Germans are sending their aging parents abroad, said Anette Dowideit. With pensions flat and nursing costs rising, families often can’t afford to put Grandma in an elder-care program close to home. So over the past decade, they have turned to countries where such services are much cheaper— mostly in former Eastern bloc states like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and […]
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Dresden, Germany A German police officer has confessed to murdering a businessman who had a sexual fantasy of being killed and eaten. The officer, 55, identified as Detlev G., said he met his victim in an Internet chat room billed as “the No. 1 website for exotic meat,” where those who want to be cannibalized meet those who want to […]
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Bratislava, Slovakia At least a dozen planes briefly disappeared from Central European radar screens on two occasions last week, and nobody knows why. Air traffic controllers in Slovakia, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic reported that radar information on positions of civilian passenger planes flickered in and out for nearly half an hour, and only voice contact with the pilots […]
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Porn star murder suspect nabbed: The Canadian porn actor suspected of murdering his boyfriend in Montreal, then mailing his severed body parts to Canada’s political parties, was arrested in Germany this week. Luka Magnotta, 29, a gay prostitute, was Googling articles about himself in a Berlin cybercafe when the owner recognized him and called police. Authorities allege that Magnotta filmed […]
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Anti-Semitism is sweeping Hungary, said Colin Freeman. It’s so bad that the World Jewish Congress held its annual conference in Budapest to express solidarity with beleaguered Hungarian Jews. The Jobbik party, which is openly anti-Roma and anti-Semitic, is now the third-largest party in parliament, and its rise has coincided with a sharp uptick in anti-Semitic attacks and incidents. Jewish leaders […]
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Sometimes stereotypes are spot on, said Brian Melican. The German reluctance to bail out debt-ridden euro zone countries is rooted in a moral abhorrence of debt. Anyone who’s ever dined out with Germans knows they are sticklers for paying exactly what they owe and not one cent more or less. It is unheard of in Germany for two or more […]
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