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.
Continue reading...Breakthrough in the decades-old cold case comes after scientists conducted an isotope ratio analysis of the man’s bones
Perth scientists have breathed life into a decades-old German mystery of an unknown man’s body found floating in the North Sea, by using a new forensic technique that revealed he may have spent most of his life in Australia.
The man, dubbed “The Gentleman” by investigators in 1994 after his body was found by police off the coast of the Helgoland, a German archipelago, was weighed down by cast iron cobbler’s feet.
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Continue reading...Businesses along the river say drought means they are on the verge of having to shut production
Germany’s Rhine, one of Europe’s key waterways, is just days away from being closed to commercial traffic because of very low levels caused by drought, authorities and industry have warned.
Crucially, the impending crisis could lead energy companies to cut their output, one of the country’s biggest gas companies has said.
Continue reading...Mothballed facility in Lower Saxony gets emergency permission to run until April
A coal-fired power plant that had been mothballed has become the first of its kind to be put back on to the network in Germany, as debate rages over how Europe’s largest economy will cope without Russian gas.
The facility in Lower Saxony, which is owned by the Czech energy company EGH, has received emergency permission to run until April in an attempt to boost energy production.
Continue reading...After stunning run ends with defeat at Wembley, German team receives praise for inspiring nation and winning new fans
Germany reacted with disappointment after being beaten by England in a nail-biting and historic final at Wembley.
“A hundred and twenty minutes of pure passion and pure struggle weren’t enough today,” tweeted the official account of the German team, after their 2-1 defeat. “Respect and congratulations to the Lionesses.”
Continue reading...Famous fans get behind England for a gripping contest against Germany that is expected to set records
An all-female RAF flypast will grace the skies above Wembley on Sunday in celebration of a women’s football team that this weekend received good-luck messages from the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and the royal family before the Women’s Euro 2022 final against Germany.
“Your passion for the game, your tenacity in tricky spots and above all your astounding talent on the pitch have already created a summer of fantastic memories for millions of us,” Boris Johnson wrote in a letter to the England team.
Continue reading...Hanover is first large city to impose energy-saving measures and Berlin switches off monument spotlights
Cities in Germany are switching off spotlights on public monuments, turning off fountains, and imposing cold showers on municipal swimming pools and sports halls, as the country races to reduce its energy consumption in the face of a looming Russian gas crisis.
Hanover in north-west Germany on Wednesday became the first large city to announce energy-saving measures, including turning off hot water in the showers and bathrooms of city-run buildings and leisure centres.
Continue reading...State-run Gazprom reduces flow through Nord Stream 1 to around 20% of its capacity
Germany has accused Moscow of engaging in “power play” over energy exports, as Russian state-run Gazprom further throttled gas supplies into Europe.
As announced two days earlier, the energy giant on Wednesday reduced the gas flow through Nord Stream 1 to 33m cubic metres a day – about 20% of the pipeline’s total capacity and half the amount it has been delivering since resuming service last week after 10 days of maintenance work.
Continue reading...Despite most energy ministers backing the scheme the EU was forced to water down proposals
The EU has been forced to water down its plan to ration gas this winter in an attempt to avoid an energy crisis generated by further Russian cuts to supply.
Energy ministers from the 27 member states, except Hungary, backed a voluntary 15% reduction in gas usage over the winter, a target that could become mandatory if the Kremlin ordered a complete shutdown of gas to Europe.
Continue reading...Porsche’s Oliver Blume will take over after difficulties managing electric transition during Diess’s four years in charge
Volkswagen’s CEO, Herbert Diess, is stepping down and will be succeeded by the current head of Porsche, Oliver Blume, Europe’s top carmaker has said, after a four-year tenure in which Diess pushed VW’s electric vehicle ambitions and clashed with its work council and board.
Sources with knowledge of the matter said the Porsche and Piëch families, who own over half the voting rights and a 31.4% equity stake in Volkswagen, pressed for a change at the helm.
Continue reading...As supply chains fray around the globe, branches of industry are choosing Germany’s east to return to Europe
In over 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, eastern Germans have been told several reasons why they lag behind the west: an uncompetitive industry, a lack of jobs, a shortage of young workers.
But Germany’s new government believes the formerly socialist “workers’ and peasants’ state” is missing something else: trade unions.
Continue reading...Temporary closure of Nord Stream 1 prompts fears for private consumers as well as industry
Germans are fretting about the coming winter freeze even while Europe sweats in record temperatures, amid uncertainty over whether a complete stopping of Russian gas deliveries would force energy rationing on private households as well as industry.
Germany, which has managed to reduce its reliance on Russian gas from 55% to about 35% of its demand since the start of the Ukraine war, is still heavily reliant on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which closed down for 10 days from 11 July due to scheduled maintenance works.
Continue reading...Analysis: Vladimir Putin claims time is on his side, but he will have only one shot at making a gas cutoff count
Desperate efforts in Italy to prevent the fall of Mario Draghi’s government are only the latest political firestorm in Europe tied to Vladimir Putin’s tests of the west’s powers of endurance. Draghi’s foreign minister, Luigi di Maio, suggested it will be Putin who celebrated the fall of another western government if Draghi does not survive a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday.
“A boat without a rudder goes adrift,” said Ferruccio Resta, the president of the Conference of Italian University Rectors – a metaphor that could apply, to Putin’s satisfaction, to much of Europe as governments come under growing pressure over the perceived domestic cost of the war in Ukraine.
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