German tennis star Boris Becker has returned to Germany after serving eight months in prison in Britain, his lawyer said on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. The 55-year-old German, who has lived in Britain since 2012, was released on Thursday morning and travelled back to Germany shortly thereafter. Becker "has thus served his sentence and is not subject to any penal restrictions in Germany," his lawyer, Christian-Oliver Moser, said in a statement. He did not give additional details about Becker's location in Germany.

Germany's top regulator this week called for global regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to protect consumers, prevent money laundering and preserve financial stability, Reuters reported. Mark Branson, the president of Germany's financial market regulator BaFin, said a hands-off approach that would "just let the industry grow as a playground for grownups" was the wrong tactic. "We've seen the self-regulated world. It will not work," Branson told journalists in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening. Branson was speaking hours after U.S.

Germany is highly dependent on imports for many crucial raw materials and often relies entirely on other countries to meet demand, according to a study seen by Reuters, which warned that much of this reliance was on authoritarian regimes. The DIW research institute identified 30 raw materials as particularly critical and placed Germany's dependence on imports at 100% for 14 of them. For another three, dependency was ranked at over 95%, the DIW said. It classed commodities as critical if they were considered essential but also subject to increased supply risk.

Former Wirecard boss Markus Braun's lawyers accused prosecutors of botching Germany's biggest post-war fraud trial at the start of his defence on Monday and alleged that their key witness was in fact the main perpetrator, Reuters reported. Braun, 53, and two other ex-Wirecard managers Oliver Bellenhaus and Stephan von Erffa are on trial on charges including market manipulation and fraud at the defunct payments company and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Germany faces a paradox: After years of record immigration that has seen the equivalent of the population of a large city arrive in the country every year, one in six people in Germany was now born overseas, compared with one in seven in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported. But unlike the U.S., Germany is failing to find work for the newcomers despite a worsening labor shortage that is stifling economic growth. Europe’s largest economy will in addition need to fill about seven million jobs by 2035 as older workers retire, economists estimate.

Wirecard's former chief executive, who steered the payments company through its rise and spectacular collapse two years ago, went on trial for fraud on Thursday after a scandal that shook German politics and tarnished the country's business reputation, Reuters reported. The 53-year-old former CEO Markus Braun, who has been in custody since his arrest in 2020, and two other managers of the former blue chip company face charges including fraud and market manipulation that could result in a jail term of up to 15 years for each of them if convicted.

Germany’s top court dismissed two cases challenging the country’s approval of the European Union’s €800 billion ($839 billion) pandemic recovery fund, Bloomberg News reported. The Federal Constitutional Court cleared the fund, dubbed “Next Generation EU,” on Tuesday. The massive stimulus plan marked the crux of the region’s economic response to the pandemic, consisting of grants and loans primarily for the worst-hit EU nations. The program doesn’t “blatantly transgress” the EU rules under which it was set up, Court Vice-President Doris Koenig said as she delivered the ruling.

Former Wirecard executives go on trial on Thursday, two years after the collapse of the payments company that produced Germany's biggest post-war fraud scandal and sent shockwaves through the country's political and financial establishment, Reuters reported. Austrian former chief executive Markus Braun and two other high-ranking managers of the defunct blue-chip company are facing a number of charges, including fraud and market manipulation, and could be jailed for up to 15 years if convicted. Braun denies wrongdoing and accuses others of running a shadow operation without his knowledge.

German retail sales fell more-than-expected in October, data showed on Thursday, as inflation had consumers holding back on non-essential purchases at the start of the fourth quarter, Reuters reported. Retail sales were down 2.8% on the month in October. Compared with October 2021, retail sales were down 5.0%. Germany's HDE retail association is forecasting the strongest slump in Christmas sales since 2007, with retail sales in the crucial November-December period seen dropping by 4% year-on-year on a price-adjusted basis.

German energy company Uniper said Wednesday it’s suing Gazprom for damages over natural gas that hasn’t been delivered since June, when the Russian supplier started reducing amounts to Germany, the Associated Press reported. Gas importer Uniper said that it has initiated proceedings against Gazprom Export at an international arbitration tribunal in Stockholm. It said the cost to replace gas that Russia failed to supply so far totals at least 11.6 billion euros ($12 billion) and that cost will continue to increase until the end of 2024.