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Terrorism Tops the Agenda in Warsaw
As the third summit of interior ministers and high-ranking government officials from the 46-member Council of Europe enters its last day in Warsaw, talks continue to focus on tackling terrorism and organized crime.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski warned Council of Europe member states Friday against paralyzing democracy in the fight against organised crime and terrorism. "We must be careful to avoid that the fight against terrorism and organized crime do not paralyze the smooth functioning of a normal democratic society. We must not lose what constitutes the basis of a democratic society," said Kwasniewski, whose country has chaired the Council's Committee of Ministers since November. "Given that criminal activity transcends national borders, we must reinforce cooperation among our intelligence services and better control the flow of people and merchandise," Kwasniewski told the meeting in Warsaw. But he stressed that any moves to clamp down on organized crime and terrorism must be taken with respect for individual freedoms. Developing strategies Ministerial-level meetings at the conference are being held behind closed doors and are focussing on special investigative techniques, the protection of witnesses, money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The officials are also debating two draft conventions aimed at nipping in the bud terrorism and other forms of serious crime in the early, preparative stages. The draft convention on the prevention of terrorism proposes criminalizing acts deemed as laying the groundwork for a terrorist attack, such as provocation of terrorism, recruitment and training. "We can't wait for another Madrid" On Thursday, the Council's Secretary General Terry Davis (photo) urged delegates to move quickly and decisively against terrorism. "We can't wait for another Madrid or Beslan," he said, calling on delegates "to provide a message of support for the new instruments" being debated at the two-day meeting. More than 340 people died, half of them children, when a standoff between law enforcement authorities and hostage-takers who had herded more than 1,000 students and teachers into a school in the southern Russian town of Beslan last September ended in a chaotic shootout. The bombing of four Madrid commuter trains on March 11 last year killed 191 people and injured over 1,900. Fleshing out the anti-terror convention Negotiating the terms of the anti-terror convention, expected to be ready by May, showed "how difficult it can be to enhance the efficiency of the fight against terrorism at the same time as safeguarding fundamental human rights," said Davis, a former British lawmaker. "But it has also shown that it is possible to reconcile these twin objectives." "Terrorism is an attack on human rights," he went on. "However, while tackling terrorism, we must be careful not to undermine human rights," he said. Davis said he expected recommendations on the topics debated by the conference as well as the new conventions to be adopted by the end of the month. They will then be presented to a summit of Council of Europe heads of state and government due to be held in Warsaw in May. In addition to its 46 members, five states which have observer status on the Council of Europe were also represented at the meeting: Canada, Japan, Mexico, the United States and the Vatican. | [
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Schröder Under Attack for Remarks
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has come under fire for saying that German corporate heads are failing to create new jobs in spite of business-friendly reforms initiated by his government.
On Tuesday, senior representatives of German industry denied Schröder's allegations, saying that investments in Germany would continue to be made although conditions were far from ideal. Opposition politicians accused the chancellor of trying to deflect attention from the fact that his economic policy was a shambles. The German chancellor has grown increasingly edgy in recent weeks: Two months before a crucial regional election, his center-left government is battered by political scandals, strategy blunders and an economic crisis that won't go away. Losing the election in the industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia in May would severely hamper the chancellor's ability to act by giving the opposition sufficient clout to block his legislative moves. Now the chancellor has identified a scapegoat responsible for his troubles. German business leaders, he told Bild on Sunday newspaper, should stop moving jobs abroad and start investing in Germany again. He claimed that corporate conditions were now excellent after his government had slashed taxes and labor unions had made compromises on wages and working hours. Party backs Schröder On Tuesday, SPD leader Franz Müntefering joined the chancellor's criticism. "We have taken various steps in recent years that have helped companies improve their competitiveness," he said. "And many companies have been rather successful in this. But there are also bad examples of corporations moving thousands of job abroad and we are now calling on them to make greater efforts and start investing in Germany again." German corparate leaders, however, rejected Schröder's allegations and said blame-throwing wouldn't help in difficult times. Business leaders call for more reforms Ludwig Braun, the president of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, argued that investments in German industry were rising again in spite of the fact that conditions were hardly ideal here. The head of the German metal-working employers, Martin Kannegiesser, said the chancellor must come to understand that globalization requires a strong presence in foreign markets. Reducing Germany's 5.2 million unemployed people, he added, will take a long time and requires much more sweeping political reforms. Opposition leaders such as CDU general secretary Volker Kauder have been more stinging in their criticism of Schröder. "This is just a ploy by the chancellor to deflect attention from his government's huge policy failures," he said. "He wants to distract from the visa scandal involving foreign minister Joschka Fischer and his own inability to create conditions in Germany that are conducive to investments here." Matching words with deeds Christine Scheel, finance policy expert of Schröder's junior coalition partners in the government, the Greens, said the chancellor should match his words with deeds now. It can no longer be tolerated she said that German companies, for example, can even write off against taxes the costs associated with moving jobs abroad. "I don't think that such behavior is alright," she said. "It's become a really big problem that companies have moved jobs abroad. The fact that this is even fostered by tax write-offs is something no-one can understand." Schröder, who used to be dubbed "Darling of the Bosses," now feels let down and betrayed by corporate leaders: A recent survey of the top 30 German corporations reveals that they eliminated a total of 35,000 jobs in Germany last year alone. At the same time more than 9,000 jobs have been created at their foreign subsidiaries. In view of record unemployment of 12.6 percent of the work force, the chancellor's political fortunes have slumped drastically making victory in general elections next year ever more unlikely. | [
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Opinion: A Bigger, Not Better, NATO
A year ago NATO underwent the largest expansion in the organization's history, when on March 29, seven eastern and south-eastern European countries joined the alliance. NATO may have grown in size, but not in importance.
The expansion was a big step for NATO -- largely because, with the three Baltic countries, the first successor states of the Soviet Union, the erstwhile superpower which was the impetus for NATO's establishment to start with. Fear of Moscow was the main reason for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to enter the alliance's protective screen. But, keeping things in perspective, Russia isn't a threat to its western neighbors. For years it's been a guest at NATO's table; it even has a say in a broad range of matters. NATO expansion was certainly an important symbol that the Cold War chapter is really closed -- but just one of many. New chapters in world history already started long ago: southeastern Europe has clearly put the era of war behind it, but it still suffers from the consequences. From Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia-Montenegro and Kosovo to Macedonia, a number of more or less unstable states stretches through the region, keeping Europe's security architects holding their breath. And even if NATO's intervention in the Kosovo War was on the margins of legality according to international law, all things considered, the alliance played a positive role in the region's stabilization. But today's overriding task -- the fight against international terrorism -- hasn't yet reached such a conclusion. The United States, with the help of its NATO partners, did indeed put an end to the Taliban's reign of terror in Afghanistan and, at the same time, significantly weakened an important al Qaeda base. However, despite the alliance's presence, the country is far from being either stable or a functioning democracy. And terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is still at large; his network continues to operate, as the terrible attacks in Madrid last year showed. There's also the large-scale anti-terror project "Enduring Freedom," which is meant to ensure security in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf states. Here, too, substantial NATO contingents are in action, but there still aren't any measurable results. NATO suffered the biggest set-back, however, with the Iraq War. The alliance split over whether the body of evidence against Saddam Hussein was sufficient to justify military intervention. And although the fissure between the war coalition partners and the war's opponents has been passably cemented together, the United States no longer sees NATO as a hard and fast alliance but as a list of potential partners. That also has to do with the fact that many European countries -- and especially the new members -- use NATO as a guarantee of protection but contribute very little to it. For, the United States is militarily still stronger than all the other alliance members put together. All of Washington's appeals to the Europeans to increase their military expenditures have so far been in vain. Despite last year's expansion, NATO risks degenerating into a transatlantic talking shop. In that respect, the idea of intervention troops that can be quickly deployed, which NATO is now pursuing, hasn't changed much, since that is not where the problems in cooperating lay. Alliance or not, national intelligence agencies don't work closely enough together. Although the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks caused NATO partners to close ranks, petty jealousy and mistrust continue to hamper the exchange of information. But close cooperation of the part of intelligence agencies is indispensable to prevent terror. And it could give NATO as an alliance a new and, above all, forward-looking course. | [
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Germans March for Peace
Some 50,000 people took to the streets in Germany over the weekend to take part in the traditional Easter peace marches. Activists protested against war, cutbacks in the social welfare system and the new EU constitution.
The US-led war in Iraq was the center of renewed criticism at Germany's Easter peace marches in 65 cities across the country this year. But participants also emphasized the drawbacks of the new European constitution, which must be approved by German lawmakers on May 12. "We want social equality and civil protection rather than pre-emptive war, as well as a democratic Europe," said Willi van Ooyen, spokesman for the organizers "Informationsstelle Ostermarsch." Van Ooyen said the diversity of participants reflected the lasting awareness of people interested in the peace movement to get involved in current political debates. "Never again fascism, never again war" The main demonstrations took place in Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt, where the organizers are based. The Network of the German Peace Movement took a positive stock of the marches. "Sixty years after the liberation of Germany from Hitler's fascism and the end of the Second World War, these demonstrations expressed the indissoluble consensus of the era: never again fascism, never again war," the Network's director Manfred Stenner said in a statement. He said the ongoing skepticism against war and the military in Germany was also the merit of the postwar peace movement. Constitution committed to rearmament? The protests also drew attention to the new European constitution, which is currently in its ratification process across Europe. Stenner said, though, that this criticism was not directed against Europe's integration, but rather because the draft "sets the course for rearmament and military adventure." The peace march in the industrial Ruhr basin focussed on those parts of the European constitution which, according to peace groups, encourage militarization. They quoted Article I-41, which states: "Member States shall undertake progressively to improve their military capabilities." "This is a commitment to rearmament on a constitutional level," said Felix Oekentorp, spokesman of the Ruhr Easter march committee. "This is unequalled worldwide and that alone is reason enough for us to say that this constitution draft is not acceptable for the peace movement." Not mimic the United States European citizens should use the referendum process as an opportunity to lead an "intense discussion" about what kind of Europe they want, said Stenner. "If the current constitution draft were to fail, peace initiatives and globalization opponents are hopeful that the basic principles of the European Union will move more in the direction of social justness, greater commitment to peace politics and dealing with conflicts civilly," he said. If the referendums failed, European governments would have to rework the constitution. "Europe shouldn't strive to militarily mimic the superpower United States," said Stenner. "Rather, it should use its peacemaking policies to bridge the gap to southern countries, as well as to the Islamic and Arab world." The Easter peace marches started in Britain in the 1950s to call for nuclear disarmament. Since then, tens of thousands of people across Europe take to the streets during Easter. In Germany, the first march took place in 1960. They peaked in Germany in 1983, when 700,000 people protested against the installation of US Pershing II missiles in the country. | [
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German Seniors Say No to Nursing Homes
Members of Germany older generation are looking at new models of living for their retirement years. They want security, comfort and social contacts; they don’t want a nursing home. Senior flat shares fit that bill.
On the eighth floor of a Dresden high-rise, 72-year-old Karl-Heinz Röttjer can look out from his small, one-bedroom apartment and see a good portion of the city and the hills that spill over into the Czech Republic. To him, the wide-open vista represents freedom, and the new lease on life he has gotten since moving in with five retired women to share his sunset years. "Here I feel much better, I can spend my time how I want," he said. "I feel free, and it's like I have a family around me." He cherishes that freedom since it was taken away from him for a while. He was put in a nursing home after an illness made him unable to live alone anymore several years ago. His wife had died and his children had moved away. But for this spry, independent septuagenarian, it was like being put in prison. "In a nursing home, you're not your own master," he said. "There are rules to follow and you've subject to strict schedules. Everything's planned out and you feel almost trapped." So he escaped, not by climbing out an open window, but by answering an ad for a living arrangement that experts say could become a common alternative for older people in the future: a senior flat share. Not long after, he moved into the specially modified suite of apartments and hasn't looked back. Communal living but privacy, too The senior flat share, however, is generally not like the basic college-age roommate situation. Röttjer has his own apartment with a kitchen and bathroom, as does each of his five flatmates. They provide privacy and independence which are important to older people. But there is also a common room with comfortable furniture, a dining table and a TV, plus a communal kitchen and dining table where people can prepare and eat shared meals if they want. The Dresden suite also has a large bathroom that has been outfitted with special aid devices for when age makes getting around, or in and out of the bathtub, more difficult. There are at least 200 similar experiments in senior living across Germany as the older generation rethinks how they want to live out their sunset years and more are popping up all the time. The senior living arrangement was even the topic of a reality TV show on the German-French channel arte, which brought five women between 60 and 70 together in a Berlin apartment and followed the ups and downs of their new lives there. Surveys have found that more than two-thirds of people now over the age of 40 have no interest in going into an old age home in the future. "My generation does not want to go into these so-called social institutions for old, helpless people," said Heike Grünewald, who heads Projekt 50 Plus, a Berlin-based group which tries to match up seniors and communal living arrangements. "We do not want the state looking after us. Besides, the state will not have any money to do it, so we have to look after ourselves." Greying society Germany's older population is set to skyrocket over the next decades. Demographers forecast that by 2050, more than one in three Germans will be over 60. While most European societies are getting older, in 30 years, due to low birth rates and longer life spans, it is predicted that Germany will have the oldest population in the world. "That means we have to look at and encourage these different models of senior living," said Irmingard Schewe-Gerigk, a parliamentarian for the Green party who looks at aging issues. Germany's system for financing care for older people is fast running short of cash. The government pays for part or all of nursing home care, which is expensive, so it's beginning to show interest in the alternatives. One study has shown that having a senior in an apartment share can save the government more than 51,000 euros ($66,000) a year. In the Dresden flat share, each resident pays between 270 to 390 euros rent to a real estate developer who renovated the apartment. "In a flat share, people do just fine with their own money, they're able to manage," said Sieglinde Wartenberg, who arranges senior apartment shares in Dresden. "They can get by on just a little money, and age with dignity." Social connection Besides the financial aspect, there's a social element of living with others that is just as, if not more, important for older people. One of the greatest fears of the elderly is social isolation. "At some point, you feel that you just aren't needed," said Irene Rostalskie, 72. "Hardly anyone has time for you anymore." She raised six children, but one by one they moved away until she was alone in her ground-floor apartment. One day someone broke her window and she felt not only alone, but insecure. The flat share solves both of those problems. "It's one of the main advantages to this living arrangement, there's always someone there who I can ring up or go see," said Richard Palm, head of the Forum for Communal Living. "If I'm feeling sick, there will be someone coming and saying, should I get you a newspaper or call a doctor." Around the common table in the suite, the flatmates joke and laugh like teenagers while they offer visitors coffee and cake. They make sure all guests write their names in a black notebook they keep; last year, there were 47 entries. The flatmates often take group day trips around the regions, visiting neighboring towns or going to the theater. "In a nursing home, you get old very quickly," said Sylvia Behrens, who at 57 is the youngest of the group, but who suffers from Parkinson's disease and has been in several living arrangements since she was diagnosed. "Here, you feel young again," she said. | [
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The Sorrows of Young Schiller
German icon Friedrich Schiller died 200 years ago on Monday -- an anniversary marked in Weimar with the opening of a special "Schiller Year." The writer died at age 45 and wrote many of his works in physical pain.
Managing life's inevitable hardships is a recurring theme in Schiller's works. The artist himself was a prime example as he showed how the mind can triumph over a sick body for most of his life. Schiller's fever attacks often became so severe that rumors of his death spread frequently. But again and again he managed to leave his sick bed and return to the writing desk. "When he finally died, the duke said, 'Let's cut him open,'" wrote Schiller's biographer, Rüdiger Safranski. Doctors had long considered the writer a medical phenomenon: Due to his medical history, they felt he should have died much earlier. But "one should call it idealism, when someone manages to live 10 years longer than the body would permit simply because of the power of enthusiasm and mind," Safranski wrote. A dominating duke Schiller was born on Nov. 10, 1759 in Marbach on the Neckar in southwestern Germany. His father worked as an army doctor for Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. His mother was the daughter of an innkeeper. While in school, Schiller wanted to become a priest, but the duke prevented this. In 1773, he ordered the teenager to attend his military academy. As his father served in the army, it was a request he couldn't refuse. The school turned out to be hell for Schiller, who suffered under the strict regimen. To deal with the pressure, he began to write -- first poems, followed by the play "The Robbers" in 1777. While secretly working on the play, he also wrote a medical dissertation. The latter was finished in 1780, the play was published half a year later and finally premiered on Jan. 13, 1783. Schiller's passionate plea for freedom turned "The Robbers" into a sensational success and made him the "poet of peace." Fleeing his homeland Needless to say, the duke wasn't thrilled about Schiller's lust for liberty and banned him from writing. Schiller responded by fleeing his homeland in 1782, making his living as a freelance writer from then on. He quickly wrote "Fiesco," "Love and Intrigue" and "Don Carlos" and crisscrossed Germany -- partly to escape the duke's wrath, partly to find new sources of funding. In 1787, in the eastern German town of Jena, he first learned about Kant's philosophy, which influenced him tremendously. He also met his future wife, Charlotte von Lengefeld, in Jena. The French Revolution of 1789 fascinated Schiller -- after all, it was about liberty. But its bloody course disappointed him and encouraged him to study history. During the following years, he almost completely gave up literary writing and focussed on historical-philosophical research instead. A world-famous friendship In 1790, he settled in Jena, where he taught history at the university. A year later, the newly-wed poet fell ill with pneumonia, which later caused him almost unbearable pain as it led to a suppuration of the pleura, the pericardium and his kidneys. In 1794, Schiller began a friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which took on a central role in the lives of both poets and became a highlight of Germany's literary history. Goethe encouraged Schiller to write again and together, they composed the famous "Xenia" satirical poems. In 1799, Schiller moved to Weimar to be closer to Goethe, only to fall sick again one year later. As a medical doctor, Schiller realized that he didn't have much time left and set out to complete the works that were to make him famous around the globe: "Wilhelm Tell," the Wallenstein trilogy, "Mary Stuart," and the "Maid of Orleans." | [
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Top Teams Let Nerves Get to Them
Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munich entertained their fans with an easy 6-3 win over Nuremberg. With the exception of Bremen, the remaining top teams showed a large case of nerves.
Bayern Munich staged a grand finale to their 33-year run at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday with their win over Nuremberg -- their last match at one of the world's most famous sports venues. Captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn was presented with the Bundesliga championship on the pitch after the game. Bayern clinched their 19th German league title two weeks ago, and so had truly had just one thing to play for on Saturday, namely setting up their top striker Roy Makaay (19 goals) as much as possible in his chase for the goalscoring crown. The man ahead of him, Marek Mintal (23 goals) and his Nuremberg squad traveled to Munich and were given a 6-3 pasting at the hands of the Bundesliga champions. Makaay struck twice in the first half, and just as importantly, Mintal was held goalless in the last match that Bayern will play at Olympic stadium. After the game, the players received their medals from the league. Their last goal is to help Makaay score at least two more goals next week against Stuttgart. Entering the second-to-last match day, second place Schalke had the chance to wrap up a spot in the Champions League next season -- and that against archrivals Dortmund to whom Schalke had not lost in 12 games. Instead, they lost shockingly, 2-1, at home. All the goals came in the first half. Dortmund scored on their first real chance only to see Schalke get the equalizer two minutes later. Just before the end of the first half, Dortmund's homegrown Lars Ricken scored what would be the gamewinning goal. Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller was the hero of the match as he stopped numerous top-notch Schalke chances. Rivals also stumble Stuttgart could have been the beneficiaries of Schalke's misfortune but they too dropped their match, losing to relegated side Bochum, 2-0. They remain two points behind Schalke but have the daunting task of facing their old coach Felix Magath and Bayern Munich. Hot on Stuttgart's tails were Hertha Berlin (57 points). They could have leapfrogged over the Swabians but instead played to a disappointing 0-0 draw against lowly Mönchengladbach. The one point for Gladbach means they will stay in the top division next season. Last year's champions Werder Bremen turned a 1-0 halftime deficit against last place Freiburg into an easy 4-1 victory at Weser Stadium. On 56 points, coach Thomas Schaaf's side could still squeeze into the Champions League qualifications, but are almost assured of a spot in the Uefa Cup. For Leverkusen, the quest for an Uefa Cup spot is becoming more and more uncertain. A late second-half goal by Daniel Bierofka gave them a draw against Wolfsburg. For the Wolves, another disappointment as they surrendered a 2-0 halftime lead at home. New boys win derby One of the league's most interesting stories this season was Mainz. In their first-ever season in the Bundesliga, they beat top-notch squads (Schalke, Bremen, Leverkusen) and easily secured a spot for the top division next year. They won the Rhineland-Palatinate derby on Saturday against nearby rivals, Kaiserslautern, 3-2, adding another feather to the cap of coach Jürgen Klopp. Rostock were playing for pride at home in the first division for at least one year. That incentive wasn't sufficient enough for them to get beyond a 1-1 draw with Bielefeld. Finally, Hamburg's 2-1 loss to Hanover means they can write off their hopes of playing in European club competition next season. | [
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Hoping for Amicable Chinese Textile Deal
Germany will act "in solidarity" with its European partners in the trade row with China over cheap textile imports, but Berlin is hoping that an amicable deal can be reached, the German economy minister said Friday.
"We understand and accept the interests of the other countries," such as Spain, Portugal, Greece and France, German Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement told the news agency DPA in an interview. But the row should not be allowed to "harm the German clothing sector," he added. Germany was affected only indirectly by the sharp increase in textile imports from China since the beginning of the year, Clement said. The German textiles industry, which currently employs around 140,000 people, had already undergone the necessary restructuring to face up to increase competition from low-wage countries, he added. EU restrictions This week, the European Union announced that it would put restrictions on imports of T-shirts and flax yarn from China. But compared with the measures being considered in the US, countries such as France believe that the offensives proposed by EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson did not go far enough. The US slapped import quotas on three categories of Chinese textile goods last week and added another four on Wednesday. That provoked a stiff response from China which said the action undercut the very principles of free trade being promoted by Washington and Brussels. Conciliatory gesture from Beijing Facing the threat of EU limits on Chinese textiles imports, Beijing made a conciliatory gesture and announced it would raise export tariffs on 74 categories of textile products from June 1. The ministry of finance said on its Web site that the 74 categories were among 148 products on which tariffs had already been placed at the end of the decades-long global textile export quota system on Jan. 1. It also announced export tariffs on flax yarn. Virtually all the products affected are exported to the US and EU. The China National Textile Industry Council said the move proved China was a responsible member of the international community. "China's is a responsible country and it is for the purpose of helping establish a new world textile trade order and ease the trade friction that the government made the concession," spokesman Sun Huaibin told Xinhua news agency. EU: Wait and see "This is something that we have to see more precisely from the Chinese," European Commission spokewoman Francoise Le Bail said. The issue would be discussed when the Chinese negotiator on textiles comes to Brussels next week to see Mandelson, she added. "We will clarify with the Chinese what they intend to do, to have precision on this aspect of things. And also we will discuss with them the measures that we have proposed on a number of categories of products," Le Bail said. | [
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Globetrotting Behind Bars
Traveling around the globe for a year and visiting 60 countries along the way might be a dream for many. But the "hotels" Jan de Cock stayed at during his trip would surely deter most people: prisons.
Spending time in an overcrowded African prison is not something to aspire to. But for de Cock, it was an experience he had dreamt about for a long time. For the past 20 years, the Belgian has been interested in the fate of prisoners, who are often forgotten by the rest of society. "Let me make clear that I'm for justice and for punishing criminals," he said. "But it's not my right to condemn these men and women, these teenagers and children a second or third time. I want to show these people in a different light. They're people just like us." It wasn't easy for de Cock to convince officials to let him stay in a prison for a few days and nights just like regular inmates. It took him three years and hundreds of letters to embassies, ministries and prison directors to prepare for the journey. Sleeping with rats In the end, he received permission to stay at 66 prisons around the globe -- some in democratic countries, others run by dictatorial regimes. "The first prison I slept at was in Kigali in Ruwanda," he said, adding that the prison, which was built for 2,000 inmates, housed 7,000 people. "I was wedged between fellow inmates," he said. "Below the beds, where I keep my slippers at home, lay three or four more prisoners. I remember that I woke up in the middle of the night because something was crawling through my hair. It was my first encounter with a giant rat." Choosing Benin over US De Cock said he does believe that prisons reflect a country's political system. "You can tell the level of democracy that exists in a country by the way prisoners are dealt with," he said, adding that democracies don't always treat their prisoners more humanely. "If you'd present me with a choice to stay in a clean prison in the US or under miserable conditions as is the case in (Benin's) Coutonou prison, where 250 people share a room built for 50, I think I'd choose the latter," he said. "People keep each other alive if they can be together, even if the situation is horrible." Similarities despite regional differences Isolation is the worst kind of punishment, de Cock said, adding that Japan is especially harsh with prisoners. There, inmates are told in which position they have to sleep. They are not allowed to talk. They mustn't look guards in the eye. Scandinavian prisons on the other hand try to prepare prisoners for their re-entry into society. In Latin America, de Cock was surprised by the extreme corruption that exists in prisons there. But despite regional differences, prisoners resemble each other in many ways. "The thing that hit me most was the extreme sense of abandonment felt by these people," he said. "I remember the case of a women in a prison in Peru, Lima. When she was released after 27 years behind bars, she came back three days later and begged to be readmitted. She didn't know anyone on the outside any more." Learning from inmates De Cock heard many similar stories during his visits. In many cases, he was the first person to show any interest in inmates for years, he said. "The more you enter this world, the more you realize that nice things happen there as well," he said. "You realize that these people that have been condemned by society can teach us something as well -- about trust, about patience and solidarity." Trying to share his experiences with others, de Cock has written a book, "Hotel Prison," about his book. He's also planning to continue his journey, he said. "I'd like to take a look at Guantanamo Bay," he said, adding that Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison is also on his list. | [
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Italy Rejects Easing Assisted Fertility
A boycott call spearheaded by the Roman Catholic Church has trounced an attempt to relax Italy's stringent fertility and bioethics law, after voter turnout failed to reach the 50 percent needed to validate the ballot.
