Category Archives: Germany

Angela Merkel sits for anthems after latest shaking episode

Posted on by

German chancellor reportedly requests change of protocol after third bout of trembling

Angela Merkel sat through the German and Danish national anthems during a ceremony welcoming Denmark’s prime minister to Berlin. The German chancellor reportedly requested the change in protocol a day after she was seen shaking in public for the third time in as many weeks.

Merkel appeared calm as she and the new Danish leader, Mette Frederiksen, took seats on white upholstered chairs on the red carpet during military honours outside the chancellery in Berlin. The chancellor remained still throughout the hymns, moving only to smile and nod at her visitor.

Continue reading...

Iran refuses to end breach of nuclear deal until it gets ‘full rights’

Posted on by

French envoy visits Tehran as Rouhani warns UK tanker seizure will have repercussions

Iran has told Europe it will not reverse its decision to increase uranium enrichment beyond the limits set by the 2015 nuclear accord until it achieves its “full rights” to an economic relationship with the EU under the deal.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior security official and representative of Iran’s supreme leader, made his remarks as he met a senior French diplomat sent to Tehran by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Continue reading...

Angela Merkel says she is in good health after third shaking bout

Posted on by

German chancellor began trembling at reception for Finnish prime minister

Angela Merkel has insisted she is in good health after experiencing a third bout of shaking in as many weeks at a public event in Berlin.

The German chancellor was seen trembling during military honours for Finland’s prime minister, Antti Rinne, in the forecourt of her chancellery on Wednesday morning.

Continue reading...

Descendants of Jews who fled Nazis unite to fight for German citizenship

Posted on by

Hundreds of applicants turned down by the government are now looking for answers

A group of more than 100 descendants of Jewish refugees who fled the Nazi regime are challenging the German government’s rejection of their applications to restore their citizenship.

Anyone who was deprived of their German citizenship during the 12 years of Nazi dictatorship on political, racial or religious grounds – as well as their descendants – is potentially eligible for its restoration, according to a clause enshrined in the country’s constitution.

Continue reading...

Vienna’s euro-a-day public transport model could waltz into Berlin

Posted on by

Mayor of German capital considering €365 annual ticket to reduce traffic and pollution

Berliners could pay as little as €1 a day to use public transport for a year under plans to wean the German capital off its cars and reduce air pollution, its mayor has announced.

“Step by step I want to follow the goal of introducing an annual public transport ticket for €365,” Michael Müller told Neue Zürcher Zeitung. An annual ticket normally costs €761.

Continue reading...

Deutsche Bank starts cutting London jobs with 18,000 at risk worldwide

Posted on by

Some staff in London reported to be in tears after hearing their jobs have gone

Deutsche Bank started slashing thousands of jobs in the City of London and in New York only hours after announcing a drastic plan to reduce its global workforce by 18,000.

Germany’s biggest lender employs almost 8,000 people in the UK, with 7,000 in London, which is one of the main hubs for its global investment bank, where the bulk of the job losses will be focused. The jobs being cut make up about a fifth of Deutsche’s global workforce of 91,500.

Continue reading...

David Chipperfield’s Berlin temple: ‘Like ascending to the realm of the gods’

Posted on by

James Simon Gallery, Berlin
Twenty years in the making, this dazzling synthesis of the classical and modern takes Museum Island to new heights

Friedrich Wilhelm IV described his vision for Berlin’s Museum Island as a “cultural acropolis”; a sacred sanctuary for the arts and sciences that would cement the Prussian capital as the Athens of the north. Almost two centuries later, the kaiser’s classical aspirations have been fulfilled by British architect David Chipperfield, in the form of a dazzling white temple. Opening this weekend, after 20 years of planning, the James Simon Gallery stands as a €134m (£120m) Parthenon-on-Spree, forming a handsome new entrance to one of the world’s most important repositories of cultural treasures.

“We were quite nervous,” says Chipperfield, standing in the lofty new ticketing lobby, where stripes of sunlight flood in between the row of slender white columns outside. “The challenge was how to create something that was of its context and also of our time, in this incredibly sensitive location.”

Continue reading...

More than €1m raised for rescue ship captain detained in Italy

Posted on by

Money will go towards paying Carola Rackete’s legal fees if charges are brought

Two online campaigns to help the German captain of a rescue ship under house arrest in Italy have between them raised more than €1m.

Carola Rackete’s arrest on Saturday, after she forced her way into port in Lampedusa carrying migrants and refugees she had rescued off Libya, prompted a fundraising appeal by two prominent German TV stars that by Tuesday morning had raised €917,195 from more than 33,000 donors.

Continue reading...

EU powers resist calls for Iran sanctions after breach of nuclear deal

Posted on by

Focus is on averting further breaches and UK says it remains committed to 2015 deal

European leaders have resisted calls to start reimposing sanctions on Iran after the country said it had for the first time broken the terms of the nuclear deal it signed with foreign powers in 2015.

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Monday it had allowed its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to exceed 300kg. The move is a carefully calibrated and reversible step intended to put pressure on Europe to do more to help mitigate the effect of crippling US sanctions.

Continue reading...

German far-right group ‘used police data to compile death list’

Posted on by

Activists linked to military and police suspected of preparing terror attack, reports say

A group of German rightwing extremists compiled a “death list” of leftwing and pro-refugee targets by accessing police records, then stockpiled weapons and ordered body bags and quicklime to kill and dispose of their victims, German media have reported, citing intelligence sources.

Germany’s general prosecutor had been investigating Nordkreuz (Northern Cross) since August 2017 on the suspicion the group was preparing a terrorist attack.

Continue reading...

