Category Archives: Germany

German court rejects appeal by ex-Nazi secretary over role in 10,500 murders

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Irmgard Furchner, 99, was found guilty in 2022 of being an accessory to killings at Stutthof concentration camp

A German court has rejected an appeal by a 99-year-old woman who was convicted of being an accessory to more than 10,500 murders during her role as a secretary to the SS commander of the Nazis’ Stutthof concentration camp during the second world war.

The federal court of justice upheld the conviction of Irmgard Furchner, who was given a two-year suspended sentence in December 2022 by a state court in Itzehoe, northern Germany.

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Russia criticises German progress in Nord Stream sabotage inquiry

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Moscow official claims Berlin shows little interest in finding those responsible for gas pipeline explosions in 2022

Russia has complained to Germany about its investigation into the 2022 sabotage of the multibillion-dollar Nord Stream gas pipelines that run between the two countries, accusing Europe’s top economic power of having little interest in finding those responsible.

The head of a European department at the foreign ministry, Oleg Tyapkin, said Russia had “raised the issue of Germany and other affected countries fulfilling their obligations under the UN anti-terrorist conventions”, RIA news agency reported in remarks cited by Reuters.

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German climate activists stop air traffic after breaking into four airport sites

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Police arrest Letzte Generation protesters who cut holes in fences and glued themselves to asphalt

Climate activists have broken into four German airport sites, briefly bringing air traffic to a halt at two of those before police made arrests.

Protesters from Letzte Generation – Germany’s equivalent to Just Stop Oil – gained access on Thursday to airfields in areas near the takeoff and landing strips of Cologne-Bonn, Nuremberg, Berlin Brandenburg and Stuttgart airports at dawn. Air traffic was suspended for a short time at Nuremberg and Cologne-Bonn due to police operations.

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Choco Leibniz firm apologises as report reveals scale of forced labour under Nazis

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Germany’s Bahlsen biscuit empire used workers from Nazi-occupied Poland and Ukraine from 1940 until 1945

Germany’s Bahlsen biscuit empire has apologised for the “painful” findings of a report showing that it used several times more forced labourers than previously thought during the Nazi period.

The report was commissioned after family heiress Verena Bahlsen caused outrage in 2019 by appearing to play down the hardship suffered by hundreds of people, many of them women from Nazi-occupied Ukraine, forced to work at the family business.

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Ukrainian team blew up Nord Stream pipeline, claims report

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Spokesperson for Volodymyr Zelenskiy denies WSJ claims and again accuses Russia of carrying out the sabotage

The Nord Stream gas pipeline was blown up by a small Ukrainian sabotage team in an operation that was initially approved by Volodymyr Zelenskiy and then called off, but which went ahead anyway, according to claims in a report in the Wall Street Journal.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian president has denied the claims.

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Germany investigates possible attack on water system at military base

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People may have broken in and contaminated supply pipes at Cologne-Wahn airbase, the defence ministry says

The German armed forces are investigating the suspected sabotage of one of their military bases amid suspicions that it was broken into and the water supply system contaminated.

The defence ministry confirmed on Wednesday that state security was investigating the reported attack after suspicions of attempted or actual entry, as well as sabotage, at the Cologne-Wahn barracks, just outside Cologne.

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Germany issues arrest warrant for diver over Nord Stream blasts, say reports

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Investigators said to believe Ukrainian man was one of team that planted explosives on pipelines in September 2022

German authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man on suspicion of being part of a team that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, according to local media reports.

The man, a diving instructor identified only as Volodymyr Z, is last believed to have lived in Poland, and is alleged to have dived 80 metres to the seabed at night to plant explosive devices on the pipelines, which ran from Russia to Germany, in September 2022.

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DJs join Ravers for Palestine boycott of top Berlin techno club Berghain

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Faultlines in Germany’s response to Gaza war exposed by artists pulling out of gigs at renowned venue

People write guides on how to get into Berghain and even make films about its doorman. But the legendary nightclub is now facing a boycott by some DJs over its stance on the war in Gaza.

A group calling itself Ravers for Palestine first announced a boycott of the Berlin venue, along with several other clubs, in January, saying that remaining silent on Israel’s attacks in Gaza made it complicit.

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German court convicts activist for leading ‘from the river to the sea’ chant

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Judge says phrase ‘denied right of Israel to exist’ but woman’s lawyer says ruling is a defeat for free speech

A Berlin court has convicted a pro-Palestinian activist of condoning a crime for leading a chant of the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” at a rally in the German capital four days after the Hamas attacks on Israel, in what her defence team called a defeat for free speech.

The presiding judge, Birgit Balzer, ordered 22-year-old German-Iranian national Ava Moayeri to pay a €600 (£515) fine on Tuesday, rejecting her argument that she meant only to express support for “peace and justice” in the Middle East by calling out the phrase on a busy street.

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Russian prisoner swap deal was to have included Alexei Navalny

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Negotiations, which began months earlier, originally included release of late opposition leader

At Cologne airport on Thursday evening, a group of associates of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny gathered waiting for a plane to arrive from Ankara. On board were 13 people who, until that morning, had been incarcerated in Russian prisons, including three people who had worked as Navalny’s regional coordinators in various Russian cities and been jailed for “extremism”.

