Slow news day. That, it would seem, is the only possible explanation for the interest Germany's papers are showing in a high court decision that forbids German fathers from secretly having DNA tests done on their children (without mom's or kid's in other words) to determine paternity. The subject has been kicking around the back pages of German papers for about a week now -- as it turns out these tests are quite popular in Germany and 40,000 fathers (against 706,721 new German babies in 2003) turn in hair, saliva or even used chewing gum to labs every year. But with the Supreme Court decision, secret paternity tests are all over the front pages and editorial pages of German dailies on Thursday.

The center-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung finds the ruling to be the correct one and opines that the discussion in the media of the past few days has turned children into a mere object of parents' interests. The paper argues that genetic material should be considered the intimate property of Germany's children, thus following the court ruling that secret tests intrude on the rights of children. "With genetic tests, children are robbed of their most intimate data and with predictable results: That genetic material lands in booming commercial labs that are difficult to control. Will all that data be destroyed afterwards? Will health tests also be undertaken ...?" The paper does admit that fathers should be given the opportunity to determine their fatherhood. Otherwise, the paper writes somewhat hysterically, "more fathers than ever before will not recognize newborn children as their own."

The conservative daily Die Welt seems to think that such concern for babys' rights is wimpy and its counter-argumentation is just as absurd. The paper finds that the court ruling severely curtails a father's right to know for sure if a child is his. And what's the big deal anyway? "Is a genetic test a bodily injury? Of course such tests intrude on the intimate sphere of a child. But that always happens in parents' dealings with their children. And men who have become fathers are also parents."

The financial daily Financial Times Deutschland is the only paper able to recognize the absurdity of the public debate on the subject of secret fatherhood tests. The paper publishes a pair of editorials on Thursday, one pro and the other con. First, the anti-testing side: "He who, as a husband, mistrusts his wife but isn't able to tell her that openly, isn't completely grown up. In such cases there is something even better than secret fatherhood tests: Family counseling." And now, pro testing: "Let's be honest. Occasional -- and at times baseless -- mistrust is just as much a part of a relationship as the argument about whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher."

The tsunami disaster in South Asia likewise continues to be a topic for German commentators. But the specific topics each addresses have started to diversify. The subject of which country pledged how much is no longer fashionable; now everyone seems to be looking to the future, and for lessons.

The financial daily Handelsblatt publishes on Thursday a contribution from Michael R. Czinkota, the former United States Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Trade under ex-President Ronald Reagan. Entitled "Finding Succor in Tragedy" (and published in English  in the Japan Times a week ago), Czinkota goes out of his way to find the positives that can be drawn from the worst natural disaster in human memory. He lists four positive lessons of varying degrees of vapidity. First: "We are vulnerable.... In today's interlinked world, location is no longer an exposure that is the result of our birth; it is also the consequence of choice." Second: "We are linked, even across vast distances, to outcomes both good and bad." Third: "There are important areas where we need to collaborate and where government involvement is good." And the grand finale? "Perhaps the timing and the profundity of the disaster have given us some occasion for reflection, leading to a new appreciation of the perishability of our surroundings."

The left-leaning Tageszeitung takes a look at the Paris Club's decision on Wednesday to freeze debt payments from countries affected by the Dec. 26 disaster. The paper finds the step an important one on the road to recovery in the region, but demands even more. "The freezing of debt payments can only be a first step. Not just because the debts owed to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank were not considered by the Paris Club. The mountain of debt that weighs down on the economies of the affected countries will not be lessened by a moratorium. This can only be achieved by forgiving the debts completely."