By Dave Graham

BERLIN (Reuters Life!) – Percy MacLean can call on 250 years of experience to weigh up how immigrants integrate in Germany. Since his Scottish ancestor arrived in 1753, the family has produced mayors, members of parliament and even a Nazi.

Today, the 63-year-old MacLean, a chief judge in Berlin’s administrative court, says Germany risks losing the openness that allowed his family to flourish for generations because of a divisive national debate over the integration of Muslims.

BERLIN, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Euro zone nations and its central
bank are urging Portugal to apply for a financial bailout from a
European rescue fund, Financial Times Deutschland reported on
Friday.

Without revealing its sources, the paper said a majority of
euro zone countries and the European Central Bank were putting
pressure on Portugal to follow Ireland and Greece and seek aid
in order to save Spain — European Union’s fifth-largest economy
– from having to do the same.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Euro zone nations and its central bank are urging Portugal to apply for a financial bailout from a European rescue fund, Financial Times Deutschland reported on Friday.

Without revealing its sources, the paper said a majority of euro zone countries and the European Central Bank were putting pressure on Portugal to follow Ireland and Greece and seek aid in order to save Spain — European Union’s fifth-largest economy — from having to do the same.

BERLIN, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Caps must be set on the amount of
debt lenders can hold if European governments are serious about
ending what threatens to become a cycle of country bailouts to
rescue ailing banks, a German government advisor said on
Tuesday.

Jan Pieter Krahnen, a professor of finance at the University
of Frankfurt, said in an interview with Reuters that a “vicious
circle” of banks loading up on risky debt may already have taken
root due to “non-existent but much-needed rules” on asset
holdings.

BERLIN, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Caps must be set on the amount of
debt lenders can hold if European governments are serious about
ending what threatens to become a cycle of country bailouts to
rescue ailing banks, a German government advisor said on
Tuesday.

Jan Pieter Krahnen, a professor of finance at the University
of Frankfurt, said in an interview with Reuters that a “vicious
circle” of banks loading up on risky debt may already have taken
root due to “non-existent but much-needed rules” on asset
holdings.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany said on Wednesday it had strong evidence Islamist militants were planning attacks in the next two weeks and ordered security at potential targets such as train stations and airports to be tightened.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said details of the plot emerged after parcel bombs were dispatched from Yemen to U.S. targets at the end of October, and separate postal bombs by suspected Greek militants were sent to prominent figures including Chancellor Angela Merkel.

BERLIN, Nov 12 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel
denied on Friday she was planning to replace Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble, who has been under growing pressure to step
down because of concerns his health is interfering with the job.

Speaking to German television ARD at a meeting of the Group
of 20 economic powers in Seoul, Merkel rejected a newspaper
report that she was preparing a cabinet reshuffle.

BERLIN (Reuters) – German police Tuesday intercepted a package containing explosives sent from Greece to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin after a series of parcel bomb attacks in Athens by suspected Greek guerrillas.

Addressed to Merkel personally, the suspect parcel was found in the mailroom of her chancellery while she was out of the country in Belgium, the government said.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday more people of immigrant stock should work for the state in Germany, where a fractious debate about the integration of Muslims has been raging for weeks.

Fueled by divisive comments about Turks and Arabs by central banker Thilo Sarrazin and his book “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (Germany does away with itself), the country has been debating how to balance an economic need for more workers with growing public concern over integration of immigrants.

BERLIN, Oct 29 (Reuters) – German media offered guarded
praise for an agreement in Brussels to make limited changes to
the EU treaty, describing it as a compromise that bought time to
find a lasting remedy to debt woes that have plagued the bloc.

Under pressure from Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, EU leaders in Brussels agreed that
changes were needed to create a permanent system to handle
sovereign debt problems and endorsed tougher budgetary rules,
including sanctions on profligate states. [ID:nLDE69I1FB]