The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has blamed dehydration after she was seen shaking during a rendition of her national anthem. Merkel was welcoming the newly-appointed Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to the Germany capital. However, she grinned widely when later asked by reporters about her condition during the red-carpet reception for Zelenskiy. 'Since then I’ve drunk at least three glasses of water, which I apparently needed, and now I’m doing very well,' she said at a press conference
Continue reading...Category Archives: Germany
Romanian immigrant elected German mayor after anti-AfD alliance
Actors and directors called on Görlitz voters to not succumb to far-right party’s ‘hate and enmity’
A 51-year-old immigrant has been elected mayor of a town in eastern Germany after beating a candidate from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a campaign that drew international attention.
Octavian Ursu, a classical musician who came to Germany from Romania in 1990s, stood for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union party, receiving 55.1% of the vote in Sunday’s election in Goerlitz. Preliminary returns showed his AfD opponent, Sebastian Wippel, an ex-policeman received 44.9%.
Continue reading...Berlin’s Alexander Haus regains its soul after painstaking restoration
Lakeside house where a Jewish family lived before fleeing the Nazis spans a century of German history
Elsie Alexander called it her “soul place”, the lakeside house on the outskirts of Berlin where her family had spent long happy summers before they were forced to flee the Nazis.
Eighty-three years on, her grandson, Thomas Harding, along with members of the local community, reopened it to the public on Sunday after a painstaking restoration process in which the house by the lake – the subject of his bestselling 2015 book of the same name – was saved from demolition and turned into a educational meeting place for young Europeans.
Continue reading...Captain of migrant rescue ship says Italy ‘criminalising solidarity’
Pia Klemp, one of the Iuventa 10, says it is ‘ridiculous’ that she could face jail
A captain of a search-and-rescue ship potentially facing up to 20 years in jail in connection with her role in saving 6,000 people from drowning in the Mediterranean has accused the EU of letting people die and the Italian authorities of “criminalising solidarity”.
Pia Klemp, 35, who skippered the Iuventa, a vessel run by an NGO, stands accused with nine others of aiding and abetting illegal migration in relation to their role in seeking to rescue people in danger after fleeing the Libyan coast for Europe.
Continue reading...Germans thirsty for alcohol-free beer as brewers boost taste
Rise in bars stocking 0% beers to meet demand of drinkers who wish to ditch the hangover
During last year’s sweltering summer in Europe, workers of the Störtebeker beer brewery stood at the doors of the bottle depot eagerly awaiting the empty returns so they could be washed and refilled as quickly as possible. A bottle shortage swept the country due to the rate at which beer was being consumed to quench the overheated nation’s thirst.
But it wasn’t the demand for their classic range of beers that surprised the brewery bosses most, rather the rate at which its alcohol-free varieties were being drunk.
Continue reading...Non-farm: US economy stumbles by creating just 75,000 jobs in May – business live
Dollar slides after America only created 75,000 new jobs last month, weaker than the 175,000 expected
- Latest: US job creation unexpectedly weak last month
- NFP up by 75,000 in May
- Earnings growth drops to 3.1%
- Jobless rate at 49-year low of 3.6%
Earlier:
Let’s get some details on the weakest US jobs report in three months.
The government cut 15,000 jobs in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while private companies hired 90,000 people.
The unemployment rates for adult men (3.3 percent), adult women (3.2 percent), teenagers (12.7 percent), Whites (3.3 percent), Blacks (6.2 percent), Asians (2.5 percent), and Hispanics (4.2 percent) showed little or no change in May.
Continue reading...German nurse given second life sentence for murder of 85 patients
Niels Högel, who used drugs to cause cardiac arrests, confirmed as country’s worst postwar serial killer
When Niels Högel, a nurse, worked shifts at two clinics in the northern German towns of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst in the early 2000s, the hospital rota showed a mysterious spike in patients who experienced sudden cardiac arrests and had to be reanimated.
Yet the bullish man in his late 20s was allowed to go about his business undisturbed until a colleague caught him in the act in 2005: for at least half a decade, Högel had systematically injected patients with cardiovascular medication in order to orchestrate a medical emergency and show off his resuscitation skills.
Continue reading...German police investigate murder of CDU politician Walter Lübcke
Senior figure in Angela Merkel’s party was shot in the head at close range, say police
A local politician from Angela Merkel’s party was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head, German police said on Monday.
With no weapon found at the scene and no discharge residues on the dead man’s body, investigators appear to have ruled out suicide and are investigating intentional homicide.
Continue reading...Resurgent Greens find they can set agenda in German politics
Party is developing a taste for their opponents’ blood and shaking up fiscal policy
Emboldened by unprecedented highs in the European elections in Germany, a surging Green party is discovering that it can set the political agenda in Europe’s largest economy without having to be in power.
The party that was once derided for its plans for a meat-free “veggie day” at nationwide canteens is developing a taste for their opponents’ blood: pushing other parties to adopt their policies, laying down red lines for coalition talks and even hatching plans to slay the country’s holy cows on fiscal policy.
Continue reading...Chief of Merkel’s junior coalition partner resigns
Andrea Nahles’s resignation fuels fears Germany’s embattled government may fall
Andrea Nahles, the leader of Germany’s junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), has announced her resignation, raising concerns that Angela Merkel’s government might collapse.
Nahles, who will step down from all her political roles including that as leader of the SPD parliamentary group, said her resignation was a consequence of the poorest ever performance from the SPD in its 156-year history last weekend, when it received just 15.8% of the vote at the European parliamentary elections, 11 points down on 2014.