There was no escaping the mood of election apathy on Monday, when voters merely trickled into polling stations to have their say on the issue of whether or not Italy is ready to embrace a change in its bioethics law. Only around a quarter of Italian voters turned out to have their say in the referendum. Following Sunday's poor result, which saw just 18.7 percent casting ballots, Monday's papers wrote as if it were a foregone conclusion that the referendum would fail. "Few vote, referendum drowns," headlined the Corriere della Sera daily. Analysts pointed at voter apathy but also at the appeal of Italian cardinals who, backed by newly-elected Pope Benedict XVI, urged predominantly Roman Catholic Italians to abstain from voting on moral grounds. "The church exults," wrote Orazio Petrosillo, Vatican expert in Il Messaggero, while Turin's La Stampa daily said "Catholics could return the slap in the face they received by the abortion and divorce law," approved in referendums despite church opposition in the 1970s. "Te Deum" praise of thanks Although top prelates and the Vatican kept a low profile as the voting continued, Father Gianni Baget Bozzo, a priest linked to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said he was preparing a "Te Deum" hymn of thanksgiving. Infuriated and embittered supporters of change accused the church of outstepping its sphere. "Those who are sensitive to the influence of the pope let themselves be conditioned and gave up their right to free choice," lamented Michele Fasanella, an arts student from the southern Italian city of Potenza. "There was such a brainwashing campaign by the church with the elderly, even the pope spoke out, so the result couldn't have been any different," said Renato, a Roman typographer, who voted to loosen the 2004 law along with 14 of his relatives on Sunday. General apathy But the result was also due to the "indifference and laziness of those who do not vote regardless of the issue at stake," said political analyst Giulio Anselmi. None of the five referendums of the past decade succeeded in reaching the quorum. Equal Opportunities Minister Stefania Prestagiacomo refused to give up hope early Monday, saying that there was still a chance for the quorum to be reached. If not, Italy will have to "keep a backward law, that jeopardizes the health of women," the minister was quoted as saying in Corriere della Sera. "Good luck to us!" quipped the minister, who spearheaded the campaign for change. Vow to continue Lawmakers backing change said they would not give up and would try to modify the law in parliament. Italy was deeply divided over the referendum, which asked people to authorize medical research on embryos, scrap a reference to the embryo as a full human being and give people with hereditary diseases access to medically-assisted procreation, currently permitted only to sterile couples. The referendum also asked voters whether to abolish current restrictions which only allow couples to create three embryos that must all be implanted at the same time, and without checking whether they carry genetic diseases. Opponents say the proposed changes go against what the pope has called the "inviolability of human life from conception," while supporters say the current law puts women's health in danger, risks leaving Italy in the dark ages of medical research, and could lead to a recriminalization of abortion. | [
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Opinion: All Eyes on Germany's President
Not from the political elite himself, German President Horst Köhler faces the politically charged decision of whether or not to dissolve parliament. DW's Wolter von Tiesenhausen looks at Köhler's first year in office.
When he was elected to office last year Köhler promised to use his position to work on the problems facing Germany and not to let anyone influence his decisions as the country's head of state. It's a promise he's kept by speaking the truth -- even when many may not want to hear it. In the last 12 months, Köhler, who headed up the International Monetary Fund before returning to Germany last year, has not steered clear of controversy. In fact he's rubbed salt into many of Germany's open wounds by criticizing the German trait of not risking or changing anything and happily taking advantage of social services they do not need. President decides on new elections Most recently, he promised not to be influenced by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's wish for early elections. Now that the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, has followed Schröder's wish of a negative vote of confidence, it will be up to President Köhler to decide whether to dissolve the parliament. It would go against the many efforts Köhler has made for change in Germany not to approve the request from all of the country's major political parties and refusing to open the path to new elections a year ahead of time. On the other hand, he is also self-confident and independent enough to push through his own position if he thinks it's the right thing to do -- meaning the election guessing game's next round will now begin. The business-friendly president? Elected by Germany's conservative opposition, union leaders see Köhler to be too business-friendly but do not take into account the scathing remarks he has had for acquisitive businesses that have often shown a lack of corporate responsibility. If Köhler has been unable to remain neutral when it comes to Berlin's political wrangling, then it certainly hasn't hurt the public's view of him. That doesn't come as much of a surprise as his job affords him a high profile and limited authority: He's still near the top of public popularity polls, a position envied by just about every other German politician. Even with his limited powers, Horst Köhler has shown himself to be more than just a yes man who puts his stamp on everything that gets thrown his way. He has remained an influential figure with trips around the globe and continues to work to push Germany forward on the world stage -- work he will most likely continue regardless of who sits in the chancellor's seat this fall. | [
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Headaches Loom as EU Returns to Work
The European Union will be well advised to make the most of its summer break. Hard decisions and difficult times lay ahead not only for the member states that are on leave but also for the institutions in Brussels.
The EU quarter in the center of the Belgian capital, normally the beating heart of the European Union, slows to a more sedate pace in July and August as the six-week summer vacation begins. But once the holiday has passed, it's back to the desk again for EU commissioners and representatives of the European Parliament. The summer break is coming to an end and the EU will soon be back in EU policy business. But what issues are waiting for the thousands of returning officials? Summer is a deceptive time in Brussels. Europe's pulse might be slower but the issues that can quicken the beat and raise the blood pressure are still there waiting for those who left them in the in-tray back in July: the finances of the bloc; the constitution crisis, the accession negotiations with Turkey and Croatia, the nuclear quarrel with Iran and the on-going fight against terrorism. EU foreign ministers are holding their first meeting after the holiday this Thursday and Friday. The informal gathering takes place this year in the British city of Newport. Turkey on everyone's mind The British EU presidency has much to consider in the first half of its one-year tenure, most pressingly the negotiation framework of Turkey's EU accession bid. What was once perceived as a difficult but not impossible issue has now become a controversial one. Cyprus, Greece and France are demanding unequivocal recognition of Cyprus by Turkey before accession talks can begin. Austria and a Germany under the possible leadership of a conservative chancellor -- Angela Merkel -- are pushing for "privileged partnership" status only and not full membership as the accession negotiations imply. The British themselves are in favor of beginning negotiations with Turkey on Oct. 3, as was decided in December last year. Iran negotiations enter critical stage Moving further into the Middle East, Europe will be thrust once more into the potential powder keg of negotiations with wannabe nuclear power Iran. Whether the Islamic Republic wants nuclear power or the bomb is still a point of contention but Europe will first have to continue its negotiations regarding the suspension of uranium enrichment before that more delicate subject is broached. The Iranians themselves have renounced the deals offered by the EU and have restarted reactors. The diplomatic initiative -- led by Britain, France and Germany and resulting in one agreement more than a year ago -- is now threatened with failure. Blair may put terror first Away from the international arena further afield, issues closer to home will need to be addressed. The biggest hot potato is the EU constitution. British Prime Minister Tony Blair will host a summit at the end of October to press his own social model as a blueprint for the EU constitution. But even that may take a back seat to the more pressing issue for the British at this time -- international terrorism. Then there is the continuing to and fro concerning Chinese textile import quotas, which have been generating angry reactions throughout Europe of late. Retailers want their low-cost brassieres and trousers while others want their industry protected. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is running out of time to find a solution which everyone involved is happy with. So when the shutters go up on EU office buildings on Sept. 1, there likely won't be much time for diplomats to chit-chat about what they did over the summer. They've got plenty on their plates. | [
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Moshammer Killer Gets Life Sentence
A Munich court has sentenced Herish Ali Abdullah, a 26-year-old Iraqi, to life in prison for murdering fashion designer Rudolph Moshammer in January.
The Munich court convicted Abdullah to murder and robbery resulting in death to a life sentence 10 months after the colorful fashion designer was murdered in his villa in Munich. "You killed in an insidious manner, out of greed and to make robbery possible," Manfred Götzl, the leading judge in the case, said to the defendant. Abdullah had taken an unspecified amount of money from Moshammer after the murder, at least one 200-euro bill. Abdullah admitted on the second day of his trial that he killed Moshammer after the designer refused to pay for sex. Moshammer had picked up Abdullah on the evening of Jan.13 near the Munich train station and taken him back to his villa, offering the younger man 2,000 euros ($2,360) to go to bed with him. The Iraqi, who is living in Germany as a refugee, said after the refusal to pay, he wrapped an electrical cord around Moshammer's neck and "pulled it tight." After the designer fell to the ground, Abdullah said he pulled the cord again. Abdullah was arrested two days later after police found his DNA on the cord. Severity of crime The court ruled that the severity of the man's guilt called for Abdullah to serve at least 15 years in prison, with no possibility of early release. The sentence corresponds to the motion put forward by the district attorney, who had asked for the life sentence. The motion accused Abdullah of strangling Moshammer in a particularly insidious manner, saying that the young man had had the intent to rob the designer from the moment that Moshammer picked him up in his Rolls Royce. The defendant's attorneys, on the other hand, had asked that their client be convicted on a charge of manslaughter and had called for a sentence of under ten years. German Eccentric With the death of the 64-year-old Moshammer, Germany lost the man who was once described as the country's "only genuine eccentric." He was instantly recognizable to most Germans with his jet-black bouffant, waxed moustache and Yorkshire terrier Daisy who was always in his arms, or in his lap. Moshammer counted among his clients Arnold Schwarzenegger, now governor of California, tenor Jose Carrera and the Las Vegas-based entertainers Siegfried and Roy. But he was also well-known outside of high-society circles. For his funeral procession, more than 10,000 people lined the streets of Munich. | [
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Spielberg's 'The Post': How 1970s politics resonate with today's era of 'fake news'
Even though its narrative deals with the Pentagon Papers, which revealed secret details of US actions during the Vietnam War, the 1970s scandal serves as an allegory of the current political climate.
When the Pentagon Papers were leaked in the summer of 1971, the information they contained shook American society. The papers were historical records of the Vietnam War which had been prepared under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara since 1967; The New York Times and The Washington Post published parts of these top-secret documents, thereby revealing the full extent of military and political involvement of the US army and government in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. They demonstrated, for instance, how the US secretly performed coastal raids in Northern Vietnam and extensive bombings of nearby Cambodia and Laos. Another distorted event was the so-called Gulf of Tonkin incident from 1964. The US government had claimed at first that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had fired on a US ship, and that the whole American nation was under an imminent communist threat. In the wake of the event, the US increased the number of soldiers in the area. But the Pentagon Papers revealed that it was actually the American ship, the USS Maddox, which had shot first. All of this had been kept secret from the public, which received a very different image of the conflict through the media. Read more: Washington Post 'Watergate' editor Ben Bradlee dies, aged 93 From Nixon to Trump Steven Spielberg's latest movie "The Post," which stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, dramatizes the events leading to the publication of the documents, and their aftermath. The plot revolves around the timeless themes of freedom of the press and the judiciary system; it is easy to see a parallel between the 1970s scandal and the current events surrounding US President Donald Trump. After all, Spielberg himself said in numerous interviews that "The allegory is obvious." He pointed more directly to the parallels between then and now in an interview with the Austrian magazine Kurier, saying, "Nixon did not stick to the truth as much as it deserved it. Doesn't it remind you of someone?" Read more: Spielberg's 'The Post': a cautionary tale of press freedom Spielberg: 'It's a patriotic film' According to the director's own words, "The Post" is a "patriotic film." He noted, however, that he did not shoot the movie due to his affiliation with the Democratic party, but simply because he believes in journalism. "It is an antidote to 'fake news.' Those journalists in the movie are true heroes," he added. Richard Nixon's government had tried to prevent the publication of the Papers and even appealed for support to a federal court, where he initially succeeded: After three reports, the New York Times was forced to cease further publication of the remaining stories. But just a few days later, the Washington Post resumed with its own series of excerpts. The Papers were eventually released when a proponent of the publication, US Senator Mike Gravel, entered the documents into an unrelated subcommittee of his. The US Supreme Court then ruled that public interest and freedom of the press has more weight than the secrecy of state interests. All this is strikingly reminiscent of the current political situation, in particular the inquiry surrounding Trump's administration's ties to Russia. Read more: Donald Trump allies say special counsel 'unlawfully' obtained thousands of emails Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep co-star for the first time Starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in the lead roles of a newspaper editor and a journalist, "The Post" has already received a lot of attention even before its premiere. The film has been already honored at the National Board of Review Gala when it received the prizes for best film. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks both won in their respective categories too. At the Golden Globes, the latest Spielberg's opus, however, left the ceremony empty-handed. Its chances for an Oscar are not bad; as special counsel Robert Mueller plans to interview President Trump in his Russian inquiry, parallels with the events depicted in "The Post" are still developing. "The Post" hits US cinemas on January 12 and will premiere in most European countries throughout January and February | [
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Peru earthquake: Casualties reported after powerful quake hits south coast
A strong earthquake has struck off the coast of southern Peru, killing at least one person and injuring more than 60. The jolt damaged roads and homes, and authorities warned the death toll could rise.
The 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Sunday at 4:18 a.m. local time (0918 UTC) in the Pacific Ocean, 40 kilometers (25 miles) offshore from the town of Acari in Peru's Arequipa region, the US Geological Survey reported. Peru's Geophysics Institute said it had measured a magnitude of 6.8. Read more: Magnitude 7.6 earthquake hits coast of southern Chile The powerful tremor caused 171 homes to collapse, displacing the same number of families, Peru's National Emergency Operations Center said on its website. At least 736 families had been affected in some way by the tremor, they added. Roads also collapsed and left several municipalities without power. Officials said the only confirmed fatality was a 55-year-old man, who died in the town of Yauca after being crushed by rocks. Read more: Waterfalls dry up after Mexico quakes Peru's Civil Defense Institute (INDECI), which is coordinating emergency help, said 65 people were injured. Many of those injured were in Caraveli province, a coastal area dependent on fishing and mining that is popular with tourists, officials said. INDECI chief Jorge Chavez said damage to roads was hampering efforts to reach the worst-affected areas. Workers used large tractors to clear away boulders and debris that crashed down and blocked some roads. Aid for victims President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski traveled to the towns of Chala and Acari, where he said the quake had toppled around 100 houses. "We are going to send everything that is needed, such as tents for people whose homes were destroyed," Kuczynski told reporters. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned that "hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts" and that large swells could hit Peru and Chile. But it later downgraded the threat and said no tsunami waves had been spotted. Earthquakes are fairly common in Peru, which is on the so-called "Ring of Fire" — an arc of fault lines that circles the Pacific Basin. A 2007 quake in the country's southern Ica district killed 595 people. In November 2015, two major 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit eastern Peru near the border with Brazil. The tremor comes as Pope Francis prepares to visit Chile and Peru from January 15-21. Some damage occurred in communities that Pope Francis was scheduled to visit this week, but officials said the damage would not change the pontiff's tour. law,nm/ng (Reuters, AP, EFE, dpa) | [
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New Zealand PM announces pregnancy
New Zealand's prime minister is due to have a baby in June and will take six weeks of maternity leave. She said that like many women she can balance child rearing and professional responsibilities.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Friday that she is expecting a child with her partner Clarke Gayford. "This year we'll join the many parents who wear two hats. I'll be PM & a mum while Clarke will be 'first man of fishing' & stay at home dad," Ardern said. The 37-year-old took over leadership of the labor party just three months before the September 23 election. She found out she was pregnant on October 13, two weeks before becoming prime minister. Ardern said that she had asked Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters to take over her duties for six weeks after the expected June due date. "I fully intend to be contactable and available throughout the six-week period when needed," she said. "I will make arrangements for appropriate ministers to act in my other portfolios over the six weeks I am away from Parliament." "Clarke and I are privileged to be in the position where Clarke can stay home to be our primary care-giver. Knowing that so many parents juggle the care of their new babies, we consider ourselves to be very lucky," she said. Gayford has a fishing television program and was even out at sea the day Ardern was announced labor party leader. Ardern had previously said that she and Gayford wanted a family but that they had doubts whether she could conceive. "Clarke and I have always been clear we wanted to be parents but had been told we would need help for that to happen," she said. "That's made this news a fantastic surprise." Woman's choice The prospect of Ardern starting a family and being prime minister at the same time came up during the election when a television journalist suggested the public had right to know her plans. She answered but said that it was unacceptable for employers to ask such questions from women and that child rearing should not be an obstacle for women's professional advancement. "For other women, it is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace," she said. "It is a woman's decision about when they choose to have children and it should not predetermine whether or not they are given a job or have job opportunities," she said. "I've been really open about that dilemma because I think probably lots of women face it," she said. "For me, my position is no different to the woman who works three jobs, or who might be in a position where they are juggling lots of responsibilities." The comments resonated with many voters. Ardern will be only the second world leader to give birth while in office. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had a daughter in 1990. cw/rc (AFP, AP, dpa) | [
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Heavy snowfall cuts off Alpine towns in Switzerland and Austria
Tourists in the Swiss resort town of Zermatt under the Matterhorn mountain peak have been stranded for the second time in a month. Officials expected more snow overnight.
Thousands of people were stranded Monday morning in the Alps after heavy snowfall blocked train lines and roads to the towns of Zermatt in Switzerland and St. Anton in Austria. High-level avalanche warnings on Sunday forced local authorities to stop train services to Zermatt, leaving around 9,000 tourists marooned in the popular ski resort town. Some visitors were able to leave the area on Air Zermatt helicopters, but flights were discontinued after the weather worsened. Tickets for the service were also sold out within hours of train cancellations. Read more: Alpine snow leaves thousands of tourists stranded in Switzerland Travel difficulties were also affecting St. Anton where police restricted travel in and out of the town to cars with snow chains. Some buses transported people to a nearby valley under police and firefighter escort. Conditions were set to worsen in Zermatt into Monday with up to 70 centimeters (28 inches) of snow expected to fall overnight. Authorities expect land access to remain closed until midday on Monday. Severe snowfall had cut off 13,000 tourists in the town, which is located under the famous Matterhorn peak, for two days earlier in January. The resort's marketing chief said tourists do not suffer while they are snowed-in. An updated website is providing information for people trying to get in and out of the resort. Read more: Trains to restart from Swiss ski resort amp/jm (dpa, AP) | [
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Cleveland Indians baseball team to drop 'offensive' logo
After years of complaints, a cartoon image depicting a Native American known as Chief Wahoo is to be replaced. The mascot has been labeled racist but fans say it is iconic.
The grinning, red-faced caricature of a Native American chief is to be dropped from the uniforms of the Cleveland Indians from next year, the US baseball team confirmed on Monday. The cartoonish image of a big-toothed American Indian, "Chief Wahoo” complete with single feather in his headdress, has long been criticized as racist by Native American organizations. Discussions have taken place over the past year between community groups, the club, and Major League Baseball — the sport's US governing body to remove the logo, despite resistance from fans. Indians owner explains "We have consistently maintained that we are cognizant and sensitive to both sides of the discussion," said Cleveland Indians owner Paul Dolan. "While we recognize many of our fans have a longstanding attachment to Chief Wahoo, I'm ultimately in agreement with (MLB) Commissioner Manfred's desire to remove the logo from our uniforms in 2019." Read more: US President Donald Trump claims he's 'not a racist' after controversial remark The change will take place in time for the 2019 season and will lead to the logo being removed from the team's jersey sleeves and caps. The Chief Wahoo logo has been used in one form or another since 1947, but has been slowly phased out over the past few years in favor of the letter "C." The Indians are the latest sports team to change their logo or name following criticism from Native American groups, following in the footsteps of several US colleges. But one high-profile National Football League (NFL) team, the Washington Redskins, have repeatedly ignored calls to do so. 'Respect' a long time coming The change was welcomed by Native American groups including Oneida Indian Nation, who had campaigned for many years for the logo to be retired. "The Cleveland baseball team has rightly recognized that Native Americans do not deserve to be denigrated as cartoon mascots, and the team's move is a reflection of a grassroots movement that has pressed sports franchises to respect Native people," Oneida Nation representative Ray Halbritter said in a statement. "I'm elated," Philip Yenyo, executive director of the American Indian Movement of Ohio, said of the decision. "But at the same time, I think it should be this year. I don't understand why they're drawing this out. It doesn't make any sense to me, unless they want to continue to make what's basically blood money," referring to the club's merchandising revenue. Yenyo and others have demanded that the team go further and drop "Indians" from its name. Read more: Donald Trump revives 'Pocahontas' jab during event honoring Native Americans Fans at a loss But some Indians' fans hit out at the move, with one declaring on Twitter that the chief had been created out of honor, not racism. "It's a big disappointment," said Indians' supporter Jeremiah Baker, who was interviewed at a sporting goods store in a suburb of Cleveland. "Chief Wahoo has been so iconic for so many years, and I understand that some people may be offended, but it's a blow to native Clevelanders." Another fan, Marko Farion, said: "This PC thing has gone too far," using an abbreviation for political correctness. Within a few minutes of the announcement, the hashtag #SavetheChief began to circulate on social media. mm/aw (AFP, AP, Reuters) | [
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Germans slow to bin plastics habit
Germany has a reputation for being particularly environmentally conscious. Why then does the country produce so much plastic waste? And can Germans be persuaded to ditch the excess packaging?
Bananas, slices of cheese, dishwasher tablets and countless other products all wrapped in often unnecessary plastic — that's what you'll see if you take a trip around the average German supermarket. The country's green image defies the extent of its love affair with the fossil fuel-based packaging. Germany is the biggest consumer of plastic in Europe, according to statistics compiled by Eurostat — and that tendency is growing alongside lifestyle changes like internet shopping, buying food and drink on the go, and living in single or small households. Read more: What to do about Germany's mounting packaging waste? The reliance on this durable and flexible material has a dirty flipside. Plastic has made its way into tap water via synthetic textiles, and our food chains via fish and seafood. Every year, 8 million tons of plastic makes its way into the world's oceans according to estimates from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, where it poses a danger to marine life and human health. Given that plastics never fully degrade, our legacy of broken flip flops, plastic bottles and microplastics washed out of fleece clothing will linger for generations, according to scientists. Read more: Plastic fibers pervasive in tap water worldwide, new study shows Still, in Germany, some are beginning to realize the impact of plastic use on the environment. Tom Ohlendorf, WWF's project manager for packaging, points to evidence of a mindset shift among some shoppers and retailers favoring plastic-free options. "The awareness of retailers and consumers has risen," he said. "Just look at initiatives like packaging-free supermarkets which have popped up in a number of German cities." Dumping plastic A small store in Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood is one of the businesses pioneering the move to go plastic-free: Original Unverpackt, which opened its doors three years ago, is a minimalistic affair, with white-tiled walls, wooden shelves and lines of dispensers where shoppers can fill their containers with grains, pulses and even shampoo. As well as fresh produce, the store sells bamboo toothbrushes, fair-trade condoms and cloth bags emblazoned with the phrase "There is no planet B." Such stores are still a niche phenomenon. Their higher-than-average prices don't sit comfortably with German consumers' reputation as bargain hunters. But change is also emerging in the mainstream; now, supermarket giants are talking about shrinking their plastic footprint too. Shoppers in Edeka, and in Denn's organic supermarkets, for example, can use their own containers for purchases from cheese and meat counters, following in the footsteps of a number of coffee shops in Berlin and beyond, which encourage shoppers to purchase reusable cups. Germany's second-largest grocery retailer Rewe has adopted new dried grass and wood containers for organic apples. The chain is also evaluating the results of a pilot scheme that discouraged shoppers in some of its stores from reaching for translucent plastic bags in the fruit and vegetable aisles. The group told DW it's unclear when it will reach a conclusion on whether the scheme can be implemented in all stores. More to do Tobias Quast, an expert for waste and resources at Friends of the Earth in Berlin, welcomes the moves but dubs them "initial attempts" rather than a consumer u-turn: "These pilot schemes do show that it is completely possible to expand the environmentally friendly idea of reusable containers," he told DW. "But plans underway in German politics and retail are not ambitious enough, by far." Greener shopping habits, and policies such as a tax on firms producing plastic waste and a levy on plastic bags in stores, seem not to have stemmed the amount of plastic waste being produced. The most recent data from the EU's statistics office showed that German packaging in general, and plastic in particular, has climbed over recent years. Total packaging waste stood at 18.1 million tons in 2015 after climbing by around half a million tons for three years in a row. Environmental groups have also criticized new German packaging regulations, set to come into force in January 2019, for not going far enough. The law aims to strengthen recycling and reduce the prevalence of single-use bottles and packaging in general. Europe eyes tougher regulations Germany may soon get a further push to cut down on plastic from the EU. Citing the toll of plastic on our fish and our ocean, Brussels said it plans to make all plastic packaging in the bloc recyclable by 2030. European countries churn out 25 million tons of plastic waste every year. Less than a third is recycled. Observers noted how the bloc's new approach followed China's ban on imports of plastic waste, which may force the EU to either incinerate or dump its plastic. Read more: EU unveils plan to make all plastic packaging recyclable by 2030 Read more: Sieren's China: Beijing will take less of the world's trash Read more: 'Not enough action from EU on plastic' Startups around Europe are also experimenting with different approaches to wrapping produce. For instance, Prague-based Miwa has come up with refillable containers equipped with smart technology used to move foodstuffs from producers to consumers with minimum waste. The company has tested the process with a network of suppliers and outlets, and Miwa plans to open its first stores in fall 2018. The company, which recently won an innovation prize, was founded by Petr Baca, who worked for many years in packaging design and was acutely aware of the mounting waste problem. You just have to "notice the negative impact of of single-use packaging," he said. Baca told DW he believes technology is part of the answer in "helping people overcome the current mindset towards disposable packaging, which is largely responsible for the mass pollution all over the world." | [
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Best of Bundesliga: Premier League pair make their mark, Bayern stretch lead
The Bundesliga's 21st matchday brought the familiar sight of Bayern Munich extending their lead. But there was also room for something new, with Premier League pair Michy Batshuayi and Ademola Lookman shining on debut.
