📰 Breaking News: News Archive for December 2012 | Latest Updates from Germany 2025

01 December
- A third of toboggan runs deemed dangerous
- Bremen grants holidays to Muslim workers
- Austrian promises new life for Schlecker shops
- Embassy attack prompts Berlin security spat
- Neo-Nazi party must pay for exploiting kids
- Merkel: Greek rescue good for Germany
02 December
- Germany asks banks to ease up on Iran
- Children's books 'still made from rainforests'
- Four Germans, three locals die in Egypt crash
- Hospitals 'profit from unnecessary operations'
- Divorce deals 'should factor in marriage length'
- Choking confetti and fire cause live TV chaos
03 December
- Merkel seeks to rally her conservatives for vote
- Dresden bakes giant holiday fruitcake
- Details emerge of CDU's private spy service
- Munich student dies after Dublin stabbing
- Police strip-search teens over missing €5
- Flush Germany balances budget early
- The Fatherland's feminist Alice Schwarzer turns 70
- Germany condemns Israeli settlement plans
- Twitter bullies push deaf politician to resign
- Self-employed struggle - more need state support
04 December
- Dairy cows producing more milk than ever
- Zimbabwe told to protect German firms
- Kitsch and culture: Germany's favourite Christmas songs
- Hamburg plans Europe’s tallest lighthouse
- Gas-guzzling German cars bashed
- Merkel mum on Saudi armoured vehicle sale
- East Germany sold sick for West pharma testing
- Man jailed for trying to kill wife with rat poison
- Pesticides can trigger Parkinson's disease
- Merkel: only I can steer Germany in rough seas
- UBS tax dodger data copied from PC screen
05 December
- Bikes get same status as company cars
- Herzog on Jagger: Shame it was only rock 'n' roll
- Conservatives reject tax equality for gay couples
- German's solar ovens sunbake Mexican tortillas
- 1,000 jobs teeter as Nokia Siemens venture fails
- Deutsche Post plans food delivery service
- Cardboard boxes prompt food contamination fears
- Doh! Court must choose between two Duff Beers
- Daimler says Mercedes on track for record 2012
- Intersnack gobbles up British KP Snacks
- 'Russian' deep freeze to follow snow
- Israeli premier arrives in Berlin for tense talks
06 December
- Row continues: Nefertiti 100 yrs in German hands
- Bayern cruise past Belarusians to win 4-1
- Prisoners threaten strikes over conditions
- What's on in Germany: December 6 – 12
- States take first steps to ban neo-Nazi NPD party
- Berlin and Paris revamp strategic EADS holdings
- German troops heading to Turkey-Syria border
- Concern rises over Roma slum apartment block
- 'Only a neo-Nazi ban will force the police to act'
- Industrial orders jump on foreign demand
07 December
- Germans stop learning to play music
- 'Final Times Deutschland' bows out with grace
- Hamburg gas leak causes train delays
- Economy facing temporary slowdown
- High-flying teen shakes up ski jumping world
- Winter hits the west, causes traffic trouble
- Women on contracts can keep pregnancy mum
- Interactive map shows Nazi Blitz on London
- Police surround armed robber in Frankfurt
- Man charged with spying on Moroccan dissidents
- Roman Catholic church reveals sex abuse figures
08 December
- Rhine river cruiser in quarantine as virus rages
- Man who cooked dead lover's head faces jail
- Bochum Opel plant set to close after 2016
- Benedict gets revamped Mercedes 'Popemobile'
- Germans lag behind on Christmas boozing
- Bosch under fire for China prison tech sales
09 December
- Steinbrück rallies SPD with justice speech
- Eight die as two small planes collide in Hesse
- Referee: Dortmund red card was a mistake
- German boys freed from global sex abuse ring
- Frankfurt cuts 150 flights as snow storm hits
