Morning papers opened with leaked notes in which Berlin Left lead candidate Elif Eralp said she feared Hamas sympathizers and could not endanger herself and family. Coverage named activist Ibrahim Ibrahim and traced an aggressive anti-Israel milieu, while Eralp pledged to lead without fear and threatened legal action against Spiegel over authorization.
By midday editors questioned her fitness to become governing mayor, with former mayors quoted that fear must not govern and SPD and Greens pressed on Red-Green-Red.
That domestic focus displaced Volkswagen's €5.8bn quarterly loss and Christine Lagarde's announcement she would leave the ECB presidency early in February, prompting succession speculation.
Evening closed with foreign items: Israel's stalemate, Putin's warning he was ready for war with Europe, and obituaries for Elke Sommer and Patrick Stewart.