Category Archives: Germany

International troops quit Mali as violence and Moscow’s influence grow

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Germany latest to end peacekeeping mission as operations prove unable to stop Islamic extremist insurgency

Thousands of international troops are withdrawing from Mali amid surging violence, growing Russian influence and an acute humanitarian crisis.

On Wednesday Germany became the latest country to end its participation in the UN peacekeeping mission in the unstable west African country. Earlier this week, British officials said that 300 British soldiers sent in 2020 to join the United Nations force would be returning earlier than planned.

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Firefighter arrested in Germany over refugee shelter arson attack

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Authorities believe the fire was part of a series of 19 arson attempts, and was not politically motivated

A fire that tore through a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in north-east Germany last month was started by one of the firefighters who later helped to extinguish it, according to prosecutors in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, who have arrested the 32-year-old man.

A swastika daubed on a Red Cross sign outside the repurposed thatched-roof hotel in the town of Groß Strömkendorf two days before the fire had led some to speculate about a political motive behind the arson attack, which caused millions of euros worth of damage. None of the shelter’s 17 inhabitants were harmed.

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Germans turning 18 to be offered €200 culture pass ‘birthday present’

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Voucher aims to rekindle interest in live arts and boost industry after pandemic

Young Germans are to join other Europeans in being offered a voucher to spend on their choice of cultural offerings under a scheme launched by the government.

The €200 Kulturpass, which will be made available to all 18-year-olds, has twin aims: to encourage young adults to experience live culture and drop stay-at-home pandemic habits; and give a financial boost to the arts scene, which has yet to recover from repeated lockdowns.

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Germans ‘disgusted’ by Iran protest crackdown, says chancellor

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Olaf Scholz says responsibility for violence lies solely with regime and pledges new sanctions

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has strongly criticised the Iranian government for its brutal crackdown on protests and said Germany stood “shoulder to shoulder with the Iranian people”.

Scholz said the protests sparked by the death on 16 September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her detention by Iran’s morality police were no longer “merely a question of dress codes” but had evolved into a fight for freedom and justice.

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Digital Benin project reunites bronzes looted by British soldiers

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Comprehensive database of Benin bronzes held by museums raises questions about where they belong

Cheerfully gnashing their magnificent fangs as they stand side by side, the two bronze leopards look back on a journey that was as adventurous as it was cruelly absurd.

Looted by British soldiers on a punitive expedition to the west African kingdom of Benin in 1897, the bronzes were shipped to the UK, where they spent some time guarding the fireplace of army captain George William Neville’s Weybridge home. They were later put in display at Moma in New York and bought by a French art collector – who eventually sold them back to the colonial administration in Lagos in 1952 with a considerable mark-up.

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Unseen Kristallnacht photos published 84 years after Nazi pogrom

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Images released by Israeli Holocaust memorial show Hitler’s regime clearly orchestrating 1938 atrocity

Harrowing, previously unseen images from 1938’s Kristallnacht pogrom against German and Austrian Jews have surfaced in a photograph collection donated to Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial, the organisation said on Wednesday.

One shows a crowd of smiling, well-dressed middle-aged German men and women standing casually as a Nazi officer smashes a storefront window. In another, brownshirts carry heaps of Jewish books, presumably for burning. Another image shows a Nazi officer splashing petrol on the pews of a synagogue before it is set alight.

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Germany keen to discuss natural gas pact with UK amid supply risk

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Officials interested in deal that would allow two countries to bail each other out in event of shortages

Germany is keen to talk to Britain about a solidarity pact that would allow Europe’s largest consumers of natural gas to bail each other out if an extreme cold snap were to create shortages this winter, German officials have said.

Such an agreement could be mutually beneficial for both London and Berlin, the German civil servant in charge of rationing in the case of a supply crisis told the Guardian in an interview.

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Soaring goose prices threaten German St Martin’s Day celebrations

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Martinsgans – or martin goose – is eaten around 11 November, but restaurants are dropping dish to save cash

Soaring inflation threatens to cast a shadow over one of Germany’s most popular cultural festivities, which culminates in eating roast goose.

A Martinsgans, or martin goose, is eaten on or around 11 November – St Martin’s Day – when the 4th-century Roman soldier-turned-saint who shared his cloak with a poor man is remembered throughout the country in lantern parades, song, bonfires and theatrical reenactments of his life.

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China and Germany condemn Russian threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine

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Xi Jinping tells Olaf Scholz of the need for greater cooperation during ‘times of change and turmoil’

Xi Jinping and Olaf Scholz have condemned Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, with both leaders expressing their desire for the conflict to end.

The Chinese president stressed the need for greater cooperation between China and Germany in what he referred to as “times of change and turmoil”, and said both leaders “jointly oppose the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons,” although he stopped short of criticising Russia or calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops.

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Photos permitted as evidence of parking offences, Bavarian court rules

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Ansbach court rules in favour of two cycling activists who had been fined €100 for breaching data protection regulation

People who notify the police of parked cars blocking pavements and bike paths will in future be able to submit photographs as evidence of offences, a court in Bavaria has ruled.

An administrative court in Ansbach has ruled in favour of two cycling activists who had been fined €100 (£87) each for breaching data protection regulation for photographing apparently illegally parked cars and emailing the images to the police.

