Category Archives: Germany

Rohingya and Myanmar coup survivors launch legal complaint in Germany against junta

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Survivors of alleged abuses at hands of military unite in universal jurisdiction case over atrocities they say amount to genocide

A criminal complaint against individuals linked to Myanmar’s military has been filed in Germany by survivors from ethnic groups across Myanmar, in what activists say is a show of unity that once seemed unthinkable.

Sixteen survivors and witnesses of military abuses joined NGO Fortify Rights to file a criminal complaint with the federal public prosecutor general of Germany under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the prosecution of mass atrocities in one country, even if they happened elsewhere.

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Poland ups pressure to send German-made tanks to Ukraine

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PM Mateusz Morawiecki says Poland will ask for Germany’s go-ahead but answer is of ‘secondary importance’

Poland has reiterated that it is ready to send tanks to Ukraine without Germany’s consent, as pressure builds on Berlin to supply the heavy weapons that Kyiv has been calling for.

The Polish prime minister said his government would seek permission from Berlin to send its German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but described that consent as of “secondary importance”.

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Five charged over second alleged far-right plot against German government

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Four men and a woman accused of planning to abduct health minister and overthrow government

Five Germans have been charged with treason over an alleged far-right plot to overthrow the government that included plans to abduct the health minister, prosecutors have announced.

The four men and a woman were arrested in recent months over the plot, with the health minister, Karl Lauterbach – unpopular among far-right groups because of anti-Covid measures – confirming he was targeted.

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German minister says it ‘would not stand in way’ of Poland sending tanks to Ukraine

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Annalena Baerbock makes clearest signal yet that European allies could deliver German-made hardware

Germany would not “stand in the way” of Poland sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine, foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has said, in what appeared to be the clearest signal yet from Berlin that European allies could deliver the German-made hardware.

Asked in an interview with French television LCI what would happen if Poland sent its Leopard 2 tanks without German approval, Baerbock replied through a translator: “For the moment the question has not been asked, but if we were asked we would not stand in the way.”

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Ukraine frustrated as Germany holds back decision on supply of tanks

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Poland says lives will be lost because of Berlin’s inaction, as summit breaks up without progress over Leopard 2s

Germany has declined to take a decision on whether to give Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine at a special international summit, prompting frustration in Kyiv and a warning from Poland that lives could be lost because of hesitation in Berlin.

It had been hoped in Europe and the US that Germany would at least allow Leopards owned by countries such as Poland and Finland to be re-exported, but despite days of pleading, Berlin’s newly appointed defence minister said no final decision had been taken.

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Poland could send Leopard tanks to Ukraine without German approval

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Polish prime minister says key issue is to get military aid to Ukraine urgently, as US unveils fresh $2.5bn aid package including fighting vehicles but not tanks

The Polish prime minister has said his country would be willing to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine without securing Germany’s approval if Berlin does not agree to their re-export at Friday’s meeting of western defence ministers at Ramstein airbase.

Mateusz Morawiecki said in a radio interview on Thursday that “consent was of secondary importance” when it came to German-made tanks, because the key issue was to get military aid to Ukraine urgently.

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Scholz stalls on Ukraine tanks decision but looks poised to give go-ahead

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Observers expect Germany’s hesitant chancellor will soon say yes to allowing supply of Leopards to war effort

Less than a year ago it would have seemed barely imaginable that the German state would be supplying arms in a conflict. Yet now the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, finds himself under mounting international pressure to give an unconditional green light for German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine – having tentatively signalled his readiness to do so, but only if the US agrees to do the same.

Even though Germany is often reluctant to spread the message itself, it is among Ukraine’s leading supporters in terms of defence aid and humanitarian and economic help. It has given refuge to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, a very underreported aspect of its support.

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Olaf Scholz steers clear of commitment to supply of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

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Zelenskiy warns against delaying military support after German chancellor’s reticence at Davos summit

Germany’s chancellor avoided committing to the supply of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine at the Davos summit on Wednesday, although he held the door open to a positive decision at a special summit of western defence ministers on Friday.

Olaf Scholz did not mention the Leopard tanks at all when a Ukrainian delegate asked him “why the hesitancy” in signing off their re-export – prompting an apparently frustrated Ukrainian president to warn the same forum against delay.

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Three gang members admit roles in €113m Dresden jewel heist

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One defendant says he and unnamed accomplice broke into the Green Vault and took valuables in November 2019

Three members of a notorious criminal gang have confessed to stealing priceless 18th-century jewels from a German state museum at their trial in Dresden.

Rabieh Remmo, one of six defendants, told the regional court in the eastern city that he and an unnamed accomplice broke into the Green Vault in a brazen night-time raid in November 2019.

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Germany’s no-nonsense new defence minister faces early test over Ukraine

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Boris Pistorius is surprise pick for role as he has a low profile in Germany and is little known internationally

A veteran but low-profile politician is to be appointed as Germany’s new defence minister, the government has announced, filling the role at a crucial time when the country is under acute pressure to increase its commitment to Ukraine, especially by allowing it the use of tanks.

Boris Pistorius, 62, who has been the interior minister of the northern state of Lower Saxony for the past decade, will face his first major task on Friday when western allies meet at the US military’s Ramstein base in south-west Germany to discuss providing Kyiv with more weapons and equipment.