After a swap in Turkey, they were now free, along with the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other Americans, who were heading back home on a separate plane.

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Kremlin admits Vadim Krasikov is a Russian state assassin

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Spokesperson hints killer exchanged in prisoner swap was linked to Putin’s personal guard

The Kremlin has admitted that Vadim Krasikov, the assassin freed by Germany in a historic prisoner swap on Thursday, is a serving officer of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), essentially an acknowledgment that his 2019 murder of a Chechen exile in Berlin was a state-ordered hit.

It also hinted that he was linked to Vladimir Putin’s personal guard.

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Who’s who among the prisoner exchange between Russia and the west?

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Deal includes political prisoners and journalists held in Russia and Belarus being swapped for Russians held in west

Evan Gershkovich
A Wall Street Journal reporter, Gershkovich became the first western correspondent to be arrested for espionage since the fall of the Soviet Union. Detained in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to Ekaterinburg, Russian authorities claim he was collecting information for the CIA, but have never made public any of their supposed evidence. Gershkovich, his newspaper and the US state department have all denied the charges. He was sentenced to 16 years in jail in July in a speedy, closed trial.

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Biden says ‘welcome home’ as Americans land in the US – as it happened

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As part of the deal, according to the Turkish presidency, Belarus has released German citizen Rico Krieger.

Krieger was sentenced to death but granted a pardon this week by the country’s autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko.

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Russia frees Evan Gershkovich and others in biggest prisoner swap since cold war

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Several foreigners and Russian political prisoners released as Germany frees hitman Vadim Krasikov as part of deal

The largest prisoner swap between Russia and the US since the cold war has taken place, as 16 people were freed from Russian custody including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Several other foreign citizens held in Russia and numerous Russian political prisoners were also freed.

The exchange took place at Ankara airport on Thursday in a complicated operation in which planes arrived from and departed to multiple countries.

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‘A bit bloody exciting’: Adele welcomes tens of thousands to epic Munich concert series

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The British singer’s 10 shows in a pop-up stadium will bring big revenues to the Bavarian city – but there are concerns over ticketing and the climate impact of ‘gig tripping’

Earlier this summer, with a little help from AI, Adele slipped into a Bavarian-style dirndl dress, cradled a very tall beer and held a giant soft pretzel aloft. “Not long now … Pack ma’s!” was the tagline, translating from Bavarian dialect as “Let’s do this!” Her groundbreaking, potentially record-busting Munich residency was only a few weeks off.

Her Adele in Munich spectacular is now set to begin on Friday, attracting fans from around the world to 10 shows during August at a custom-built pop-up stadium, while pointing a way forward for pop superstardom – a bold project that has sparked excitement and some controversy.

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German man sentenced to death in Belarus pardoned by president

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Rico Krieger, found guilty on terrorism charges in case held behind closed doors, to be freed on orders of Alexander Lukashenko

A German man sentenced to death in Belarus has been pardoned by the country’s president, just a few days after news of the case became public. Rico Krieger, 30, was found guilty on terrorism charges in a case that was held behind closed doors and only became public last week.

Krieger, who formerly worked for the German Red Cross, was accused of placing explosives on a rail track in the country on the orders of Ukrainian intelligence.

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France’s GDP gets €1bn lift from giant cruise ship as German economy shrinks

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Analyst says eurozone could have turned a corner as it avoids recession with 0.3% growth

The delivery of the world’s second-largest cruise ship lifted France’s economy in the second quarter, according to official data that also showed Germany heading into a recession.

Built in Saint-Nazaire for the cruise ship operator Royal Caribbean, the Utopia of the Seas added €1bn (£840m) to French economic output, helping to increase trade growth to 0.6% in the three months to the end of June and gross domestic product to 0.3%.

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Putin warns US against deploying long-range missiles in Germany

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Russian leader says Washington risks triggering cold war-style missile crisis and promises to respond in kind

Vladimir Putin has warned the US that if Washington deploys long-range missiles in Germany from 2026, Russia will station similar missiles within striking distance of the west.

The US would start deploying long-range fire capabilities in Germany in 2026 in an effort to demonstrate its commitment to Nato and European defence, Washington and Germany said earlier this month.

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Flights hit at Frankfurt and Oslo airports as climate protests continue

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Service at Germany’s busiest airport gradually resuming as ‘oil kills’ protests spread from Europe to North America

Climate activists have disrupted flights at Frankfurt and Oslo airports on the second day of coordinated “oil kills” protests across Europe and North America.

Demanding an end to fossil fuels by 2030, supporters of Letzte Generation (Last Generation) briefly suspended flights at Frankfurt airport on Thursday morning. The activists said they had cut a wire fence, entered on bicycles and skateboards and glued themselves to the tarmac.

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‘Oil Kills’ protesters disrupt flights at airports across Europe in wave of action

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Ten activists arrested at Heathrow, over 30 flights cancelled at Cologne-Bonn, and planes delayed or diverted

Climate activists acting under the banner “oil kills” have glued themselves to the tarmac and grounded flights across Europe as holidaymakers attempt to make summer getaways.

In a wave of protests at airports from Oslo to Barcelona, activists disrupted flights and demanded that rich and polluting countries phase out fossil fuels by 2030. The protests, which the activists said had led to several arrests, came a day after climate scientists logged the world’s hottest day on record.

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