Carmaker must pay compensation to motorist who bought minivan fitted with emissions-cheating software
Volkswagen has lost a landmark legal battle in Germany’s highest civil court over compensation for the buyer of a secondhand minivan fitted with emissions-cheating software.
The world’s largest carmaker must take back the plantiff’s manipulated car and pay him €28,257.74 (£25,325), in a case that will lead to the company paying compensation to 60,000 German VW owners.
Continue reading...Ban on use of subcontractors and fines of €30,000 for slaughterhouses breaching new labour regulations a ‘historic moment’, say campaigners
The German government has announced a series of reforms of the meat industry, including a ban on the use of subcontractors and fines of €30,000 (£26,000) for companies breaching labour regulations, as slaughterhouses have emerged as coronavirus hotspots.
A number of meat plants across the country have temporarily closed after hundreds of workers tested positive for Covid-19 in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Pledge of ‘world-beating’ system will have to look to likes of South Korea and Germany
Boris Johnson’s insistence that the UK will be able to roll out a “world-beating” coronavirus test, track and trace regime by 1 June has inevitably drawn comparisons with countries around the world that have already set up effective Covid-19 tracing programmes.
It has also raised questions about timing, as some experts insist a system would have been more useful at the beginning of the pandemic.
Continue reading...Car maker says it is ‘horrified’ by the ad that featured a large white hand ‘flicking’ a black man
Volkswagen has withdrawn a Golf car advertisement posted on its official Instagram page that the company admitted was racist and insulting, saying it would investigate how it came about.
The car company, which has already seen its reputation tarnished in the past five years after it admitted cheating diesel emissions tests, said it did not tolerate any form of racism.
Continue reading...Row over Andreas Kalbitz splits leadership and sets eastern against western members
With support for Angela Merkel’s governing coalition surging during the coronavirus pandemic, Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland, the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, has opted for a vicious bout of public infighting that could split the party in two.
The national board of the anti-immigration AfD narrowly voted last Friday to strip party membership from Andreas Kalbitz, a key networker on the rabidly nationalist fringes of the party’s eastern German branches.
Continue reading...As Germany’s Bundesliga becomes the world’s first major football league to resume during the coronavirus pandemic, Mika Volkmann’s drone photographs suggest the amateur game in Cologne still has some way to go
Continue reading...Thousands of works will disappear from galleries as rent rises and a stand-off with city government take their toll
Home to some 400 galleries and an estimated 8,000 artists, Berlin has long aspired to be what its politicians call the cultural capital of Europe.
Yet in the coming year, thousands of works by artists including Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Bruce Nauman and Gerhard Richter are set to vanish from its galleries, as the city debates what lengths it should go to to protect art collectors from the sharp edge of a property boom.
Continue reading...As countries around the world adjust to life with Covid-19, people are finding new ways to enjoy themselves responsibly. From the restaurant using plush pandas to help with social distancing, to a drive-in rave in Germany, these are the week’s most cheering clips
Continue reading...Restaurants reopen in parts of Germany, while Italy relaxes travel restrictions
Europe took a step towards post-virus normality on Friday when restaurants in Germany and Austria reopened for the first time in two months, and other countries loosened travel restrictions and threw open borders.
Berlin’s restaurants, cafes and snack kiosks were allowed to serve customers again, so long as they obeyed social distancing. People from two separate households could share a table, but had to keep a distance of 1.5m from each other.
Continue reading...Chancellor says she was pained to learn outcome of inquiry pinning blame on Fancy Bear
Angela Merkel has said Russian hacking attacks on the Bundestag in which her emails were seized harmed efforts to build a trusting relationship with Moscow.
Merkel told the German parliament on Wednesday that she had been pained to learn of the 2015 hack and the perpetrator.
Continue reading...Guardian writers report on how various European countries have managed the process
Boris Johnson has been heavily criticised for failing to show Britain a clear route out of lockdown. Easing a nation out of two months of confinement is a complicated business, and some degree of confusion is almost inevitable. Here, Guardian correspondents look at how other European leaders have managed the process.
