August Hanning served as president of Federal Intelligence Service from 1998 to 2005
Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office has said a former domestic intelligence chief was arrested on Tuesday on espionage allegations.
August Hanning was president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from December 1998 to November 2005.
Continue reading...Attack shortly after Friedrich Merz arrived on unannounced visit intended to underline Germany’s backing
Russia has struck another major bridge in Kyiv as the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, arrived in the capital in a show of support for Ukraine.
A Russian drone hit Kyiv’s key Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River, marking the fourth consecutive day that Russia has targeted bridges used by tens of thousands of residents commuting between the city’s two banks. Video footage showed cars driving across the bridge as the drone plunged into the roadway and exploded in a burst of fire. Two people were injured in the strike, said Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
Continue reading...Investigation revealed thousands of voyeuristic videos taken on Munich beer festival’s Teufelsrad, or Devil’s Wheel
Women have been given free cycling shorts to prevent upskirting on a famous amusement ride at the Oktoberfest in Munich, after an investigation revealed tens of thousands of voyeuristic videos circulating online.
The Teufelsrad, or Devil’s Wheel, which rapidly spins around while people try to sit on it for as long as they can, is one of the beer festival’s oldest rides. But many of the videos discovered by German journalists focus on women whose traditional dirndl dresses have ridden up, often showing their underwear.
Continue reading...Says social media claims are ‘nonsense’ and ‘idiocy’
Coach sees ‘no reason to pay attention to these people’
Jürgen Klopp has reacted with disgust to a social media debate questioning whether the Germany team he is in the process of forming are “white enough”. Klopp said he believed there was no point in giving room to “such people and their utterances”, dismissing them as “complete nonsense”.
Asked to respond to the debate as to whether the national team were “not German enough” or “not white enough”, he said: “There is absolutely no reason to pay attention to these people. You won’t get my thoughts on this. I have little time in everyday life for idiocy – and even less on social media.
Continue reading...Man accused of being accessory to murders at Stalag 326 VI K amid race to prosecute suspects before they die
A 105-year-old man is under investigation on suspicion of being an accessory to multiple murders at a Nazi prisoner of war camp, German prosecutors have said.
The case, which is being handled by the public prosecutor’s office in Dortmund, centres on the Stalag 326 VI K camp in western Germany, in what is now the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Continue reading...Die Linke candidate, a lawyer affected by her experiences as the child of political migrants from Turkey, poised to head Berlin coalition government
Elif Eralp launched her election bid last autumn with the blunt statement: “People like me are actually not supposed to become mayor in this country.” So the fact that the 45-year-old lawyer and daughter of political migrants from Turkey is on the verge of becoming Berlin’s next mayor and the capital’s first leader of Turkish origin is quite the moment in German politics.
After last weekend’s city state election, in which her far-left party, Die Linke, came first with more than a quarter of the votes, Eralp has become a household name.
Continue reading...Campaigners say plan marks notable shift away from oil and gas as previously pledges were only for carbon neutrality
Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, has committed to phasing out fossil fuels by 2045, despite fierce debate about its green policies.
In a roadmap published on Wednesday, the German government set out for the first time an explicit promise of “transitioning away” from fossil fuels. Previous pledges were only for “carbon neutrality”.
Continue reading...While Brussels and Ottawa desire a deeper partnership born of Trump-era volatility, the EU has no legal framework to accommodate it
The EU and Canada, Ursula von der Leyen said last week, “see the world with the same eyes”, with shared stances on everything from AI to the climate crisis, the Ukraine war and the unholy chaos unleashed by the current occupant of the White House (OK, she didn’t actually say that last bit. But I like to think she almost certainly thought it.)
So, the European Commission president went on, Canada should become “the first associate member of the EU”. In the audience, Mark Carney beamed with delight. The next day, Canada’s prime minister enthusiastically embraced the idea of an “alliance for the future”, to build “collective resilience” through “deep cooperation”.
Continue reading...Officials say one pilot safely ejected as F-16 believed to have crashed on approach to Spangdahlem after training drill
An F-16 fighter jet assigned to the US air base Spangdahlem in western Germany crashed on Tuesday, the US military said, adding that one pilot had ejected safely and was receiving medical treatment.
The cause of the incident is under investigation, the military said in a statement, with emergency response personnel at the scene of the crash.
Continue reading...Merz seeks to shore up support after CDU loses two state elections and is ejected from Mecklenburg parliament
Germany’s beleaguered leader, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to keep his fractious coalition government together for the good of the country’s “democratic future” after his conservative party suffered a drubbing at the polls in two state elections.