Good week for: Premier League loanees, RB Leipzig, Werder Bremen Bad week for: Goalkeepers, Cologne, Borussia Mönchengladbach Best bits: - Ademola Lookman (top) became the first Englishman to score in the Bundesliga for almost 13 years, with Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves the last to achieve the feat - also against Gladbach. The 20-year-old Everton loanee's solo effort saw RB Leipzig past Borussia Mönchengladbach and also helped his club to reach 100 points in their short Bundesliga history. - Michy Batshuayi made a dream start to his Borussia Dortmund career with two goals and an assist in a 3-2 win over Cologne. Coach Peter Stöger was under added pressure on his return to the club he coached for four years, following the departure of reigning Bundesliga top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He needn't have feared, as the Belgian striker chose the perfect time to show why Chelsea paid Marseille €38m to sign him two summers ago. - After that loss, it is now mathematically impossible for Cologne to win the league. There's always next year! Well, maybe... - Werder Bremen's Sebastian Langkamp made one of the shortest debuts in history. The former Hertha Berlin defender came on for nine seconds of his new side's 2-1 win over Schalke. That crucial victory came on Bremen's 119th birthday. - Thomas Müller brought up his 300th win as a Bayern player, after just 419 games. Their victory and slips ups from Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt means they are 18 points clear at the top. The Bavarians are on course to beat their 2014 record for the earliest title victory (Matchday 27) and the largest ever gap between first and second (currently 25 points in 2012/13). The most they'll need is seven wins from the remaining 13 games. Best Quotes - "He was lucky I didn't take him off again, he only brought one pair of boots with him from England and he was sliding around all over the pitch." Ralph Hasenhüttl on Leipzig's new boy and matchwinner Ademola Lookman. "These things happen, it just looks stupid because he is the last man. We all made mistakes on the pitch today." Werder Bremen forward Max Kruse comes to the backing of his goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka after his gaffe (see Bizarre Bundesliga). "Bremen got back into the game after my mistake and I’m really sorry to the team for that – I can only apologise." - Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann doesn't let himself off quite so easily. - "It's not so good for us, because we have a home game and can not take advantage of 20 minutes. We need the support of the fans, especially against opponents who are at eye level with us." Borussia Mönchengladbach's Matthias Ginter after Gladbach's fans were largely silent for the first 19 minutes in a protest against Red Bull's involvement with RB Leipzig. "We were knackered by the end. The pitch played it's part there." Mats Hummels, after returning to the Bayern Munich side after a four game absence. "Daniel Opare has repeatedly lied to us, consciously and despite being confronted with the facts," Augsburg sporting director Stefan Reuter after the club released first teamer Daniel Opare on Saturday. Injuries and suspensions Hoffenheim must do without midfielder Kerem Demirbay for several weeks due to an ankle injury picked up in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Hertha Berlin. Mario Götze missed Dortmund's Friday night win with a back complaint. It's unclear how long it will keep him out. Schalke will be without Matija Nastasic for their trip to runaway leaders Bayern Munich next Saturday. The Serbian defender is suspended after seeing red during his side's defeat to Werder Bremen. Hamburg's Kyriakos Papadopoulos will also miss next week's match away at Borussia Dortmund after he was sent off for a pair of yellow card offences in the 1-1 draw with Hannover. Bizarre Bundesliga Werder Bremen's win over Schalke was one to forget for both men between the sticks. First Bremen's Jiri Pavlenka allowed Yevhen Konoplyanka's speculative effort to slip through his fingers. Then Schalke stopper Ralf Fährmann made him feel a little better after fumbling a simple catch in to the path of Max Kruse, before being nutmegged as Bremen grabbed a late winner through Zlatko Junuzovic. | [
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Oxfam sex scandal: EU warns charities to uphold 'ethical standards'
Following the Oxfam sex scandal, the EU says charities risk losing their funding if they do not meet ethical standards. Oxfam's deputy chief executive has resigned while taking "full responsibility" for the scandal.
The European Union on Monday ordered British aid group Oxfam to explain its handling of a sexual misconduct scandal involving its staff paying prostitutes in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010. It also warned its NGO partners that the bloc would cut funding if they breached ethical standards, underscoring its "zero tolerance" approach towards misconduct. "We expect Oxfam to fully clarify the allegations with maximum transparency as a matter of urgency, and we're ready to review and, if needed, cease funding to any partner who is not living up to the required high ethical standards," spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters. Read more: Peacekeepers commonly barter goods for sex, says UN study Oxfam, which received €1.7 million ($2.1 million) in funding from the EU for work in Haiti in 2011, is being accused of covering up the episode and failing to warn other aid agencies about the employees involved, which allowed them to get jobs among vulnerable people in other disaster areas. Oxfam Deputy Chief Executive Penny Lawrence resigned from her position on Monday, taking " full responsibility" for the scandal. "Over the last few days we have become aware that concerns were raised about the behavior of staff in Chad as well as Haiti that we failed to adequately act upon," Lawrence said in a statement. "It is now clear that these allegations—involving the use of prostitutes and which related to behavior of both the country director and members of his team in Chad—were raised before he moved to Haiti," she added. Oxfam has denied accusations of a cover-up, saying it launched an internal investigation the moment it became aware of the allegations. The probe led to the sacking of four Oxfam employees, the charity said on Friday, adding that three people, including the country director, resigned before the end of the investigation. Read more: Haiti, the UN and the unintended effects of a peace mission British government threatens to cut funding British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman told reporters that Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt was meeting Oxfam representatives on Monday. "DFID (the Department for International Development) have taken action in this area to try and further strengthen systems to enforce a zero tolerance approach. There are a number of measures they have taken but we want to go further in this area," he said. DFID gave Oxfam nearly £32 million (€36 million) last year. The British government has also threatened to cut off funding to Oxfam or any other aid agency that doesn't cooperate with the government's efforts to rein in misconduct. Oxfam, which has announced new measures to tackle sexual abuse cases, said it would share with authorities all the information it had relating to the scandal in Haiti. ap, law/kms (AFP, AFP) | [
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Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dies
Zimbabwe's longtime opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has died at the age of 65. The former trade unionist was one of Robert Mugabe's strongest critics.
The vice president of the Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change party announced the death of Tsvangirai on Wednesday. The opposition leader passed away after a long battle with cancer. "I can confirm that he died this evening. The family communicated this to me," Elias Mudzuri said. "It is sad for me to announce that we have lost our icon and fighter for democracy," An opponent for the president It's not easy to beat somebody like Robert Mugabe at his own game. And winning over the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans was definitely a game that Mugabe had played for many years. But Tsvangirai did manage to beat him a number of times. There were the 2008 elections which Tsvangirai won, albeit with a margin too small to win a majority. Then there were reforms which would have given Mugabe more power and which Tsvangirai and other opposition leaders managed to stop. Tsvangirai was a man who didn't take part in the liberation and was 30 years younger than Mugabe, but who still managed to become the figurehead of Zimbabwe's opposition and Mugabe's biggest challenger. Read more: Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai hints he will step down "Without Morgan we could not have been talking about democracy," says Ostalos Gift Siziba, leader of the Zimbabwe National Students' Union. "He was fighting the authoritarian regime as far back as the 1990s when Robert Mugabe was still organized with a ruthless, violent machinery." A die-hard trade unionist Born in 1952 as a son of a farmer and mineworker, Tsvangirai left school early and worked for almost ten years in a nickel mine, finding his calling in the mine workers' union. As a unionist, he joined the new ruling ZANU-PF party at in 1980 at the dawn of independence. Like many at the time, he admired Mugabe and was later criticized for failing to condemn the crackdown on the opposition in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland in the late 1980s. Read more: Zimbabwe's new cabinet: Little sign of change It was only in the mid-1990s that Tsvangirai became openly critical of Mugabe's regime. "The first thing that I knew about Morgan Tsvangirai was the campaign that he did from Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. I saw planes dropping papers with a warning about the price of bread going up to 50 Zimbabwean dollars. At the time bread was below 5 dollars," remembers Farai Gwenhure from the Tajamuka/Sesjikile campaign, a youth movement that deals with the problems facing Zimbabwean young people. A short time later, the prices skyrocketed even higher. Food queues were a daily sight and bundles of Zimbabwean dollars soon became worthless. In the 2000s, the US dollar and South African rand replaced Zimbabwe's currency. Read more: Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe opposition leader, airlifted to South African hospital A voice of opposition "Tsvangirai led mass demonstrations and worker boycott demonstrations. He negotiated for workers' rights in Zimbabwe," recalls Morgan Komichi, deputy chair of Tsvangirai's MDC-T party. At the time, Tsvangirai, still a member of ZANU-PF, was the Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Together with civil society actors, student unions and church groups, he became a leader of the National Constitutional Assembly, a non-governmental organization which organized protests and became highly critical of the ZANU-PF government. In 1999 Tsvangirai formed the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which became Zimbabwe's largest opposition party. "Robert Mugabe wanted to build a one party state in this country — an idea which was bought by Zimbabweans," explains Siziba from the Zimbabwe National Students Union. "For Morgan Tsvangirai to introduce a new song of social democracy was not an easy struggle." In 2002, Tsvangirai made his first attempt as the MDC's presidential candidate. The 2000s saw him in and out of jail for charges or treason and an allegedly planning to kill President Mugabe. He was severely tortured in police custody, which left him hospitalized with a cracked skull. In 2008, when much of the world had turned its back on Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai was seen as the best person to deal with the political and economic crisis. At his second attempt at the presidency, he actually won the election, but lacked an outright majority to form a government. President Mugabe then won the re-run of the election, which Tsvangirai and the opposition boycotted on the grounds that they believed it would not be fair. What followed were months of negotiations and a power-sharing deal that was brokered by South Africa. Tsvangirai had not managed to defeat Mugabe outright, but he had managed to get foot into government as Prime Minister, with a shared ZANU-PF and opposition cabinet. "The DNA of politics in Zimbabwe has always been aligned to ZANU-PF," explains Gwenhure. "Everybody thought government means ZANU-PF. But when the [power-sharing deal] was signed under the leadership of Tsvangirai, everyone knew that there are some other Zimbabweans who can do it differently, stabilize the economy and so on." The unity government The unity government lasted one political term, but Tsvangirai felt that Mugabe and ZANU-PF were still calling the shots. He spent time touring the world in an attempt to repair relations with foreign governments and international institutions, but many Zimbabweans saw little change in their lives. In an interview with DW, Tsvangirai admitted that opposition support suffered as a result. "It was not a perfect agreement but I think we managed to save the country. There may have been some damage because of the demobilization that would have taken place in the opposition forces." In spite of personal tragedies, such as the death of his wife in a car crash which he survived, and the death of his grandson in a swimming pool a short while afterwards, Tsvangirai remained a career politician until the end. He lived to see the downfall of his rival Robert Mugabe, albeit not through a victory for the opposition but through a coup in Mugabe's own ranks. For the Zimbabwean opposition movement, as well as his own party which saw several splits over the years, he remains a respected icon. "Problems that happened in the party could be here and there but he has managed to hold on to the movement," says Komichi. "Whenever there were challenges or splits, people would remain inclined to him and up to now the movement is going on. He's the torch bearer, he's the visionary." In late 2017, Tsvangirai spoke of a new generation taking over the reins in Zimbabwe. "I am looking at the imminent prospect of us as the older generation leaving the levers of leadership to allow the younger generation to take forward this huge task that we started together," he said. Both the generation of Mugabe, who was 93 when he was forced to step down, and himself at 65, belong to the old guard. The question now is how the next generation will go forward. Privilege Musvanhiri contributed to this report. | [
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Tunisian FM: 'We are not yet a democracy'
Is Tunisia, the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring, slipping back into repression and chaos? Tim Sebastian meets Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui.
Since ousting its authoritarian President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia has struggled in its transition to a democracy. The Arab Spring began in the North African country and Tunisians have indeed enjoyed unprecedented political rights and civil liberties since the transition to democracy began. But authorities have struggled to control corruption, high unemployment and have faced new security threats. The country has seen nine governments since the revolution. None have been able to completely address these issues. In January 2018, a Freedom House report stated that Tunisia has come "dangerously close to losing its status as the only 'free' country to emerge from the Arab Spring." Two high-profile Islamist attacks in the country 2015 targeted the country's all-important tourism sector. The number of European tourists to Tunisia rapidly declined as did foreign investment. The country's public debt has risen 40 billion dinars (around 13.4 billion euros). Tunisia has struggled to contain an Islamist insurgency while reforming its security forces to respect human rights and build the economy. Tunisia's Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui admitted that his country still has a long way to go in a DW interview: "To be honest, we are not yet a democracy. (…) We are on the path of reaching a democratic system where transparency and the rule of law will be respected [100 percent]." Annual human rights protests In January 2018, on the seventh anniversary of the Arab Spring, thousands of Tunisians protested against austerity measures – the government had passed the 2018 Finance Act which increases taxes and raises fuel prices to solve the inflation. Seven years after the uprisings for "work, freedom and dignity" many young Tunisians feel that, beyond freedom of expression, they have gained little from the revolution. This is one of the reasons why the number of Tunisians trying to cross the Mediterranean by boat was higher in 2017 than at any time since the Arab Spring in 2011. A campaigner for one of the protesting organizations, Hamza Obeidi, told DW News in January 2018: "The Tunisian economic system has not improved after the revolution because it is still based on the policies adopted since independence." He said the country is still battling with the corruption of the Ben Ali regime, which ruled the country more than two decades. Obeidi said the current government's "war on corruption is merely media marketing." Arrested for distributing leaflets But Tunisia doesn't just have a problem with the economy. Several human rights organizations heavily criticized the government’s handling of the protests. Human Rights Watch accused the Tunisian police of beating up some of the people detained and denying their right to a lawyer. Some people were allegedly only arrested for distributing leaflets calling for social justice. Foreign Minister Jhinaoui, who called protest "a healthy sign" in a democracy, responded to the allegations: "Is mistreatment a policy, a deliberate policy in Tunisia today? I can tell you, no." "More than 700 people [were arrested], most of all of them they have been freed. Those who were involved in looting, vandalism, they went to the court and they have been persecuted according to the law. Tunisia today is a country which respects the role the rule of law." Security forces showed 'professionalism' He defended Tunisian police officers: "Our forces handled these protests with a lot of professionalism. There were no single casualties. These, there were rioters, there were (...) but no single casualties." Prime Minister Youssef Chahed vowed to end the critical period after the demonstrations: "People have to understand that the situation is extraordinary and their country has difficulties but we believe that 2018 will the last difficult year for Tunisians." In the years following the Arab Spring, extremists have started radicalizing and recruiting young people. The immediate danger of this development can be seen in the terror attacks in 2015 on the Bardo Museum and a beach front hotel in Sousse as well as an attack on the presidential guard in November 2015. Asked about how the country is coping with the terrorist threat, Foreign Minister Jhinaoui said: "Today, I think that our forces are better trained, well-equipped." Terrorism in Tunisia He said a US State Department report stating that terrorist groups continue to operate in the mountains of western Tunisia was ”too exaggerated” and said there is "no territory in Tunisia held by terrorists." "We are not like other Middle-Eastern countries where terrorists were able to hold the peripheries. Tunisia is completely under control of the state. (…) The last two years, Tunisia was immune [to] any terrorist threat." But more people have volunteered to join the so-called 'Islamic State' from Tunisia than from any other country. Now that 'IS' has collapsed in Syria and been removed from Iraq, several thousand Tunisians who had joined its ranks are believed to have returned home. When DW's Tim Sebastian confronted him with these numbers, Jhinaoui called them "exaggerated." According to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, Tunisia has no proper de-radicalization program in place for foreign fighters with many allegedly only being placed under house arrest after returning. The foreign minister said: "There is a comprehensive policy trying to de-radicalize all these young people. (…) If they come [to] any democratic country which is respecting the rule of law, these people, when they come back, of course they are held, interrogated by the police and, if found guilty, they go to the court and of course they will be prosecuted accordingly." | [
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Vatican charges 78-year-old ex-bank chief with €50 million embezzlement
The former chief of the Vatican's bank and his 94-year-old lawyer allegedly scraped profits from property sales. Pope Francis has been cracking down on financial impropriety.
The former president of the Vatican bank and his lawyer have been charged with embezzlement for the loss of more than €50 million ($62 million). Angelo Caloia, 78, was president of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) from 1999 to 2009. His lawyer, Gabriele Liuzzo, 94, was also charged while a third person under investigation, former IOR director general Lelio Scaletti, died several years ago. Read more: Vatican court convicts ex-hospital head over luxury housing scandal The IOR said in a statement that the pair were charged with alleged acts of embezzlement and self-laundering between 2001 and 2008, when the bank offloaded "a considerable part of its real estate assets." In December 2014 the Vatican's top prosecutor, Gian Piero Milano, froze accounts worth millions of euros held by the three men. He suspected the men of misrepresenting the sale prices of 29 buildings between 2001 and 2008 and pocketing the difference, according to a Reuters news agency report. The bank has been involved in various financial scandals over the past decades, with thousands of accounts being closed last year as part of a clean up effort by Pope Francis. The trial starts on March 15. aw/jlw (Reuters, AP) DW editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | [
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Soccer captain Davide Astori of Fiorentina dies, aged 31
Italian football has reacted with shock to the death of Fiorentina captain and defender Davide Astori. He was found dead early on Sunday in his hotel room in Udine, where the team was due to play a Serie A match.
Fiorentina captain and defender Davide Astori died of a sudden illness on Sunday morning at the age of 31, the Serie A club said, leaving Italian football in a state of shock. Italian media reported that Astori was found by his team-mates in the early hours in his hotel room in Udine, where the team was staying ahead of an Italian league match. The German news agency DPA said the cause of death appeared to be cardiac arrest. The center back had just become a father two weeks ago. Fiorentina released a brief statement saying it is "profoundly shaken" by Astori's death. "For this terrible and delicate situation, and above all out of respect for his family, we appeal to the sensitivity of the media," the club said. Former Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, a former mayor of Florence, said Astori's passing "seems impossible," adding that he was "in a state of disbelief and I cry with his family and all for Fiorentina." Football's world governing body FIFA said everyone within Italian football was huddling around Astori's family. Astori joined Fiorentina on loan in August 2015 and the club signed him outright a year later. He previously spent six seasons at Cagliari and one on loan at AS Roma. He made 14 appearances for Italy's national side between 2012 and 2017. Fiorentina's match against Udinese has been called off along with all of Sunday's other matches, including the derby between AC Milan and Inter Milan. AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso had asked before the announcement for all games to be called off. "I can't think of the derby after a tragedy like that," he said on Twitter. mm/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters) Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | [
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Bundesliga: Mario Gomez at the double as Stuttgart go seven unbeaten
A return to the international fold was celebrated in style as Stuttgart grabbed another three points on the road. The win lifts them to eighth in the table and an outside shot at European qualification.
Freiburg 1-2 Stuttgart, Schwarzwald-Stadion (Petersen 53' — Gomez 4', 75') Never mind a return to the national squad, on this evidence, Gomez will have given Germany coach Jogi Löw plenty to chew as he considers his starting XI to face Spain next Friday night. The veteran striker staked his claim with a brace that gave Stuttgart a sixth win in their last seven league games, lifting the club into European contention. It also showed why he remains one of the best around when it comes to giving himself that crucial yard of space in the penalty area. His first goal arrived in only the fourth minute of a boisterous encounter, which often lacked quality but rarely lacked passion. Gomez drifted into space to meet Dennis Aogo's inswinging freekick to give the visitors a flying start. He should have doubled his side's lead in the 13th minute. A poorly placed Robin Koch backpass sent the 32-year old clean through, but he failed to make decent contact. It looked as if he might live to regret it, too, after another experienced German striker leveled the contest with a moment of brilliance. Nils Petersen has genuine cause to feel aggrieved at not being called-up for Germany's pre-World Cup friendlies. He is, after all, the highest scoring German in the Bundesliga this season, and his goal here was disptached with sublime efficiency. After racing onto Nicolas Höfler's through-ball, the Freiburg captain took a touch away from a chasing defender and lifted the ball deftly over the oustretched fingertips of Ron-Robert Zieler. It was his 13th league goal of the campaign. But it was Gomez, and Stuttgart, who would have the last laugh. When Andreas Beck's searching cross in the 75th minute found the former Bayern man, the outcome was inevitable. His initial header was straight at Alexander Schwolow, but ricocheted straight back to him for the simplest of winners. Stuttgart find themselves just three points off Europa League qualification, with seven games still to play. An already dramatic battle for European places just found a new contender. | [
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Russia votes: Vladimir Putin is counting on female turnout
The Kremlin has put its faith in one particular group of voters for Russia's presidential election: women. Will a large turnout by female voters propel President Vladimir Putin to an overwhelming victory?
For all intents and purposes, Russia's March 18 presidential election was decided long ago. The incumbent, Vladimir Putin, who is running for the fourth time, has a decisive lead in all the polls. But the Kremlin's unofficial goal of achieving a landslide victory — "70 percent plus X" — seems to be in jeopardy because of a possible low voter turnout. The renowned Levada Center opinion research institute estimates that only 52 to 54 percent of eligible voters will show up, which would be historically low. However, state-affiliated opinion pollsters are forecasting higher figures. Voter turnout in Russia has recently declined dramatically. It suffered a serious slump in the parliamentary elections in 2016 in the densely populated capital, Moscow, falling to about 35 percent. And now the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was banned from running in the presidential election, is calling for a boycott. Against this backdrop, the Kremlin is apparently now, among other things, counting on women: the largest and most influential voter group in Russia. Many observers have described Putin's election campaign as unusually colorless — apart from his unexpected presentation of new nuclear weapons during the state of the nation address in early March. The introduction of monthly child benefit payments is one of the few initiatives that has stood out in the campaign so far. Putin announced that measure in late November, a few days before declaring his candidacy. The new regulation, from which hundreds of thousands of families stand to benefit, came into force in January. That was perfectly timed for the start of the intense final phase of the election campaign. There are also other indications of the particularly important role of women in this election. The central election commission has produced a television advertisement especially targeting women. In a half-minute video, they are celebrated as "gentle, yet strong," but also for their ability to "unite and lead." The main message at the end is "come and vote, and bring the whole family." There is no such message in a TV commercial that was produced for men. In other videos, that are in some instances anonymous and are mainly distributed via social media, to address younger audiences, women are presented as responsible leaders who are insisting on voting in the presidential election. In one of the most well-known commercials, a wife sets her alarm clock in the evening so as not to miss the chance to vote the following day. Her husband makes fun of her, but then has a nightmare and ends up going to vote as well. Most loyal electorate Statistics suggest what is behind this approach. At the beginning of 2017, there were around 10 million more women in Russia than men. Retired women make up one-third of the total population, and there are twice as many women in this age group as men. Older Russian women are regarded as highly disciplined when it comes to voting and they usually support Putin. According to a survey conducted in mid-February by the state opinion research institute WZIOM, about 76 percent of the women interviewed want to vote for Putin for president. Among men, Putin has almost 62 percent of the vote. For years, Putin has cultivated his image as an athletic, fit and potent man. As part of this, he has presented himself in pictures with a naked upper body. In the middle of the election campaign, the 65-year-old again proved himself to be media-savvy by appearing bare-chested while diving into ice-cold water on the Christian Orthodox holiday of Epiphany on January 19. Russian women would seem to have had an unbroken devotion to Putin. This has not even been affected by wars, for example, in Syria, or by legislation changes that have led to milder penalties for domestic violence. Even controversial statements seem to be without consequences. "I'm not a woman, I don't have difficult days," Putin said in a documentary film by US director Oliver Stone. His allusion to female physiology caused a stir on social media last year. He did not want to offend anyone, the president said at the time, it was just "the nature of things." An anomaly in this election is that this is the first time that Putin has run for president without a first lady. He and his wife, Lyudmila, to whom he was married for many years, split up five years ago. The divorce doesn't seem to have bothered his female support base. There has been speculation that he has a new partner, but nothing has been confirmed. Shortly before the start of the election campaign, Putin did not rule out the possibility of there being a female president of Russia. There has been criticism for years that the largest section of the population is underrepresented in Russian politics. In the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, the proportion of women is currently about 15 percent, slightly higher than in previous periods/ in the past. In early 2011, the women's rights movement Otlitschnizy (1A-Girl) was founded in Moscow. Some media have described the movement as pro-Kremlin. One of its stated objectives is for there to be a female Russian president in 2018. The initiative received support from, among others, Lyudmila Narusova, a Federal Council senator. Narusova is the widow of the former St Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, who was Putin's mentor in the 1990s. Otlitschnitsy quickly disappeared from the headlines and appears to have become inactive. Butthe journalist Ksenia Sobchak — Narusova's daughter — is the only woman among eight presidential candidates in 2018. She doesn't have much of a chance, and her role in the election has been controversial. Some even suspect that one of the 36-year-old Sobchak's goals, like the Kremlin's, is to boost voter turnout. | [
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Will China's regulator reshuffle turn all state media into propaganda?
Beijing has announced a plan to consolidate film, news and publishing under one regulatory body. With control over all media content, China's Communist Party can project its ideal image and quash dissent.
China introduced a round of media regulation restructuring on Wednesday, aiming to improve the country's image domestically and abroad by centralizing film, news and publishing regulations under the Communist Party's publicity department. Announced through the state-run Xinhua News agency, the move is part of Beijing's plan to impose stricter surveillance on media content that undermines the Communist Party's message. The announcement stated that the consolidation will ensure that all broadcast media "acts as the party's mouth piece." This includes everything from films, television and video games to books and radio. Based on the plan, the publicity department would have total control over media content while setting the tone for Beijing's messages domestically and abroad. Several state media outlets, including CCTV, China Global Television Network, China Radio International and China National Radio, would be merged into one broadcaster called "Voice of China," which would broadcast content tailored for foreign audiences. Spreading 'socialist values' By consolidating control of all media content, China's President Xi Jinping is attempting to recentralize Beijing's dominance over all aspects of politics and society in China. Merging multiple state media outlets creates a streamlined institution that can dominantly project the Communist Party's ideal image. According to David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project and a fellow of the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, the restructuring would increase the Party's message control while also seeking ways to expand the dissemination of the Party's agenda and ideal image. "The Party's idea is a highly centralized media network, with pooled resources, that can be innovative in its production and distribution of messaging," Bandurski told DW. Read more: Sieren’s China: Old-school show of power China accuses Australian media of racism and paranoia To remain connected with social trends, the Communist Party in recent years has also been focusing on spreading "socialist values" through different cultural assets such as film, music and video games. However, Bandurski predicts that Beijing's new approach of expanding its soft power through a single centralized media outlet would struggle to be responsive and to understand its audience. "It has always been a deep challenge for Chinese state media to push their products abroad," said Bandurski. "These latest moves only compound this aspect of the problem." In comparison with major international news outlets, the international arm of China's state-run CCTV faces challenges in growing its audience and being seen as a propaganda mouthpiece of the Chinese government. In recent years, China has invested heavily in expanding CCTV's international reach, opening two foreign production centers, CCTV Africa and CCTV America. According to a 2014 report by the Reuters institute for the study of Journalism, CCTV is available in 140 foreign countries with seven international channels broadcasting in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese. The report also said that in contrast to Western broadcasters closing foreign offices, CCTV is expanding. Its headquarters in Beijing cost more that $ 1 billion (€ 0.8 billion). Read more: Germany 'stagnating' in cultural struggle with Russia, China Opinion: China's Xi Jinping — the man who decides the fate of billions Challenges to legitimacy Bandurski said that Beijing would have to deal with growing international awareness of its aggressive posture in exploiting the open media environment in the West. The Reuters report said that CCTV didn't face a resource problem but lacked "personnel skilled in Western content production and values." CCTV also faces a public perception problem. "The low popularity of CCTV and its limited relationship networks mean that Chinese correspondents are not fully accepted as trustworthy and their reports are often doubted or rejected," the report said. Instead of blocking China entirely out of the global media landscape, Bandurski suggested that other countries should remain cautious about the underlying agenda of China's state-owned media. "We should ensure in our own societies that we understand and acknowledge the repression behind these state-led voices," he said. China's soft power push The restructuring also strengthens China's "United Front Work Department," a clandestine government agency responsible for advancing China's influence and interests around the world. It is at the forefront of China's growing soft power campaign. As part of the restructuring announced Wednesday by Xinhua, the United Front will now oversee ethnic and religious issues and China's foreign affairs. The agency works by attempting to improve relationships between the Communist Party and non-Communist elites, including other political parties, former government officials, religious groups and Chinese living overseas Xi Jinping has referred to the United Front as a "magic weapon" for China's soft power. To counterbalance China's growing ambitions abroad, Bandurski said that other countries need to understand how China exploits the United Front strategies worldwide through more responsive research. "China has made its intention brutally clear, so our eyes need to stay open" said Bandurski. | [
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Germany's fertility rate hits 43-year high
But women in Germany are still not having enough babies to ensure the total population stays constant. The new figures do however put Germany near the European average.
