Category Archives: Germany

Coronavirus: fears of a potential second wave rise across Europe

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Rise of new cases in Germany comes as Madrid’s regional government imposes new restrictions to halt spread of virus

The head of Germany’s disease control agency has blamed negligence for a worrying rise in cases in the country, while the World Health Organization has counselled against treating Covid-19 as a seasonal phenomenon or talking about waves of the virus.

The warnings came as Madrid’s regional government imposed new restrictions to halt the spread of the virus in and around the Spanish capital, and the German foreign ministry advised people not to travel to the hard-hit Spanish regions of Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre.

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Bavaria rolls out coronavirus mass testing for returning holidaymakers

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German state preparing airports, stations and border crossings after rise in cases

The German state of Bavaria is spearheading the mass rollout of coronavirus testing facilities in the hope of reaching as many returning holidaymakers as possible.

Airports, railway stations and main border crossings used by cars, are to be kitted out with mobile testing units, Markus Söder, the leader of the southern state, announced this morning.

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Germany by far most admired country, with US, China and Russia vying for second – global poll

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Annual Gallup survey casts doubt on Mike Pompeo’s claim that the US is ‘perfectly positioned’ to lead the free world in rivalry with China

Germany is the most admired country in the world for the third year running, leaving the US in a tight battle for distant second place with China and Russia, according to a new global leadership poll.

The annual poll, conducted by Gallup, casts more doubt on US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s claim on Friday that the US was “perfectly positioned” to lead the free world in a new ideological rivalry with the Chinese Communist Party.

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German Jewish leaders fear rise of antisemitic conspiracy theories linked to Covid-19

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Opponents of lockdown holding Jews increasingly responsible for spread of virus

A leader of Germany’s Jewish community has expressed alarm at the spread of antisemitic conspiracy theories relating to coronavirus in the country, including attempts to downplay the Holocaust.

Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews, said Jews were increasingly being held collectively responsible for the spread of the virus and compared the situation to narratives around the plague in the Middle Ages.

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EU leaders go into extra time as tempers fray at coronavirus summit

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Proposals on the size and terms of a recovery fund have led to splits between member states

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron said they are willing to walk away from a summit of EU leaders, as they arrived at the third day of a long and acrimonious debate on the terms of a €750bn (£682bn) pandemic recovery fund.

With the EU split between northern and southern member states as well as eastern and western, France’s president and the German chancellor both indicated their patience was waning despite the need to respond to the economic recession facing the bloc.

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EU leaders in bitter clash over Covid-19 recovery package

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Orbán accuses Netherlands’ Rutte of ‘communist’ tactics on tense third day of talks

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, accused his Dutch counterpart of using the same methods as his country’s former communist leaders on Sunday, as EU leaders publicly clashed during tense and acrimonious negotiations over the terms of a proposed €1.8tn budget and recovery package for the bloc.

A third difficult day of a summit of the EU’s 27 heads of state and government – the first in person for five months – saw movement towards agreement as talks stretched deep into the night, but laid bare the deep splits between north and south, and east and west.

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Ex-officer accused of human rights crimes in Argentina found living in Berlin

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Luis Esteban Kyburg, who allegedly oversaw deaths of at least 150 during dictatorship, escaped to Germany in 2013

A former naval officer, charged with human rights crimes during Argentina’s bloody 1976-83 dictatorship, has been discovered living in Berlin – despite being the subject of an international arrest warrant.

Luis Esteban Kyburg, the alleged commander of an elite navy unit believed responsible for the deaths of at least 150 people, was filmed by the Bild tabloidwalking down the streets of Berlin’s trendy Friedrichshain district .

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German police capture ‘Black Forest Rambo’ after six-day manhunt

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Yves Rausch had been on run after allegedly pulling gun on police last Sunday

German police have captured a heavily armed suspect accused of stealing officers’ weapons, after a six-day manhunt for the “Black Forest Rambo”.

The man, named by police as Yves Rausch, had been on the run since last Sunday morning after holding up four officers and stealing their firearms in what his mother claims was a moment of “panic”.

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Angela Merkel set for central role in talks on EU recovery plan

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Germany has foot in both camps as leaders try to agree on rescue package and seven-year budget

When Angela Merkel attended her first EU summit as Germany’s chancellor, in 2005, she joined Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and leaders from central and eastern Europe that had joined the bloc only 17 months earlier. Nearly 15 years later, Merkel is the EU’s longest-serving leader and seen as the key to unlocking a deal to help Europe face the worst economic slump forecast in its history.

A year ago Merkel was seen as tired and drifting, having announced her intention to stand down as chancellor in 2021 after disastrous election results. Now credited for her calm leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, with personal approval ratings close to 80%, she is once again seen as the indispensable broker as EU leaders seek a recovery plan.

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The world needs grown-up leadership. Time for Germany to step up | Shada Islam

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With Germany at the EU helm, there’s a unique chance for Europe to fill the vacuum left by the retreating US

With Trump’s US missing in action from the global stage, the European Union should be stepping into the vacuum. Germany, which has just taken over the bloc’s rotating presidency, could use the next six months to provide the leadership to boost Europe’s global impact. But is it ready to shake off its traditional reticence?

