Category Archives: Germany

Global report: Merkel says Germany faces ‘difficult months ahead’ in Covid fight

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Chancellor says country is on verge of losing control as Europe death toll passes 250k

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said her country is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, telling colleagues from her Christian Democratic Union party “the situation is threatening” and “every day counts”.

In leaked comments to an internal party meeting, she told those attending of “very, very difficult months ahead” and added that “every day [would] count” in tackling the virus’s spread.

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Who in Europe is getting it right on Covid?

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Different approaches are having notably different outcomes

A second coronavirus wave is sweeping continental Europe, with new infection records broken daily in many countries. There are wide variations, but almost no country has been left untouched – even those that fared well in the first wave.

Across the 31 countries from which the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control collects national data, the average 14-day case incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants has multiplied from just 13 in mid-July to almost 250 last week.

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Coronavirus: European leaders tighten measures as WHO warns of pandemic juncture – video report

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The World Health Organization has warned of a ‘critical juncture’ of the pandemic, particularly in the northern hemisphere, and urged heads of state to take action to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

European leaders have increased restrictions as cases have continued rising. Wales has started a two-week ‘firebreak’ lockdown and Portugal’s parliament has passed a law making the wearing of masks mandatory in many outdoor situations

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Hong Kong says Germany harbouring a criminal after granting asylum to protester

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Meeting called with Germany’s consul general to lodge objections in what Hong Kong regards as ‘internal matters’ to China

Hong Kong has accused Germany of “harbouring criminals” after it granted asylum to a student who fled charges over last year’s pro-democracy protest.

Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration, warned against foreign interference in affairs that were “internal matters of the People’s Republic of China”.

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Berlin police appeal for witnesses after museum artefacts vandalised

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Police fail to identify culprit via video footage and say motive for attack remains unclear

Police in Berlin have appealed for witnesses to help identify a mystery attacker who vandalised dozens of ancient artefacts and artworks at four galleries in the German capital.

Details of extensive damage to 63 objects emerged only this week, after police failed to identify a culprit via surveillance camera footage and started to contact visitors who had booked tickets to the Pergamon Museum, the Museum for Islamic Art, the Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie on 3 October.

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Berlin: vandalism of museum artefacts ‘linked to conspiracy theorists’

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Use of oily substance across three galleries reportedly related to claims they are centre of ‘global satanism’

At least 70 artworks and ancient artefacts across three galleries on Berlin’s museum island were vandalised with an oily substance earlier this month, German media has reported.

Objects including Egyptian sarcophagi, stone sculptures and 19th-century paintings held at the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Neues Museum sustained visible damage during the attack on 3 October, according to reports in the weekly Die Zeit and broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday.

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Global report: record Covid cases and new lockdowns across Europe

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Parts of Spain and Italy facing restrictions as Ireland set to become first EU country to reimpose national lockdown

Regions in Spain and Italy have returned to lockdown and Ireland will do so from Wednesday as countries across Europe continue to report new Covid infection highs and governments struggle to contain the second wave of the pandemic.

The northern Spanish Navarre region, where the number of cases per 100,000 people is 945 against 312 nationally, announced a two-week lockdown from Thursday that will be stricter than measures imposed on Madrid by central government.

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Hong Kong protester announces asylum granted in Germany

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Activist said she was arrested at a protest in November 2019 and fled to Germany via Taiwan

Germany has granted refugee status to a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist facing a rioting charge in connection with the 2019 protests, the protester told Reuters on Monday.

The 22-year-old university student showed Reuters a letter from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) dated 14 October that confirmed the granting of refugee status.

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Can the centre hold? Germany looks to its Covid-stricken high streets

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Minister battles to rescue retailers amid fears for 50,000 shops and hundreds of thousands of jobs

The stakes for Germany’s high streets could not be greater when the economics minister, Peter Altmaier, summons trade representatives across the country this month for a series of crisis workshops to discuss how to save them from collapse.

In Germany, as elsewhere across Europe and beyond, the coronavirus pandemic has blown a huge hole in street retail – accelerating the decline in footfall precipitated by the rise of online shopping.

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Covid in Europe: protests in Czech Republic, Ireland to toughen rules

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Switzerland makes masks mandatory as continent struggles to contain infections

Police fought anti-mask protesters in the Czech Republic, Ireland prepared to announce tough new restrictions and Switzerland made masks mandatory indoors as European governments struggled to contain continuing record Covid case numbers.

As Italy on Sunday reported 11,705 new infections over the past 24 hours, its largest ever figure, and France on Saturday set a new high of 32,427 cases, police in Prague’s historic tourist district fired teargas and water cannon after demonstrations against strict anti-coronavirus restrictions turned violent.

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‘On the brink of disaster’: Europe’s Covid fight takes a turn for the worse

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As France imposes curfews, even countries that previously managed well are struggling badly

“It’s not a word I’ve heard in a long, long time,” an elderly Paris resident said, leaving her apartment in mask and gloves for an early expedition to the shops. “A curfew. That’s for wartime, isn’t it? But in a way I suppose that’s what this is.”