Germany in 2016 recorded its highest fertility rate since 1973, the Federal Statistics Office reported on Wednesday. The latest figures are part of an upward trend for Germany, Europe's biggest country by population, which has suffered from low birth rates since the 1970s. Read more: Let's talk about overpopulation... What the numbers tell us: The fertility rate — the average number of births per woman — was 1.59 in 2016, a considerable increase from 1.5 in 2015. The 2016 rate was the highest recorded since 1973. Experts consider 2.1 to be the level at which the population in a developed country replaces itself with each generation. The fertility rate for women with German citizenship increased from 1.43 in 2015 to 1.46 in 2016. The rate for foreign women increased from 1.95 in 2015 to 2.28 in 2016. Slightly more than 790,000 babies were born. That was around 54,500 more — a 7 percent increase — compared to 2015. German women gave birth to just over 605,000 babies. Foreign women gave birth to just below 185,000 babies. 2016 was the fifth year in a row in which the total number of newborns increased. The last time women in Germany had as many children was 1996. Read more: Record rise in babies with foreign mothers in Germany Why are there more babies? The Federal Statistics Office said women between the ages of 30 and 37 were more frequently having children. Many of them did not have children when they were younger, which was in stark contrast to older women, who more frequently had children before they turned 30. Middle of the EU pack: Germany's 1.59 fertility rate put it near the 1.6 average for all 28 European Union countries in 2016. France had the highest rate with 1.92, while Spain and Italy had the lowest with 1.34. Read more: Polish government urges citizens to multiply like rabbits Turkish mothers top: Women with Turkish citizenship gave birth to the most babies (21,000) among non-Germans. They were followed by Syrian women (18,000 births) and Polish women (12,000 births). Why are the 2016 figures only now available? The Statistics Office said a new method for processing the data had led to "significant delays" in the publication of the data. Read more: Germany allows 'third sex' option at birth | [
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Scientists harvest Antarctic greenhouse vegetables
German scientists have harvested their first vegetables to be grown without earth or daylight in Antarctica. The greenhouse is a test run for growing plants in space and combating vegetable shortages in harsh climates.
Cucumbers, radishes and lettuce are just some of the green delights that have been thriving in the experimental EDEN-ISS greenhouse in Antarctica. The project follows in the footsteps of successful US operations cultivating crops in the harsh climate. Despite temperatures in Antarctica falling below -20 degrees Celsius (-4 F) and the sun barely coming above the horizon, the first harvest from the project led by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) demonstrates how astronauts on the moon and Mars could be supplied with fresh food in the future. Read more: Our Beautiful Planet: Antarctica After the first three weeks, DLR engineer and Antarctic gardener Paul Zabel had gathered 3.6 kilograms (7.9 pounds) of lettuce, 70 radishes and 18 cucumbers. He spends about three to four hours a day tending to the Antarctic garden. "After sowing the seeds in mid-February, I had to deal with some unexpected problems, such as minor system failures and the strongest storm in more than a year," Zabel said. "Fortunately, all these things could be fixed and overcome." Read more: Antarctica is melting from below and that's bad news "We have learned a lot about self-sufficient plant breeding in the last few weeks, it has become clear that Antarctica is an ideal test field for our research," said project manager Daniel Schubert. So far, all of the planned plants have grown successfully in the greenhouse, including radishes, salad leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and herbs including basil, parsley, chives and coriander. But, Schubert said, "You have to be patient when growing strawberries. Here we are still waiting for successful sowing." Read more: Gardening in the city The project is being carried out with the Alfred Wegener Institute and the greenhouse is located about 400 meters (1300 feet) from the institute's Neumeyer Station III. 'Fresh from the garden' There are currently 10 people toughing out the winter at Neumeyer Station III and the Antarctic harvest came just in time — the fresh vegetables from the last delivery at the end of February had been used up. "It was something special to see the first fresh salad from Antarctica," said station manager Bernhard Gropp. "It tasted as if we had harvested it fresh from the garden." Editor's note (06.04.2018): The original version of this article incorrectly stated that this crop of vegetables was the first to be harvested in Antarctica. That is not the case, it was merely the first harvest for this particular German Aerospace Center project. The McMurdo Station and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station have both successfully run hydroponic greenhouse operations, with the McMurdo Station starting in the 1980s. We apologize for the error. Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | [
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Gulf Stream system at weakest point in 1,600 years
A further weakening of the system of currents in the Atlantic Ocean could wreak havoc on the Earth's climate. But there isn't too much reason to be overly concerned about a looming ice age — at least not yet.
Two new studies have found that the system of currents in the Atlantic Ocean is exceptionally weak — and its strength, or lack thereof, could have serious ramifications for the global climate. The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) — also known as the Gulf Stream system — is often described as part of the global ocean conveyor belt. It transports warm water from the Atlantic toward the Arctic, which influences the relatively mild climate of Western Europe. In the northern Atlantic, this surface water eventually cools and sinks to the bottom of the ocean, where another current transports it south to Antarctica before circulating back to the Gulf Stream and beginning the cycle anew. This entire process is known as thermohaline circulation. However, a team of researchers from University College London (UCL) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have offered evidence from marine sediment that the AMOC is currently at its weakest point in the past 1,600 years. Another study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) used climate model data and historical records of sea surface temperatures to reveal that the AMOC has been rapidly weakening since 1950 as a result of rising temperatures linked to global warming. Both studies, which will be published together in the April 12 issue of Nature, strongly suggest that the AMOC has weakened over the past by 150 years by at least 15 percent to 20 percent. A new understanding of the climate Scientists have been studying the changes in the AMOC for decades, mostly through the use of computer simulations that predicted the circulation would slow down as a result of global warming. However, the new studies represent the most compelling evidence yet that the AMOC is weakening. David Thornalley, one of the lead researchers of the UCL/WHOI study and senior lecturer at the UCL, said the findings will help scientists understand the longer-term context of how the AMOC is changing. "We only have very short, direct observations since 2004, and that means it's been very difficult to gain any longer-term perspective of the decline we've been seeing over the last 10 years and if that's part of any longer-term trend," he told DW. "Our study has used new techniques with marine sediment core — so relatively direct evidence — to extend, in effect, our observations and allow us to place what's happening today in a longer-term context." Levke Ceasar, a PhD student and a researcher with the PIK study, says the results confirm what scientists already assumed about the AMOC. "Climate models have predicted that the overturning circulation in the Atlantic will slow down due to global warming," she told DW. "Our study shows that yes, it is already happening. Since the mid-20th century we have seen a slowdown of the overturning circulation by about 15 percent." Read more: Arctic warmer than Europe is a worrying sign of climate change What does this mean for the planet? As an important component of our planet's climate system, if the AMOC continues to weaken, weather patterns could be disrupted across the United States and Europe, and even the African Sahel region. "The broader climate system as a whole has a lot of factors and a lot of complexity, and researchers are trying to better understand that," Thornalley said. The AMOC is responsible for warming places like northwest Europe by up to 4 to 6 degrees Celsius. "If that were to weaken, then you would lose that source of heat. Because it transports heat around the globe, it kind of helps determine where climate patterns are." For example, if the AMOC weakens, there could be a shift in tropical rainfall belts or strengthening of the winter storms that cross across the Atlantic into Europe. It may also cause a more rapid increase in sea level along the East Coast of the United States due to changes in ocean density. However, Ceasar says the exact impact it may have on the climate is unlear. "We think that the AMOC may already have an impact on the weather in Europe," she told DW. "For example, the 2015 European heat wave has been linked to cold [sea surface] temperatures in the sub-polar Atlantic." Although this sounds like a paradox, it happens since "low, sub-polar sea surface temperatures change the air pressure distribution that channels warm air into Europe and can lead to heat waves," she explained. Read more: Climate change and extreme weather: Science is proving the link Worst-case scenario Scientists don't necessarily think the Earth could enter a new ice age as a result of the Gulf Stream. In fact, the theory that the Little Ice Age, which occurred between 1460 and 1550, was linked to the weakening of the AMOC has been disproven by the latest study from UCL/WHOI. A worst-case scenario, however, could result in a complete shutdown of the AMOC. Farfetched though it may seem, scientists have said that based on what they know, this is not a totally impossible scenario. "The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change research says a complete shutdown has something like a 5 to 10 percent chance of happening by 2100," Thornalley said. There are still improvements to be made in our understanding of the system, he added. "There is a possibility that a shutdown could occur, and that is why we invest money into monitoring this system. Although it may be unlikely, if it did happen, it would have very severe consequences." Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | [
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Sieren's China: Economic growth better than expected
Despite the threat of a trade war with the US, China's economic growth has exceeded expectations, allowing an opportunity to address certain problems, says DW's Frank Sieren.
US President Donald Trump was surely not pleased about the news, perhaps he even foamed at the mouth. According to the latest figures from Beijing, China's GDP between January and March this year grew by 6.8 percent more than during the same period in 2017. This is even more than the 6.7 percent that certain experts had predicted. It is also more than the government's original goal of 6.5 percent. The result comes after the closure of several factories that were harmful to the environment. The government also put a brake on loans and clamped down on shadow banking, stopped insurance speculation and slowed down the real estate boom. The message is that China can maintain robust growth even if it puts limits on itself. Of course, as always, one can question whether the figures from China are correct. The president probably does not even know whether the real figure is 6.6 or 6.7 percent. However, it is clear that the general trend of recent decades seems reliable. What is also clear is that in future, exports will play a smaller role for China's economy. Ten years ago, they made up 35 percent of China's GDP. Now, they comprise 18 percent. Growth in urban centers Consumption in China now makes up 77.8 percent of the economic growth, having increased by 20 percent since last year. Compared to the US, where it makes up 70 percent of the economy, there is still potential in China, which has at least four times as many inhabitants as the US and yet only now has attained the per capita income of Macedonia (GDP per capita: $15,200 in 2017). It is not totally off the wall to conceive that China could one day tell the US that it can no longer supply its market because it needs to meet its own domestic demand. Read more: Sieren's China: Stronger than presumed China is already producing more and more for its own market. Chinese consumers are buying more than ever, from make up to clothes to technical devices, after long having been considered people who preferred to save. In urban centers in particular the market for services and domestic consumption are driving the economy. Chinese people are buying more and more Chinese products. Ten years ago, there may have been no alternative to the iPhone, which is number four in China, but now there are many. Last year, the three top phones in China were made by Chinese companies. Innovation-driven boom The fact that Beijing invested in key industries of the future such as IT and artificial intelligence is already paying off. Online traders always know better what customers want. Apps made by Alibaba and WeChat are making it extremely easy to consume. Smartphone users can order vegetables, cinema tickets and train tickets by app; they can pay the rent, hire out bikes and much more. China at the same time has learned to produce in a more efficient way. In the first quarter of 2018, it produced 30 percent more industrial robots than in the year before and 139 percent more electric cars. Stricter rules for buying real estate apparently did not frighten away investors but simply increased trust in the market's stability. The real estate sector grew by 10.4 percent — more than in the past three years. Demand is high because people continue to migrate from rural areas to urban centers; and not only migrant workers but people who have already been successful in rural areas and want to do the same in the big cities. Consumer trust is higher than in the past three years this does not look set to change. Chinese families are generally not in debt — instead they are sitting on reserves. Domestic debt as a whole might be high but this is not an issue as long as China doesn't have any debts abroad and has access to huge currency reserves. Bad news for Donald Trump! US only plays a marginal role Even if trade were to completely stop between the US and China, it would only affect China's growth by between 0.3 and 0.6 percent according to the Beijing-based economy professor, Hu Xingdou. This is not likely to happen anyway. Thanks to its "New Silk Road" project, China is already creating new markets to sell its exports, in South Asia, Latin America and Africa for example. Therefore, the current dispute with the EU about transparent investment conditions will also only have a marginal impact. China's exchange of goods with ASEAN states alone has grown by 9 percent to $279 billion (€227 billion). When the Silk Road is finished, it will link 65 countries and unite some 40 percent of the global economy. Of course, the project is skewed in China's favor and it will get the biggest slice of the cake. It is also intentional that the US be marginalized. Of course, China has its weak points too. The gap between the rural and urban parts of the country remains a challenge for Beijing. This is reflected in the quarterly figures by slow retail figures in rural areas. The debts of state businesses and official budgets are also growing. Inefficient state companies that have high debts have to be reformed or closed and the overcapacity in state, cement and aluminum production has to be balanced. But with this good news for the economy, Beijing has a good base for solving such problems step by step. Frank Sieren has lived in Beijing for over 20 years. | [
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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas starts first visit to Africa
After being at the center of attention in 2017, Germany's Africa policy has somewhat stagnated. But Foreign Minister Heiko Maas wants to keep communications open and is visiting Ethiopia and Tanzania this week.
Germany's Africa policy is back in the spotlight, this time at the highest level. Only six weeks after assuming office, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is making his first visit to Africa. On the itinerary are Ethiopia and Tanzania — two countries with which Germany maintains close historical and developmental ties. Both also host important state alliances, such as the African Union (AU) and the East African Community (EAC). Although Ethiopia achieved double-digit economic growth, it continues to be accused of human rights violations. In Tanzania, after an energetic start, so-called reform president John Magufuli seems to be running out of steam and his country, while remaining relatively stable politically, continues to rely on Western donors. Africa fatigue? For Germany's federal government, things have quieted down when it comes to issues related to Africa. In 2017, new initiatives for Africa came thick and fast. The continent was the focus of Germany's G20 presidency and numerous African heads of state came to the German capital. "In 2017, there was lots of Africa. Maybe a bit too much for German politics," Africa expert Helmut Asche from the University of Mainz told DW. "Although one must say that not so much has been implemented, also by the German side, as we would have wished." Neither the "Marshall Plan with Africa," proclaimed by Development Minister Gerd Müller, nor the Pro! Africa initiative — launched by Maas' Social Democrat Party (SPD) colleague Brigitte Zypries in her turn as economy minister from January 2017 until this March — could convince skeptics. The German government's enthusiasm for Africa has faded as a chorus of critics denounce rivalries between ministries and policy focuses more on stemming migration. "A great expectation was aroused among our friends in Africa, and we have the impression here, as they do, that nothing much has been been done yet," Stefan Liebig, the chairman of the German-African Business Association, told DW. Read more: Germany's Africa Year: Much goodwill but little action Strengthening African regional alliances Talks with the AU and the EAC are on the agenda for Mass' first trip to Africa. The message from Berlin — which has caught on in reform-oriented countries in the south — is that regional integration is the key to development and stability. Indeed, the AU, which has its headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, has evolved into an increasingly important player, with which Germany has close links through its long-standing support of the Peace and Security Council. Rwandan president and current AU Assembly chair Paul Kagame has launched an ambitious reform agenda designed to make the union more financially independent and more effective at cutting through red tape. Further south in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro in Arusha, Tanzania, the EAC — founded in 2000 and based on the European Union (EU) model — is a pioneer in regional integration, having its own customs union, a single market and a single customs territory. Over the years Germany has provided €285 million ($341 million) in financial support. But things haven't been running smoothly for some time and the pace of reform of members such as Tanzania and Rwanda diverges considerably. "The East African Community was well on its way towards becoming a customs union, with free trade within a consolidated and cohesive economic space," Asche told DW. "Then the Europeans came along with their own economic partnership agreements. This is a piece of policy failure and Minister Maas can do a lot to rectify things." Many problems in Ethiopia and Tanzania The bilateral relationship with Tanzania is also worrying: At the end of 2015, President John Magufuli was elected, and quickly began to straighten things up and was celebrated by both locals and partners alike. Now he's clamping down on journalists, bloggers, opposition figures and even the churches. "This is how one can be fooled," Asche told DW. "We had hoped that Magufuli would remedy inefficiencies and corruption." However, Asche believes the president's reform policies have deteriorated into "absurd repression and completely erratic political behavior. One should really be concerned by the current political system and state of democracy in Tanzania, which was comparatively stable in recent decades." In Ethiopia, fresh winds of change are blowing. New Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced numerous reforms during his early days in office which offer hope for Africa's second-most populated country, with 100 million, mostly young people. But the much-maligned state of emergency remains in force — and this could become a stumbling block for the young prime minister. "It would be great if Maas could talk to Abiy," says Asche. "The change which has taken place could really herald a better future." One should not overburden Heiko Maas' visit to Africa with excessively high expectations. If it ends with the realization that Germany's Africa policy needs to become more coherent and should not get lost within sometimes-contradictory political initiatives, then that is already a success. In any case, the real work to be done is in Berlin, not in Africa, says Liebig. "I believe that the tasks of the foreign minister do not lie so much in Africa. Rather, he should do his homework here and must sit down with his colleagues in government to think about how many of the measures announced can actually be implemented." | [
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Only 4 of Germany's 128 Eurofighter jets combat ready — report
The report is the latest to cast doubt on Germany's military capabilities and readiness. It raises questions of whether Germany is really meeting its NATO commitments.
Only a handful of the German Air Force's Eurofighter jets are combat ready, according to a report in the magazine Der Spiegel published Wednesday. Due to a technical problem with the defense system of the combat aircraft only 10 of the Luftwaffe's 128 Eurofighters are mission ready, according to the report. The problem stems from a cooling liquid leak in the aircraft's wing pod sensors, which are used to recognize hostile jets or incoming attacks. Without the defense system the Eurofighter jets are not combat ready. The shortage of aircraft means that Germany is unable to fulfill its NATO obligations to have 82 combat ready jets for crisis situations. Read more: How does Germany contribute to NATO? The wing pod issue is only one problem facing the Luftwaffe. Der Spiegel reported that there are only enough missiles to make only four Eurofigher jets ready for combat. The German military confirmed to Der Spiegel the technical problems with the Eurofighter, but would not comment on the number of combat-ready aircraft, given that this information is classified. The revelation in Der Spiegel is the latest report to cast doubt on Germany's military readiness and capabilities. Read more: German military short on tanks for NATO mission Germany's lack of military readiness 'dramatic,' says Bundeswehr commissioner Accounting tricks In a Bundeswehr document provided to the German parliament last year, the military classified 39 of 128 jets as combat ready. A Bundeswehr spokesperson told Der Spiegel that the "daily actual availability" of the Eurofighter right now is better than last year. However, Der Spiegel said that the military appeared to count any Eurofighter that can fly as ready, even if they are only available for training or maneuvers without missiles or defense systems. "These jets are barred from participating in real deployments, such as air patrols in the eastern flank of NATO," Der Spiegel wrote. Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | [
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Learning to respect wild animals again
That bear or kangaroo might look cute, but it's a wild animal, not a pet. Wildlife veterinarian Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach spoke to DW about the need for humans to learn to respect that most basic rule of nature.
In the 1969 movie Kes, a young English teenager called Billy Casper learns the craft of falconry so he can train a wild kestrel. In one scene, he explains why he hates people asking him if his "pet hawk" is tame. "Is it heck tame! Hawks can't be tamed," he says in exasperation. "It's wild and it's fierce and it's not bothered about anybody." Young Billy would surely despair at reports this week from Australia of wild kangaroos being fed junk food by tourists. In recent years, there have been regular reports of inappropriate feeding and other ill-advised behavior by tourists around wild animals in various parts of the world. Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach is a wildlife veterinarian who has worked for the international non-profit animal welfare organization World Animal Protection for more than 10 years. He spoke to Global Ideas about his concerns with the way in which humans interact with wild animals in the smartphone age. *** Global Ideas: We regularly read stories about difficult interactions between humans and wild animals, often to do with unwise feeding or tourist activity. How big a problem are such interactions? Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach: These instances happen really quite regularly and only the ones that are captured on camera make it into the media. These interactions can lead to injuries or diseases and can trigger problematic behavior in animals that then poses a health and safety risk for people. With the feeding, there are some very particular problems. First of all, the food that is provided by people to animals is often not adequate for the wild animals. Wild animals have very specific dietary needs and they are usually quite capable of finding food themselves. What people believe they want to eat often tends to be junk food and can be toxic, poisonous and can cause harm to the animals. Food with high sugar content has been proven to lead to some form of addiction. So if the animals don't get that food for a while, they tend to become very aggressive and to not be able to source their normal food as well as before. The whole thing about people feeding them is that it changes the behavior of the animal. With the example of a dolphin or with kangaroos, as soon as you feed them, you make them associate humans with food. So the wild animal that normally stays away from the human will be more likely to go to them. Sometimes this can be really dangerous because people don't know how to deal with that. Also, there is the issue of people feeding animals from vehicles. People drive into a national park and they throw some food out of the windows. That is problematic because the animals start associating vehicles with the food. So they tend to gather around the roads more often and that leads to more accidents. Has the problem gotten worse with the advent of the smartphone and all that goes with that, such as selfie sticks, social media narcissism and so on? I don't have any study to back this up but my personal feeling is that it has definitely increased. The intent of people to take selfies or videos of themselves and the attraction of posting a picture with a wild animal on a social media platform has increased the problem. People take all sorts of risks or unnecessary actions to get that picture. That is very problematic. Even aggressive behavior is sometimes felt as being really funny and "cute” so people trigger those behaviors in animals, just to get the footage. People don't understand anymore that these are wild animals and they don't understand that they have a natural fear of people that is healthy for both animals and people. We live in an age where many wild animals are endangered. Are there real conservation concerns over the way humans misguidedly attempt to feed or take pictures with animals? Yes, there definitely is. You change behavior in these animals and you could possibly introduce diseases into a healthy wild animal population by having people interacting but you also change behavior in that they become less autonomous in sourcing their own food. They stick around communities and settlements more. Then you trigger human-wildlife conflict situations. Human-wildlife conflict situations lead to a backlash against wild animals. In general, people have forgotten how to deal with wild animals in their environment. Take the example of wolves that are now returning to Western Europe. It is something that people have no natural reaction to anymore and don't know how to manage. What's the solution? Having worked so closely with wild animals, do you think human beings have a basic lack of respect for them? Do we need to be educated in order to reevaluate our relationship with wild animals? I think respect is the biggest issue here. People see wild animals as a commodity or as a funny background for a picture but they have lost that understanding that these are complex animals that need to live in the wild on their own terms. Bringing that back is very important. We see that tourists engage in all sorts of wildlife interactions, be it petting a tiger in an enclosure or riding elephants. They don't understand what it means to the animal that is being kept in the cage or in chains all the time. People are attracted to wild animals but we need to use that interest as a vessel to educate people to respect those wild animals for what they are - wild animals and not a commodity or a backdrop. There are many types of wild animals living in European habitats such as foxes, badgers and squirrels that are perhaps not as dangerous as those in other parts of the world, but does the same logic still apply? The same thing applies. Squirrels are a good example but also seagulls and deer. Feeding these animals in the wild can lead to problematic behavior and the same issues that apply to macaques and kangaroos. A squirrel may not injure you as badly as a kangaroo but it can still bite you or become a nuisance so people tend to react to it or try to kill them. In Europe, the bear issue is important as well. In North America, people in national parks have had huge issues for many years with bears raiding camping grounds because they have gotten used to the foods that people carry with them. I think this is very applicable to pretty much all species anywhere in the world. It sounds as though the best advice for humans is to simply leave wild animals alone? Absolutely. That is exactly what we recommend. We recommend people to avoid any direct interaction. Observe wild animals in a responsible way without intruding on them and to leave wild animals in the wild, where they belong. This interview was conducted by Arthur Sullivan, and was edited and condensed for clarity. | [
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My Europe: Stop glorifying fascists!
Europe needs a common culture of remembrance that rejects the fascist crimes of the past. That means Croatian, Hungarian and Latvian Nazi collaborators should not be glorified, says journalist Krsto Lazarevic.
