German 2.1

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Hesses state premier and Christian Democratic leader Roland Koch celebrated the formal sealing of his centre-right coalition government on Saturday by declaring that its success had national implications.

The coalition contract between Kochs CDU and the pro-business Free Democrats FDP was approved this week by the two parties respective state committees after a year of political upheaval ended on January 18 with a significant election victory in particular for the FDP.

Koch sees the clear victory for Hesses CDUFDP coalition as a blueprint for the general election to be held in September. Under Kochs leadership, the CDU will appoint seven ministers and the FDP three.

According to Koch, the speedy negotiations for the new coalition contract in Hesse, which were completed in ten days, shows that the CDU can cleanly work together with the FDP. The much-talked about left-wing majority in the population does not seem to exist, he said on Saturday, Now we have a clear middle-class majority, and it is an example for Berlin.

On a national level, the FDP has established itself as Germanys third biggest party in recent months, while the traditional centre-left parties such as the SPD and the Green party continue to stagnate in opinion polls. .

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Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Saturday he is expecting a formal American request soon for Germany to take in inmates from the US terrorist prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Steinmeier told the Dresden-based newspaper Schsische Zeitung that there had already been informal requests from the US to several European Union countries, including Germany. Steinmeier emphasised that Germany would not take in Guantanamo inmates without more information. It became clear, Steinmeier said, that formal requests would soon follow. We cant just hide now that things are starting to happen.

No-one is fighting over Guantanamo prisoners, Steinmeier said, But Germany has been calling for the closure of the camp for years. In the interview Steinmeier tried to assuage concern by underlining that only prisoners who the American government believed to be innocent, and who could not return to their home countries for humanitarian reasons, would be considered by Germany.

The issue has caused a storm of political argument since the prospect of taking in inmates of the infamous prison camp was publicly discussed late last year. Merkel is said to have replied that the issue is currently being discussed amongst Germanys European partners. .

The head of the CDUs parliamentary group, Volker Kauder, recently told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung As Germans we have no reason to take in Guantanamo prisoners.

The issue is a thorny one for Merkel because she is caught between the positive views of her Social Democratic foreign minister and those of her conservative Christian Democrats CDU.

But Berlins Interior Minister Ehrhart Krting, a member of Steinmeiers Social Democratic Party, also echoed Kauders words I dont want that kind of people in Germany. Kauder claims he cannot see why these prisoners cannot stay in America. That shows the kind of people they are, Krting said. According to Krting, the prisoners that Germany could take in chose to move to Afghanistan when it was ruled by the Taliban.

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According to a new report published Saturday in news magazine Der Spiegel, experts at the German finance ministry calculate that tax-payers will have to shell out a further 120 billion to save Germanys crisis-stricken banks.

Setting up so-called bad banks, receptacles for toxic assets weighing down troubled financial institutions hit hardest by the global finance crisis, could end costing Germany far more than previously thought, according to the report.

The 80 billion previously ear-marked to save the banks from their risky investments is apparently less than half what will be needed. It is a massive spending programme, and we will have to analyse it carefully, said one financial expert in Bonn.

This new Finance Ministry assessment will now have to be analysed to see how it will work with the second stimulus package initiated by the government at the beginning of the year. For example, the package reportedly contains development aid for the World Bank and measure more likely to help IT firms producing computers and other equipment in Asia.

According to Der Spiegel, officials are also concerned the new stimulus plan will do little to help the German economy.

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After last weeks lottery drawing failed to produce a winner, Lotto players on Saturday will vie for the third largest German jackpot of all time some 35 million.

Only two jackpots have ever been higher 37.3 million.6 million was up for grabs in October 2006 and December 2007 saw the national lottery rise to an all-time high of 45. .

Wednesday was the 11th time the Lotto has gone unclaimed.

But Saturdays potential winner would suddenly be saddled with more than 36 times that amount. Three players from Wednesdays round had six correct numbers, though they all lacked the Super Number 0 meaning theyll have to make do with the consolation prize of 949,000 each.

Or ever dream of your own private island A 20km parcel of the US Virgin Islands comes complete with a coconut-tree beach, crystal-clear water and a palm-tree forest for just 34,441,000. So what could you do with 35 million to your name

One option would be to protect your massive winnings from inflation by purchasing 1,508 tonnes of gold.

For less than 70 percent of your newly acquired winnings, you could purchase a cruise ship, 194 metres long, 24 metres wide with 538 cabins roughly 11 to 18 square metres each.

