Man on day release hijacked car at gunpoint in Mannheim and then died in head-on collision near Nancy
A German man’s escape from a prison day-release scheme resulted in a cross-border manhunt that ended hours later in a fatal crash in neighbouring France, police said on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old fugitive hijacked a car at gunpoint in Mannheim, 190 miles (300km) south-west of Berlin, on Monday, forcing the driver to take off down a highway before he left her at a rest stop.
Continue reading...Olaf Scholz says country has enough energy to get through winter after Russia cut gas supplies
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has rejected calls for his government to commit to a longer-term extension of the life of the country’s nuclear power plants and insisted that Europe’s largest economy would have enough energy to get through the winter.
Scholz shut down criticism from the opposition conservative alliance and at least one leading economist, who have described his coalition’s decision to keep two remaining reactors in emergency reserve rather than letting them produce electricity, as “madness” while the government refuses to reverse its long-term plan to close down the last remaining plants.
Continue reading...Spain’s El País greets new PM saying ‘lack of charisma can be a political advantage in times of uncertainty’
Liz Truss’s purported lack of charisma and the “disastrous” economic situation facing Britain is the focus for much of the European media following the appointment of the country’s new prime minister.
The apparent differences in style between Boris Johnson and his successor was picked up by newspapers and websites across the political spectrum but the conclusions on Truss’s first speech in office were generally generous.
Continue reading...Last two working plants were due to be mothballed, but will be used as emergency reserve into 2023 after Russia cuts off gas
Germany is to temporarily halt the phasing-out of two nuclear power plants in an effort to shore up energy security after Russia cut supplies of gas to Europe’s largest economy.
The economy minister, Robert Habeck, announced on Monday that the power plants, Neckarwestheim in Baden Württemberg and Isar 2 in Bavaria, are to be kept running longer than planned in order to be used as an emergency reserve until the middle of next year.
Continue reading...Shutdown over ‘oil leak’ comes only hours after G7 nations agree to impose a price cap
Fears that Europe could be engulfed by a winter energy crisis reached new heights yesterday after the Russian energy supplier Gazprom extended the shutdown of gas flows it had imposed through its key Nord Stream 1 pipeline into Germany.
The seriousness of the situation is underlined by the fact that Russia kept gas supplies to Europe flowing even at the height of the Cold War. By contrast, the pipeline has now been shut down twice since the Russian invasion of Ukraine: for 10 days in July in addition to the current indefinite closure.
Continue reading...Russian energy company had been due to resume gas delivery to Germany on Saturday morning
The Russian energy major Gazprom extended the shutdown of gas flows through its key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany on Friday evening, providing no timeframe for a reopening.
The move came hours after G7 countries agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil in an attempt to stem the flow of funds to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Continue reading...Malte C, 25, died in hospital a week after being struck by assailant at parade in Münster
A 25-year-old transgender man has died of his injuries in hospital almost a week after he was assaulted while helping people at a Pride parade in western Germany, police have said.
The man, who police have named only as Malte C in accordance with privacy conventions, intervened when the attacker aimed homophobic slurs at other participants during the Christopher Street Day parade in Münster, police said.
Continue reading...If foreign secretary wins the Tory leadership contest she looks set to have to change course on ‘handouts’ despite campaign pledges
For months, everyone in government had known that Friday was energy cap day, and at 7am the bad news duly dropped. Phones pinged as the nation woke to Ofgem’s confirmation that typical gas and electricity bills were to rise by a frightening 80%.
Millions of people would be unable to cope, said charities. Even those on low or middle earnings who had some savings could see them entirely wiped out. It was a full-on national crisis, albeit long predicted.
Continue reading...Government to review aid package as energy companies who seek share of surcharge post-billion-euro earnings
The German government is under pressure to radically revise or scrap a controversial new gas levy on already stretched consumers after it emerged that some energy companies seeking a share of the surcharge have posted billion-euro earnings.
Robert Habeck, the economy minister, said his ministry acknowledged the angry response to the surcharge and would urgently review the aid package in an attempt to prevent gas importers whose businesses have profited from recent energy inflation from benefiting from it.
Continue reading...The boys, thought to be brothers, were on holiday at the Eiserbachsee in Simmerath, near Aachen
German police say they are investigating the death of two British boys who drowned in a lake in western Germany on Thursday evening.