Last Saturday, some 10,000 people gathered in the Austrian town of Bleiburg to commemorate the deaths of 45,000 Ustasha soldiers. The Croatian fascist organization collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. In May 1945, Ustasha fighters fled from Yugoslavia into British-occupied territory. They were handed over to Josep Broz Tito's partisans and killed. At the recent gathering to mourn their deaths, Hitler salutes, Swastika tattoos and fascist Ustasha symbols were ubiquitous. As were attendees proclaiming "Za dom Spremni" ("Ready for the homeland") — Croatia's equivalent to Nazi Germany's "Sieg Heil." Attendees claimed this was merely a "commemorative event" but critics have called its "Europe's largest Nazi get-together." The gathering was organized by the Croatian Bishops' Conference, and tolerated by Austria's Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk. High-ranking Croatian politicians came to the event, which was officially declared a religious gathering. Asked about the event, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz tried circumnavigating the issue or resorting to vague answers — as is his custom when asked about his conservative party's coalition partner, the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). His government's bigotry is plain to see. It took a tough stance on political gatherings of Turkish nationalists and far-right extremists in Austria, but then claimed its hands were tied when 10,000 Croatian Catholics got together for a huge neo-Nazi extravaganza. Council of Europe is alarmed The Council of Europe has expressed concern that the Ustasha gathering shows that fascim is becoming normal again in Croatia. A report by the Council's European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) says the Ustasha regime is increasingly being "glorified," which feeds into this creeping normalization of neo-fascism. The report calls on Croatia's government to fight hate speech and protect minorities from xenophobic attacks. Read more: Neo-fascism on the rise in Croatia, Council of Europe finds But it's doubtful Croatia's ruling party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), will listen. That's because in the past, it has railed against minorities, and stirred up anti-Serbian and anti-Roma sentiments in particular. It has incited hatred of the exact same ethnic groups that were once persecuted in the Independent State of Croatia, a World War II puppet state created by Hitler. Croatia's Jewish community has for years boycotted the national commemorative event to mark the liberation of Jasenovac death camp because they reject honoring the deceased alongside politicians who think favorably of the Ustasha regime, which persecuted Jews. Could you imagine German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveling to Argentina and speaking before the small German minority there, telling them it was a good thing Germans fled there after World War II? And that she welcomes mass murderers like Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele having fled there? But Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic did just that. On her visit to Argentina, she applauded compatriots who had managed to flee Tito's partisans and come to the Latin American country. But she failed to mention that said compatriots were concentration camp commanders, mass murderers and Nazi collaborators. Croatia isn't an isolated case Novelist Danilo Kis wrote that nationalism is a form of "paranoia" that goes hand in hand with losing one's sense of individuality and reality. This paranoia is based on the idea that one's own nation is something pure and innocent, and that anyone criticizing the nation must be a despicable enemy. Which is why right-wing Croatians glorify the Ustasha regime. Because to publicly accept that it killed hundreds of thousands of civilians would tarnish their national pride. It also helps explain why attendees at the Austrian commemorative event perceived themselves as victims, when in fact they were glorying a fascist regime. This is a worrying trend that also becoming apparent in other Eastern European countries. Many nations are highlighting what they endured under Soviet occupation and during communist times, casting themselves as victims. At the same time, many are down playing, denying or even celebrating compatriots who collaborated with Nazi Germany. Read more: Viktor Orban: Era of 'liberal democracy' is over Every year on March 16, thousands of people gather in Riga for the "Latvian Legion Day" to honor Latvians who served in the Waffen-SS. Last year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban praised Nazi collaborator Miklos Horthy as an "exceptional statesman," despite Horthy being partly responsible for the deportation of 600,000 Jews to German death camps. And in Serbia, there are moves to exonerate Milan Nedic, who also collaborated with Nazi Germany. If Europe is to become more integrated, this will necessitate not only a stronger European public sphere but also a common culture of remembrance, which must be decidedly anti-fascist. Europe will fail if not everyone agrees that the Nazis were despicable murderers, and if some European state leaders and governments choose to glorify Nazi collaborators. Krsto Lazarevic was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina and fled to Germany with his family as a child. Today he lives in Berlin, where he works as a journalist and commentator, writing for various German-language media outlets. | [
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Germany: Police attacked at music festival in Darmstadt
Fifteen police officers have been injured in violence following a music festival in the Hessian city of Darmstadt. Alcohol is thought to have played a role in the clashes.
Police in the German city of Darmstadt came under attack from groups of assailants overnight to Sunday, with 15 officers suffering injuries. Initial police reports said that 80 people, many of them drunk, were arrested after the violence broke out at the end of a popular open-air music festival. According to police, people began throwing bottles at officers without warning as the festival concluded and also carried out acts of vandalism, including setting alight a container for donated clothing. They said reinforcements were brought in to help quell the violence. "The reason for the violent acts is still unclear. Investigations [...] are ongoing," police said. Read more: German police shortages 'threaten rule of law' Call for stiffer sentences The interior minister of the state of Hesse, Peter Beuth, condemned the attacks, calling for the minimum sentence for such offenses to be raised from three months to six months. Such attacks did not just represent an offense against police, but also "against our constitutional state and our society," Beuth said. He said he would bring up the subject of tightening the laws regarding attacks on security forces at a conference of national and state interior ministers that is scheduled to start on Wednesday. The Schlossgrabenfest in Darmstadt draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city each year. Read more: Germany: Crime rate drops, but fear rises tj/sms (AFP, dpa) | [
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VW chief lobbyist reinstated following emission tests on animals
Volkswagen executive Thomas Steg has returned to his post after an internal audit cleared him of any legal misconduct. Steg had been leave since January after it emerged he failed to prevent emissions tests on animals.
German carmaker Volkswagen on Wednesday announced it was reinstating chief lobbyist Thomas Steg, following an internal investigation into a series of emissions tests carried out on animals. In a statement, VW auditors said they found no evidence that Steg had committed any legal misconduct in relation to the tests. Nevertheless, Steg issued an apology Wednesday, saying he regretted not doing more to prevent the experiments on monkeys. "I was convinced that I acted legally when it came to fulfilling my duties and the terms of my employment," Steg said. "Still, I wonder whether I could have done more back in the Spring of 2013 to prevent these tests." Read more: Car exhaust monkey test backfires on VW, German carmakers In January, it emerged that a US research laboratory had placed macaque monkeys in airtight chambers and exposed them to diesel exhaust fumes. The tests, which were carried out in 2014, were commissioned by the European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT) — a now defunct organization founded by German carmakers Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW. The group reportedly wanted to show that diesel emissions were far less dangerous than reported by the World Health Organization, although the results ultimately proved inconclusive. It subsequently emerged that Steg, who before joining VW worked as the German government's deputy spokesman, had known about the experiments back in May 2013 during the planning stages, but failed to prevent them from going ahead. After reports of the tests broke, Steg was placed on a leave of absence "at his own behest." More VW trials under review VW board member Hiltrud Werner welcomed Steg's return, saying it was important that "employees are fully rehabilitated once a situation such as this is completely resolved and yields a positive result." Werner, who oversees corporate integrity and law at the German car giant, added that the board would review all independent trials and research tests involving VW by the second half of the year. Read more: The US market: Volkswagen's Waterloo A day after reports of the animal testing broke, it also emerged that the EUGT had commissioned a trial in Germany where saw 25 people at an Aachen-based university hospital were made to inhale varying amounts of the gas over several hours. According to newspapers, the experiment aimed to test the affects of "short-term nitrogen dioxide inhalation by healthy people." Volkswagen Group continues to maintain almost 1,300 commercial and research partnerships, with more than 100 universities and over 60 institutions in Germany alone. New VW CEO Herbert Diess has vowed to focus future investments into electric vehicles. During last month's annual general meeting, Diess said his aim was for VW to build 3 million electric cars a year by 2025. dm/kms (Reuters, AP, dpa, AFP) | [
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Boy on cruise ship racks up €12,000 roaming bill
A German family received an unwelcome surprise after returning home from a family cruise to Norway. The son had used just under a half a gigabyte worth of data while at sea, and was billed more than €12,000 as a result.
A German family is seeking legal counsel after they arrived back home from a family holiday, only to find a phone bill totaling more than €12,000 (around $14,000). The family had taken a short cruise from the northern German city of Kiel to the Norwegian capital of Oslo. It was during that trip that the 12-year-old son decided to unwind and watch some videos on his phone. The catch: He was connected to the cruise ship's own phone network, which connects to the internet via satellite. While anyone can join the network, it is generally only intended to be used by the ship's crew to communicate with other vessels. In fact, German mobile phone networks can demand as much as €30 per megabyte of data downloaded through a satellite connection. The EU's abolition of roaming charges does not apply at sea. Read more: Germany, land of woefully slow internet As a result, the family was ordered by their network provider to pay almost €12,500 for just 470 megabytes of data. Legal counsel sought The phone network did agree to reduce the bill, admitting it was clear the son had connected to the cruise ship's network without knowing. Nevertheless, it still demanded €5,000. The family has since employed a lawyer to try and settle what they consider to be an "immoral" bill. The Norwegian cruise line operator Color Line said it regretted the incident but that it was unable to help. Read more: Smartphone tariffs: Germany, US charge 'exorbitant' prices Tips for surfing and roaming at sea: Before setting off, ask your network provider what its fees are for making calls and roaming via satellite connection. These will almost certainly be far higher than usual and is almost always best avoided, unless it is an emergency. Before even reaching the port, be sure to disable mobile data usage. This will ensure you don't connect to a docked ship's phone network before you've even set off. Find out if the cruise operator you'll be travelling with offers internet access on board that's intended for travelers, and what the prices and conditions are. While it will be expensive, the pricing will at least be transparent. | [
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Germany's corporate battle of the sexes
Why are women so hugely underrepresented in senior positions in German business? Are they being prevented from getting ahead in Europe's powerhouse? Or do they have themselves to blame? Lisa Ellis reports.
It is a scene that seems unremarkable at first. A woman walks into a meeting at a multinational company in Germany. She is asked by one of the men at the table to pour the coffee. The problem is she is not the caterer. She is one of the executives about to take part in the meeting with clients. This anecdote is told by consultant Philine Erfurt Sandhu who was brought in by the company to try to improve gender balance. Sandhu says the above incident is not a one-off. She hears such stories "regularly." It is an example of what Sandhu calls the "Thomas Syndrome." The idea that the typical senior manager in Germany is a 53-year-old white male called "Thomas" who would rather recruit a clone of himself than a woman. The chances of making it to the top as a woman in Germany are unusually low. A recent survey shows German women fare far worse than their counterparts in other advanced countries. In the US, the percentage of blue-chip firms with at least 30 percent female representation on the board is 30 percent. In Germany it is zero. Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Monika Grütters declared Germany "bottom of the pile" when it comes to the number of women in senior positions in business. How did women end up at such a disadvantage? Sandhu, who spent a year observing at the multinational, says the reasons are varied but several stand out. Key among them is the tendency of male executives to hire and promote people who look like them, sometimes unconsciously but often intentionally. "There are advantages to working with people just like you," she argues. "There is less conflict, you don't have to question your identity, and decision making is easier. But it doesn't necessarily produce the best results for the company," says Sandhu. The same men establish networks, which are difficult for women to penetrate. Such networks come about when men realize they like the same football team or drink the same wine and then start pursuing their hobbies as a group outside of working hours, says Sandhu. "Women tend not to do this," she observes. "They are more likely to limit their relationships to the office." This is a crucial mistake and one reason why women are at least partly to blame for failing to reach the top tier of management, according to Christoph Zöller, CEO and co-founder of recruitment startup Instaffo in Heidelberg. "Women, for example.... often don't go for the classic 'beer after work' which is vital for your career in many executive circles," Zöller writes in a post on his company's blog about what women are "doing wrong." "They are also more cautious in negotiations and accept things as fair that a man would never accept," 26-year old Zöller says in a phone conversation with DW. Generalizing about a whole group based on gender? Zöller believes men and women are "intrinsically different," each with characteristics important to the running of a successful company. He points out that women in the marketing division of Instaffo often make more money than men as they have "nicer voices" on the phone. "[But] Women are more likely to voluntarily leave management duties to men," according to Zöller. At the end of the day, though, it essentially comes down to one thing. "There is very strong competition to get to the top. If a woman decides to have a child — and then raise that child, then she is going to be missing for around five or six years out of a 30-year career. That has to be taken in to account," says Zöller. Having a child may explain why a woman doesn't have time go for that drink after work. But is it the reason women are failing to make it to the upper echelons? A look at the career of executive Birgit Felden suggests the answer to this is both yes and no. Felden, a 51-year-old professor and mother of two is at the top of her game. She sits on the supervisory boards of three companies, teaches part of a university course for female business leaders and owns a successful consultancy. However, she says she knew at the start of her career 25 years ago that she would only be able to reach this position by becoming her own boss rather than trying to advance as a woman in someone else's firm. "I decided to start my own business because I didn't want to have to explain to the HR department of some big company that I was going to have both children and a career." For Felden, having women at the top is not just about equality, it is about ensuring the continued economic success of the country. "Diversity at a high level brings benefits," she says. "Businesses need to be made aware of that. It is also a question of demography. In 20 years or so, there just won't be enough middle-aged white men. So we need to change." | [
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Germany's social mobility among poorest worse than in the United States — OECD
A typical poor child in Germany would need 180 years to reach the average German income, while one in the United States would need 150 to reach the average US income. The OECD says that needs to change.
Children in low-income families in Germany tend to have a harder time moving up the social ladder than children in equivalent circumstances in other industrialized countries, according to a new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The study used earnings data across different generations to calculate the estimated amount of time it would take a child to reach the average income in a given country. Read more: What holds you back? What keeps you going? In Germany, it would take a child whose parents' earnings are in the bottom 10 percent of the population six generations or 180 years to reach the average national income. The average across the entire OECD, a group of 37 industrialized countries, is five generations. Children in low-income families in Denmark would need two generations, while children in the United States would need five generations. "Fewer people at the bottom have moved up while the richest have largely kept their fortunes," the OECD said. "This has severe social, economic and political consequences." Read more: German education fails to boost social mobility Schools and tax system at fault The Paris-based organization blamed Germany's child care policies, education system and tax code for the country's poor social mobility score. Compared to families in other OECD countries, German parents tend not to put their young children in child care or enroll them in full-day schooling. Both give young children from disadvantaged backgrounds an opportunity to develop early cognitive skills that help them climb the social ladder later in life. Read more: Income inequality 'too great' say 9 out of 10 people in Germany The "tracking" of school children — funneling some students to more academic secondary schools and others to vocational schools — in Germany tends to make it harder for children to move up and down the social ladder. Germany's tax system also tends to allow high concentrations of wealth to pass from one generation to the next through generous exemptions for wealthier families. In response, the OECD said Germany should invest more in child care, postpone the tracking of school children and reform its tax code to promote intergenerational mobility. "Too many people feel they are being left behind and their children have too few chances to get ahead," OECD Chief of Staff Gabriela Ramos said. "We need to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed, especially the most disadvantaged." Read more: Fight wealth inequality with taxes says World Inequality Report | [
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Berlin's liberal mosque marks 1-year anniversary
In the year since its foundation, Berlin's liberal mosque has established itself and is attracting ever greater interest. But lawyer Seyran Ates, who opened the mosque, lives with ongoing hostility and threats.
There are 15 chairs in the room. And two men with guns. Bodyguards. This is daily life for Seyran Ates, daily life in the liberal Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque in Berlin. This small Islamic place of worship in Berlin's Moabit district celebrates its first anniversary on Friday. "A great deal has already happened in the past 12 months," says Ates. "There really is a need for a mosque like this." For her, it's all about "a friendly, spiritual Islam, a contemporary interpretation." This was why she named the mosque after the Arab doctor and philosopher Ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes (1126-1198), and the German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – two people "who did a great deal that was positive for Islam in their respective times." 'Women and men together' Seyran Ates is a lawyer, a women's rights activist, and a Muslim. Born in Istanbul, this tough, determined Berliner founded the Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque in June 2017 in a break with many prevailing ideas about Islam. Here, the Koran is read and interpreted from a modern perspective. Women and men pray together. Women and men who are not imams are also allowed to preach here. "We don't have a permanent male or female imam. In this situation, the imam is whichever person preaches or calls others to prayer." What about her critics? "They don't want to see any renewal in Islam. They don't accept any contemporary readings of the Koran. They want to stop women and men being equal – praying together in a mosque, for example – and to prevent Muslim women who don't wear a headscarf from identifying as Muslim women." For many Muslims this is revolutionary – too revolutionary, even. The mosque's location is an indication of just how revolutionary it is – the third floor of a building next to the Protestant Sankt Johannes Church. Nothing else could be found. It's almost superfluous to mention that the building is under surveillance by security guards. The mosque's one-year rental contract has just been extended for another two. Read more: Islam makes Germany more diverse, scholar says Towards Mecca A white-painted wooden construction stands by one of the walls of the prayer room. Ates explains that it shows worshippers the direction of Mecca, and thus the direction they have to face when praying. "I've started a course of Islamic Studies," she says. "It really interests me. That's why I'm currently learning Arabic, because I want to be able to have discussions about individual words, as well." Ates, who is 55, says the core congregation is around 35 people, but they are all very active and keep the mosque together. There's also a never-ending flood of interest from people around the world who want to visit the building. "We're overwhelmed with enquiries," she says. The mosque has around 750 visitors each month; these often include groups of children or young people, sometimes even mixed groups of Muslim and Jewish children. They recently employed a new member of staff to offer workshops to schools. And Ates already has another project: setting up a new, liberally oriented Islamic academy. 'People are afraid' There has been repeated speculation about similar mosques or reform initiatives in other countries. Ates has been traveling a lot in recent months, to Vienna and Freiburg, London and Copenhagen. "People are afraid. When it comes to actually putting it into action, that's when people get afraid," she says. But she is "quite sure" that more liberal mosques will be established. It's certainly obvious that Ates receives a lot of interview requests, including from the foreign media. Seyran Ates knows first-hand just how dangerous her activism for women's rights and against patriarchal structures is. In 1984, when she was still a student, she worked at an advice center for Turkish women in Germany. As she was talking to one of her clients, a man burst into the room, killed the woman, and shot Ates, too. She sustained life-threatening injuries, but survived. Ates expresses disappointment in both German government policy and the policy of the municipal government in Berlin, which wants to establish an Islamic Theology course at the Humboldt University (HU). "People are preventing liberal Muslims from being invited to the German Islam Conference and joining the HU's advisory board for Islamic Theology. We've implored politicians to do something about this!" she says. Instead, she continues, the Berlin Senate again turned to the established Muslim organizations, which put it under pressure. The liberal community remains determined: "We're stirring things up." And they will continue to do so. The mosque will be welcoming the vice-president of the Bundestag, Petra Pau (of the Left Party) and the mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller (SPD) on the occasion of its first anniversary. Ates also talks about other pressures, such as the Muslim man at the door of the mosque who told her, "In a week's time you'll be gone." Or the five men from another established Berlin mosque who came and demanded that the liberal mosque close down. There have been a lot of personal threats online. This is why Ates has bodyguards; and this is why the highest security level applies whenever she makes a public appearance in Germany. "Your jobs are definitely safe," she tells one of her bodyguards, laughing. She hopes she will be able to move freely again in 10 or 15 years' time. "That's the sort of timescale I'm thinking along." Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | [
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Rapper XXXTentacion shot dead in Florida
US star rapper XXXTentacion, who attracted controversy after multiple accusations of domestic violence and allegations about hateful music, has been shot dead in Florida in connection with an apparent robbery.
Rapper XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Onfroy, was shot dead Monday afternoon as he was leaving a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach. The Broward County sheriff's office said two suspects had approached him as he was departing the store. "At least one of the suspects fired a gun striking Onfroy. Both of the suspects fled in a dark-color SUV. Investigators say it appears to be a possible robbery," the sheriff's office said in a statement posted to its Twitter account. The 20-year-old was pronounced dead at nearby Broward Health North hospital. Despite — or perhaps because of — his grim and sometimes suicidal lyrics, XXXTentacion catapulted to the top of US charts just months ago. Bleak outlook XXXTentacion released his first song on Soundcloud in 2014. His debut album, 17, came out last August. His second album, entitled ?, debuted at the top of the Billboard album chart in March, despite a lack of traditional promotion. Kanye West tweeted a tribute on Monday, saying he was grateful to the young rapper "for existing." "Rest in peace. I never told you how much you inspired me when you were here," West posted on Twitter. Read more: Kanye West calls slavery a 'choice' Superstar DJ Diplo tweeted a photo of himself with XXXTentacion, along with the words "Thanks for inspiring me." "Jocelyn Flores," the best-known track off 17, describes XXXTentacion's desperation over the suicide of a friend. "Sad!," a bleak track off his latest album, delves into his anxieties with women as he raps, "Suicide if you ever try to let go / I'm sad, I know / Yeah, I'm sad, I know." Read more: Why gangsta rap's aggro style appeals to the masses Mired by controversy XXXTentacion had his own run-ins with the law. He spent time in youth detention in 2014 for gun possession, followed by imprisonment in 2016 for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Soon after release, he was again arrested on charges that he attacked his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time. In an interview published earlier this month in the Miami New Times, the former girlfriend said that the emerging star rapper had subjected her to a summer of abuse in 2016 that included physical attacks every few days, as well as threats of sexual violence. Despite a big fan following, XXXTentacion faced criticism from those who said his alleged mistreatment of women should be a career-stopper in a time when the #MeToo movement is demanding higher standards from men. Read more: Global Media Forum 2018: #MeToo, beyond the Hollywood bubble Last month, music streaming service Spotify singled out the rapper's music as part of a policy not to promote songs by artists known for "harmful or hateful" behavior. However, Spotify backpedaled after charges that it had overstepped its role. It said it would no longer attempt to police conduct and restored XXXTentacion to its playlists. als/eg (Reuters, afp, dpa) | [
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EU firms worried about China's tough business environment, trade tensions
China is "one of the most restrictive economies in the world," concluded a recent survey by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. The chamber's president tells DW about European firms' challenges in doing business there.
DW: What kind of difficulties are European firms, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), facing while doing business in China? Mats Harborn: European firms face a number of challenges in a variety of areas. The Chinese economic slowdown tops the list, but regulatory issues present greater challenges than competition from Chinese firms. This is especially striking considering how competitive they are becoming. Regulatory issues range from ambiguous rules to discretionary enforcement of policy to specific problems like access to licenses and financing or equal access to public procurement bids. All of these challenges are especially acute for SMEs, as they lack the resources and manpower to navigate these problems as easily as their larger counterparts. Read more: Donald Trump's EU trade dilemma: United against China or alone against the world? How do you assess the chances for the European Union and China to conclude their Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)? The 17th, and most recent, round of negotiations on the CAI took place in Beijing from May 22-24, 2018. It is expected that intense work will continue through the rest of the year. The European Chamber is looking forward to seeing a well-negotiated agreement that addresses market concerns in all sectors and creates a more transparent and stable regulatory business environment. We would also like to see the implementation of robust and transparent investment protection and investment dispute resolution mechanisms as part of the CAI. The pressure is on with China now facing tensions with some of its key trading partners. The ball is in China's court and it is imperative that the government show that it is moving towards a decisive stage of negotiations before the end of 2018. Doing so would send a clear signal that China is ready to deliver on its promises on market opening. If there are continued delays, however, it will have negative effects on both China and the EU. In your report, you said that many Chinese firms are already equally or more innovative compared to European enterprises, due to a number of factors like increased R&D spending and targeted high-tech acquisitions by domestic companies. Can this trend bring disruption to European business? The results of the European Chamber's Business Confidence Survey 2018 show that for the first time ever, a majority of European companies feel that Chinese firms are equally or more innovative than themselves. This finding may be disruptive to European businesses but overcoming disruptions in a competitive market is nothing new for them. The most concerning source of disruption for our members is that of China's unpredictable regulatory environment and unequal treatment of European firms. The survey results also signify that it is time for China to lift protectionist measures. Chinese enterprises have proven that they can compete without the government protection in both domestic and international markets. Exposing Chinese firms to fair and open competition is the only way to help them develop further. How is China's rising middle class affecting the Asian nation's economic competitiveness? As more households join the middle class, they are demanding more high-quality products and services. Chinese enterprises are stepping up to meet this new demand, and in the process are giving foreign companies a lot more to think about. The Business Confidence Survey 2018 showed a notable increase in domestic firms' capacity for product and service innovation. In the past, Chinese companies have primarily embraced go-to-market and business model innovation, adapting existing products or models into new forms and finding new ways to deliver them to the domestic market. Now, however, they are starting to produce innovations that are the first of their kind. We can see clear instances of this in areas such as financial technology and bike-sharing. This said, European companies remain confident in their ability to compete, and their optimism about future growth has continued to rebound since 2016. What measures, in your view, should Beijing take to ease the regulatory burdens on European firms in China? The most common regulatory challenges for European companies in China are ambiguous rules and regulations, administrative issues and discretionary enforcement. Licensing requirements, customs procedures and discrimination in public procurement are also major issues. While foreign businesses suffer the most from these challenges, they are also an impediment to domestic Chinese companies, and in the long run, hold China back from meeting its development goals. There must be transparency and predictability when introducing new policies or regulations. Administrative burdens should be minimized, and rules and regulations should be applied evenly to all businesses. Additionally, sound regulations must be built on robust institutions. If China fails to develop these there is a risk that it will get stuck in the middle income trap. Finally, the biggest single step that China could take is to remove the legal distinction of "foreign-invested enterprise" and have international businesses register under uniform conditions with their local competitors. Fully realizing national treatment would put an end to unequal treatment for foreign firms and allow them to operate on a level-playing field. Read more: Donald Trump's trade spats with Europe, China and NAFTA ― What you need to know Germany and China — trade partners and competitors What can be done by European governments to persuade Chinese authorities to ensure a level-playing field for their companies in China? China has made repeated commitments on equal treatment for all businesses since its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, but international firms are still legally required to register as foreign-invested enterprises, which differentiates them from domestic Chinese companies. There are multiple instances of unequal treatment, including regulatory enforcement, access to financing and forced technology transfers. In the Business Confidence Survey 2018, 19 percent of respondents report that they felt compelled to transfer technology in order to maintain market access. The European Union launched legal proceedings in the WTO against Chinese legislation on this issue on the June 1, 2018. The European Chamber supports the resolution of these concerns through the WTO framework. It is now urgent for China to deliver on its promises by realizing national treatment for all companies operating in China. This would not only show that China is committed to upholding its WTO obligations, but would also provide international companies with the operating conditions they need to provide the products and services that Chinese consumers demand. US President Donald Trump's administration and China appear to be heading toward a showdown on trade, with growing fears worldwide about its ramifications. How do you see this "trade war" affecting European companies and jobs? Many of the European Chamber's member companies are concerned about the trade tensions between the US and China. Raising tariffs means disrupting the global supply chains that our members have built up. There is also the risk that this could bring an end to the present boom in the economic cycle. We must remember, however, that the root of the problem began in China. It is imperative that China starts fulfilling the reform promises it has repeated since President Xi Jinping's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2017. The European Chamber believes in engaging with China and creating a common narrative to support further market opening and reform and delivering equal treatment for all businesses. If China is not prepared to take the necessary steps to make this a reality, it could escalate existing tensions. Taking a long term approach to structural issues is the right way forward. Mats Harborn is the president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. The interview was conducted by Srinivas Mazumdaru. | [
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DW's Health News: What does stress do to our eyes?
Did you know that stress can damage your eyesight? Or that the so-called good cholesterol isn't that great after all? DW brings you this week's health news, all in one handy guide!