Immediate economic challenges will dominate EU leaders’ first in-person encounter since the lockdown, on 17 and 18 July. And Berlin is right to prioritise agreement on the EU’s new seven-year budget and a pandemic recovery plan, a task complicated by internal rifts and new forecasts warning of an even deeper recession than expected across the 27-nation bloc. As Angela Merkel said in a recent Guardian interview: “For Europe to survive, its economy needs to survive.”

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France bans Dutch bike TV ad for creating ‘climate of fear’ about cars

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Ad for VanMoof bike unfairly discredits automobile industry, says watchdog

A TV commercial for a Dutch-made bicycle has been banned by France’s advertising watchdog for creating a “climate of fear” about cars.

Despite being aired on Dutch and German television, the Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité (ARPP) said the ad for the VanMoof bike unfairly discredited the automobile industry.

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Record Covid-19 cases in California as some countries prepare for ‘universal’ testing

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LA closes beaches and businesses as hospitals fill up while Bavaria announces ‘test offensive’

California has reported record new infections following its reopening as Los Angeles county ordered all beaches closed for 4 July and the re-shuttering of some businesses.

Amid warnings hospitals were filling up and others could run out of intensive care beds in the coming weeks, the state broke its record on Monday for the highest number of new coronavirus cases reported in a single day, with more than 8,000 – the third time in eight days the state has broken a record for new cases.

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German far right infiltrates green groups with call to protect the land

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Extremists exploit rural nostalgia and farmers’ anger at globalisation to smuggle in ideology

The poster advertising the evening of debate and organic canapés in Halle’s university district looked familiar to environmentally conscious Germans: a rugged pair of hands, cupping fertile brown soil, underneath the slogan “Farms instead of agricultural factories”, written in a font mimicking that of a popular biodynamic food brand.

The only hint the event wasn’t organised by sandal-wearing good-lifers but a local group of far-right nationalists was in the subtitle: “Let’s chase the globalists off our acres!”

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Angela Merkel: UK must live with consequences of weaker ties to EU

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German leader signals trade compromise less likely as she hardens tone on no-deal Brexit

The UK will have to “live with the consequences” of Boris Johnson ditching Theresa May’s plan to maintain close economic ties with the EU after Brexit, Angela Merkel has said, hardening her tone over the prospect of a no-deal scenario at the end of the year.

After more than three years in which the German chancellor repeatedly emphasised her openness to a deal that would maintain the UK’s current flows of trade with the bloc, she suggested the door leading to such a compromise had now closed.

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‘I am angry’: Germans back in lockdown demand accountability

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Reaction in Gütersloh highlights the problems governments may face if restrictions return

Residents and local businesses in a community in Germany’s most populous state that has been forced back into strict lockdown following a coronavirus outbreak at a local abattoir are demanding that those responsible are held to account.

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Gütersloh district, which has over 360,000 inhabitants, on Wednesday had its first full day under a reimposed coronavirus lockdown after more than 1,700 employees at the Tönnies abattoir and meat processing plant tested positive.

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Germans know that toppling a few statues isn’t enough to confront the past | Géraldine Schwarz

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Britain should acknowledge that millions were complicit in the crimes of empire, just as Germans like my grandfather enabled nazism

Before the second world war, remembering history served only to glorify nations, to stir up revanchism or to sanctify heroes. Then Germany invented Vergangenheitsbewältigung, the attempt to deal with its Nazi shame by collectively confronting the unspeakable crimes of the Third Reich rather than evading them. This process, which started at the end of the 60s after two decades of collective amnesia, allowed something positive to grow from a negative legacy: Germany’s rehabilitation and reconstruction into one of the strongest democracies in the world.

Germany’s culture of remembrance could inspire countries such as Britain which have trouble understanding that in order to transform the weight of the past into wealth, it must confront history’s shadows – not ignore them.

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Smelly durian fruit forces evacuation of Bavarian post office

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Workers taken ill after suspicious package emitting pungent odour causes panic

An overwhelming smell coming from a suspicious package at a Bavarian post office caused six workers to be taken to hospital and many more to be evacuated – only for police to discover that durian fruit, and not a dangerous gas, was the reason for the panic.

Police and firefighters rushed to the scene in Schweinfurt on Saturday over fears that a parcel was releasing a harmful substance. Twelve postal workers received treatment for nausea, including six who were taken to hospital as a precaution, the German broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported.

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German payments firm Wirecard says missing €1.9bn may not exist

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Company thought money was in two Asian banks but search hits dead end in Philippines

Wirecard has said that €1.9bn (£1.7bn) in funds missing from its bank accounts may not exist, as the accounting scandal at the German payments company deepens.

The firm processes tens of billions of euros in credit and debit transactions each year and is a former darling of Germany’s tech sector. It had previously said it believed the money was held in escrow accounts at two Asian banks.

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Syrian doctor arrested in Germany for alleged crimes against humanity

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Suspect accused of torturing man in prison run by Syrian intelligence service in 2011

A Syrian doctor living in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of crimes against humanity in his country of origin, prosecutors have said, in the latest German move against suspected war crimes in Syria.

The suspect, identified as Alaa M, is accused of having “tortured a detainee ... in at least two cases” at a prison run by the Syrian intelligence service in the city of Homs in 2011, according to German federal prosecutors.

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