Number of asylum seekers sent back to Italy triples in five years

Posted on by

EU countries sending growing numbers back to country of arrival in bloc

The number of asylum seekers returned to Italy from elsewhere in Europe under a controversial EU regulation has almost tripled in five years, amid concern over their treatment in Italy and Germany.

Under the terms of the Dublin regulation, member states can send people back to their country of arrival in the EU – usually Italy or Greece.

Continue reading...

Iran holds back on threat to breach nuclear deal

Posted on by

Country may be waiting on outcome of talks setting out plans to kickstart trade with EU

Iran has held back on its threat to make its first breach of the nuclear deal and may be waiting for the outcome of talks with EU powers, China and Russia in Vienna.

At the talks on Friday the EU countries will set out plans to kickstart trade between Tehran and the bloc, one of the Iranian preconditions for sticking with the deal.

Continue reading...

Angela Merkel seen shaking for second time in just over a week

Posted on by

German chancellor will travel to G20 despite visibly shaking at public event in Berlin

Angela Merkel has travelled to the G20 summit in Japan, despite experiencing a second bout of shaking in just over a week at a public event, her spokesperson has said.

“Everything is going ahead as planned,” Steffen Seibert told German media. “The chancellor is doing fine.”

Continue reading...

‘It’s dangerous out there’: safety fears drive new Berlin bike lanes

Posted on by

Although Germany is internationally touted as bike-friendly, Berlin lags metropolises like Amsterdam or Copenhagen by decades. But in the city’s senate, a rethink is under way

Electric bikes, swanky racers and clanky old flea market two-wheelers roll along a cycle path near Berlin’s Hasenheide park that was recently reclaimed from a lane used by cars. The path has been coated with bright green paint and has a line of stripy metal bollards to separate it from the busy road.

“It’s now protected from cars and that is good,” says Jerome Jossin, who lives nearby and whose baby sits swinging her legs from a seat on the back of his bike. “This is safer, but it’s not typical.”

Continue reading...

Kaiser’s descendant loses court battle to regain 13th-century castle

Posted on by

Court rules against Georg Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia’s claim on Rheinfels Castle

A German court has ruled against a claim by the great-great-grandson of the country’s last kaiser to the picturesque ruins of a 13th-century castle overlooking the Rhine valley.

Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, argued the ruins of Rheinfels Castle should be returned to the Hohenzollern family because the current owners had breached a century-old agreement, a claim rejected on Tuesday by a court in Koblenz.

Continue reading...

‘Hell is coming’: week-long heatwave begins across Europe

Posted on by

Temperatures could hit 40C from Spain to Switzerland, with authorities urging children and older people to stay indoors

Authorities have urged children and older people to stay indoors and issued severe warnings against dehydration and heatstroke as an unprecedented week-long heatwave begins its advance across continental Europe.

Meteorologists said temperatures would reach or even exceed 40C from Spain to Switzerland as hot air was sucked up from the Sahara by the combination of a storm stalling over the Atlantic and high pressure over central Europe.

Continue reading...

German Greens are on the rise. But the nation is divided | Anna Lehmann

Posted on by

The party has to address the concerns of groups beyond its urban base if it is to ultimately succeed

The Greens in Germany could hardly believe it. Leading party members were bouncing up and down when the public broadcasters sent the first, still uncertain results on the evening of the European Union elections. The green column rose to 20% and above, close to the black column of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, which ended up with 22.6%. Party manager Michael Kellner was beaming as the numbers came in.

Over the course of the evening it became clear that the Green party had nearly doubled its seats in the European parliament and had overtaken the Social Democrats, the former “people’s party”. A historic victory for us, a historic disaster for them.

Continue reading...

Merkel: rightwing extremism must be fought ‘without any taboo’

Posted on by

Chancellor warns against losing credibility after arrest over murder of Walter Lübcke

Angela Merkel has said Germany must rigorously fight rightwing extremism after the murder of a prominent politician.

The arrest of a man with suspected far-right sympathies over the shooting this month of Walter Lübcke, a regional ally of Merkel known for his pro-migrant views, shocked Germany and prompted calls for a more proactive government response to anti-immigrant extremists.

Continue reading...

Trouble in Paradise: the rise and fall of Germany’s ‘brothel king’ | Hilke Lorenz

Posted on by

Jürgen Rudloff’s chain of ‘wellness spas’ sold sex as a health service for men. But his business model was fatally flawed – as his trial for aiding and abetting trafficking revealed

Until his dramatic fall from grace, Jürgen Rudloff was the self-proclaimed “brothel king” of Germany. Owner of a chain of clubs he boasted was the “the largest marketplace for sex in Europe”, he was every inch the well-dressed entrepreneur, a regular face on reality TV and chat shows.

Rudloff is now serving a five-year sentence for aiding and abetting trafficking. His trial laid bare the misery and abuse of women working as prostitutes at his club who, according to court documents, were treated like animals and beaten if they didn’t make enough money. His imprisonment has dismantled the idea of Germany’s “clean prostitution” industry and raised troubling questions about what lies behind the legalised, booming sex trade.

Continue reading...

German politicians’ support for refugees prompts death threats

Posted on by

Email warns recent murder of Walter Lübcke was first in a line of ‘upcoming purges’

Several German politicians who have publicly stood up for refugees have received death threats since what police are treating as the alleged politically motivated murder of one of Angela Merkel’s party allies.

An email sent to politicians and media organisations across the country on Tuesday night warned that the alleged murder of the Christian Democratic Union politician Walter Lübcke, allegedly by a man linked to the far right, was the first in a line of “upcoming purges” and called for terror attacks on left-leaning politicians, refugees and Jews in Germany.

Continue reading...