Man deemed fit to stand trial in Germany and is accused of complicity in murder of more than 3,500 people
A 100-year-old former concentration camp guard will stand trial in Germany in October accused of complicity in 3,518 murders, public prosecutors have announced.
The prosecutor’s office in Neuruppin, which first brought the charges in February, received a medical assessment that confirmed the man was “fit to stand trial” despite his advanced age.
Continue reading...WG Sebald’s writing on the Holocaust was driven by the anger and distress he felt over his father’s service in Hitler’s army
His books are saturated with despair. Over and over again, his emotionally traumatised characters are caught – inescapably – in plots that doom them to a life of anguish. Often, they kill themselves.
Now, the psychological wounds and suicidal thoughts that blighted WG Sebald’s own life and secretly inspired him to begin writing fiction are to be laid bare for the first time in a forthcoming biography.
Continue reading...Louise Kerton went missing in 2001 after travelling to stay with her boyfriend’s family in Germany
Twenty years since the disappearance of Louise Kerton, who travelled to Germany to holiday with her boyfriend’s family and disappeared, her father is looking for fresh leads.
Phil Kerton is hoping publicity to mark the anniversary might trigger memories or encourage police in Germany, the UK or Belgium – which she is supposed to have travelled through via rail and sea – to reopen the case.
Continue reading...An explosion at an industrial park for chemical companies shook the German city of Leverkusen on Tuesday, killing at least one person with four missing and 16 injured and sending a large black cloud into the air.
Operators of the Chempark site, about 13 miles north of Cologne, said the cause of the explosion was unclear
Continue reading...Ireland and Italy among those joining France in requiring vaccine passes to enter bars and restaurants
An increasing number of European governments are planning to prevent unvaccinated people from being able to attend hospitality venues such as bars and restaurants this summer, as Emmanuel Macron celebrates the fruits of the recent announcement of the policy in France.
France on Monday passed the threshold of 40 million people having received at least one vaccine dose – close to 60% of the population. Macron tweeted: “Together we will defeat the virus. We continue!”
Continue reading...Trucks, diggers and volunteers try to clear mud and ruined belongings from wrecked homes and businesses
A brown line one and a half metres high on the kitchen wall marks where the waters reached when Christian Ulrich’s house was inundated. The electrician stands amid the mud-splattered walls and his voice breaks as he recalls how he had barely enough time after the warning came to reach the cellar to get food and water and send his mother up the stairs. He had just managed to let in the neighbours who had banged on the door for help, when there was an “almighty crash – like an explosion” as a huge wave of water rolled in from the back and front of the house, so strong it pushed out the front door and many of the windows.
Continue reading...Always the diplomatic politician, forever the objective scientist, Germany’s chancellor gives her last annual summer press do
As she faced a lecture-hall sized auditorium packed with national and international press for the last time in her 16-year chancellorship, there was a sense that the room was simultaneously hearing from two very different people in Angela Merkel.
One was Merkel the politician, unafraid to talk up her achievements, who patted herself on the back for diplomatic victories and expertly fudged answers to difficult questions. The other was Merkel the scientist, who found it hard to skirt around uncomfortable truths and instinctively wanted to scrutinise her doppelgänger’s track record.
Continue reading...Slow-moving storms such as recent deluge in Germany could become 14 times more frequent by 2100
Catastrophic floods such as those that struck Europe recently could become much more frequent as a result of global heating, researchers say.
High-resolution computer models suggest that slow-moving storms could become 14 times more common over land by the end of the century in a worst-case scenario. The slower a storm moves, the more rain it dumps on a small area and the greater the risk of serious flooding.
Continue reading...Party leaders hope public will draw its own conclusions from last week’s catastrophic floods
It was a slogan that cut to the chase: “Everybody is talking about Germany. We talk about the weather.”
The provocative message – itself an inversion of the title of an essay by Red Army Faction terror group founder Ulrike Meinhof (“Everybody talks about the weather. We don’t”) – was at the heart of the West German Green party’s 1990 election campaign, but has rarely felt more relevant than today as catastrophic floods in western Germany have brought extreme weather events to the centre of the national debate little more than two months before federal elections.
Continue reading...Questions raised over lack of warning as death toll passes 150 and villages are left without drinking water, power or gas
Germany is asking itself how one of the world’s richest countries managed to be taken by surprise by last week’s extreme weather events, as more details emerge of how early warnings about record rainfall and expected floods did not make their way to the communities most at risk.
In Erftstadt, south of Cologne, where a flooded gravel quarry swallowed up cars, houses and parts of a historic castle, residents who had installed the federal government’s weather warning app were advised on Wednesday to stay inside their house.