Stress can damage eyesight Our eyes have to cope with a lot throughout the day – with flickering computer screens, glaring fluorescent lights, or dirt and pollen flying through the air. But it's not only our environment that can damage the eyes, they can also be impacted from the inside. A new study by researchers at Magdeburg University in Germany has revealed that mental stress and anxiety can result in a loss of vision. Continuous mental strain raises levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which impacts our nervous system and therefore our brain and eyes. This can lead to severe eye diseases, such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and optic neuropathy, say the researchers. The researchers emphasize that it is important to realize that stress is not only a consequence of vision loss, but also a cause, which has to be taken seriously. So, be kind to your eyes and body, give yourself a break once in a while and try to relax. Mindfulness training, such as yoga and meditation can help after a long day's work. Is good cholesterol bad for the heart? Cholesterol levels are usually measured in "good” cholesterol, namely HDL-cholesterol and "bad” cholesterol called LDL-cholesterol. When people speak about high cholesterol levels, they are usually referring to LDL-cholesterol, which can cause arteriosclerosis and heighten the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack and stroke. HDL-cholesterol has always been seen as a vital part of cell membranes and cellular processes, but recently researchers in Japan discovered that it too can increase the risk for cardiovascular diseases, but only at high levels. For 12 years, they studied more than 43,000 people aged between 40 and 89 years. They discovered that people with HDL-cholesterol levels over 90 mg/dl had a 2.4 times higher risk of dying of arteriosclerosis as people with normal HDL-cholesterol levels (40-59 mg/dl). Interestingly, the researchers also saw that extremely high HDL-cholesterol levels were more dangerous for people who frequently drank alcohol. Discovery of new antibiotic against MRSA Multi-resistant bacteria have become a looming problem in hospitals today. The overuse of antibiotics has resulted in resistant bacteria that cannot be killed. The hospital superbug Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA, is one of them. It can trigger severe infections in humans and can even result in death. MRSA is extremely hard to treat because it has become resistant to several common antibiotics. Now researchers at the Technical University in Berlin have discovered a new type of antibiotic that might be able to fight this multi-resistant germ. The research team isolated a bioactive molecule from cultures of Microbacterium aborescens, which they called Microvionin. It belongs to the group of lipopeptide-antibiotics. In future, the researchers are hoping that they can use Microvionin to produce a suitable medication against MRSA and reduce the amount of infections in hospitals. | [
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Romanian president sacks anti-graft prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi
After months of legal turmoil, Romania's anti-corruption chief has been fired. Her sacking and controversial legal reforms to weaken corruption charges is raising concern in Brussels.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday dismissed the country's top anti-graft prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi, in a move that is likely to raise international concern. Iohannis had for months refused to sack the popular head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (DNA), who the left-wing government accused of overstepping her authority and ordered dismissed. Read more: Romania's parliament passes bill to weaken corruption rules The president said he was forced to comply with a Constitutional Court ruling in May backing the demand of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) to sack Kovesi. "In a state governed by the rule of law decisions of the Constitutional Court must be respected," Iohannis' office said in a statement, adding that the "fight against corruption will not stop." Flanked by dozens of prosecutors, a defiant Kovesi made a televised address calling on Romanians to continue to fight corruption. "I have a message for the Romanian people: Corruption can be defeated. Don't give up!" she said. She also accused politicians of seeking controversial legal reforms to weaken criminal convictions for "protection for the past, the present and the future." Romania under EU watch In office since 2013, Kovesi has gained international praise for her drive to fight graft in one of the EU's most corrupt member states. Hundreds of local and national officials, including three ministers, five MPs and a senator, have been prosecuted for bribery, fraud and other corruption offenses. The justice systems in Romania and Bulgaria are under special monitoring of the EU. The European Commission said Monday the independence the Romania's judicial system and the fight against corruption were of "paramount importance." "The ability of the national anti-corruption directorate to maintain its track record in challenging circumstances was an important sign of sustainability. If this track record ... were to be called into question, the Commission may have to reassess this conclusion," said Commission spokesman Christian Wigand. Brewing constitutional showdown Justice Minister Tudorel Toader launched a process to oust Kovesi in February, citing violations of the constitution and her efforts to damage Romania's image abroad. The assault against Kovesi triggered anti-corruption street protests throughout the winter. Iohannis rejected the government's attempt to remove Kovesi after Romania's judicial watchdog said the request was unfounded. However, the government then took the case to the constitutional court, which found that the president was limited to assessing the legality of the removal procedure and was not authorized to oppose the dismissal request that the justice minister legally initiated. Kovesi's sacking comes as the government pushed through judicial reforms last week that critics say would weaken anti-corruption efforts and undermine the rule of law. The new law is viewed by critics as a way to protect PSD leader Liviu Dragnea. Read more: Romania's Liviu Dragnea sentenced over fake jobs scandal Iohannis, who must sign the law for it to go into effect, opposes weakening the fight against corruption The case is likely to head to the constitutional court and lead to a heated political fight. Dragnea is barred from the prime minister post over an electoral fraud charge, but wields influence from behind the scenes. Last month, he received another prison sentence over a fake jobs scandal. cw/aw (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters) | [
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Berlin first in Germany to scrap child day care fees
A sociopolitical landmark for Berlin's parents: Starting in August all municipal day care centers in the German capital will be free. Several other states are also looking to phase out the costs for working parents.
Berlin's regional government announced Monday that, beginning next month, parents will no longer have to pay any fees to place their children in municipal day care centers. From August 1, childcare centers in the German capital will be free of charge, including for children under the age of one. Berlin's state government began phasing out childcare fees for other age groups in 2007. However, parents with children across all age groups — from ages zero to six — will still have to pay for food in daycare centers. "For many Berlin families it makes a big difference whether or not they have to pay contributions to the day care center," said Sandra Scheeres, Berlin's Social Democratic (SPD) Senator for Education, Youth and Family. "The free day care center for all means a noticeable financial relief for many parents. Childcare facilities are educational institutions, and education must be free of charge." Germany's federal minister for family affairs, Franziska Giffey (SPD), has indicated she wants to see more day care centers in Germany gradually phase out fees. The government has announced plans to inject some €3.5 billion ($4.1 billion) into childcare services over the next four years. No equality when it comes to nurseries The new legislation makes Berlin the first state to completely abolish fees for municipal day care centers. Some 15,800 children below the age of one are set to benefit. Contributions by parents for the 2017-18 school year totaled around €7 million. Berlin, one of Germany's three city-states along with Hamburg and Bremen, remains the vanguard in Germany when it comes to scrapping childcare fees. Read more: Germany's wage gap also a regional issue Parents in around one-third of German states still have no exemptions from childcare fees, while other state governments have either subsidized or completely lifted fees for certain age groups. In Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, children from the age of two have been exempt from contributions since 2010, while in Lower Saxony and Hesse children from age three will be exempt from fees starting next month. However, other states continue to charge hundreds of euros per month for childcare, often putting mothers off from from returning to work after giving birth. The state with the dearest day care costs is Schleswig-Holstein, where a place in a municipal nursery can cost up to 9 percent of household income. It's followed by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saarland, which charge 8.2 percent and 7.5 percent of household income respectively. Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. dm/kms (dpa, KNA) | [
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Latest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo poses high regional risk, says WHO
The WHO said the presence of armed groups and the broad spread of the disease, could make vaccination "near impossible" in North Kivu. It's the 10th outbreak in DRC since Ebola was discovered.
The organization's emergency response chief, Peter Salama, expressed concern about the regional risks this outbreak could pose — given the pattern of its spread and its closeness to international frontiers. "It would appear that the risk, as we can surmise for DRC, is high. For the region it's high given the proximity to borders, particularly Uganda," Salama said. Over a dozen WHO officials have been sent to North Kivu to help contain the disease. The Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry said on Thursday that the Ebola variant in the most recent outbreak in North Kivu province had been identified as the Zaire strain. The North Kivu outbreak comes just over a week after Congo had declared the end of an outbreak in the northwest of the country that began in May, and in which 33 people died. The World Health Organization (WHO) has dispelled the notion that the two outbreaks are linked. In this week's Ebola outbreak, four cases have been registered in and around the town of Mangina, which has a population of 60,000 and is located near the border with Uganda. Two of those cases were confirmed to be health workers. An additional 20 people have died in the area since July, as a result of hemorrhagic fevers that have not been identified as Ebola. Read more: Ebola outbreak in DRC: What is being done? Vaccine available The outbreak in northwestern Congo also belonged to the Zaire strain and an experimental vaccine from pharmaceutical company Merck was used to fight its spread. That vaccine was given to contacts of Ebola patients and contacts of contacts, in an effort to ringfence the disease. For ring-vaccination to be effective, health workers must reach all those potentially infected with the deadly virus. This may be difficult to do in northeastern Congo, as the WHO estimates that the outbreak could spread over tens of kilometers. North Kivu a conflict zone Additionally, Salama noted that approximately 100 armed groups operate in North Kivu and this could make ring-vaccination impossible. Instead, WHO workers might consider "a more homogenous geographical strategy", he said, where security concerns are assessed on a day-to-day-basis. Staff would be based in the larger city of Goma. Since armored personnel carriers and support from UN peacekeepers would be needed to work in North Kivu, this could make it very difficult to deploy the kind of far-reaching contact tracing required. WHO has already dealt with an outbreak in this area, around a decade ago. "We had to negotiate with many armed factions," Salama said, in order to provide the badly needed aid. Read more: Top ten most dangerous viruses in the world The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies echoed the WHO's concerns, saying that responding to a new Ebola outbreak in North Kivu would be "highly complex," due to the security situation. The Ebola virus is can be transported long distances by bats, who are carriers of the virues, and tend to find its way into bush meat sold at local markets. In humans, the deadly virus spreads through contact with bodily fluids and once infected, it causes hemorrhagic fever, vomiting and diarrhea and is spread through direct contact with body fluids. Over 11,300 people died of an epidemic in West Africa from 2013 to 2016. jcg/rc (Reuters, AFP) Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | [
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Germany: Fire breaks out near train tracks in Siegburg, injuring dozens
Dozens of people were injured after a fire broke out near railroad tracks in the drought-hit town of Siegburg. Dry conditions helped the blaze spread quickly to nearby houses, with firefighters facing a "wall of fire."
Hundreds of firefighters battled for hours on Tuesday to contain a fire that broke out in the western German town of Siegburg, located near the city of Bonn. The fire started in a grassy area near a key railway route, quickly spreading to nearby houses and shutting down rail traffic for several hours. Dozens injured in blaze: At least 28 people were injured in the fire, three of whom were in a serious condition, according to local officials. Among the injured were 20 local residents, three firefighters and five police officers. Over 520 firefighters took part in the operation, with emergency crews using a police water cannon vehicle and a helicopter to control the blaze. Nine houses were severely damaged, with pictures showing some attics caved in. Crews faced 'a wall of fire' The fire broke out near the train tracks in Siegburg, quickly spreading up a bone-dry, grassy embankment towards nearby houses. "The first responders were basically faced with a wall of fire," one fire department spokesperson told news agency dpa. Investigations into the cause of the fire are still ongoing. Local officials earlier said they suspected that sparks from a train traveling on the tracks may have started the blaze, but later emphasized that other factors could have caused the fire. Train traffic halted: A high-traffic train track runs through Siegburg, servicing a busy, high-speed ICE train line that runs from the city of Cologne to Frankfurt. German rail company Deutsche Bahn told travelers in a statement that delays on the Cologne-Frankfurt route could last into Wednesday. Fire aided by drought conditions: An ongoing heat wave and drought in Germany and other areas of Europe contributed to the spread of the massive fire. The heat has hit farmers particularly hard, with numerous crops damaged and poor harvests expected. Temperatures reached 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) in Siegburg on Tuesday with the area seeing little to no rainfall in weeks. "When it's 39 degrees, these things can spread quickly," a fire department spokesperson said. rs/aw (AFP, dpa) | [
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Open EU to African goods, German development minister says
Completely opening up the EU market to African goods would help reduce migration, German Development Minister Gerd Müller has said. In particular, he wants barriers to agricultural trade taken down.
The European Union should completely open its market to products from Africa in order to promote development and stem migration flows, German Development Minister Gerd Müller said Wednesday. "Open the market for all African goods," he told Die Welt newspaper in an interview. Read more: African countries agree to continental free trade area Agricultural products from Africa must be able to enter the EU without tariffs and quotas in order to provide work for millions of people on the continent, Müller said. The EU currently has separate trade agreements with African countries or regional economic blocs. In addition to tariffs and quotas, agricultural products face a hurdle being exported due to the EU's strict sanitary and phytosanitary standards. Müller also suggested that as part of an agreement with the EU, African countries should take back migrants who entered the bloc without proper approval. In return, the EU should open up avenues for Africans to come to the EU for legal employment. Only around 1,000 out of 3.5 million German companies are active in Africa, Müller said, highlighting the massive potential in the continent of 1.2 billion people. On the other hand, China, Russia and Turkey have aggressively entered the Africa market. Read more: Africa needs unified regulations against cheap Chinese imports Support from coalition, farmers Müller, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), received support for his ideas from the Social Democrats (SPD). SPD agriculture spokesperson Bernd Westphal told the daily Berliner Zeitung on Thursday that opening the EU's agriculture markets would improve employment prospects in Africa and reduce migration pressures. Read more: Undocumented African migration to Germany: What can and should be done The German Farmers Association also supported the idea of duty- and quota-free African agriculture exports to the EU. At the same time, the association's general secretary, Bernhard Krüsken, said processed and value-added agriculture products should be encouraged because they provide more employment and wealth creation. EU Africa Commissioner Müller also called for a new EU Africa commissioner position to be created to coordinate and expand policy towards the continent. In addition, at the EU level more money should be spent implementing the bloc's Africa policy, he said. cw/sms (AFP, dpa) | [
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German Social Democrats Question EU Report on CIA Scandal
Members of Germany Social Democratic Party on Tuesday criticized a report by an EU Parliament commission that could damage their party colleague, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
In its report on CIA activities in Europe, a special cross-party European committee among other things accuses the former German government under Gerhard Schröder of not having worked hard enough for the release of a German-born Turk from the US prison camp at Guantanamo. The report increases the political pressure on Steinmeier, who was chief of staff in the chancellery office at the time and whose former activities are currently also being investigated by a parliamentary inquiry in Berlin. Reacting to the allegations of the European Parliament commission, Germany's Social Democratic parliamentary floor leader Peter Struck said that he questioned the committee's allegations that Steinmeier had turned down an offer by US authorities to take German-born Turk Murat Kurnaz back to Germany in 2002 after he was found innocent during interrogations at the Guantanamo prison camp. Struck said that he was not aware of any evidence of such an offer ever being made by the United States. He added that the EU committee had based its findings only on newspaper reports while the confidential government documents available to him spoke a different language. Struck's view is shared by SPD general secretary Hubertus Heil, who denied that Steinmeier should be blamed. Speedy resolution? "We want to investigate the whole matter without delay," he said. "And this has to be done in the appropriate committees of the German parliament. Then everyone will see that there can be no doubt about the foreign minister's integrity." A Social Democratic inquiry panel member, Thomas Oppermann, also said that any allegation that the former government had actively prevented the release of Kurnaz is far from the truth. He did say, though, that there was an active exchange of views about Kurnaz' future between German and US intelligence officers. "What I can see from the documents made available to me is that there were indeed discussions between German and US intelligence agents about whether or not to release Murat Kurnaz from Guantanamo on condition that he would be planted as a mole in Germany's radical Islamic scene," he said. "But these discussions alone cannot be construed as an official offer by US authorities to release Kurnaz." Inhuman attitudes? Next week, the Kurnaz case will be debated at length at a special meeting of a German parliamentary committee responsible for checking the intelligence agencies' activities. Meanwhile Germany's mass circulation tabloid Bild has asked why the former government should have cared at all about a Turk who had no German citizenship. The chairman of the parliamentary probe, Siegfried Kauder, was outraged by such comments. "To ask why should we bother about this Turk at all is inhuman," he said. "After all, Kurnaz grew up in Germany. And if the government thought they shouldn't be concerned, they should have informed Kurnaz' lawyer so that he'd be able to seek help elsewhere. But to convey the impression that one cares and then do nothing would be inhuman." The German public has been hearing about the Kurnaz case for many weeks and now there's an expectation that Steinmeier will act to clear up the matter speedily. However, he's unlikely to testify to the inquiry panel before March after all witnesses have been heard. | [
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Germany Irked by US Approach to Missile Shield
American plans to station part of an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic without consulting Russia met with criticism from German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, according to a media report.
The proximity of the US missile batteries to the Russian border should have convinced officials in Washington of the need to brief their counterparts in Moscow about plans to build portions of an anti-missile shield in the two eastern European countries. "One should have spoken with Russia earlier as the sites where they (the missiles) are to be stationed are edging closer to Russia," Steinmeier told the German business daily Handelsblatt in an interview to be published Monday. "Given the strategic nature of such projects, I call for a prudent approach and intensive dialogue with all partners who are directly or indirectly affected." Russian President Vladimir Putin last week accused the United States of making the world a more place with its plans for an anti-missile system. "One-sided illegitimate action hasn't solved a single problem and has become a generator of many human tragedies, a source of tension," Putin said. Iran not a threat to Europe US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates insisted that the missile system, which calls for placing 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic, was not directed against Russia but to protect Europe from missiles launched in the Middle East. Steinmeier, however, dismissed any potential threat posed by Iranian rockets, saying Tehran did not possess the technology to make such an attack. He also spoke out against any immediate new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear policies. "The most recent resolution of the UN Security Council does not contain any automatic mechanism for the situation where Iran does not fulfill its obligations," he said. US waiting for Poland's official answer The leader of the oppositions Greens party, Fritz Kuhn, said the German government needed to make it clear to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to Berlin this week that it would not support placing missiles in the two EU and NATO member countries. "What the USA is doing can only be understood by Russia as a provocation," he told Monday's Saarbrücker Zeitung. Exactly how much criticism Germany needs to give the US remains unclear as Poland has yet to decide if it will allow the Americans to station missiles within the country. "We are preparing an answer that I think we will give to the American administration by diplomatic means within two weeks," new Polish Defense Minister Aleksander Szczyglo told Poland's PAP news agency on Sunday. | [
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John Crocket: British clothing from Cologne
British fashion from Germany? Believe it or not, it’s a winning concept. Thomas Schmitz from Cologne founded the label John Crocket back in 1987.
His store sells tweed jackets, shirts and cashmere sweaters made of Scottish wool. | [
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Business 09/12/2015
Taxi drivers protest ride-sharing apps in Spain - China finances urban light rail in Ethiopia - Stormy seas for German shipyard suppliers
Business 09/12/2015 | [
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The Netherlands Opens Up Labor Market to Recent EU Members
The Netherlands has now opened its borders fully to workers from countries that joined the European Union in 2004. It joins eight other EU nations which have already benefited from the same move.
The Netherlands has dismantled its barriers one at a time. The first move was lifting restrictions on the number of workers allowed to migrate to the nation from countries that joined the EU; a total of 22,000 workers were formerly permitted entry. In June 2006, the government freed employers in 23 different sectors from the obligation of first having to search for qualified Dutch or other people from old member states before hiring, say, someone from Poland. In December last year, 16 other sectors of the labor market were added to the list. Polish supermarkets in The Hague Tens of thousands of Polish, Czech and Hungarians workers have meanwhile settled in the Netherlands. "The Hague now has a slew of Polish supermarkets," said Günther Gülker of the German-Dutch Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Yet the Netherlands' borders did not open completely until March 1, 2007. Since then, workers from new EU-member states are welcome to work everywhere. There are over 250,000 jobs up for grabs in a country with just four percent unemployment. The construction industry in particular is desperate. "There's an acute shortage in that area," said Gülker. The Dutch government and employers' associations are convinced that the influx of new workers is boosting economic growth, which reached 2.9 percent in 2006. "Opening up the employment market can certainly have a positive impact on the economy," said Paul de Beer, an economics professor at the University of Amsterdam. Economic sectors which have a shortage of workers can anticipate growth, he said. Equal pay for equal work There's a flip side too, however. In the long term, liberalization can push wages down. "Many workers migrating to the Netherlands are willing to work for lower pay," de Beer said. "That's going to have consequences." Yet the Dutch government has taken steps to protect domestic workers. Dutch law requires employers to pay newly arrived, foreign workers the same wages as their Dutch colleagues. In addition, employment agencies are to locate jobs for foreign workers. Employers have also obliged themselves to finding proper accommodation for the workers. Furthermore, a supervisory agency has also been established to handle complaints or infringements. Germany and Austria lagging behind The Netherlands isn't the first country to open up its labor market. Great Britain, Ireland and Sweden did not even impose limits following the EU's eastern enlargement. Finland, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain have already abolished entry restrictions. Belgium, Denmark, France and Luxembourg will follow suit in 2009. Only Germany and Austria want maintain their liberalization phase in transition until 2011. Those countries argue that their geographical location put their employment markets at risk: their proximity to the new EU-member states Bulgaria and Romania would make them even more vulnerable to foreign workers migration. Studies by the European Commission confirm Austria's fears. The number of citizens from "new" EU countries in Austria has doubled in the past three years -- to 1.4 percent. In Germany, however, the number has increased only slightly -- to 0.7 percent. The Munich-based economic research institute Ifo confirmed the figures. In 2004 and 2005, around 24,000 Eastern Europeans moved to Austria to work; only 12,000 moved to Germany. Positive economic effects The number of "new" EU citizens migrating to "old" EU countries has remained stable following expansion. Interestingly, figures should that the effects of foreign worker migration are positive: employees from eastern Europe did their part in filling the demand for qualified workers in other markets, the European Commission said. Jörg Lackenbauer, an economist at the Center for European Policy in Freiburg, agreed. More than 450,000 people have migrated to Great Britain from the EU-acceding countries. "The effect on domestic employees was minimal. "But the economy benefited from the effects of migration in that the potential for production and the gross domestic product rose," he said. In Germany, the debate about liberalizing the employment market for migrants has quieted. But it could get louder soon: the Czech Republic has announced it will focus on liberalization during its EU presidency beginning in January 2009. Without the current transitional periods for liberalization for countries like Germany and Austria, the EU's gross domestic product would currently be up to one percent higher," said Lackenbauer. "Besides, liberalization of the employment market is one of the basic tenants of the single European market," he said. "The treaty for establishing the European Community clearly dictates its implementation," he said. | [
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German Jobseekers Plumb Volunteerism's Possibilities
Unlike the US, Germany does not have a highly developed culture of volunteerism. But with state coffers increasingly empty and a continually tight job market, observers say unpaid work can have hidden benefits.
In the US, volunteering is widespread -- a credo promoted at home and in schools, and even as pseudo-governmental doctrine. From tutoring in after school programs, to working as an aide in a hospital, to helping build houses for the poor -- Americans have long been schooled in the importance of "giving back to community." But since its postwar economic boom, Germany has used its tax base wealth to provide for the needy and offer its citizens singularly generous social benefits. Volunteer work was mainly done by charitable religious groups, or young men exempted from military service, fulfilling an obligatory year of civil service. Increasingly, though, young people going onto the job market are discovering the side benefits that can be reaped from a volunteer stint. Such experience can help develop the highly touted "soft skills" that are increasingly in demand in the business world, observers say. After all, anyone can call themselves a "team player," but a well-chosen, unpaid job may give them the chance to actually prove they are one. "For people looking for their first job, working as a volunteer is a great advantage," said Sascha Theisen, the spokesman for StepStone.de, an employment-recruiting Internet portal that advises people at all stages of their career. "It gives them the chance to gain experience, for instance in leading a project, or solving problems or managing people. "It also means they could come to the job with a network already in place of people who would be good contacts later on down the road," he added. Too much of a good thing? But Theisen warned that people who are already in the middle of their careers should be careful not to overdo it. German employers would only really smile upon someone involved in an activity that might be beneficial to business: taking an active role in a professional association, for instance. "If someone is busy leading several sports clubs and on top of that they sing in a choir, you have to ask yourself, are they going to have enough time for their job?" Theisen asked. Christoph Lender saw the benefits of volunteering first hand. By his own account, the half-dozen years he spent leading Catholic youth groups helped give him just those skills required by his first employer, a bank. At the job interview, they discussed the work he had done coordinating events, leading discussions and meetings, and being an authority figure for 10 to 15 kids every week. "It's a signal for a company, that in addition to your studies and any internships you do, that you also took time for other things, and were socially engaged," Lender said. "It speaks for how you choose to spend your time." Job boost a 'byproduct' But Lender stressed that his motivation for taking up volunteer work was not some calculated attempt to improve his chances on the job market. "I did it for my own personal development," he said. "The good experience with the job was just a byproduct of that." German software giant SAP's hiring approach also supports Lender's experience. Spokesperson Alla Ruggaber-Mast said the company looks for people who are motivated and independent, with highly developed "soft skills" in communication, problem solving, and conflict resolution. But while the firm "welcomes candidates who are socially engaged, that is not a decisive factor in hiring." According to the latest German government survey on volunteerism from 2004, some 36 percent of Germans claim volunteer responsibilities, up from 34 percent five years earlier. But that high number includes such volunteer jobs as taking an active role in a sports club or cultural institute. The figure for "social" volunteerism -- such as leading a youth group -- was at 5.5 percent in 2004, up from 4 percent in 1999. There are historical reasons that relatively few Germans take on social volunteer jobs, said Werner Lindwehr, a spokesman for the Agency for Self-Help and Volunteering in the city of Osnabrück, in the state of Lower Saxony. "Directly after the war, volunteerism was part of society, out of necessity," Lindwehr said. "People helped one another." Later, the state took over many of those responsibilities. "And it may be that Germans started just sitting back and saying, 'I'll let the state take care of it,'" he acknowledged. Difference to USA Today, however, he sees a movement toward citizens taking a more active role. A "culture of volunteerism" is, indeed, developing in Germany, he said. "People want to do more than just vote every four years," Lindwehr said. "They want to do something on their own doorstep, and they see that they are taken seriously by the government." But volunteerism in Germany will never have the same status as in the US, where it fills a quasi-governmental function, he added. "You can't compare the volunteerism with USA and here," he said. "The US has a much worse social system. In my opinion, they have more need, and thus more organization." In Germany, Lindwehr argued, volunteerism will grow, but it will have a more "political" character, with volunteers and governments forming a sort of bridge to get things done. For instance, he said, people are becoming increasingly active in local citizens' initiatives. Not everyone likes it An example is a group of people who decide their playground needs renovation, but the town says there is no funding for it. So the local government will act as a go between, and find a carpenter who is willing to donate wood, or people to help manage the construction. Despite these examples, volunteerism in Germany is far from being accepted as purely beneficial. Debates occasionally flare up over the usefulness of the civil-service year, and there are those who decry the notion of unpaid work at all, saying it steals jobs from people who need them. Meanwhile, Christoph Lender said that from where he stands, he has seen little evidence that the country will be overrun by volunteers any time soon. "Among my friends, I guess you would say I am one of the more socially engaged," Lender said. "Young people have a lot of other things to do -- with sports, going out, the Internet… Everyone has to decide how they want to spend their time." | [
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Heaven's Meadow - The Small Wonders of Baan Gerda
A German former executive turns a dream into reality, using donated funding to build a village for HIV-infected orphans.
