German armed forces see 28% surge in recruits in NATO defence boost – Germany’s armed forces reported a 28% surge in soldier recruits from January to late July, compared with the same period last year, bolstering plans to boost NATO defences in response to what it sees as an increased threat from Russia.
The Defence Ministry said on Thursday more than 13,700 people had joined the Bundeswehr – the army, air force, navy and other forces – in that period, in what it said was the steepest rise for years.
It’s a Volkssport (national pastime) here. Over-taxed Germans get even with the government any and every chance they get. See Schwarzarbeit.
German shadow economy booms amid high taxes and state aid – While Germany’s economy falters, the country is experiencing a rise in undeclared work. What role do taxes and generous state aid for the poor play in the surge?
The consequences of green climate disinformation – Whether it’s heat, drought or global warming, the loudest warnings about climate change are preventing effective solutions…
The EU had proposed being able to buy three percent of its CO₂ reduction outside the continent from 2036, for example by planting forests in Africa… Green lobbyists, on the other hand, want all of this money to be spent on climate protection in this country (Germany). The case is exemplary: those who are particularly vehement in their warnings about climate change are opposed to pragmatic solutions.
Germany’s Merz tells BBC Europe was free-riding on US – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has accepted US accusations that Europe was doing too little to fund its own defence and security, but now believes they are on the same page.
“We know we have to do more on our own and we have been free-riders in the past,” he told the BBC’s Today Programme, “they’re asking us to do more and we are doing more.”
Police say a man injured 4 with an axe on German train before he was detained – German police say a man attacked and slightly injured four people with an axe on a long-distance train in Bavaria before he was detained by police.
Generations of Germans believe Frederick the Great brought the beloved potato to Germany.
The legend is this: King Frederick II of Prussia wanted his subjects to eat potatoes, introduced to Europe in the 16th century from South America. But the people of Prussia, which later became part of a united Germany, wouldn’t touch the tuber.
So the 18th-century monarch resorted to trickery. He placed royal guards and soldiers along the edge of his palace garden — thus creating the illusion that potatoes were a rare and valuable crop reserved for the royal family and its aristocratic friends. But the guards withdrew from their posts each night, creating an opportunity for enterprising locals to sneak in and “steal” the spuds…
The unexciting truth is that the potato has been cultivated in Germany’s Bavarian region since 1647, Luh said. Frederick’s great-grandfather, Elector Frederick William, introduced it to the Brandenburg area of Prussia in the 1650s, but only because he liked the aesthetics of the plant’s leafy greens.
Merz ‘delusional’ over US sparing German cars in EU trade deal – Brussels has warned German chancellor not to expect UK-style carve-out for car sector in EU deal with Donald Trump.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz is “delusional” in his expectation that Germany’s car industry will be spared from US tariffs, according to EU officials involved in trade talks with the Trump administration.
Merz has been pressing the European Commission, which manages trade policy on behalf of the EU’s 27 member states, to sign a “framework” deal with Washington aping the US-UK agreement signed earlier this month, which included a special dispensation for cars.
But Brussels officials have privately told Berlin that such an arrangement would not be possible, as reducing German car imports is a big focus for US President Donald Trump, two people briefed on the discussions told the Financial Times.
Trump says Israel and Iran have negotiated ‘complete’ ceasefire – After the president announced the ceasefire would start in coming hours, Iran and Israel exchanged several waves of strikes…
Iranian state TV said that a ceasefire was coming into effect, which it described as a being “imposed on the enemy.”
That means jail for life. Which actually means only fifteen (15) years in Germany.
German court sentences Syrian doctor to life in jail for crimes against humanity – Alaa Mousa accused of torturing detainees at military hospitals during Syrian civil war under former ruler Bashar al-Assad…
Mousa has lived in Germany for 10 years. He worked in various clinics over five years as an orthopaedic medic, most recently at a hospital in Bad Wildungen in the state of Hessen, in western Germany, until his arrest in summer 2020. He was recognised and reported to the authorities after some of his victims saw him in a TV documentary about the Syrian city of Homs and was placed in custody. The court case against him at Frankfurt’s higher regional court started in January 2022 and took place over nearly 190 days.
Observing Hermann 