Continue reading...All Germans urged to wear kippah in protest against antisemitism
Call for solidarity follows warning that Jews wearing cap face abuse and attacks
Germans of all faiths and none are being urged to wear kippah skullcaps on Saturday as a symbol of solidarity with the Jewish community, after a steep rise in antisemitic attacks.
Protests across the country have been called by the government’s antisemitism ombudsman after he triggered a heated debate when he warned Jews last week not to wear the kippah because of the increasing likelihood of being attacked.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on German responses to antisemitism: frankness and honesty | Editorial
The rise of anti-Jewish actions in Germany is profoundly worrying, but Angela Merkel’s fightback sets an example of moral seriousness and rigour
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has spoken openly about the spectre of antisemitism in Germany. She told CNN that “We have always had a certain amount of antisemites among us ... Unfortunately there is to this day not a single synagogue, not a single day care centre for Jewish children, not a single school for Jewish children that does not need to be guarded by German policemen.” Her remarks came a week after the country’s ombudsman for antisemitism, Felix Klein, suggested that observant Jews would be wise not to wear kippahs (skullcaps) in public. Taken together, these developments might suggest that Germany is sliding back into its dreadful past. In fact, they are signs of a determination that this must not happen. The crime figures do not suggest there is a crisis under way – though crime statistics do not measure fear.
The Jews of Germany are alarmed. It is not just the success of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in recent elections that contributes to their feeling of unease. A short-lived campaign to ban circumcision in 2012 was the first alarm bell; large demonstrations against the Gaza war in 2014, in which hostility to Israel often seemed indistinguishable from antisemitism, was another. And they are aware of the rising currents of antisemitism around Europe, even if it takes different forms in different countries.
Continue reading...Merkel seeks to scotch rumours of a rift with her party’s new leader
German chancellor dismisses as ‘rubbish’ claims she thinks CDU successor is not up to job
Angela Merkel has sought to scotch rumours of a rift with her party’s new leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, dismissing reports that she thinks her successor is not up to the job.
The German chancellor defended Kramp-Karrenbauer after the new leader was criticised for calling for a clampdown on opinionated YouTube clips ahead of elections.
Continue reading...Angela Merkel says Germany must face up to ‘the spectres of the past’ – video
Angela Merkel has said antisemitism is a problem in Germany and the country has a historical responsibility to face up to the growing threat of far-right populism both at home and abroad. Her comments came days after Germany’s ombudsman for antisemitism, Felix Klein, warned German Jews not to wear kippahs in public after a spate of racist attacks
Continue reading...European elections: triumphant Greens demand more radical climate action
Green politicians to push agenda urging climate action, social justice and civil liberties
Europe’s Greens, big winners in Sunday’s European elections, will use their newfound leverage in a fractured parliament to push an agenda of urgent climate action, social justice and civil liberties, the movement’s leaders say.
“This was a great outcome for us – but we now also have a great responsibility, because voters have given us their trust,” Bas Eickhout, a Dutch MEP and the Greens’ co-lead candidate for commission president, told the Guardian.
Continue reading...Greens surge as parties make strongest ever showing across Europe
Party could hold balance of power in EU parliament with projected 71 MEPs
Green parties have swept to their strongest ever showing in European elections, boosting their tally of MEPs to a projected 71 compared with 52 last time and giving themselves every chance of becoming kingmakers in a newly fragmented parliament.
“Thank you so much for your trust in us Greens,” a delighted Ska Keller, one of the European Greens’ two lead candidates for the post of European commission president, told a press conference in Brussels.
Continue reading...Final votes cast as EU awaits parliamentary election results
France, Germany, Italy and others go to polls on Sunday, with gains expected for nationalist parties
The western world’s largest democratic exercise is nearing its finale as tens of millions of EU citizens in 21 countries go to the polls on Sunday, the last of four days of voting in European parliament elections that will shape the bloc’s future.
Polls suggest the vote will produce a more fragmented parliament than ever before, with the two centre-right and centre-left groups that have dominated Europe’s politics forecast to lose their joint majority for the first time, and nationalist and populist forces to make gains.
Continue reading...Jews in Germany warned of risks of wearing kippah cap in public
Government commissioner says lifting of inhibitions and rise of uncouthness are factors behind rising incidence of antisemitism
Germany’s government commissioner on antisemitism has warned Jews about the potential dangers of wearing the traditional kippah cap in the face of rising anti-Jewish attacks.
“I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany,” Felix Klein said in an interview published Saturday by the Funke regional press group.
Continue reading...‘Future of Britain is in Europe,’ the Queen told Germany in 1988
Diplomatic cables reveal the monarch also appeared to back the creation of a single market
The Queen confided to the German ambassador that she believed the future of Britain lay in Europe, newly released diplomatic cables from 1988 have shown.
“Some have not realised this yet,” the monarch allegedly said of her subjects. She also appeared to back the creation of the single market.
Continue reading...German parliament declares Israel boycott campaign antisemitic
Israeli academics criticise motion, saying it is wrong to conflate BDS and antisemitism
Germany’s Bundestag has become the first parliament in Europe to pass a motion labelling the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as antisemitic.
The non-binding motion, passed on Friday afternoon, said the campaign to boycott Israeli artists and goods was “reminiscent of the most terrible chapter in Germany history” and triggered memories of the Nazis’ slogan “Don’t buy from Jews”.
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