Saturday nights massive jackpot could also buy you a passenger jetliner all to yourself a Boeing 717-200 with some 100 seats costs somewhere between 27 and 30 million.

Some 19 million would afford you a watch, albeit the most expensive in the world the 163-karat, white-and-yellow-diamond-studded model from House Chopard features a series of heart-shaped diamonds, large and small, lining the face in pink, blue and white. This luxury liner would include a casino, swimming pool, disco, five bars, a fitness room and a cafeteria on its eight decks.

And dont forget adventure trips such as Around the World in 80 Ways.

A measly 3,200,000 could buy you a trip into outer space. Costing 1 million, Saturdays Lotto winner could even take along 34 of his or her best friends. This tour of the globe lasts 28 days and features 80 different activities including a helicopter ride with champagne over Hong Kong, a private visit to the Palace of Jaipur and a wine tasting in Napa Valley.

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Jrg Ziercke, head Germanys BKA federal police agency for criminal investigation issued a warning on Saturday that Islamist extremists may attempt terrorist attacks ahead of the general election on September 27 in order to influence the outcome.

Ziercke told news magazine Focus We see clear parallels with the circumstances in Spain. It is widely believed that the Madrid terrorist attack of March 2004 had an influence on the election in Spain, and led indirectly to the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq. They know the German infrastructure, they are socially integrated, and we have to assume that they are prepared to do anything.

Ziercke sees radical converts to Islam based in Germany as a particular threat.

Often misguided converts are the most radical, said Ziercke, though he warned against being suspicious of all Muslim converts. According to the BKA, a few dozen German Islamists have been trained in terrorist training camps.

The recently-broadcast al-Qaeda videos explicitly threatening Germany have put the governments main security departments such as the BKA, and the domestic intelligence agency the Verfassungsschutz on high alert.

Fromm told the newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt the statements made by terrorist Bekkay Harrach in one of these videos strongly suggested an attack ahead of the German election. The latest videos show clearly that Germany and German interests abroad are threatened, said Verfassungsschutz president Heinz Fromm. The BKA is currently investigating 160 cases, a significant increase on the 105 being investigated a year ago.

According to statistics published in Focus, the number of Islamist-motivated crimes has risen in the past year. . Since September 11 2001, 61 Germans have been killed in Islamic terrorist attacks on foreign soil

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Coach Martin Jol hailed Hamburgs 1-0 win over Bayern Munich on Friday as the best moment of his time in charge as a first-half header from Croatian striker Mladen Petric took his side top.

On the first day of the second-half of the German league season, following the six-week winter break, Bayern suffered their third defeat of the campaign so far, having been humbled by Werder Bremen and Hanover last year.

That was the highlight of my time in charge of Hamburg, beamed former Tottenham Hotspurs coach Jol, who took over from fellow Dutchman Huub Stevens last summer.

Petrics goal puts Hamburg a point clear at the top of the Bundesliga with previous leaders Hoffenheim in action on Saturday. We had five or six chances to score more goals and Bayern also had their chances to get on the scoresheet. It was an unbelievable game.

The first half-hour was frustrating for me, said Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann, whose side drops to third. . We played OK in the second half, but we wasted too many chances. We stood off the opposition too much and allowed Hamburg to play.

Hamburg made the brighter start when winger Piotr Trochowski hit the post after just six minutes having beaten Bayern goalkeeper Michael Rensing. Its a disappointing result and we have to pick up some points next week.

But the home side got the breakthrough they deserved on 44 minutes when Czech midfielder David Jarolim drove his shot in from 35 yards out.

Munich looked to have taken the lead just after the half-hour mark when striker Luca Toni held off his marker and hit the back of the net, but a linesmans flag ruled the goal offside.

Bayern responded immediately, but a header from Toni was driven wide of the post and Hamburg were 1-0 up at half-time. Rensing parried the attempt, but Mladen Petric pounced on the loose ball and headed past the stranded Bayern goalkeeper.

Then, with less than ten minutes to go, Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost and defender Jerome Boateng combined to deny Klose at point-blank range.

Both sides squandered chances to score in the second half, but the best chance fell to Toni when his forward partner Miroslav Klose set up a clear chance, but the Italian could not connect with the ball.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Friday for a global economic charter to enforce new standards when the world comes out of the financial crisis.

Merkel said governments must take firmer control of markets and used a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos to again criticise US subsidies to ailing American car firms. She said Germanys social market economy could reconcile both aims.

