People in the Bavarian town of Bamberg stood on their rooftops and opened their windows to sing Bella Ciao, an Italian resistance song, in solidarity with Italy where the death toll from the Covid-19 outbreak continues to rise
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Coronavirus: the week the world shut down
Walls have been raised and societies quarantined as people enter a new reality
It should not have come as a surprise. Life had already been upended in China. Iran and Italy have been reeling for a month. And yet it still felt sudden, this week, when walls were raised across the world, entire societies were quarantined and billions of people realised they had crossed a dividing line: from life before coronavirus to after.
After weeks of governments prevaricating over whether to ban mass gatherings, close businesses or seal borders, restrictions came in a flurry. “We are at war,” announced the French president, Emmanuel Macron. But without adequate weapons to fight the virus, let alone enough hospital beds or ventilators, this was the week the world beat a tactical retreat.
Continue reading...Former London bankers convicted after Germany’s ‘greatest tax robbery’
First case of its kind sheds light on complex fraud known as cum-ex trading
Two former London bankers were handed suspended jail terms and one a €14m fine for tax fraud in a landmark trial that is likely to unleash dozens of similar cases across Germany.
The ruling is the first criminal conviction for what the judge, Roland Zickler, called “a collective case of thievery from state coffers”.
Continue reading...German police arrest members of far-right group after state ban
Raids on properties linked to Reichsbürger movement follow Hanau terror attack
German police have raided properties in 10 states across Germany and arrested members of a far-right group after it was banned by the government.
The United German Peoples and Tribes organisation belongs to the broader Reichsbürger or Citizens of the Reich movement, which rejects the authority of the modern German state and is driven by conspiracy theories. It is armed and considered extremely dangerous, the police said.
Continue reading...ECB U-turn shows it fears coronavirus could destroy eurozone project
Bank now realises Europe will sustain grievous economic damage from Covid-19
Weak. Clumsy. Behind the curve. The European Central Bank took stick for its initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic – and rightly so.
Those accusations can no longer be levied after the ECB used an emergency meeting to launch a gigantic new package of quantitative easing (QE) – the electronic money creation device that has become a key tool for central banks since the financial crisis of 2008.
Continue reading...Climate denial is the latest hobby horse of the German far right | Bernhard Pötter
The AfD are using the climate crisis strategically to distance themselves from the established parties
A dead bird of prey lying in the grass near a windfarm is the stark image on the home page of a new German website. “Climate change – we have got a couple of questions” is the headline that greets visitors, but the questioners already seem to know the answers to their 16 questions. “Due to an alleged climate emergency, new laws are to be passed prescribing a new way of life for us, one that will have adverse environmental effects and could lead to the deindustrialisation of Germany.”
Klimafragen.org is the latest attempt to question the scientific and social consensus around the climate crisis in Germany. The authors, all from well-known climate-denier institutions and conservative political circles, list areas where they say Germany’s climate policy still has blindspots, notably over climate models, sea levels, energy conversion and counter-opinions. Parliamentary groups in the Bundestag, they argue, should provide answers to their questions, although some are based on outdated findings. According to the organisers, about 33,500 people have signed up, seeking answers.
Continue reading...Erdoğan in talks with European leaders over refugee cash for Turkey
Border issue and other matters discussed in conference call with Germany, France and UK
Turkey has pressed European leaders to make fresh cash pledges to prevent tens of thousands of refugees from leaving the country and trying to reach Europe amid a Russian-Syrian offensive in north-west Syria.
After intense bombardment in Idlib province last month, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, encouraged thousands of refugees in the country to move on towards the Greek islands and the Baltics, in a repeat of the surge to Europe in 2015.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: at a glance
A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Continue reading...With the closure of another club space, the scene that revived Berlin is being lost | Michael Scaturro
The dance community helped reunify East and West Germany in the 1990s, but gentrification is slowly killing it
I was in bed when my friend Alfonso called me. “It’s the last party at Griessmuehle,” he said. “It’s the last Cocktail there. Throw on some clothes. We’re going.”
Cocktail d’Amore is one of a handful of landmark Berlin parties that have made the German capital a centre of LGBTQ+ youth culture over the past two decades. It took place in a venue called Griessmuehle, an old East German grain mill that people enjoyed because one moment you might be kissing on shower tiles, the next dancing in a silo. Sadly, it is to be demolished this spring to make space for a resort hotel. It certainly wasn’t an architectural jewel like the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall or Museum Island – but clubs, along with cheap studio space and vibrant subcultures, are what made Berlin the city so many love today.
Continue reading...German intelligence agency puts part of far-right AfD under surveillance
Agency chief says far-right terrorism and extremism are biggest danger to democracy
The chief of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV) has described far-right terrorism and extremism as the biggest danger facing democracy in Germany, as his agency put part of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) under formal surveillance.
The most radical rightwingers in the country number 32,000, said Thomas Haldenwang, adding that 13,000 are considered potentially violent.
Continue reading...Marxist marsupial: Germany’s left draws hope from an unlikely hero
Radicals are enjoying a resurgence, but their most popular activist is a communist kangaroo
The most popular symbol of the radical left in Germany is an avowed anti-capitalist and a firm believer in collective property. He takes down neo-Nazis with the same bouncy energy as he tackles property speculators.