The global death rate is mounting rapidly for HIV-infected children and teenagers, many of them AIDS orphans. On June, 27, 2007, DW-TV will be airing a documentary on this important topic and at the same time presenting an extraordinary project: "Heaven's Meadow - The Small Wonders of Baan Gerda", by Detlev F. Neufert, a film-maker in Berlin. In 2002, former Henkel executive Karl Morsbach and his wife Tassanee started a project intended to help AIDS orphans live with dignity for the time alloted to them. Many of them had been turned out of their home communities and were already resigned to their fate. But then something unexpected happened: the children lived. Now Baan Gerda is a thriving village in Thailand. The Morsbachs follow the principle that only a child who's happy has a chance of recovery. They found loving surrogate parents for the AIDS orphans and built a village for them to live in. The mothers and fathers are also HIV-positive and have found a new meaning for lives in their new roles. Since 2002, nine residences, a small hospital, a "star house" with a large kitchen, a playground and a guest house have been built in Baan Gerda. Altogether, they make up a loving and well-maintained environment where both children and adults fighting AIDS can live in safety and security. Baan Gerda, or "Gerdas Village", named after Karl Morsbach's mother, can stand as an example internationally. It demonstrates how AIDS orphans can live as normal, well-looked-after children with comparatively little expense and lots of love. This documentary was started on a loan of 3000 euros, and a third of its budget was covered by sponsors, making this production a little miracle in itself. It took a total of 26 months to make. Film-maker Detlev F. Neufert: "The 'Baan Gerda' project can help save the lives of AIDS orphans. The documentary serves as their ambassador." | [
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Pope Urges Bush to Find Peaceful Solution in Middle East
After a brief stop in Poland Friday to discuss plans basing a US defense missile system there, US President George W. Bush traveled to Rome, where Pope Benedict XVI. urged him to help end violence in the Middle East.
Not many people can lecture US President George W Bush and get away with it. Pope Benedict XVI appeared to do just that on Saturday during his first meeting with Bush as head of the Roman Catholic Church. According to an official statement published shortly after their 35-minute talk, the Vatican said the pope had "expressed his concern" for the situation facing Christian communities in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. More importantly, the German-born pontiff had asked Bush to find "negotiated" solutions to the conflicts afflicting the Middle East. Put in simple language, he told Bush off for going to war in Iraq and for resorting to military options to resolve crises. Bush in "listening mode" Bush had of course been made fully aware of the Holy See's strong opposition to the war during his last encounter with the late John Paul II three years ago and said he would be heading to the Vatican in "a listening mode. "He's a good thinker and a smart man," Bush told reporters ahead of Saturday's meeting. Experts note that while the former theology professor may have a softer, more "academic" style than his charismatic predecessor, their views on the subject are substantially the same. Benedict used to act as John Paul's main advisor while still a cardinal and made his opinion on Iraq very clear in April, when he said in his Easter message that "nothing positive comes from Iraq." Common ground In actual fact, Bush may have found much common ground with Benedict than the disagreement on how to tackle the Middle East might suggest. Speaking to reporters, papal spokesman Federico Lombardi said the two leaders had agreed on a variety of issues, ranging from religious freedom to "the defense and promotion of life, matrimony and the family." Benedict, who often reminds politicians that the Church considers life sacred "from conception," will certainly have approved of Bush's opposition to abortion and his threat to veto a recently-approved US bill expanding federally funded embryonic stem cell research. "Yes, Sir" And apart from raising eyebrows by repeatedly addressing the pope as "Sir" rather than using the more formal term "Your Holiness," Bush did not travel to the Vatican empty-handed either. On top of the traditional exchanging of gifts - Bush gave Benedict a white stick with the 10 commandments carved on it, the work of a Texan artist - the president was also able to provide assurances about his commitment to combat poverty and the spread of AIDS in Africa. "I've got a very strong AIDS initiative," Bush said, referring to his efforts to convince Congress to double US spending for combating AIDS in Africa to $30 billion (22.2 billion euros) over the next five years. Facing protests After meeting the pope, Bush saw Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Heavy security measures were in force, with some 10,000 police including hundreds in riot gear and scores of armored vehicles deployed. Two separate protests, one by the left flank of Prodi's fractious ruling coalition and the other by more hardline anti-US campaigners, were planned Saturday afternoon under sunny skies. Prodi has asked government members of the Refoundation Communist, Italian Communist and Green parties not to join the protest, while party leaders and lawmakers planned to attend. Italian Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero of the Refoundation Communist party said Friday that he would not join the protest out of a "sense of responsibility," while noting: "Bush is a warmonger, I understand those who oppose him." CIA scandal The US leader's visit came the day after Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty released a report saying the CIA ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005 to interrogate terror suspects under a program authorized by the countries' presidents. Also Friday, a trial opened in Milan over the kidnapping of a terror suspect in Washington's heavily criticized "extraordinary rendition" program. Twenty-five CIA agents are being tried in absentia for the kidnapping of Milan imam Osama Mustafa Hassan -- better known as Abu Omar -- and transferring him to a high-security prison outside Cairo, where he claims he was tortured. | [
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Blair: "No Point" to Return to EU Constitution
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a strong hint Wednesday he will resist efforts to resurrect elements of the failed EU constitution. It could be a big step back for Angela Merkel, who wants an EU treaty passed.
Speaking after talks in London with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Blair said there would be no deal at the Brussels summit on June 21 and 22 unless demands for a EU constitution were set aside. It could prove a big setback to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has made getting the EU constitution back on track after defeats at the polls by the French and the Dutch a priority of Germany's EU presidency, which ends this month. Blair told a news conference in Downing Street that there would be "real difficulties" between some of the 27 EU members due attend. 'Amending treaty' Referring to French-German moves to resurrect aspects of the European constitution, soundly defeated in referenda in France and the Netherlands two years ago, Blair said he would sign up only to an "amending treaty." "Frankly, in order to get an agreement, the type of issues we are talking about are going to have to be satisfied," he said. His comments came after talks with Topolanek, who had expressed a "similar approach" on the issue of the constitution, Blair indicated. Blair said there was "no point" returning to the constitution, and added that the EU should be looking at "smaller measures to make it more effective to the needs of countries." He said there was a "real desire" in Europe to move on from the issue of the constitution to other matters of "huge importance," such as energy, migration, economic issues and defence. Sarkozy visit Earlier Wednesday, Blair's office announced that French President Nicolas Sarkozy would visit London for crucial pre-summit talks on June 19. For the first time, Blair and his successor, Gordon Brown, would be joint hosts of the meeting with Sarkozy, an advocate of a "simplified treaty that would allow the implementation of the essential institutional advances contained in the EU constitution." Such efforts have been dismissed as an attempt to "reintroduce the constitution through the back door" by commentators in London. The Blair-Brown double act comes only days before Brown is expected to be elected Labour Party leader, followed by Blair's final departure from power on June 27. Blair's spokesman said the meeting with Sarkozy on June 19 was agreed at the recent Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany. Sarkozy's claim that he and Blair had agreed on the "framework" for a revised mini-constitution has not been backed up by officials in London. "What's important when you have got a new French president is that you get a chance to explore at greater length than is possible at a bilateral his position in the run-up to discussions at the summit," said Blair's official spokesman. Gordon Brown's role The meeting, with the inclusion of Brown in a "new role," would therefore be "useful from several perspectives." "We have always said there will be close consultations, as there always are before a summit, between colleagues in government. But it will be the Prime Minister who will present the Government position at the summit." The Brown camp has expressed fears that Blair could be prepared to sign up to a controversial deal on the EU constitution just days before he leaves office. | [
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Documenta 12: "No Meaningless Art From Opportunistic Virtuosos"
Roger M. Buergel, artistic director of Documenta 12, told DW-WORLD.DE in an interview that he rejects "aesthetic shocks" of large exhibitions and explains why it is important to him to bring art to the public.
DW-WORLD.DE: When you were appointed as artistic director of Documenta 12, you promised an "easily readable" show without a massive catalogue, so that the visitors wouldn't be overwhelmed with text. Have you kept your promise? Roger M. Buergel: We have worked very hard to create an exhibition that is tangible and accessible, and there is a small manageable catalogue. Your secrecy over the choice of artists suggests you want to use surprise as a PR strategy. How do you deal with terms like spectacle and event being applied to Documenta? Do you see Documenta as theater which needs to be staged dramatically? No, insofar as I believe that the exhibition should concentrate on its core business. Documenta shouldn't be a film festival, dance festival, art exhibition and science convention. Yes, in the sense that such a mass event does offer opportunities for enthusiastic struggles over social commitments and cultural exchange. I am not announcing a complete list of participating artists before the opening because I don't want to take part in this neurotic game. Scrutinizing the names of the list of artists and anticipating aesthetics shocks affects people's view of the art. It shouldn't be about the individual artists, but about the exhibition as a whole. The works exist within their own context and that's what the visitors should concentrate on. You have selected unknowns over high profile names. Is it really possible to produce a Documenta that exists outside the mainstream art world? In contrast to most big art events, which are very privileged, we are not trying to serve up the filet steak of the art world on silver platters. Of course, we do provide a measure of what is going on in the international art world, but we don't just do that. The holding of a trade fair in parallel to the exhibition, which is happening at the Venice Biennale, I would never allow here. And whether it's Venice, Basel or Miami, many of these events look like they were put together quite swiftly. But art is a very slow process, it can't be made haphazardly. I don't want meaningless art from opportunists, who create a work overnight and who have been doing the same thing for years. For the first time in the history of Documents include antiquities. Why represent the past in the most important international exhibition of contemporary art? One can only understand contemporary art when one knows where it comes from. That makes it possible to see where art is heading in the future. I'm not trying to show what is contemporary, but to illustrate where certain forms come from. Our oldest exhibit is a Persian design from the 14th century, which was produced after an expedition by Persian artists to the Chinese imperial palace. Looking at it, you can see how the Persians were influenced by Chinese forms. I wanted to give a new depth to the exhibition, in order to give the public the chance to understand the context in which contemporary art is situated. And I have a responsibility to the educational role of Documenta. The spatial plan seems to play a very much important role for you. You built new exhibitions spaces in Kassel, in which works of art from different epochs and geographical origin come into contact with one another. Do you want the space to act as mediators between works of art and public? The viewer needs a space in which the works can communicate between themselves, and where the viewer is also a part of this conversation. Creating an exchange like this depends heavily on the presentation of the exhibits. For me, the most import thing about creating exhibition architecture is that the viewers can concentrate on the art. The book "Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life" by Giorgio Agamben is at the center of the exhibition. Topics of migration and escape are touched on in that work. In what respect will the relationship between art and politics be present in Documenta 12? It won't be political in the sense of showing videos of child soldiers, but really more in terms of trying to change the attitudes of people who see the exhibition. In that sense it is very political. However, we haven't selected works based on their politics, but rather those that further educate the general public. This Documenta includes a film program with 96 contributions as well as exhibitions in cinema foyers. Has film as an art form been given more attention than in previous Documentas? Even though film is close to our hearts, it is only featured selectively in Documenta 12. We don't want to confine moving pictures to a black box. In our view, film has had its place here ever since the first Documenta -- at the Gloria Cinema. A bored public which has already seen everything is a topic of discussion in the art world. How do you overcome that attitude from viewers, that they have already seen everything? It's not about fascinating people with the strange and unknown, but rather about bringing things that people know nearer to them. We want to remind people to look at things more closely. Documenta 12 opened to the public June 16 and runs until Sept. 23. | [
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Air Berlin Executives Accused of Insider Trading
German prosecutors said on Tuesday that they had raided the homes and offices of top executives of German low-cost carrier Air Berlin as part of an investigation into possible insider trading.
About 50 police officers and employees of the financial sector watchdog BaFin had searched a total of 10 premises in Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich, Düsseldorf and Langenfeld on Tuesday morning as part of the probe, the Stuttgart public prosecutors said in a statement. The investigation centered on at least five officials, including chief executive Joachim Hunold, and supervisory board head Johannes Zurnieden, they added. The insider trading allegations are connected with Air Berlin's takeover of rival airline DBA last year. "There is a suspicion that the accused made use of insider knowledge over the planned takeover of a Munich-based airline by a Berlin-based airline," the prosecutors' statement said. Effect on stock price was unclear The company officials are suspected of having bought around 1.5 million euros ($2.0 million) of Air Berlin shares in June 2006, shortly after having signed a confidentiality agreement and just before takeover talks began. Hunold and Zurnieden are suspected of having bought 1.47 million euros worth of shares alone, the prosecutors said. Hunold, a media-savvy businessman who has led the airline's rapid expansion, confirmed he was among those named in the inquiry and issued a statement denying the allegations. "There was no knowing how much or even if the share price of Air Berlin would rise after the announcement," he said. "I first bought shares at the start of June 2006 when a lock-up period imposed on me under stock-exchange rules had expired." He said all the purchases had been duly reported to financial regulators and disclosed online. "Absurd inquiry" Air Berlin spokesman Peter Hauptvogel added that the shares were bought well before Air Berlin decided to buy DBA, a move that sent the Berlin airline's stocks soaring. Hauptvogel, who said searches were also made at the homes of the suspects, described the inquiry as "absurd," adding that it involved relatively modest sums of money. Air Berlin, Germany's second largest airline after Lufthansa, acquired DBA in August 2006 in a bid to take on flag carrier Lufthansa in the fierce battle for domination in the skies above Germany. | [
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Hungry For Success, Indian Students Give Deutsch a Try
In India, Germany's language and culture institute, the Goethe Institute, is flooded with students wanting to learn a foreign tongue to improve their chances of success in a globalizing world.
Outside the walls of the whitewashed building located on a busy thoroughfare in New Delhi, two young grubby boys dressed in rags collect anything they can lay their hands on. The idea is to sell it at the recycling center to earn a few rupees. Inside, the air conditioning hums, converting the Indian capital's brutal summer heat of 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) and more into a bearable 25 degrees Celsius. A large green 'G' hung over the entrance doors gives away the identity of the building's occupant. But that's only half the story in this part of the world. India remains the only country where the Goethe Institute -- Germany's premier language and culture institute which has branches across the globe -- is called the Max Müller Bhavan or Max Müller House said Stefan Dreyer, head of Delhi's Goethe Institut. "We have both. Max Müller doesn't stand against Goethe, rather it all goes with Goethe." With Max Müller's blessings Born in 1823 in Dessau, Max Müller was one of the first scholars to research the Indian classical language, Sanskrit and is considered the father of modern Indology. He died in Oxford in 1900. "Goethe means a lot to Indians today," said Dreyer. "But of course it's a homage to India when the institute's name symbolizes the relationship to this country. In this case, it's represented by Max Müller." India of course has changed unrecognizably since Max Müller's writings on the Vedic culture of India. Along with China, the South Asian giant is at the center of a major Asian economic boom. The country's economy has averaged growth rates of over seven percent in the past decade. India is home to a growing, well-educated middle class that's thirsting for knowledge and success. Stefan Dreyer said the massive economic and social changes sweeping the country are felt deeply by the Goethe Institute too. "The motivation to learn German has changed sharply over the past years," said Dreyer. Until 7 to 10 years ago, Indians would choose to learn German to be able to read intellectuals such as Kant, Brecht, Grass or Goethe in the original, Dreyer pointed out. "Today things are totally different. We have many young people who want to learn German because they want to use it to boost their chances of success in their professions," Dreyer said. Language as a weapon India is home to six Goethe institutes or Max Müller Bhavans. More are planned. The demand for German language courses is skyrocketing and the institute is having a tough time meeting it. At the Goethe Institut in Delhi alone, 2,200 students pass through its doors every year. Ranjan, a 34-year-old who works for an insurance company, has been learning German for the past three years -- for purely pragmatic reasons. "I thought if I combine a foreign language with my insurance skills then I would have better chances to prove myself and work for a German company here in India," he said. Though he hasn't landed his dream job as yet, he's relying on the unwritten laws of the globalized world. "It's no new concept that jobs are moving to cheap countries," said Ranjan. "If Germany didn't do the same, it would lose a lot of business." The Goethe Institute too stands to profit from this young ambitious generation in India raring to use the German language as a weapon on the global marketplace. Kirti, a 21-year-old says that after a year and three months of learning German, she's now abandoned her idea of becoming an English language teacher and would now like to teach German instead at the Goethe Institute. "All foreign languages are important for India because India is becoming increasingly important in the world," said Kirti. "Germany is a new country for India, German is a new language. That just improves our career chances." | [
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Namibian Police Continue Hunt for German Tourist's Killers
Police in Namibia were searching Tuesday for two men who shot dead a German tourist and kidnapped his wife shortly after their arrival in the normally tranquil desert state at the weekend.
Johannes F., 56 and his wife Elke, 52, were hijacked at gunpoint by two men on Sunday after they had stopped at a bridge in the mountainous Khomas region west of the capital Windhoek to take photos, police spokesman Angula Amulungu said. The couple had arrived hours earlier in Namibia and were en route to the coastal resort of Swakopmund. The attackers shot and killed Johannes, kidnapped his wife, drove around in the couple's rental car for hours before dumping the body in a dry riverbed before becoming embroiled in a high-speed chase with a local farmer, according to local newspaper reports. Local Afrikaans daily Republikein reported that Johannes was shot after arguing with the hijackers and that he bled to death on his wife's lap. German media reported that he was shot in the head and killed instantly when the hijakers emerged from the bush. The car later overturned and the men fled, leaving behind Elke F., who was taken to hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries. Elke F. was in "severe shock," according to Ute König, permanent representative at the German embassy in Windhoek. Police are combing the Khomas Hochland area for the attackers, police spokesman Amulungu said. The attack dominated newspaper headlines Tuesday in Namibia, a quiet former German colony of around 2 million people famous for its desert scenery. "The horrified reaction (to the attack) in the country reflects the exceptional nature of this crime," König said. | [
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The Many Laws of a Well-Ordered German Life
If there is one quintessentially German word that has been woven into the fabric of society over the years, then it is "Ordnung." Meaning "order" or "orderliness," it represents the legs upon which the nation stands.
It's just one word, but Ordnung's cultural scope shouldn't be taken lightly. It serves as a suffix that can be applied across the board to create a magnificent web of rules and regulations that makes up the bedrock of society. There is Hausordnung (house rules), Schulordung (school rules), Arbeitsordnung (work rules), Strassenverkehrsordnung (traffic rules), Sozialordnung (social order) and Öffentliche Ordnung (public order) and so the list goes on. These are the long-standing rules that prohibit dumping empty bottles into recycling bins on Sundays, crossing a road while the little man is flashing red and also lead to furrowed brows when children go outside in the winter without a hat, scarf and gloves or when a cashier is presented with a large bill rather than the correct change. While other countries have their own rulebooks, there is something particularly imposing about the German one. The fact is rules -- both official and unofficial -- rule. Order equals security Hans-Dieter Gelfert, a retired literature professor and freelance writer who has spent many years exploring the German, British and American mentalities, said the ordered society of modern Germany has been a long time in the making. "Ordnung is one of the sacred words in Germany, and that has something to do with the German emphasis on security as opposed to liberty," he said. "For the last thousand years security has always been the number one value and order is a mainstay of security." Gelfert said the fact that Germany long consisted of dozens of tribes which harbored open resentments against one another led them to crave a mythical unity, a desire to feel safe and secure and live in a tension-free zone. "What could provide a tension-free zone?" he asked. "Only a well-ordered system where everybody would stick to the rules." But Germans are in fact no more orderly than many other Europeans, he added. "Much of their behavior is disorderly, yet ideologically they believe in order," Gelfert said. "But that doesn't mean people stick to the rules, just that they believe others ought to." Ruling the unruly The discrepancy between the ideology and the reality is self-evident in the domain of public order. Jens-Holger Kirchner of Berlin's District Council for Public Order said people are always ready to scold another person's misdemeanors without considering their own potential delinquencies. "I'm always surprised at how ready people are to tell on their neighbors," Kirchner said. "Someone else is always to blame. The cyclists tell us to chase the dog owners, the dog owners tell us to chase those who dump their rubbish illegally, and they tell us to chase the cyclists." German municipalities have public order authorities and dispatch patrols to issue parking tickets, prevent people from illegally dumping rubbish, check cyclists have lights and brakes, make sure dog owners pick up after their pets and ensure cafes don't take up too much space on the sidewalks and keep their noise levels down. For Kirchner, order means "making sure one's own actions do not prevent others from moving freely. It is one of the pillars of democratic society." Rules, rules, rules Gelfert said he believes Germany would benefit from fewer pillars. "We have far too many rules," he said. "There are quite a few highly intelligent people who suggest that Germany should start a reform by doing away with 10,000 laws -- no matter which ones -- thereby creating more space for a free and rational process. "But so far all efforts to do away with superfluous laws have been abortive," he added. "They did get rid of some, but then replaced them with more new ones." Kirchner said he is looking forward to the introduction of some new laws slated for the coming months, including a smoking ban and stricter emissions rules for vehicles in central Berlin, and has already earmarked an increase in personnel to monitor public adherence, which he said the public wants. "Since we started operating two years ago, the general feedback we have received is that there is still not enough order on the streets of Berlin," Kirchner said. "People are not yet telling us that we live in a wonderfully ordered environment, but we'll get there." Gelfert said he believes that it will take another two or three generations before Germany realizes that it can survive without so many rules and regulations. "This craving for security will be the last thing the Germans will overcome," he said. | [
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Referendum for Thailand's New Constitution
Demonstrators vowed Monday to stage a fresh rally against Thailand's junta, after clashes with police at a Bangkok protest on Sunday left scores injured. Protesters have also begun rallying against the new constitution which the junta unveiled earlier this month and is set to go to a referendum next month.
The military-backed transitional government has promised new elections but the people will first have to sanction the new constitution. Phisit Lee-Atham is a member of the Constitution Drafting Council and he is confident that the new draft is much more democratic than the scrapped 1997 constitution: "In the old constitution the head of government was given too much power. He could use it without there being any checks and balances. But this time, we've made it easier for the Opposition to put votes of no confidence to the parliament so there will be more checks and balances in the future." Previously, 40 percent of the parliament's votes were necessary but the new draft says 20 percent suffice for a vote of no confidence. Anti-Thaksin constitution? The new draft has been termed an anti-Thaksin constitution. The prime minister, who was ousted in a military coup last September, was notorious for eating away the democratic system. He was accused of gambling away all legitimation for running the country with his corrupt behaviour. Surat Horachaikul is from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok: "I have always told people how Thaksin Shinawatra's government directly tried to hinder independent organisations. The putsch didn't tear the constitution in half, Thaksin had already done it." Thaksin was also known for mixing political and business interests. His family-owned "Shin Corp", which has since been sold to an investment company in Singapore, clearly benefited from Thaksin's six years in office. One of the main points of the new constitution is that future prime ministers cannot conduct business activities whilst in political office. Information drive A massive image campaign has been planned to inform the country about the new constitution. But critics are sceptical. Because the draft constitution that gives the military more power in crisis situations is a consequence of an illegitimate putsch of September 2006. So many want the old 1997 constitution to be modified -- some say it was the best Thailand ever had. The media lawyer Supinya Klangnarong was once charged with slander by the "Shin Corp" and is an outspoken critic of Thaksin but she also protested against the military when it scrapped the old constitution: "We deeply regret that the popular constitution was abolished. It was one of the most democratic ones and one which the whole country took part in. The constitution was great and we're sad that we've lost it." Communication gap It's unclear how good the chances are of the new constitution being accepted. Despite the image campaign the information is slow to flow. According to recent polls, about 80 percent of the inhabitants in Thailand's twelve largest provinces don't even know when the referendum is taking place. An announcement by the junta chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin that he was toying with the idea of entering politics was received with deep suspicion. Most Thais are inclined to think that Thailand's recent history has been bloody enough and that the military was largely responsible. | [
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Earthquake Rocks Indonesia
A strong undersea earthquake of a magnitude of 6.7, at a depth of 45 kilometres, has rocked the eastern province of Maluku, scaring the residents. An initial tsunami warning was later lifted. Sulawesi Island in the east is being swamped by torrential rain and floods, with at least 60 dead so far.
Tens of thousands of people have lost their homes in the central and southern parts of Sulawesi province, where many villages have been completely damaged. The authorities have deployed helicopters loaded with food and drinking water and have sent health teams with medicine to the affected areas, but they said continuous rain and floods had hindered their access. Aswi Nugroho from the Indonesian Red Cross said that:"most of the relief agencies had been finding it difficult to transport deliveries because of blocked roads and bridges." Buried alive According to local officials, at least 40 people are believed to be buried alive in the central part of the province but the bad weather is hobbling efforts to rescue them. The situation is equally bad in the north-eastern part of the province, where days of heavy downpour have caused floods up to three metres high, submerging hundreds of homes and leaving thousands of people stranded. Deadly landslides occur frequently in Indonesia, where millions of people live in mountainous regions and near fertile flood plains close to rivers. Experts, however, blame illegal logging and deforestation for making the soil loose and causing landslides. Precaution measures "How can we prepare ourselves for such a disaster?" is the question on Aswi Nugroho's lips. "How can we prepare ourselves so that the impact of such disasters is reduced?" For many, the answer lies clearly in fighting global warming and climate change, which are held responsible for the changing weather conditions. Peter Rees, the Red Cross' Head of Disaster Response, told an Australian radio station, the number of natural disasters in the world has tripled in recent years as a result. No increase in geo-physical disasters "Between 2004 and 2006, there was an increase of catastrophe cases from 278 to 481, including 137 floods. And this year there have already been 75 flood catastrophes. And it's clearly linked to the weather," said Rees. He explained that there had been no increase in geo-physical disasters such as earthquakes or volcano eruptions but a clear increase in weather-related catastrophes. Farmers in Central Sulawesi, which is one of Indonesia's key cocoa growing areas, are worried about their crop. Many fear that the heavy rains and floods will have an adverse effect on this year’s production, leading to a potential fall of about 10 percent of the total cocoa output. | [
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The Strange, But True Tale of a Communist Cowboy
A new German documentary, "The Red Elvis", tells the extraordinary tale of Dean Reed from Denver, Colorado who became a star behind the Iron Curtain.
