Until 1989 Berlin, East and West, was frozen in time: a city where allied, four-power rule still held theoretical sway, where the bombed-out remnants of the Third Reich were still visible and where people lived on the edge, ready at any moment for a new East-West crisis to explode in their midst. There was a frisson to life that, since reunification, has evaporated.

Reminders of the past were everywhere. Even the flight to the city was governed by four-power agreement set up amid the ruins of the Reich.

The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany’s economic recovery.

One official said: “He wasn’t a big man but he had a very bulky rear end. Then when he sat down it was like he was sitting on eggshells. His backside and his legs looked like they belonged to a weightlifter.”

Officers found 6.6kg of cocaine stored inside the neoprene shorts he wore underneath his jeans. The 65-year-old German, who flew into Barcelona from South America, was arrested and jailed.

The customs officer added: “We’ve seen all sorts of stunts but the big pants were a first for us.” It is just one of a series of imaginative smuggling attempts in recent months.

Ynet
Published: 08.11.09, 13:25 / Israel Jewish Scene

The Central Council of Jews in Germany decided to back the proposal to reprint Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which is banned from publication in Germany since 1945.

Munich’s Institute for Contemporary History applied this week for permission to reprint the work after 2015, when the German state of Bavaria’s copyright is due to expire. It aims to produce an edition containing a critical introduction and footnotes challenging Hitler’s assertions. “A scientific edition would help to dispel the peculiar myths surrounding this book,” said Horst Möller, the institute’s director.

As if decreed by some holiday-from-hell contract, tradition dictates that the Brit who descends from his bedroom a shade too late, or lingers a little too long at breakfast before beginning the day’s bronzing, is beaten to the resort’s sunniest, comfiest spots.

Few details have been released about the grisly find in Olpe, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, including how old the children were and whether they had perished before being placed in the freezer.

Staff only told Mr Pohl of their blunder after five other operations to correct it, reports the Daily Telegraph.

“We believe that these charges are without foundation,” E.ON spokesman Christian Schneller told AFP.

“It is in our interest to provide energy in an efficient manner.”

E.ON was reacting to a report that Germany’s electricity market regulator, BNE, had opened a probe into allegations that the country’s four main energy companies had overcharged customers by up to 800 million euros (1.3 billion dollars) in 2006 and 2007.