The Local Germany

Are Germany's spy agencies partly culpable for the NSU's murder spree?

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 17:11:03 +0200

Germany's domestic spy agencies are extremely reluctant to reveal how much they knew about a neo-Nazi murder series that cost 10 people their lives. The Local talks to an expert who says that clarification and reform are long overdue.

Germany probes three Swiss spies on suspicion of snooping on tax authorities: report

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 14:11:17 +0200

German prosecutors have opened a probe against three Swiss intelligence agents on suspicion of spying on German authorities hunting tax cheats in a case that has strained cross-border relations, local media reported Monday.

Berlin plays down alarm after 'Islamist' found in spy service

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 09:57:13 +0100

Update: The German government insisted on Wednesday that security measures at its domestic intelligence agency were sound after an agent was unmasked as a suspected Islamist.

No Bonds please! German spies can be fired for affairs

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 12:47:22 +0100

A spy in Germany's foreign secret service lost a compensation claim on Thursday, after he was sacked for becoming intimate with a woman he met while on assignment.

Turkish spy in Bremen plotted murder of 2 Kurds: report

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 12:01:50 +0100

Two major public broadcasters reported on Friday that a man believed to be a Turkish agent spied on two Kurdish functionaries and plotted to murder them.

Germany's 'James Bond' goes on trial over tax evasion

Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:46:39 +0200

Germany's former top spy, Werner Mauss, went on trial on Monday accused of hiding millions of euros from authorities.

Yugoslav spy chiefs jailed for Munich murder of dissident

Wed, 03 Aug 2016 16:50:35 +0200

A German court Wednesday sentenced two former top Yugoslavian spies to life imprisonment for the 1983 murder of a dissident in then West Germany.

German spies want right to keep tabs on teens

Fri, 06 May 2016 18:42:58 +0200

Spies should have the right to keep communications data relating to minors aged under 16, a senior member of Germany's domestic intelligence service has said.

Israel told: pay up for hapless spies who got stuck in mud

Tue, 08 Mar 2016 16:01:26 +0100

A small town in northern Germany has sent the Israeli government a bill for €1,263 after it helped pull two secret services agents out of a muddy field they’d gotten stuck in.

Government pays foreign spies' Oktoberfest costs

Wed, 30 Sep 2015 19:11:37 +0200

The German government pays for spies from all around the world to get drunk at Oktoberfest, a report released on Wednesday showed.

Undercover agents to get crime amnesty

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:00:00 +0100

Ministers are planning a new law which would provide amnesty for secret service agents who help informants commit crimes during undercover investigations.

Spy row as agency steps up Facebook checks

Fri, 27 Jun 2014 11:03:00 +0200

Opposition politicians on Friday demanded government clarification of reports German secret services spied for the NSA. It came as intelligence chiefs confirmed closer surveillance of social network users.

German secret service moves into new HQ

Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:09:00 +0200

It has 12,000 doors, 14,000 windows and is made from 20,000 tonnes of steel. It is also Germany’s most secretive building and its first occupants moved in on Monday.

Prisoner turned Stasi spy can fight for pension

Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:50:00 +0100

A former Stasi prisoner turned Communist spy has won the right to appeal against a decision to take his pension and compensation money away from him.

French accuse BMW of electric car 'spying'

Tue, 10 Sep 2013 16:25:00 +0200

The company that runs Paris’s electric car sharing scheme has filed an industrial espionage complaint against BMW, after employees alleged the German car giant sent "spies" to check out their electric cars.

Artist uncovers life inside US Berlin spy station

Fri, 06 Sep 2013 14:59:00 +0200

It began as a research project for a Berlin art exhibition. But sculptor Brendan Jamison tells The Local how he unearthed mysteries of Berlin’s Cold War spy station with the help former agents.

Spy-spotter: joke about scary visit came true

Mon, 15 Jul 2013 19:44:00 +0200

A German man who called on Facebook friends concerned about American secret service operations to join him in a walk around a US army spy centre near his home, found secret service men at his door checking his political leanings.

Moscow offers spy swap for sleeper couple

Mon, 15 Jul 2013 11:38:00 +0200

Moscow wants to exchange a married couple of Russian spies jailed this month in Germany for at least one convict jailed in Russia on charges of spying for the West, a report said Monday.

Russian spies use 'safe' German typewriters

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 10:40:00 +0200

Russian spies trying to outwit hackers and leakers are going back in time by using typewriters - and have just ordered a shipment of old-fashioned German ones.

Police investigate 'United Stasi of America' artist

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 13:51:00 +0200

Berlin police are investigating whether an artist who projected “United Stasi of America" onto the US embassy in the German capital earlier this week could be charged with a criminal offence.