Merz, who has vowed to plough ahead with an unpopular reform agenda, dismissed speculation over his position, saying it was vital that he and his coalition government remained in place.
Continue reading...Chancellor acknowledges disastrous state election results but vow to push on is likely to further alienate voters, and his own party
Friedrich Merz called it a “disaster”, and that was even before the full scale of the catastrophe for himself and his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came into view after Sunday’s state elections.
In what one outlet called a “power move”, the German chancellor made a highly unusual televised speech just minutes after polls closed in the states of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, attempting to get ahead of the narrative with a pledge to stay on and fight for his economic recovery programme.
Continue reading...Far-right AfD wins in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and leftwing Die Linke on course for victory in Berlin
Germany’s embattled chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to stay in office and fight for future-proofing economic changes despite heavy losses for his conservatives in two state elections, one to the far right and the other to a leftwing party.
Preliminary results indicated Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) tallied just 4.9%, below the 5% threshold needed to enter the state parliament and indicating they may be excluded altogether. It would be the CDU’s worst-ever state score, which Merz called a “disaster”.
Continue reading...Embattled Friedrich Merz faces nervous wait while far-right Alternative für Deutschland party targets further gains
Voters in two German states are going to the polls with the political future of the embattled chancellor, Friedrich Merz, hanging in the balance and an emboldened far right targeting further gains.
Coming two weeks after a seismic election in Saxony-Anhalt in which the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) scored its highest ever result in a regional poll, the nativist party is expected to drain support again from Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Continue reading...Eighteen-year-old known as Chai was active in networks notorious for their sadistic exploitation of young people
A Swedish teenager known as Chai has been sentenced to more than 10 years in jail for attempted murder, rape and aggravated assault – crimes committed via the internet, including against a teenage girl in Australia.
The district court found that Chai, 18, was active in online networks notorious for their sadistic extortion of young and vulnerable people, coercing them to create sexually explicit material or engage in acts of violence – and for the youth of those involved.
In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
Continue reading...Many fear chancellor is wrong man for the job at a time when Germany’s defences against far right are crumbling
A cataclysm. A 9.0 earthquake. A five-alarm fire. A bitter rejection of Germany’s joyous reunification three decades ago, and a threat to the democratic postwar order.
Sizing up the repercussions of last weekend’s win for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party in the former communist state of Saxony-Anhalt, German commentators expressed a sense of doom, panic and helplessness in the political establishment.
Continue reading...German chancellor attacks Alternative für Deutschland after far-right party’s win in Saxony-Anhalt election
Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has accused the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) of seeking “ethnic cleansing” with its “remigration” drive, after the nativist party’s seismic weekend victory in a state election.
In his first public confrontation with the AfD since Sunday’s shock outcome in Saxony-Anhalt, Merz said at a raucous parliamentary debate that the far-right party would take an axe to one of the pillars of the German economy with a racist campaign of mass deportations.
Continue reading...Friedrich Merz said his conservative CDU was shaken ‘to its very foundations’ after far-right victory in Saxony-Anhalt
A “shocked” and chastened Friedrich Merz has vowed to stay in office despite the far right’s triumph in a state election that has brought anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin politicians within striking distance of power.
The German chancellor, appearing ashen-faced in front of reporters in Berlin, said on Monday that the landslide victory by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt had shaken his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) “to its very foundations”.
Continue reading...Saxony-Anhalt win part of wider trend driven by mainstream policy failures and gradual normalisation of far right ideas
The numbers speak for themselves: Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a party that dabbles in Nazi imagery, distinguishes between “biological” and “passport” Germans, and is too extreme even for France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen, nearly doubled its score in Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt to 43.8% of the vote.
Meanwhile, the centre-right CDU of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, collapsed to 17.2%, less than half its total in the same race five years ago, and the centre-left SPD – Germany’s other main party of government for the past 60-odd years – scraped 9.3%. The least that can be said is that the centre did not hold.
Continue reading...Aftershocks of party’s win in Saxony-Anhalt will ripple across Germany, with two more state elections this month
Germany is reeling from the biggest far-right victory in a state election since the Nazi period after voters in Saxony-Anhalt in the former communist east gave the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party a thumping first-place finish of 44%, just short of an absolute majority.
Continue reading...Mainstream politicians express alarm while lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt welcomes congratulations from Elon Musk
Mainstream politicians around Europe have expressed alarm after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) swept to a historic state election victory in Germany, while nationalist figures cheered the result as a mandate for change.
While falling just short of an absolute majority, the AfD surged into first place in the Saxony-Anhalt state election on Sunday, exit polls showed, putting the far right within reach of power at the state level for the first time since the second world war.
Continue reading...