Spain’s lockdown exit strategy – known formally as the Plan for the Transition Towards the New Normality – was outlined by the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, during a televised press conference on the evening of 28 April. Sánchez said the country’s four-phase de-escalation initiative would be “gradual and asymmetric”, adding that the first stage – dubbed phase 0 – would come into effect on 4 May.
Continue reading...European commission has warned of possible legal action over constitutional court ruling
Angela Merkel has stepped in to try to find a way out of a damaging clash between Germany and Brussels after the EU threatened to bring infringement proceedings over a ruling by the country’s constitutional court.
The German chancellor stressed that the dispute was solvable, after the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, issued an unusual statement on Sunday warning of possible legal action against Berlin.
Continue reading...Photographs of an unusual situation by Roland Schmid. Switzerland and Germany have been divided by the coronavirus pandemic. Fences, concrete obstacles or barrier tapes separate them after the borders were closed to slow the spread of the virus. But love cannot be locked away
“Look, we even marked the border on our blanket,” laughs Sabrina. And indeed; just below the barrier tape a black line divides the cloth in half. Lying on one half is Sabrina, from Basel; on the other, Davor from Wiesbaden. We are in Riehen, the rich suburban community of Basel.
Continue reading...Anthony Fauci and top advisers from CDC and FDA to work remotely because of potential exposure to Covid-19; global cases pass 4 million; Russia cases approach 200,000
While many people in Iran’s capital are taking advantage of loosened COVID-19 controls, some worry about a new spike in infections in what remains the Middle East’s deadliest virus epicentre.
“The line of fools,” muttered shopkeeper Manouchehr, peering disdainfully at a queue of customers outside a foreign currency dealer in the Sadeghieh district of western Tehran.
New clusters of coronavirus infections are igniting concerns about a second wave even as calls grow in some countries to relax restrictions even further.
In Germany, where thousands have protested in recent days against the remaining restrictions, health officials say the number of people each confirmed coronavirus patient infects rose above one again, reflecting a renewed increase in cases. The number must be below one for outbreaks to decline.
Continue reading...Quiet commemorations held to mark 75 years since end of war on continent
Seventy-five years ago crowds massed in the streets of Europe, singing and dancing as their leaders announced the end of six years of bloody war. Today, the streets were empty, and leaders stood alone in silence at places of commemoration, as a continent marked the heroics of the war generation in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...8 May marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe. Parts of the destruction that resulted from the fight for Berlin are still visible decades later
Continue reading...France confirms lockdown-easing from Monday as WHO warns on domestic violence
Another record rise in coronavirus infections has propelled Russia past Germany and France to the fifth highest tally in the world, as the French government confirmed the country would start gradually lifting its strict eight-week lockdown from Monday.
With much of Europe now easing itself out of confinement, Russia has become the continent’s new Covid-19 hotspot. More than half of the country’s 177,160 cases are in Moscow and the capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said research suggested the actual number was nearer 300,000, more than triple the official figure.
Continue reading...Co-founder of hugely influential electronic pop group, who has died of cancer, had a UK No 1 hit with The Model in 1982
Florian Schneider, who as one of the founding members of German group Kraftwerk changed the sound of pop music forever, has died aged 73 of cancer.
The news was confirmed to the Guardian by one of his musical collaborators, who said Schneider had died a week ago and had a private burial. It was also confirmed via Sony Berlin.
Continue reading...Brazil, France and Germany say UN can’t hear complaint against five countries of flouting child rights to clean air
Greta Thunberg and a group of other children have pushed forward their legal complaint at the UN against countries they accuse of endangering children’s wellbeing through the climate crisis, despite attempts to have it thrown out.
The 16 children, including the Swedish environmental activist, lodged a legal case with the UN committee on the rights of the child against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey last September.
Continue reading...With the widespread closures of cinemas as part of measures to stem the spread of Covid-19, drive-in movie theatres around the world, where social distancing is guaranteed, have been enjoying new-found popularity
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