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UK seeks more German support as it confirms Challenger tanks for Ukraine

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Ben Wallace wants Berlin to allow its Leopard 2 tanks to be re-exported from Nato countries to join British heavy armour

Britain’s defence secretary has called on Germany to release Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine after he confirmed that the UK would send 14 of its own Challenger 2 tanks, the first time a western nation has given its own heavy armour to Kyiv.

Ben Wallace said the UK would allow Ukrainians to start training with the tanks immediately as part of a fresh package of British military aid, unveiled before a western defence ministers’ conference in Ramstein, Germany, on Friday.

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Climate activists vow to take to streets to stop fossil fuel extraction

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‘Cease and desist’ letter signed by over 650,000 people sent to oil and gas CEOs follows removal of Greta Thunberg from coal protest

Hundreds of thousands of young climate activists have said they will continue “protesting in the streets in huge numbers” against fossil fuels, a day after Greta Thunberg was removed by German police from a condemned village atop a massive coal deposit.

In a cease-and-desist letter to the CEOs of fossil fuel companies, youth campaigners accuse them of a “direct violation of our human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, your duties of care, as well as the rights of Indigenous people”.

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German defence minister Christine Lambrecht quits after series of blunders

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Criticism growing she was not up to job of getting German army into shape against backdrop of Ukraine war

Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, has announced her resignation following a series of blunders and a growing impression that she has struggled to deal with the challenges of overseeing the country’s military since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Lambrecht asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz to accept her resignation, she said in a statement on Monday morning, following widespread speculation over recent days that she would stand down.

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German tank manufacturer’s warning puts pressure on Ukraine’s allies

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Defence firm dampens Kyiv hopes other European allies will follow UK’s lead in supplying heavy armour

Battle tanks from German industrial reserves wanted by Ukraine will not be ready to be delivered until 2024, the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall has warned, increasing pressure on Nato allies to support Ukraine with armoured vehicles in active service instead, ahead of a key meeting this week.

“Even if the decision to send our Leopard tanks to Kyiv came tomorrow, the delivery would take until the start of next year,” Rheinmetall’s chief executive, Armin Papperger, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

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German police arrest Iranian man suspected of planning chemical attack

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Police detained 32-year-old man in town near Dortmund after tip-off from foreign agency believed to be the FBI

German police have arrested an Iranian man suspected of planning a chemical attack motivated by Islamic extremism.

The 32-year-old was seized at his flat shortly before midnight on Saturday in the town of Castrop-Rauxel, close to Dortmund in western Germany. The arrest followed a tip-off from a foreign intelligence agency that the man had obtained toxins, including cyanide and ricin, with which he planned to carry out a terror attack, authorities said on Sunday.

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Ukraine welcomes agile armour it hopes will give it a fighting edge

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Light armoured vehicles arriving in Ukraine are good fit for tactics Kyiv has been deploying against Russia

On the roads leading to Ukraine’s frontlines, a striking change has become visible in recent months.

Where once the armoured vehicles being ferried in were familiar from the Soviet era – T-model tanks, BMPs and post-Soviet Ukrainian-built BTRs – they have in recent months been joined by a growing array of western-supplied vehicles.

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US and Germany agree to send infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine

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Joe Biden and Olaf Scholz indicate shift in position on supplying heavier weapons to Kyiv to help in war against Russia

Joe Biden and his German counterpart Olaf Scholz have agreed to send infantry fighting vehicles to help Ukraine fight Russia, a day after France said it would supply its own armoured vehicles to Kyiv in an attempt to create a breakthrough in the 10-month war.

The joint announcement followed a phone call between Biden and Scholz and amounts to a step change in western military support for Ukraine, which has asked for up to 700 armoured vehicles to help force the Russians out.

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German minister calls for solution to Northern Ireland protocol deadlock

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Annalena Baerbock makes appeal as she holds talks in London with UK foreign secretary James Cleverly

Disputes over implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol have become “the achilles heel” of the EU’s relations with the UK, the German foreign minister said on Thursday as she held talks with her UK counterpart in London.

Annalena Baerbock’s appeal to find a solution to the deadlock over the protocol came during wide-ranging and much delayed talks with James Cleverly in London, which also covered the war in Ukraine and the state of Anglo-German relations.

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Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti released from jail after family post bail

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Alidoosti was arrested for support of women’s movement in Iran, including posing on Instagram without hijab

The celebrated Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti has been released from prison by the authorities after her friends and family provided bail. Pictures of her outside jail with campaigners holding flowers and without a hijab were shown on Iranian social media.

She had been arrested for issuing statements of support for the women’s movement in Iran, including by posing on Instagram without a hijab, the compulsory hair covering in the country.

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Germany spurns renewed Polish call for war reparations

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Berlin insists all financial claims have been settled as Warsaw seeks £1.2tn for war losses

Germany has rebuffed the latest push by Poland’s nationalist government for vast reparations over the second world war, saying in response to a diplomatic note that the issue was closed, according to the foreign ministry in Warsaw.

Poland estimates its losses in the second world war caused by Germany at 6.2tn złotys (£1.2tn) and has demanded reparations, but Berlin has repeatedly said all financial claims related to the war have been settled.

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