Excerpt:
German authorities are on Monday set to release the first details of their probe into a rash of assaults on New Year's Eve blamed on migrants, as police revealed that the number of complaints filed has topped 500.
Ralf Jaeger, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, is expected to unveil the details when he faces a grilling by regional lawmakers over the crime spree against women that has piled pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over her liberal stance towards refugees.
Even though no formal charges have been laid, Cologne police have said those suspected over the rampage near the city's railway station were mostly asylum seekers and illegal migrants from North Africa.