The German chancellor said international leaders must make a commitment to free market forces while ending the excesses and irresponsible deeds that caused the crisis. Competition is necessary but it is something that also needs a certain discipline and principles.

The state is the guardian of the economic and social order so it has a very clear role. But individual freedom needs to be limited if it takes freedom away from others.

Freedom is a necessary precondition for market forces to operate.

She said the world needs clear cut rules quite in contrast to an unfettered capitalism that runs enormous financial risks. A completely unfettered market cannot take this structure.

Merkel said there had to be an open world economy.

The principles she outlined need an integrated financial system with the necessary institutions to take necessary international responsibilities.

The chancellor declared that she was very wary of seeing subsidies in the United States being injected right now into the automobile industry. We must not allow market forces to be completely distorted because every country is fighting for survival.

Governments also had to commit to protecting the environment and efforts to reduce the poverty gap. This must not be allowed to last too long because they invevitably lead to some distortion and are quite frankly protectionism. .

All these principles need to be enshrined in the form of a global economic order charter which could be agreed by the Group of 20 countries, the major powers and developing nations who are to hold a new summit on the economic crisis in London in April.

The chancellors spokesperson on Friday said Germany will bring together the heads of major international economic institutions next week for a meeting on the state of the global economy.

We must pool all of our energy and cooperate at the international level, Merkel said.

Steg said such meetings were intended to reinforce cooperation among and with international organisations and were first launched during the German presidency of the Group of Eight most industrialised nations in 2007.

Merkel will hold a working lunch Thursday in Berlin with the directors of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the International Labour Organisation, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organisation, deputy government spokesperson Thomas Steg said.

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American starlet Lindsey Vonn on Friday showed her form in Garmisch-Partenkirchen ahead of the world championships by consolidating her World Cup rankings lead with success in the womens slalom.

Vonn made it 17 wins on the circuit after posting her fourth success of the current campaign, seeing off Germanys Maria Riesch by 0.9sec and Slovenias Marusa Ferk by 1. And the American was delighted to step onto the podium alongside locally-born best friend Riesch.16sec. I am really, really happy with this result, I am so pleased I was able to be on the podium, especially in Garmisch.

It was a great day for us both, I am just as happy for Maria, said Vonn. I had two good runs, the second one I was really able to attack.

The victory was a confidence booster for Vonn before the World Championships begin in Val DIsere, France, next Tuesday and leaves Vonn on 1014 points, 124 clear of second-placed Riesch. I have always said Maria would be really strong and she skies all five
disciplines really well. But local-girl Riesch was delighted to be on the World Cup podium for the
first time in her home town.

Only Saturdays Super-G here remains for the women before the world champs
begin. There was a lot of expectation on me, but I am so pleased.

To stand here on the podium is a dream come true for me, said the smiling 24-year-old.

And her coach Mathias Berthold praised the very good performance.

And her coach Mathias Berthold praised the very good performance.

My best result before today had been 15th, so this was a really big step for me. .

. My expectations ahead of the World Championships are now much higher and I am aiming to improve on my previous placing of 26th at the last champs

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German luxury carmaker Porsche on Friday said it would cut production amid crashing turnover due to the global financial crisis. .

We wont pump the market full of vehicles for which theres no demand, Wiedeking said.

The production stop will mean Porsche will shutter its main factory for a total of 30 days during the current downturn. We always produce one car less than the market requires.

But unlike other German auto industry giants, Wiedeking said cutting workers hours was not currently under discussion at Porsche. The carmaker already shut down the plant for 11 days in December and January.

German carmakers have been slammed by the global economic downturn and Porsche said Friday that sales in the second half of 2008 plunged 27 percent to 34,000 vehicles.

. Revenues fell by 14 percent over the same period to around 3 billion

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Desperate times call for desperate measures. As Germany looks set to rack up massive new debt this year, Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck has been spotted casting a hopeful eye at his lottery ticket.

With the jackpot at 35 million 45 million – the third biggest ever – Germany is being gripped by lottery fever and even senior ministers, it seems, are unable to resist a punt.

It was a present, Steinbruck said when asked about it on German television.

Steinbruck was caught on camera checking his lottery ticket during a debate in parliament about eradicating poverty – a picture that appeared on the front page of both mass-market daily Bild and business paper Handelsblatt. . I hope nobody knows which numbers I chose.

Borrowing a massive 36 billion this year, Steinbruck would need to hit the jackpot more than 1,000 times to pay off the new public debt. Its a purely private matter, a spokesperson told them. But the minister is more likely to pocket any gains himself, it seems.