Category Archives: Germany

‘We’re still so tired’: Europe’s doctors brace for second Covid-19 wave

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When the Guardian spoke to staff in March they had no time for reflection. So what do they think of the new surge now?

During the initial peak of Spain’s Covid-19 pandemic in the spring, the virus displayed an unexpected mercy. In its spread, ferocity and awful novelty, it left health workers too tired and overwhelmed to look beyond the next few hours.

“There’s no time to get angry or to wonder why things have been organised the way they have been,” Sara Gayoso, an A&E doctor at El Escorial hospital near Madrid, told the Guardian at the end of March.

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Coronavirus global report: concern over German cases as holidays disrupt French testing

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Spain orders town of 32,000 back into confinement; Poland records highest daily case number so far

Germany has recorded its highest rate of infections in three months, France cannot keep up with demand for tests and Finland warned of an “extremely delicate” situation as Covid-19 case numbers continued to tick up across the continent.

New cases in Germany rose above 1,000 for the first time since early May, with the national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, on Thursday reporting 1,045 infections in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases to 8,700.

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European court of justice advises Madeleine McCann suspect was lawfully tried in rape case

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Preliminary opinion a setback for Christian Brückner’s attempt to appeal conviction using European arrest warrant rules

The prime suspect in the disappearance of the British toddler Madeleine McCann was told that he was lawfully put on trial for rape last year, as his lawyers attempt to overturn that conviction at the European court of justice.

Christian Brückner, a 43-year-old German, is trying to overturn his conviction for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2005. He has argued at the ECJ that he had been extradited to Germany from Portugal, and later Italy, on a different charge.

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German Protestant church to send migrant rescue boat to Mediterranean

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Sea-Watch 4 is result of crowdfunding and is set to leave from Spain in few days

The German Protestant church will send a ship to the central Mediterranean to rescue migrants attempting to reach Europe from north Africa.

The boat, named Sea-Watch 4, will depart in a few days from the seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, in Spain, where volunteers are finalising preparations, the crew has said.

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Number of UK citizens emigrating to EU has risen by 30% since Brexit vote

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Exclusive: crisis has led to 500% increase in Britons taking up citizenship in an EU state

The number of British nationals emigrating to other EU countries has risen by 30% since the Brexit referendum, with half making their decision to leave in the first three months after the vote, research has found.

Analysis of data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Eurostat shows that migration from Britain to EU states averaged 56,832 people a year in 2008-15, growing to 73,642 a year in 2016-18.

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Berlin protests against coronavirus rules divide German leaders

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Up to 20,000 demonstrated against restrictions, raising fears of a rise in infections

German leaders are divided over whether to restrict the rights of demonstrators, after tens of thousands of people who took to the streets of Berlin at the weekend failed to abide by hygiene and distancing rules.

According to officials, up to 20,000 people took part in demonstrations against the government’s coronavirus restrictions at different locations across Berlin on Saturday, amalgamating for a joint rally later in the day. Organisers said up to 1.3 million people took part, a figure that police denied.

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Britain might look to Germany to heal the north-south divide | Torsten Bell

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What happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall involved money, and lots of it

Before the government was forced into locking down British regions, it wanted to level them up, closing productivity gaps between north and south. That’s a valuable objective, reinforced by new research on UK regional inequality from academics appropriately spread across Sheffield, Birmingham and London. The paper reminds us that the UK has some of the biggest productivity gaps between regions in the developed world, with global leaders in parts of London and the south-east very different to some cities in the north and Midlands.

There’s nothing new in politicians or academics pointing to the north-south divide, but more interestingly the work notes that the UK has not always led the way in this inequality between places. Most countries had higher regional gaps than the UK for most of the 20th century. Indeed, the UK’s productivity gaps fell postwar and their surge is only a post-90s phenomenon.

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‘Masks make us slaves’: thousands march in Berlin anti-lockdown protest – video

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Up to 17,000 people, including libertarians and anti-vaccination activists, have marched in Berlin to protest against Germany's coronavirus regulations. Many flouted guidance on wearing masks and physical distancing as they accused the government of 'stealing our freedom'.

While Germany had initial success in containing the virus, infections are rising and its R number has risen above one.

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Democrats and Republicans take aim at Pompeo over US troop withdrawal from Germany

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Secretary of state receives bipartisan grilling, and makes false claim to have fought along East German border as soldier in 1980s

The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from Germany has come under bipartisan attack in the Senate, amid warnings it would disrupt US alliances.

Related: Barack Obama praises John Lewis as 'a man of pure joy and unbreakable perseverance' – live

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Holocaust survivor launches legal claim against German railway

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Salo Muller secured €50m from Dutch railway for transporting people to Nazi camps

A Holocaust survivor who successfully campaigned for the Dutch railway to pay compensation for transporting people to the Nazi concentration camps has tabled a legal claim against the German state over the wartime role of the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

Salo Muller, 84, whose parents were taken by rail from Amsterdam to the Dutch transit camp Westerbork, and on to their deaths at Auschwitz, is demanding an apology and financial recompense for about 500 Dutch survivors and about 5,500 next of kin.

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Germany’s Covid-19 fears grow over ‘reckless’ partygoers

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Authorities warn of rise in cases after shocking footage of young revellers in Spain and Bulgaria

Young Germans partying abroad on Europe’s beaches and ignoring physical distancing rules are becoming an increasing cause of concern at home, as coronavirus cases continue to rise across the world.

Following widespread reports earlier this month of German tourists revelling on the Spanish island of Mallorca, bars and clubs on the infamous “Bier Straße” were forced by local authorities to close.

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Madeleine McCann: German police search garden in Hanover

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German officials had recently identified 43-year-old man as suspect in 2007 disappearance

German police are searching an allotment plot on the outskirts of the northern city of Hanover in connection with their investigation of a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

A small excavator is being used to clear the plot and police officers are combing the ground with rakes and shovels, according to footage shown on German media.

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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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