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Row over Germany’s public transport ticket jumping from €9 to €49

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Charities warn increase in monthly local travel pass will freeze out millions struggling with living costs

Germany plans to replace its successful €9-a-month local public transport pass with a €49 version, a move that is drawing criticism from charities and social care groups who say the new price tag will freeze out millions of Germans suffering under the cost of living crisis.

The €9 pass (equating to about £7.80) was introduced as an experiment over the summer in an effort to entice people to use public transport and help counter rising inflation.

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Germany’s Scholz heads to China amid questions over strategy

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Scholz’s coalition government seems uncertain about what sort of relationship it wants with Beijing

Russia’s war in Ukraine has woken Germany up to the risk of having an economy that is too reliant on raw materials provided by an autocratic strongman. But as the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, heads to Beijing at the end of this week, there are questions as to whether he would rather leave lessons from the recent past at home in Berlin.

Scholz is the first representative of a liberal democracy to be granted a state visit to China since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan in 2019, and will be the first major political leader to meet Xi Jinping since the Chinese president consolidated his power with a shake-up at the top of the Communist party.

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Germany calls for ‘precautionary pause’ before deep-sea mining industry starts

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Berlin urges International Seabed Authority to prioritise nature as it debates rules and warns seabed mining may ‘destroy ecosystems’

Germany has called for a pause in the controversial deep-sea mining industry, saying not enough is known about the likely impacts of digging up the ocean floor for metals.

While other nations, including Spain and New Zealand, have previously called for a temporary halt to any exploitation of deep-sea metals, Germany, the world’s fourth biggest economy, is the most significant nation to voice its opposition to date. The country holds two of the 22 licences for exploration of the seabed.

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Protesters attacked near Iranian embassy in Berlin

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People at pro-democracy vigil were beaten and threatened at gunpoint by unknown assailants, say police

Protesters holding a pro-democracy vigil outside the Iranian embassy in Berlin were beaten and threatened at gunpoint by unknown assailants over the weekend, German police have said.

An officer guarding the building saw three men with face coverings tear down flags and banners reading “Iranians want democracy” and “Women Life Freedom” from a caravan parked in Dahlem district, in the capital, at just after 1am on Sunday morning.

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Mondrian painting has been hanging upside down for 75 years

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Despite the discovery, the work, titled New York City I, will continue to be displayed the wrong way up to avoid damaging it

A painting by abstract Dutch artist Piet Mondrian has been hanging upside down in various museums since it was first put on display 75 years ago, an art historian has found, but warned it could disintegrate if it was hung the right side up now.

The 1941 picture, a complex interlacing lattice of red, yellow, black and blue adhesive tapes titled New York City I, was first put on display at New York’s MoMA in 1945 but has hung at the art collection of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf since 1980.

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We need to talk about Xi Jinping: G7’s discord over powerful trading partner

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Disagreements have opened up about strategy when China is also seen as an existential threat

Western powers in the G7 group of nations are failing to coordinate their China strategies, senior western officials admit, adding that the need to do so has been given sharp impetus by Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power at this month’s Communist party congress.

The G7’s poor coordination reflects a deep disagreement, also reflected within the EU, about whether dialogue and trade with China have a future if Beijing is seen as an existential threat that requires strict strategic controls on economic ties.

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End of the road for Ford Fiesta: UK’s all-time bestselling car halts production

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Owners mourn ‘modern-day classic’ as last factory in Germany switches to new electric models

“I don’t know what I’d go for if I didn’t have the Fiesta,” said Karen Fox, a civil servant in Edinburgh. She is due to pick up her fourth version of the model on Saturday, but it is likely to be her last: Ford on Wednesday confirmed it will end production of the UK’s all-time bestselling car next June.

The model’s end will become only the latest symbol of the shift from internal combustion engines to batteries: the factory in Cologne, Germany, where the last Fiestas are being made will switch to producing two new electric models.

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French-German friendship ‘still alive’ as Macron meets Scholz amid tensions

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Two leaders under pressure to repair relations after rifts over defence, energy and China

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, hosted the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, for lunch on Wednesday as they sought to iron out significant differences on energy and defence that have weakened their relationship at a time of war in Ukraine.

Both leaders, whose countries are seen as the joint driving force of the European Union, made an effort to smile as Scholz emerged from his black Mercedes at the Élysée Palace to shake hands, but the German chancellor appeared to sidestep Macron’s attempts to put an arm around him.

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Germany announces plan to legalise cannabis for recreational use

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Minister says legalisation could set precedent for rest of Europe, though plan is still subject to EU approval

Germany wants to make it legal for adults to purchase and own up to 30g of cannabis for recreational use and to privately grow up to three plants, the country’s health minister has announced, saying the intended outcome could set a precedent for the rest of the European continent.

“If this law comes to pass, it would be the most liberal project to legalise cannabis in Europe, but also the most regulated market”, the Karl Lauterbach said at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday. “It could be a model for Europe.”

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Climate activists throw mashed potatoes at Monet work in Germany

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Two protesters pelt painting with potatoes and glue their hands to wall at Museum Barberini in Potsdam

Claude Monet has become the latest artist to be the focus of food-related climate protests, after members of a German environmental group threw mashed potatoes over one of his paintings in a Potsdam museum on Sunday.

Nine days after Just Stop Oil emptied tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London, two activists from Letzte Generation (Last Generation) entered the Museum Barberini and doused Monet’s Les Meules (Haystacks) with potato before glueing their hands to the wall.

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