- Retailers consider factory fire safety push
10 December
- The Local's guide to German Christmas markets
- Surprise strikes cause airport delays
- Top architect attacked in Bangladesh riots
- Opel cuts car production at Bochum plant
- Fresh snow to worsen road chaos
- Minister tells banks: 'Improve online security'
- Germany expels four Syrian embassy staff
- 'I'm a wealthy man in the eyes of many citizens'
- Football legend Müller hails 'giant' Messi
- Bomb scare shuts down Bonn train station
- Boy brings 700 banned bangers over border
11 December
- Vintners harvest bumper ice wine crop
- Dresden kicked out of German Cup after rioting
- Over 800 new species colonize Germany
- ThyssenKrupp posts massive €4.7 billion loss
- Internet porn king probed for alleged tax fraud
- Snow fall leads to criminal charge
- German investors feel surge of Christmas cheer
- Naked sauna rampage forces spa booze limit
- Primary school children score well in global test
- Bonn bomb scare cops 'hunting Salafists'
- Rogue metal sparks mass pizza recall
- Berlin bats back Berlusconi barbs
12 December
- Gay sex makes fish more attractive to females
- World's biggest cargo ship docks in Hamburg
- Germany seeks to shape EU bank supervision
- Bonn bomb was 'as big as Madrid bombs'
- Lobbyist suspected of spying on Health Ministry
- Germans hoarding mountains of gold
- Deutsche Bank HQ raided in tax fraud probe
- Half of Germans prefer suicide to nursing care
- Stuttgart 21 rail project to cost extra €1.1 bln
- Parliament adopts law allowing circumcision
13 December
- What's on in Germany: December 13 - 19
- Becker congratulates Merkel on Nobel Prize
- Swiss-German tax deal falls through
- Merkel welcomes EU's new banking watchdog
- Sport tops Google list of popular 2012 searches
- Germany 'risks unrest if inequality not tackled'
- Muslims call for 'denazification' of state
- Second abandoned bag causes bomb scare
- Fracking Matt Damon movie joins Berlinale
- Black ice warning for the weekend
- Officer fined for asylum seeker death in jail
14 December
- Torrent of immigration heading to Germany
- Germany to set up Greek investment fund
- Fewer overweight children in Germany
- Deutsche Bank co-CEO denies tax fraud charges
- Drug-fuelled kidnap claim sparks police search
- New food-sharing site hopes to cut wastage
- Germany's weirdest Christmas markets
- Upper house launches new bid to ban NPD
- New rent rules 'weighted against tenants'
- Bundeswehr 'unprepared for chemical warfare'
- New laws ban bestiality but not branding
15 December
- 'Islamists' behind botched Bonn bombing
- Bayern 12 points ahead despite Gladbach draw
- Deutsche Post and ADAC plan bus network
- Yoko Ono receives German peace prize
- Study: Germans gorge on more greens
- Merkel 'deeply saddened' by US massacre
16 December
- Hamburg ruling fails to solve Argentine dispute
- Schalke 04's Bundesliga slump continues
- Flush tourists drive luxury goods market
- Festive prisons release 1,000 inmates
- Bank washes hands of porn business
- Rain dampens hopes of a white Christmas
17 December
- 'Dresden's Christmas traditions are special'
- Berlin warns Egypt is sliding to dictatorship
- Pricier parking tickets planned for cities
- Newtown tragedy sparks calls for tighter gun laws
- EU plans threaten to break up Deutsche Bahn
- 'Immigrants cause problems' say Germans
- Fewer Germans find children worthwhile
- Bundesbank sees economy shrinking
- Berlin's YouTube pony had grand day out
- Merkel tells Europe: work harder to stay rich
18 December
- Allianz pays $12.3 million corruption fine
- Foreign buyers clamour for Berlin property
- Finance Ministry: 36 banks 'too big to fail'
- Is Germany a horrible place to raise a family?