Continue reading...CDU leader Armin Laschet caught laughing on camera as president delivered solemn address
More flash-floods have devastated towns in Austria, Bavaria and eastern Germany, as the frontrunner to replace the chancellor, Angela Merkel, was forced to apologise after seeming to make light of a catastrophic situation that has claimed the lives of more than 150 people.
The Alpine district of Berchtesgadener Land declared a state of emergency on Saturday evening after heavy rainfall led to flooded streets and landslides, leaving at least one person dead.
Continue reading...At least 110 people have died in devastating floods across parts of western Germany and Belgium. Search and rescue operations are continuing with hundreds still unaccounted for
Continue reading...At a meeting with Joe Biden at the White House, Angela Merkel talked of the devastating flooding in Germany that has killed more than 80 people, with scores still missing in one district alone. The German chancellor expressed her deep sympathy for victims of the 'catastrophe', the extent of which will only be seen in the coming days. On behalf of hmself and the American people, the US president also passed on his sincere condolences.
On Friday morning, German media reported at least 81 people had died in the two worst-hit states, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, with 50 and at least 30 deaths respectively.
On Thursday night, authorities in the district of Ahrweiler said the death toll was expected to climb, and they were trying to trace about 1,300 missing people, although the high figure is thought to be a result of damaged mobile phone networks
Continue reading...Search for missing continues, with Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg also affected
The death toll from catastrophic floods in western Germany and Belgium has risen to more than 170, as emergency services continued their search for hundreds still missing.
The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said he was “stunned” by the devastation caused by the flooding and pledged support to the families of those killed and to cities and towns facing significant damage. It is Germany’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century.
Continue reading...The US president praises the German leader but reiterates his concerns about the pipeline that will run from Russia to Germany
Joe Biden hosted Angela Merkel at the White House on Thursday for bilateral meetings as the outgoing German chancellor prepares to step down, in a visit that marked Biden’s latest attempt to strengthen relationships with US allies.
The two leaders met in the Oval Office and later held a joint press conference. Biden and Merkel vowed to work together to defend against Russian aggression and stand up to anti-democratic actions by China, and also spoke to the importance of the US-German alliance.
Continue reading...Drone and helicopter footage shows the extent of flood damage in towns across Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands after heavy rainfall caused water levels to rise in large parts of western Europe. Footage from local Belgian TV station RTL shows cars submerged in water and flooded streets and shops in the small town of Esneux, on the River Ourthe, just south of Liege. In Germany 18 people died and dozens were missing around the wine-growing hub of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate state, police said, after the Ahr river that flows into the Rhine rose and brought down half a dozen houses
Continue reading...At least 58 people have died and dozens more were missing in Germany on Thursday as swollen rivers caused by record rainfall across western Europe swept through towns and villages. Many of the victims died around the wine-growing region of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate state, police said, and dozens were still unaccounted for, after the Ahr river that flows into the Rhine broke its banks and brought down half a dozen houses
Continue reading...Raging floods caused by heavy rain devastated parts of Germany and Belgium on Thursday, killing more than 40 people, destroying buildings and sweeping away vehicles. The full extent of the damage remains unclear because many villages were cut off by floodwaters and landslides
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The Guardian’s Luke Harding, Julian Borger and Dan Sabbagh report:
Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russia’s national security council, according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents.
Related: Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House
In their meeting this afternoon, Joe Biden and Angela Merkel will almost certainly discuss the future of Afghanistan as the US military withdraws from the country.
Biden said last week that the withdrawal from Afghanistan will conclude by August 31, although the Pentagon has said that the operation is already 90% complete.
But even as high-level US diplomats head to the region, they are encountering doubts from Afghanistan’s neighbours about any such security partnerships with the US. This is in contrast to 2001, when Central Asian countries made their territory available for US bases, troops and other access when the US hit back for the 9/11 attacks plotted by al-Qaida in Afghanistan.
There is distrust of the US as a reliable long-term partner, after an only partly successful war in Afghanistan and years of widely fluctuating US engagement regionally and globally, say former American diplomats. Russia also says a permanent US military base in its Central Asia sphere of influence would be ‘unacceptable’.
Related: US aims to woo Central Asian leaders for secure base near Afghanistan
Continue reading...More missing as buildings give way amid heavy rain and flooding
At least 38 people have died and dozens are missing or awaiting rescue from rooftops after heavy rain and floods caused buildings to collapse in two western German states.
Up to 70 people were reported missing after several houses collapsed overnight in Schuld in the Eifel mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate state.
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