Books expounding his views, running at several volumes, top the German bestseller charts; posters bearing his face are currently plastered all over the country’s cities.
Continue reading...Germany tweets to deter Syrian refugees, fearing ‘repeat of 2015’
Government says it will support Greece as thousands of people arrive at Turkish border
The German government – anxious about the political consequences of a “repeat of 2015” – is tolerating Greece’s decision to suspend asylum claims at its borders and has launched a social media campaign to deter Syrian refugees from embarking on a journey to central Europe.
About 12,500 people are estimated to be waiting on the Turkish side of the Greek border after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Saturday that he would open his country’s borders for refugees fleeing the nine-year war in Syria to cross over into Europe.
Continue reading...The Hanau terror attack shows the need for honesty about racism in Germany | Mithu Sanyal
Angela Merkel using the word ‘racist’ to describe the murders was a quantum leap, but I dont trust others in her party
I have to admit that when I heard the news my first thought was: “I hope the perpetrator wasn’t a migrant.” The press would surely go at us hammer and tongs again, warning about the danger posed by immigration in general and Muslims in particular. There would be endless articles and talk shows discussing the threat. My second thought was: “Thank God it is a white guy.”
On 19 February, Tobias Rathjen went into two shisha bars in the town of Hanau, near Frankfurt, shooting people he described as “foreign”. In his “manifesto”, if you can call such a rambling text a manifesto, he stated he wanted to cleanse Germany from … us. Two weeks on from the carnage in Hanau, I wonder how I could have felt relieved.
Continue reading...Naomi Seibt: ‘anti-Greta’ activist called white nationalist an inspiration
German teenager spoke at an event at US rightwing conference CPAC
A young campaigner who has been hailed by climate sceptics as the right’s answer to Greta Thunberg has previously described a white nationalist who appeared to promote “white genocide” theories as one of her “inspirations”.
Naomi Seibt, a 19-year-old from Münster, Germany, who styles herself as a “climate realist”, has also had to deny she made remarks that could be seen as antisemitic following an attack on a synagogue last year.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: Lufthansa imposes hiring freeze as Diageo profits suffer
Airline offers unpaid leave, beverage firm fears £200m hit and Danone also voices concern
Lufthansa has announced a hiring freeze and is offering employees unpaid leave as part of a range of cost-saving measures to attempt to limit the financial impact of the spread of the coronavirus.
The German airline, which has already cancelled all flights to China until the end of March, also said it will expand part-time work options and cancel flight attendant and other personnel training courses from April onwards. Those that are already on courses will not be hired. The company said it aimed to offer affected trainees “employment contracts in the long term”.
Continue reading...Children among the injured after car drives into German carnival
Police refuse to rule out deliberate attack on parade in town of Volkmarsen
Dozens of people have been injured, some of them children, after a local man appeared to deliberately drive a car into a carnival parade procession in the central German town of Volkmarsen, police have said.
The driver was arrested but police could not immediately provide details about the man’s motives, although Bild newspaper cited a spokesman, Henning Hinn, as saying they were “working on the assumption that it was a deliberate act”.
Continue reading...Far-right AfD faces exit from Hamburg parliament after election flop
Exit polls suggest AfD fell below 5% threshold as voters also gave Merkel’s CDU thumbs-down
Four days after a racist gun attack in the German town of Hanau killed 10 people, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) were set to be ejected from the Hamburg parliament in a state election on Sunday.
Exit polls indicated that AfD would fall just short of the 5% threshold. “Nazis out,” shouted supporters of the victorious Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens as they celebrated in the northern city.
Continue reading...Auschwitz Memorial criticises Amazon for Hunters show and antisemitic books
- Prime show stars Al Pacino as head of band of Nazi hunters
- Memorial wants books by Nazi Julius Streicher removed
The Auschwitz Memorial criticised Amazon on Sunday, for fictitious depictions of the Holocaust in its TV series Hunters and for selling books of Nazi propaganda.
Related: Outcry after MSNBC host compares Sanders’ Nevada win to Nazi invasion
Continue reading...On Hanau’s streets, shocked migrants fear causes of the attack run deep
Political pledges of action to deal with far-right terrorism are met with scepticism
Days after terror struck in the heart of its community, something like normality returned to the streets and cafes of Hanau yesterday. On Freigerichtstrasse on the eastern side of town, people once again gathered in one of the multifunction spaces that act as sports bars, betting shops and shisha stores, to have a smoke or a hot drink with friends.
“Am I scared? I guess it is scary,” said the Romanian woman who runs the venue. “But more importantly, would you like a cup of tea?”
Continue reading...‘Who is there to protect us?’ Far-right murders in Hanau spark anger and fear
Many in traditionally diverse area believe security apparatus is not tackling far right with full strength
As the people of Hanau rallied together in the wake of a deadly and racist assault on its community, there were not just whispers filled with fear but also cries for help and shouts of anger.
“We are going through a very difficult time,” said Hidir Karademir, 65, one of more than 5,000 who had gathered at the town’s market square, just streets away from the shisha bar where a racist gunman took the lives of nine people.
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