- Merkel advisors: we're missing energy targets
- State police gain power to cut mobile network
- Family minister cuts racism from fairytales
- Gourmet Berlin coffee scene brews up a storm
- Ranks of violent neo-Nazis go over 10,000
- Haribo mauls Lindt in gummy bear battle
19 December
- Grade inflation blows up German universities
- Plagiarism case haunts education minister
- Mainz inflict more pain on out of form Schalke
- Woman reports 'stalker' pigeon to police
- Buoyant business confidence rises again
- 'Too sick to work' teacher rakes in Swiss cash
- Doctor developing universal snake bite cure
- Ex-Porsche boss charged with market manipulation
- Berlinale begins with Kar Wai's 'The Grandmaster'
- WWII Christmas cards delivered 71 years late
- Ex-defence minister and Iraq War opponent dies
20 December
- Archeologists uncover 7,000-year-old wells
- Iraqi president heads to Germany after stroke
- Bus driver saves lives in spectacular train crash
- Salafist video threatens to take German hostages
- Deutsche Bahn sues steel giants over cartel
- What's on in Germany: December 20 – January 2
- Germans get ready for Mayan apocalypse
- Data official attacks real name Facebook policy
- Germany to borrow less from the bond markets
- Deutsche Telekom CEO to step down next year
- 'Red Riding Hood and the wolf is an erotic story'
21 December
- Orangutan baby born a star at Frankfurt Zoo
- Two Germans rescued at sea after boat capsizes
- Westerwelle: Cyprus must reform for bailout
- Neo-Nazi ban compared to persecution of Jews
- Swedish queen ends probe in dad's Nazi past
- Bomb scare sparks calls for video surveillance
- Family Minister in trouble for neutering God
- Schäuble: Dutch minister good for eurogroup job
- Warm, slushy Christmas in store for Germany
- Apocalypse prank rattles residents
- Berlin bank hostage drama ends peacefully
22 December
- Bavarians clamour for canine wool
- Authorities plan exit scheme for Salafists
- Berlin neighbourhood fights gentrification
- Air Berlin co-pilots paid near poverty level
- Breno, still in jail, gets Sao Paolo offer
- Millions plan to sell unwanted Christmas gifts
23 December
- Berlin bank robber had fake gun and bomb
- German websites gain ground at home
- Finance minister admits his English isn't good
- Little progress made at Berlin's new airport
- Slippery roads cause several accidents
- Bierhoff says Germany can win World Cup
24 December
- Poles breathe new life into Brandenburg
- Germany warns Britain not to 'blackmail' Europe
- Warm weather wipes out white Christmas wishes
- Bishop: Jesus would be your Facebook friend
- Westerwelle: Egypt must check fraud claims
25 December
- Gauck: solidarity the greatest Christmas gift
- British troop withdrawal info 'due in January'
- Last minute shoppers give high street boost
- Rents could increase by 10 percent in 2013
- Truckers 'should keep a tax toilet log book'
- Rösler plans to sell off state-owned firms
26 December
- Minister: Berlin airport date is in danger
- Drug death figures 'lowest in 20 years'
- Christmas Eve train death pair baffle police
- Man dies after gangland stabbing attack
- The Local's top ten features of 2012
27 December
- The Local's top ten sports stories of 2012
- Freed from work stress, pensioners sleep soundly
- Rösler: Ease visa rules for Turks and Russians
- Werner Herzog relishes turn as screen villain
- Official wants Stones to rock Stasi archive
- Berlin Wall to get 'West Side Gallery'
- BMW races to record sales in 2012
- 'Age-old' Schmidt damns Merkel's euro policy
- German Tolkien fan dies visiting 'Hobbit' mountain
- Adidas turnover tops €14.5 bln in 2012
28 December
- Schäuble: Worst of the euro crisis 'behind us'
- The Local's top animal stories of 2012
- SPD proposes 30-hour workweek for parents
- Nerd calendar puts joy back in joy-sticks
- Police warn of illegal New Year's fireworks threat
- ThyssenKrupp completes stainless steel unit sale
- Afghan bombing victims sue German government
- 'Mia' and 'Ben' top baby names in 2012
- Ilse Aigner: Bavaria's dirndl-wearing 'dinosaur'
29 December
- Steinbrück pressured over law firm payments
- Germans to ring in New Year in the rain
- New stats: Germans own 5.5 million guns
- FDP membership in 'vicious downward spiral'
- Three million long-term unemployed in Germany
- Court: Cuckolds can take back gifts to wives
30 December
- Merkel to greenlight armoured vehicle deal
- Steinbrück: Merkel gets 'women's bonus' in polls
- German exports due a boost in 2013
- Depression causing more early retirements
- Increased calls for German Energy Ministry
31 December
- Two arrested in Rhineland acid attack
- Record crowds awaited at Brandenburg Gate
- Merkel warns of tougher times ahead
- Löw hopes team will learn from 2012 mistakes
- Thierse laments Swabian invasion of Berlin
- Language trouble behind many medical mishaps