactics” to hide their real proto-fascist intentions.
Wrought iron restaurant signs are a German specialty, and usually point famished travellers like me toward excellent Gasthaus food. But not far from Tangermünde, where I took this shot, a different sort of iron still separated Europe in two.
From Madame Gaga’s infamous meat dress to Chancellor Merkel’s boxy blazers, women are setting new standards in feminine fashion, whether men like it or not.
Germany’s favorite fish isn’t always caught off the Alaskan coast. U.S. fishermen want transparency for consumers. But such a move could upend the fishing industry.
Terrorists and mass murderers are often seen as maniacs. But that may hide an uncomfortable truth: You don’t have to be insane to commit atrocities.
The German state of Bavaria now has to face the question of where and how to bury slain terrorists. Clues could come from post-coup Turkey, or from the Boston Marathon.
Employees face higher levels of stress, especially the “generation sandwich” trapped between children and career. But a new German study shows those with children wind up healthier.
A new study offers clarity and insight into the strange World War II propaganda alliance between Nazi Germany and nationalist Arabs in Palestine.
BERLIN — It’s been a year since German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a Palestinian refugee teen burst into tears live on national television. Reem Sahwil was 14 years old, and living on a temporary residence permit, when she was invited with others for a townhall-style public encounter with Merkel on July 15, 2015, in the […]
Can we accept cultural “sensitivities” as an excuse for undemocratic behavior? Can we accept a Muslim father not shaking the hand of his child’s teacher because she is a woman? Yes, it’s all connected to recent terror attacks in
Nice, Turkey, Wurzburg, Ansbach. The escalating violence of the last few days raise the pressure on the German Chancellor, whose refugee policy is again in the spotlight. The political repercussions could strike where it matters to her most.
BERLIN — Four attacks in 11 days have us worried that Germany is at the beginning of a campaign of attacks by individuals that will not be easy to stop. Like the July 14 attack in Nice, France, the perpetrators in recent days in the German cities of Würzburg and Ansbach most likely did not […]
Criminals of the 21st century do not have to go to clubs to sell their drugs or drive across the border to buy their weapons. They only have to smuggle malware onto someone’s computer or sell their goods at the black market of the digital underground.
SPOTLIGHT: TERROR REACHES GERMANY Though Germany has been at the center of Europe’s debate over refugees, it had largely been spared the kind of terrorist attacks that have struck neighboring France. But now, in the span of just a few days, Germany suddenly finds itself struggling to make sense of a string of violent attacks […]
Die Tageszeitung, July 25 The Monday edition of Berlin-based daily Die Tageszeitung shows how, in the span of just a few days, Germans are suddenly faced with terrorism and attempted mass killings. With a photograph of survivors exiting from Friday’s deadly attack in a Munich shopping center, the newspaper asks how to react to any […]
In Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, home to many people of Turkish descent, opinions about Recep Tayyip Erdogan and last week’s failed coup that tried to oust him range from shock to skepticism.
Die Tageszeitung, July 20th Monday’s gruesome axe attack on a commuter train in southern Germany left many unanswered questions on the Wednesday front page of German daily Die Tageszeitung, as evidenced by its enigmatic headline made of just four question marks. On Monday evening, a 17-year-old man armed with a knife and an axe wounded […]
-Analysis- PARIS — Call it the “glorieuse incertitude du sport” — the glorious uncertainty of sports. During the finals of soccer’s just completed 2016 European Championship, Portugal saw its singular star Ronaldo taken out of the game after an injury, but won anyway against a favored host French team that had overcome its eternal nemesis, […]
What is rape? The German Bundestag wants to put in place stricter rules. Critics now fear a wave of false reports and problems in court. But the victims’ suffering should not be silenced, again.
SPOTLIGHT: A PUTIN THINK TANK IN BERLIN Far from both the Transatlantic chattering about Brexit, and the simmering war in Ukraine, a new “Research Institute” was quietly christened in the capital of Germany last week. The “Dialogue of Civilizations” think tank moved its headquarters from Vienna to central Berlin, which German historian Karl Schlögel writes […]
The latest in the perilous liaisons between pro-Russian Germans and Vladimir Putin is taking the propaganda war on the West to a whole new level with a think tank relocated to Berlin.
Humans are being degraded to the status of objects of an algorithm-based evaluation to be sold on the market. This exploitative form of “hypercapitalism” must quickly be reversed.
Germany and Britain have always competed for top European talents. Now, Europe’s best and brightest may see the UK as too complicated. One of many potential positive side effects of Brexit.
BERLIN — Shahak Shapira is the Israeli-born son of a Holocaust survivor and Munich Olympic victim. But he’s also a proud Berliner, even though he’s been beaten up and insulted by neo-Nazis. Now he’s published a book that is more or less serious. How I Became the Most German Jew in the World is a […]
BERLIN — When exactly should the British leave? How should the European Union react? Following the initial horror at the UK vote in favor of Brexit, the search is now on, from Brussels to Berlin and beyond, to find practical solutions to pick up the pieces and set Europe on a new path forward. Here […]
Venezuela, a land that made 19th-century travelers marvel at its natural treasures, has become one of the last places any tourist would visit these days.
If the UK leaves the European Union, the members of the free market camp in the EU would be severely outnumbered.
Europe has seen its relative economic and military power decline for decades, but its “soft power” has held strong. But even that is now at risk.
The style of mailboxes around the world varies considerably. This opulent one, in eastern Germany, looked like it could have been used by Kaiser Wilhelm II.
-Essay- BERLIN — “No other place recalls so vividly the fragility of democracy in Europe in the 20th century.” On the streets of Berlin, passersby may notice this line etched on a building plaque in German, French and English. It can be found in the finance ministry complex that used to house Nazi Germany’s Ministry […]
Let’s be clear, the terror in the Pulse club was not an attack on Western culture in general: It was aimed explicitly at gay people. Most heterosexuals don’t have the slightest idea what this really means.
Chitosan fiber in the making — Photo: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration At first glance, the thread looks like a run-of-the-mill material. But the glossy white, strong and elastic strand is anything but ordinary. This antibacterial material can stop the flow of blood and dissolves naturally within the human body. It can be used […]
Other cities ban prostitution from residential areas with schools and playgrounds. Not Berlin. Here, it’s just part of the city’s “poor, but sexy” image.
The psychology of global warming helps explain why we can’t solve it. “It triggers nothing in our brain,” says one psychologist. “It lets us sleep calmly in a burning bed.”
Married under Sharia law in their native country, underage refugees pose hard questions for Germany’s legal and child welfare systems. German courts are divided.