Europe’s second coronavirus wave took a dramatic turn for the worse this week, forcing governments across the continent to make tough choices as more than a dozen countries reported their highest ever number of new infections.

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No 10 startled by EU insistence that UK accept Brexit trade terms

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Bloc’s stance apparently taken as challenge to Boris Johnson’s threat to walk out on talks

Downing Street reacted in dismay as Emmanuel Macron led EU leaders in warning Boris Johnson that he must swallow the bloc’s conditions, in what appeared to be taken as a direct challenge to the British prime minister’s threat to walk out on the talks.

At a summit in Brussels, the EU proposed a further “two to three weeks” of negotiations but Europe’s heads of state and government offered Johnson little succour, demanding that he alone needed to “make the necessary moves to make an agreement possible”.

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Berlin gives middle finger to anti-maskers in tourism agency ad

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Agency says it chose message that suits city’s outlier character but some politicians are critical

Berlin has eschewed polite public messaging on the coronavirus in favour of a more direct reminder of the rules by flipping the bird to people who won’t wear a mask.

An ad placed in local papers by the German capital’s senate as part of a public information campaign shows an elderly woman presenting her outstretched middle finger to the camera, next to the words: “A finger-wag for all those without a mask: we stick to corona rules.”

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UK’s test and trace ‘having marginal impact’: which countries got it right?

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Scientists’ verdict on £12bn system has refocused attention on what is working elsewhere in cutting Covid-19 transmission rates

The newly released assessment by the UK government’s scientific advisers that the £12bn test and trace programme “is having a marginal impact” in reducing Covid-19 transmission has refocused attention on how other countries are faring with their regimes.

Since test-and-trace programmes were first mooted around the world at the outset of the pandemic – including monitoring via apps or hardware – they have been beset by issues of privacy and public support over both downloading and using apps and also with a wider willingness to abide by isolation measures.

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Coronavirus: Spain declares emergency in Madrid as Berlin emerges as hotspot

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European countries tighten regional lockdowns as daily cases of Covid-19 keep rising

The Spanish government has declared a state of emergency to keep Madrid in partial lockdown as countries across Europe struggle to deal with the continuing surge in new coronavirus cases.

The move came as Italy logged more than 5,000 new daily coronavirus cases for the first time in six months, and Germany recorded more than 4,000 new infections for the second day in a row. Following a meeting with mayors, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced that some areas would be given 10 days to improve the situation or face tougher action.

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EU parliament votes for 60% greenhouse gas emissions cut by 2030

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Backing for law demanding 60% reduction from 1990 levels puts capitals under pressure

EU capitals have been put under pressure to agree to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2030 compared with 1990, after the European parliament voted in favour of an “ambitious” climate law that would also oblige each member state to be carbon neutral by 2050.

The vote, which sets the chamber’s position as it goes into negotiations with the 27 member states and the European commission, won the backing of 392 MEPs, with 161 voting against and 142 abstaining.

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Holocaust survivor’s daughter sues historian over claim of lesbian liaison with Nazi guard

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Warwick University academic ‘broke German court ruling that protected dead woman’s reputation’

The daughter of a Holocaust survivor has begun a legal battle to protect her deceased mother’s reputation from allegations that she had a lesbian relationship with an SS guard.

Earlier this year, a German court ruled that Dr Anna Hájková, associate professor of modern continental European history at Warwick University, had violated the woman’s postmortem personality rights by publicly claiming that she had a sexual relationship with the Nazi guard while imprisoned in concentration camps.

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Europe struggles to stem rapid resurgence of coronavirus

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Concern in Germany and maximum alert in France, as other countries report record infection rates

Several mainland European countries have recorded their highest daily number of Covid-19 infections since widespread testing began, as governments struggle to stem a rapid resurgence of the virus that risks overwhelming some healthcare systems.

The figures came as the World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases, with the total rising by 338,779 in 24 hours. The previous record for new cases was 330,340 on 2 October.

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Minority of Europeans think US election will be free and fair – poll

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Exclusive: majorities in seven countries favour Joe Biden and rate Donald Trump poorly

Fewer than one in 10 Europeans expect next month’s US presidential election to be completely free and fair, and an overwhelming majority say they would like Joe Biden to triumph over Donald Trump.

According to a YouGov tracker survey in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden, in only one of these countries – Italy – are more than a tenth of voters confident that the American electoral process will prove irreproachable.

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Berlin nightlife given first curfew in 70 years as Covid cases surge

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German capital tells bars to shut at 11pm, while fellow role model Belgium also tightens rules

Berlin’s nightlife is facing a closing time for the first time in 70 years as the party-loving German capital seeks to contain spiralling coronavirus infection rates.

From Saturday, bars, restaurants and off-licences will have to close their doors between 11pm and 6am as a large second wave of Covid-19 cases in the city threatens to taint Germany’s image as a pandemic role model.

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