The boys, aged seven and nine, were pulled from the Eiserbachsee near Aachen after their parents reported them missing. Doctors fought overnight to save their lives but they were pronounced dead in hospital in the early hours of Friday morning.
Continue reading...Polish minister Anna Moskwa says experts have found algal bloom in water samples, after mass die-off puzzled scientists
Rare micro-organisms known as golden algae could be the cause of a mass die-off of fish in the Oder River that has puzzled scientists for days, Poland’s environment minister has suggested.
“After further investigations, the Institute of Inland Fisheries in Olsztyn has found rare microorganisms, so-called golden algae, in water samples from the Oder River,” Anna Moskwa said on Thursday.
Continue reading...Receding rivers and lakes have exposed ghost villages, a Nazi tank and a Roman fort
The warning could not be starker. Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine (“If you see me, then weep”), reads the grim inscription on a rock in the Elbe River near the northern Czech town of Děčín, close to the German border.
As Europe’s rivers run dry in a devastating drought that scientists say could prove the worst in 500 years, their receding waters are revealing long-hidden artefacts, from Roman camps to ghost villages and second world war shipwrecks.
Continue reading...German authorities say buildup on river not caused by water levels despite record lows caused by drought
About 20 ships were stuck in traffic along Germany’s Rhine River after a vessel’s engine failure temporarily closed part of the waterway.
A ship with a 1,660-ton load was forced to drop anchor due to an engine failure, closing traffic between Sankt Goar and Oberwesel, river police said.
Continue reading...German energy firm, which operates many UK power stations, has been bailed out by federal government
The owner of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire has posted a €12bn (£10bn) loss weeks after agreeing a bailout package with the German government, in a set of results that signal the deepening energy crisis across Europe.
Uniper received a €15bn lifeline from the German state in return for a 30% equity stake in a deal agreed in July.
Continue reading...German chancellor condemns remarks morning after joint press conference with Palestinian leader
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts”, at a joint press conference with Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in Berlin, drawing condemnation from Germany and Israel.
At the end of his state visit to Germany’s chancellory on Tuesday night, Abbas was asked by a German journalist whether he planned to apologise for the deadly attack by Palestinian militants on Israeli citizens at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the 50th anniversary of which is on 5 September.
Continue reading...Opponents furious about fire risk and water waste as river risks becoming unnavigable
Organisers of the “Rhine in Flames” firework displays have come under heavy criticism for staging the event during this summer’s drought, as water levels in the river continue to drop.
The annual event has become a flashpoint, with climate campaigners and others furious about the fire risk and waste of precious water as the Rhine risks becoming unnavigable.
Continue reading...Polish scientists only found elevated salt levels after thousands of dead fish were found floating in the central European waterway
Mystery continues to surround the cause behind a “catastrophic” mass die-off of fish in the Oder River, after Polish scientists said laboratory tests found elevated salt levels but no other toxic substances in the central European waterway.
German municipalities have banned bathing and fishing in the Oder after thousands of dead fish were found floating in the 520 mile (840km) river, which runs from the Czech Republic to the Baltic Sea along the border between Germany and Poland.
Continue reading...Russian state-owned firm delivering more gas through TurkStream pipeline than ‘contractually obliged’
Gazprom has ramped up flows to Hungary through the TurkStream pipeline that transports gas via Bulgaria and Serbia, a Hungarian foreign ministry official has said.
The Russian state-owned company started delivering more gas than it was contractually obliged to on Friday, Menczer Tamás, an official in Hungary’s ministry of foreign affairs and trade, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Continue reading...Water levels fall to below 40cm on parts of key route for transporting fuel, wheat and other commodities
The levels of the Rhine River fell to a new low on Friday due to the ongoing drought in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, further restricting the distribution of coal, petrol, wheat and other commodities amid a looming energy crisis.
The water level at Kaub near Frankfurt – a key waypoint where the fairway is shallower than elsewhere on the river – was forecast to fall below 40cm on Friday afternoon, the level at which it is no longer economical for many barges to transit the river.
Continue reading...Germany’s women would have received €60,000 each if they had won European Championships, while the men would have received €400,000
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has made a push for equal pay for female international footballers after the team made it to the final of the recent European Championships.
“My position on this is clear,” Scholz said after a meeting on Tuesday with the German Football Association (DFB) to discuss the issue. “We talked about how we can continue to help more girls and women get excited about football. Of course, the wages at such tournaments play a major role in this,” he said.
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