Former Princeton lecturer Joschka Fischer and filmmaker Robert Redford shared the title page of the FAZ, who just recently added a title picture to their print edition. Berlin digger Cruise joined Redford on the Euro tour of "Lions for Lambs." And both covered the red carpet at Kino International this past Wednesday with Katie as his wing woman.

Rummy got triple teamed and sued for torture by French, German and American human rights groups: Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib anyone? "The rights groups notably cite three memorandums signed by Rumsfeld between October 2002 and April 2003 "legitimizing the use of torture" including the "hooding" of detainees, sleep deprivation and the use of dogs."

Merkel is on the cover of the next Newsweek, entitled "Lost Leader." Coverage is accompanied by a piece from Bild columnist Hugo Müller-Vogg, who argues that Kohl's girl has reform angst. "And so the chancellor and the coalition bask in the light of a moderate economic upturn, sharply increased tax revenues and an unexpectedly broad decline in unemployment." None of those positive changes have Merkel's signature written on it, which is the key prong of his argument.

Eric D. Weitz gets traction for another book on Weimar Germany. "Weitz, a professor of history at the University of Minnesota, praises the republic’s achievements and condemns its murderers." The republic’s downfall was its failure to shut out its conservative enemies; funny how it's still relevant today.

Deutsche Bank, already praised for its engagement after 9/11 in NYC, is considering to join the fund to rescue the U.S. credit market. They're the second German finance company to join, after Dresdner Bank, the banking arm of the insurer Allianz.