It's common knowledge that thousands of people fled communist East Germany for the West. The fact that a few hardy souls traveled in the opposite direction is far less well-known. The American musician, actor and film director, Dean Reed was one of them. Filmmaker Leopold Grün, who grew up in East Germany, had forgotten about Reed until a friend from the West jogged his memory six years ago. "I didn't like his music, so he'd never really concerned me very much," Grün said. "It was only when I started looking into his story that I became fascinated because it had so many twists and turns. I discovered a completely crazy world that I had no idea about." The bizarre tale of Dean Reed has recently reawakened a flurry of interest. As well as Grün's film -- five years in the making and just opening in Germany -- a biography was published late last year. US actor Tom Hanks is currently working on a feature film with Steven Spielberg about Reed's life with himself in the lead role. New Angle Leopold Grün sees this interest as signs of a need for a change of perspective about the Cold War era. "We all know that people fled East Germany," he said. "But what could someone's motives have been for going in the opposite direction?" Called "The Red Elvis," Grün's film does not set out to provide a comprehensive or conclusive account of Reed's colorful and chequered life. The filmmaker is clear: "This is not a biography." Instead, like a puzzle the documentary pieces together film clips, concert footage and a host of interviews, leaving it to the audience to make up their own mind. Not exactly Country-Western By the time the photogenic Reed settled in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), he had already strayed far from his roots. Following a couple of very minor hits in the United States, the singer embarked on a tour of Latin America in the early 1960s that was to prove decisive. Not only did Reed end up at Number One on the Chilean charts, he witnessed grinding poverty during his travels and forged contacts with the Latin American leftist movement, eventually counting Salvador Allende among his friends. In "The Red Elvis," Isabel Allende Bussi remembers with gratitude Reed's support for her father's presidential campaign. "In his performances in Chile you can see he is genuine," Grün said. "The posing began later." Increasingly critical of US foreign policy, Reed moved to Latin America. It was the start of his career as a political activist-cum-entertainer. He also continued to perform further afield, becoming the first US singer to tour the Soviet Union where his repertoire of country-western and protest songs together with his screen idol looks took audiences by storm. In the film, a Russian fan, now living in Reed's home town, reverentially recalls how his appearances in Russia "were like a holiday for us." Her memories have a tragic irony. The singing advocate of socialist policies functioned as a distraction from Soviet realities. "We forgot that we were oppressed," she tells the camera. Propaganda coup The US performer's tours were clearly a coup for Soviet authorities. This did not go unnoticed back home. In 1972, in an article dripping with sarcasm, the US magazine Newsweek commented: "Reed's success is heavily subsidized by Kremlin authorities. How often do they get an American who looks like apple pie and treads the party line like a trained bear?" Significantly, Reed never relinquished his US passport, retaining the right to roam. One of the most memorable -- and disturbing -- images in "The Red Elvis" shows Reed in Lebanon in the late 1960s, posing with both a gun and a guitar. In Argentina, Reed was given his own TV show to host, but was finally deported after his pro-communist stance got too much for the authorities who were wary of upsetting Washington. After building an acting career in Spaghetti Westerns in Italy, he moved to East Berlin in 1972, meeting his second wife-to-be at a film festival in Leipzig. In East Germany, Reed continued to sing and act, most notably in the blockbuster, East-German Western "Blutsbrüder" (Blood Brothers). Here, the showman created a role tailored to his own character -- a US soldier who goes over to the other side, joining forces with the underdogs after witnessing a massacre of Cheyenne Indians. A rising star behind the Iron Curtain At first, the GDR authorities had not been so keen on his staying, according to Grün. "They were afraid that he would have an unsettling effect because he was such a showman, but then they realized what a fantastic opportunity he presented," he said. "He stood for the right cause and there was no need to manipulate him." Egon Krenz, who was later to briefly succeed Erich Honecker at the top of the East German leadership, has described the relationship between Reed and the authorities as a "productive" one, based on "give and take." But while this closeness to the regime may have secured him a celebrity status that he would never have enjoyed in the United States, it was also to prove his downfall. His popularity began to ebb, partly because of his failure to take any kind of critical stance in public. Disillusioned cowboy Over the years, Reed had also become increasingly disillusioned with the less than heroic nature of everyday life in East Germany. And by the mid 1980s, his third marriage to a leading East German actress was also on the rocks. Grün's film gives little credence to the conspiracy stories that have surrounded his death by drowning, which was reported as a "tragic accident" on East German television. Reed's long-term mistress and soulmate talks about the suicide pact that they had discussed at their clandestine apartment, still visibly grieving at the fact that he decided to cross this final frontier without her. More than a product of the Cold War? The 90-minute film creates a subtle, multi-layered image of someone whose public and private personas were riven with contradictions. While Dean Reed was, in one sense, very much a product of the Cold War, Grün said he believes his life story still has relevance today. "One important goal of mine was to make a film that people could identify with in some way. The themes that are dealt with are still topical: the Palestinian issue, Latin America," he said. "In addition to that, it deals with human problems that are not specific to East Germany." | [
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French Companies Merge to Create New European Energy Giant
French President Sarkozy has successfully negotiated the merger of Paris-based Suez group and state-controlled Gaz de France, which was announced Monday. GDF-Suez will become one of Europe's biggest energy conglomerates.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy brokered terms of the deal, which the companies' boards agreed to late Sunday. The new company, called GDF-Suez, will become one of Europe's largest energy conglomerates along with Russia's state-run Gazprom, Electricite de France and Germany's EON. The two companies have a combined market value of 90 billion euros ($122.8 billion) although Suez will spin off many of its environmental assets, valued by analysts at 18-20 billion euros. Merger of equals The merger was first conceived 18 months ago, but was delayed by disagreements over valuation and control. The final agreement will include a share exchange ratio of 0.9545 to 1, or 21 Gaz de France shares for 22 Suez shares, the groups said in a joint statement. Sarkozy, who was elected in May and has promised economic reforms, pressured Suez to abandon most of its water and waste assets to focus on energy. Besides distributing gas and electricity, Suez runs power stations, pumps water and manages waste. Under terms of the deal, Suez will divest 65 percent of its environmental activities through a stock market listing, scheduled to take place at the same time as the merger. Unions oppose privatization Sarkozy pushed for the merger to prevent a foreign takeover of Suez and to strengthen Gaz de France's power assets. The deal is the latest version of a plan first announced by former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in early 2006 to protect Suez from a possible takeover by Italy's Enel. France's unions and the Socialists have opposed the merger because it would remove the government's control over Gaz de France. The government owns 80 percent of Gaz de France. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said the government will keep significantly more than a blocking minority of 35 percent. The combined group will be led by Suez Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet with the state-owned gas utility's Jean-Francois Cirelli becoming the vice chairman. The merged company has set a cost savings target of 1 billion euros by 2013, according to Bloomberg news service. The transaction to create GDF Suez will be completed "as early as possible" in 2008, the companies said in a statement. "Recent developments in the energy sector reinforced the strategic and industrial logic behind the transaction," which creates a "global energy leader," the two companies said. | [
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German Tobacco Farmers Face Gloomy Future
Germany's tobacco growers are in crisis mode. With EU subsidies due to stop in 2009, it's predicted the crop will die out. And given the current anti-smoking climate, there's not a lot of sympathy for the farmers.
Farmer Markus Fischer is the fourth generation in his family to grow tobacco, and he'll probably be the last. About a sixth of his 150-hectare (370-acre) farm in the southern Palatinate region of Germany is currently dedicated to tobacco, the farm's main source of income. But Fischer isn't sure what the future holds. Tobacco is a highly subsided crop in Europe. Farmers earn around 1.20 euros ($1.64) per kilo, and the EU pays about two euros per kilo on top of that. As part of the EU's agricultural shake-up, these subsidies will be completely phased out by the end of 2009, which will probably mean the end for Germany's 450 tobacco growers. "We can't cover our overheads without the subsidies," Fischer said. "For the amount we're currently getting from the buyers, we won't be able to keep to producing." Examining other options Like other farmers in the region, Markus Fischer and his family have already started looking into alternatives. They have expanded their asparagus crop and started growing strawberries, although they will receive much less for these products. They have also built holiday houses on their land with the aim of establishing a farm-stay business. Fischer, however, still "hopes to keep growing tobacco," because that is what he knows best. Around 10,000 tons of Virginia, Burley and Geudertheimer tobacco are harvested in Germany, Europe's fifth biggest tobacco producer (Italy sits in the number one spot). Most of Germany's tobacco farmers are based in the southwestern regions of Baden and Palatinate along the sunny Rhine plain stretching from Basel to Mainz. More than 400 years of history Tobacco has a long tradition in the Palatinate. The first recorded mention of the plant goes back to 1573, when a priest started cultivating it as a medicinal herb. Now, approximately 1,200 hectares of tobacco are grown in the region -- a third of Germany's total acreage dedicated to the crop. The plant has left an indelible mark on the area. Not only is the countryside dotted with tobacco fields and drying sheds, there are also frescos on houses depicting the harvest, tobacco sculptures, tobacco fountains, a tobacco museum and even a tobacco cycle path. "If tobacco disappears, as it probably will if the situation doesn't change, then we will also loose a part of our cultural tradition in the Palatinate," said Jürg Bähr, the head of the German Tobacco Grower's Association. The association is lobbying hard for an extension of the subsidies until 2013 so that the tobacco farmers have more time to convert to other crops. There's no chance of the EU changing its payments scheme though -- the subsidy cut was agreed and signed off on back in 2004. The only chance for more money is from the federal government, but the current political climate isn't exactly supportive of tobacco. Smoking bans Federal bans on smoking in public transport, taxis, airports and government offices came into power in Germany on Sept. 1, while in August, three states introduced anti-smoking laws in schools, hospitals and most types of restaurants and bars. The other states are expected to follow suit by the end of the year. "We all know that smoking is bad for your health, and so of course politicians have a difficult time standing up for tobacco as a product, especially at the federal level," Bähr said. "But just because the growers aren't there anymore doesn't mean people will smoke less." Europe already imports 95 percent of its tobacco from outside its borders. According to Bähr, when the European crop collapses, cigarette manufacturers will just import the extra 5 percent from elsewhere. "Then people will be yelling again: 'The rain forest in Brazil is being felled for tobacco, we can't have that,' and 'children are being exploited in the fields working in Africa and India,'" he said. "We don't have any of that here in Germany." | [
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Journal Interview with Günter Nooke, The Chancellor's Representative for Africa
Our guest this week in the interview is the German chancellor's representative for Africa, Günter Nooke. The topic is famine in East Africa and what can be done to alleviate it. | [
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Journal Interview Hans-Peter Keitel, Federation of German Industries
How is the debt crisis affecting Germany? | [
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A case for sleeping
We all are familiar with the saying "the early bird catches the worm" but is getting up early really good for us? There are plenty of people out there who find it extremely difficult to get up before 10 am.
| [] | [] | true |
Gunmen steal 'millions' in Swiss cash van heist
Police are hunting for three men who held up an armored van near the French-Swiss border and made off with millions in cash. The suspects reportedly demanded ransom after kidnapping the daughter of a security guard.
Police in western Switzerland appealed for witnesses on Friday after armed robbers clad in black clothing and balaclavas escaped with up to €26 million ($31.8 million). "The thieves fled to an unknown destination," police in the Swiss canton of Vaud said in a statement. The drama began late Thursday, when the assailants, posing as plumbers, kidnapped the daughter of a security guard from her apartment in the southeastern French city of Lyon, investigators said. Read more: Paris thieves steal millions in highway heist The 22-year-old told police she was tied up, bundled into a car, and forced to phone her father, who transports money in armored vehicles for a Swiss security company. Police said the father was en route to Lausanne to make a delivery with a colleague when the call came through, and he agreed to meet the kidnappers in a car park on the Swiss side of the border. "There, several armed men who were awaiting the van made him park it. They…completely emptied the van's contents and fled in a dark-colored Porsche SUV," Swiss police said in a statement, without specifying how much money was stolen. Read more: Police hunt for more Ritz robbers after stolen jewels found Police sources quoted by news agencies said the van was carrying "between 20 and 30 million Swiss francs (€17-26 million, $21-32 million)." No one was injured during the heist. Investigators said the security guard's daughter was later found on the side of a road north of Lyon. Police said they had launched a criminal probe into the robbery and were searching for three men with accented French. Read more: The most spectacular art robberies in history nm/bw (Reuters, AFP, dpa) | [
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Scientists grow early-stage human eggs in lab to full maturity
British and US scientists have developed eggs from an early stage to full maturity in a lab for the first time. The technique could offer cancer patients a promising new type of fertility treatment.
Scientists have succeeded in growing early-stage human egg cells to full maturity in a laboratory for the first time, according to a study released on Friday. The findings, which were published in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction, could be used to create new fertility treatments in the future. The work by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the Center for Human Reproduction took ovarian tissue and matured it to the point at which it could be fertilized. Previous studies had created live offspring from mice eggs matured in a laboratory and developed late-stage human eggs to a later stage of maturity. Potential breakthrough Women who undergo chemotherapy for cancer treatment, which can cause sterility, stand to benefit the most if scientists are able to perfect the new technique. Patients can currently opt to have ovarian tissue removed before therapy to be re-implanted afterwards. But the procedure is risky because the re-implanted tissue can cause a new outbreak of cancer. But with the new technique, eggs could be frozen ahead of the treatment and later matured in a laboratory to the point at which they could be fertilized. More work needed Scientists who were not part of the study welcomed the findings, but cautioned that fertility patients would have to wait for new treatments. "This is an elegant piece of work," Channa Jayasena of the Imperial College London told AFP news agency, yet he added: "It would take several years to translate this [technique] into a therapy." "Much more work is needed to make sure that the technique is safe and optimized before we ascertain whether these eggs … can be fertilized," Ali Abbara, also from Imperial College London, told Reuters news agency. Study co-author Evelyn Telfer of the University of Edinburgh said the next step was to seek regulatory approval to test whether the lab-grown eggs could be fertilized. amp/bw (Reuters, AFP) | [
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Report: Baby Boom Will Push France Ahead of Germany
According to a new study, Germany is set to concede its lead as Europe's largest economy to France by the mid 21st century. The reason? The country's declining birth-rate.
Family policy is topping the political agenda in Berlin once again, after German Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen sparked controversy within the ranks of her own Christian Democrat party (CDU) with proposals to make it easier for women to combine careers and family responsibilities. Her push to create more day-care facilities for the under-threes has drawn harsh criticism from conservatives who accuse von der Leyen of undermining family values. Others say the time has come to wake up to the realities of a changing world, and a new study carried out by the Institute for German Economics (IW) provides more evidence that Germany's failure to encourage women to start families has serious long-term repercussions for the economy. Slow-down While Germany's population decline is currently irreversible, France is seeing a population boost -- and if demographic predictions prove correct, this will put France well on track to become the continent's strongest economy by 2035. According to the experts, the discrepancy between German and French economic clout will become particularly acute between 2025 and 2035. "The French economy will grow twice as fast as the German one in these years," IW expert Axel Plünnecke told the weekly Die Welt. This is when Germany's "baby-boomer" generation will reach retirement age and the country will start feeling the pinch of its ageing population and declining birth rate. "The shortfall in the work-place will put a brake on the economy," Plünnecke said. France gets it right To many, the development is an obvious return on the French government's family-friendly policies. Since 2000, France has seen more births than Germany even though it has some 21 million fewer inhabitants. Last year, France registered 831,000 births compared to 675,000 in Germany, making it one of the most fertile countries in Europe. This robust reproduction rate is officially encouraged by government programs, including three-year paid parental leave with guaranteed job protection upon returning to the workforce; full-time pre-school starting at age three; subsidized day-care for the under-threes; stipends for in-home nannies and monthly child-care allowances that increase with the number of children per family. Germany, meanwhile, is still mired in a debate about whether women should be encouraged to work or encouraged to stay at home, with critics maintaining that von der Leyen's recent proposals create a false image that only women who go out to work are modern. "If you want to give women the chance to work and have children too, you have to provide day care," said CDU parliamentary chief, Volker Kauder. "But I want to emphasize that parents who stay home with their kids from birth until the age of three should not be regarded as belonging to the last century." | [
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Goethe Institute Picks Up Long German Tradition in Latvia
Latvia has traditionally had close ties to Germany, ever since its capital city Riga was founded by a German in 1201. Now the Goethe Institute is stepping up efforts to restore interest in learning the German language.
The kids clap their hands as Thomas Diekhaus is abruptly interrupted while reading "Max and Moritz," a famous 19th century poem about the antics of two naughty boys. Their caps pulled down low on their heads, two real life boys dressed as Max and Moritz have snuck up onto the stage. Diekhaus directs the language department of the Goethe Institute in Riga, Latvia, and wants to encourage the children to learn German. There's lots of work to be done, he said, because the number of German learners has dropped by 10 percent to 11 percent every year since 2000. 800 years of common history Latvia's German connection is hundreds of years old. In 1201, Bishop Albert from Bremen founded the city of Riga, now the capital, where the Daugava River flows into the Baltic Sea. As a member of the Hanseatic League, many German traders came to Riga and the city flourished. It also became an important center of trade with Russia. When World War II broke out in 1939, most of the Germans living in Latvia moved to Germany. Even while under Soviet rule after the war, Latvia maintained strong connections with communist East Germany, and German continued to be taught as a foreign language. When the Iron Curtain collapsed and the Soviet Union dissolved, Latvian students found a renewed interest in the German language -- particularly when Russian stopped being offered in schools in 1991. Post-communist business boom Today, some 16 years after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, Germany has become Latvia’s biggest trading partner. The newly opened Baltic region became an attractive investment location for numerous western companies. Just outside of Riga, the German company Knauf produces plasterboard that is sold throughout the Baltic region. All of the management personnel have to speak German, said Knauf manager Peter Rumer, since the Riga branch has daily contact with co-workers in Germany. "In Latvia it’s not at all hard to find German-speakers -- and good ones at that," added Rumer. Shakespeare vs. Goethe According to the Latvian Ministry of Education, however, the trend is heading in the opposite direction. Since English was introduced 12 years ago on the recommendation of the school authorities, the number of high school students taking the advanced German exam has dropped by 50 percent. Unlike the Goethe Institute, the Ministry of Education doesn't see a need for action. "The Ministry of Education values multilingualism, however the generally tendency in Latvia toward English as a first foreign language can’t be avoided," said Gundega Muceniece from the ministry. Meanwhile at the Goethe Institute, Max is smoking on stage. After the first cigarette he gets dizzy and can't get a single German word out of his mouth. Even without words, the children understand that Max and Moritz want to annoy Widow Bolte's proud rooster -- not an unusual pastime for the two pranksters. Catching up "What people missed at school they have to catch up on at the Goethe Institute," said the institute's director Rudolf de Baey. "That's good for business, but not for German-Latvian relations." Max has just promised his friend Moritz that he wants to start learning a few German vocabulary words. After all, both of them want to travel as soon as possible to all of the German-speaking countries in Europe. | [
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Readers: Friendly Germans Are the Best Thing About Germany
Readers shared thoughts and experiences about their favorite traveling spots in Germany and came to conclusions that a big part of their admiration for the country is due to the friendliness of German people.
The following comments reflect the views of DW-WORLD.DE readers. Not all reader comments have been published. DW-WORLD.DE reserves the right to edit for length and appropriateness of content. Three of my daughters and one son and his girlfriend and I spent an enjoyable vacation in Germany and enjoyed the beauty of driving the roads less traveled. Germany has so much to offer that we were not able to see because of a lack of time. The people are so friendly. -- James Morlock and family, US I hope the word doesn't get out about how great the Hartz Mountains and Saxony Anhalt are. All of the former "East Zone" is really great. We travel about every other year to Germany and love it. Great food and great people! -- Gerald Decker, US The best treasure in Germany is the people. To me, Germans are friendly, well informed, caring, polite, respectful, generous, and lovely. I feel at home in Germany. In my younger years, I even enjoyed compliments from respectful gentlemen while walking in the street. -- Lily Weidlich, US I am planning to return to Berlin and Dresden in the spring of 2008. I was greatly impressed with the friendliness of the people, the great art and music and how easy it was to travel by train and tram! German food is fresh and unspoiled by chemicals, excess salt and sugar, and is nourishing. My country could learn a lot from the German people. -- Samuel R. Ganczaruk, US Most Germans have a sarcastic smile when I tell them I love to visit Ostfriesland. They would change their mind if they went there and saw the peaceful beauty of the dykes embellished with sheep, horses and cows. They would be impressed by the ominous beauty of the North Sea -- the grey, tender and violent sea. They would fall in love with Greetsiel and Ditzum and their fisher boats. Leer is far from being empty, what a beautiful old city it is, and Emden, with its museum and river. The Dollart region is magnificent, and Helgoland proves nature is the best artist! All these places I mentioned are populated by the nicest people -- welcoming, making huge efforts to communicate with you, helpful, and always smiling. So before they crack another joke at Ostfriesland, or about its wonderful inhabitants, let them go take a look, they'll be hooked! -- Liliane Chaglassian, US I love Germany and I come back year after year. The people are great and the places are very clean and tidy. The only problem is that when I come, I want to stay. -- Paul, Great Britain Having traveled and visited there some 12 or 13 times year after year, I can honestly say that Germany offers my family more for the tourist or traveler than any other country in Europe. From visits to Bremerhaven and Cologne in the north to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Alpine region, we finally agreed to vacation each year in the same inn in the small village of Grainau, near the base of the Zugspitze. We now have many German friends there. -- Mack Trent, US | [
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KINO - The Movie Magazine | 05.02.2017
KINO - Preview of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. Festival director Dieter Kosslick drops by to give us the lowdown on this year's Berlinale highlights: Stars, politics and science-fiction.
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On Tour with Amphicars
Amphicars are a rare sight: there are only around 1000 worldwide- They were designed to drive both on the road and on the water.
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The world's least satisfying video
Here, just about everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. Badly cut cakes, a ruler that slips while drawing, and playing cards that fly in all directions when shuffled: for pedants, this video is a horror movie!
| [] | [] | true |
Instructions on how to make a vintage sign
Today we want to show you how to make this vintage sign. Actually, the sign is new too, I just „aged“ it. A DIY vintage look and making a template are pretty easy. We’ll show you how to do it yourself.
You’ll need a piece of untreated wood. some cardboard in the same size s printout of the text you want steel wool from the hardware store vinegar coffee powder and hot water paint and a sponge a Boxcutter and work gloves. Instructions Glue your printed text onto the cardboard. Cut along the letters with the utility knife. Punch the all of the letters out of the cardboard. There’s your template! Now we’ll create the dye to give the wood a weathered, used look. Put the steel wool into a container and pour vinegar in until it’s covered. If you have a cover, close the container. Pour hot water on the coffee and stir it. You can use instant coffee, too. Let the coffee and steel wool sit for a couple of days. The longer you wait, the darker the steel wool gets. Pour the two liquids together. Use the mix to paint the wood all over. Don’t forget the edges! Don’t worry the smell won’t last long. Once it’s dry, use a brush to remove the coffee grounds. Now center your template on the piece of wood. Use tape to fix it on the sides. If you have putty, use it to get an even firmer fit. If not, roll up some tape. Now use a sponge to dab the paint mix around the template. Go over the template several times. Be sure to press the template onto the wood firmly, so the dye doesn’t seep. Remove the template and remove any tape or putty. There it is, you brand spanking new “vintage” sign. Good to know If you want your sign to look even older, pound on it with a hammer or put in a few nail holes. If you’d like it to look more grey, leave out the coffee and just use the vinegar-steel wool mix. | [] | [] | true |
YouTube beefs up policing of extremist content
The video-sharing website has come under fire for failing to identify and remove offensive videos and comments. YouTube's CEO has said the company will change that.
Google will try to increase the number of its employees who police extreme content across its internet services to over 10,000, the head of Google-owned YouTube has said. "We are also taking aggressive action on comments, launching new comment moderation tools and in some cases shutting down comments altogether," Susan Wojcicki said in a blog post. "We will continue the significant growth of our teams into next year, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018." Read more — Angela Merkel takes to YouTube to woo young voters In an interview with the British daily newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, Wojcicki said "bad actors" had used YouTube to "mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm" others. The company, she said, has developed "computer-learning" technology that can identify videos with extremist content or content that risked the safety of child users. The move is part of a broader effort by the company to improve its protection of users and rid the video-sharing website of extremist or offensive content after widespread criticism of its policing policies. Last week, it removed 150,000 videos featuring children, after users posted lewd comments about the kids. Read more — Alphabet earnings marred by EU fine amp/msh (Reuters, AFP) | [
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Banking on fortified flour in Nairobi
Muguika Kaburu manufactures fortified flour for people with special dietary requirements. A former banker, he's convinced he's found a niche market with excellent growth prospects.
It was merely by coincidence that 60-year-old entrepreneur Muguika Kaburu ended up in the food business. He used to work in banking but in 2007 was given the chance to do research on fortified foods for an international aid organization. He was then appointed as a distributer for extruder machines that are used in the manufacture of fortified flour. He took the opportunity to buy a second-hand machine for himself at a cost of two million Kenyan shillings ( $25,000, 18,000 euros ). Kaburu's company Prosoya Kenya produces high fiber cereal flour fortified with vitamins. It is mixed with water and heated and then ready to eat as nutritional porridge. Initially his chief clients were hospitals, schools and orphanages, but now he is entering the retail market. Secret of success The company is only three years old and has been doubling its sales annually. Projected sales for 2017 are 4.8 billion Kenyan shillings. "Our future plan is to get in the whole of Africa with fortified products," he told DW. Malnutrition is high in Africa and there is a demand for inexpensive food. Kaburu wants his son Kinoti to take over the business when he retires. Like his father, Kinoti is a banker by profession, having worked for Barclays before leaving to join his father's company. In a recent inteview with local media, Kaburu senior revealed the secret of his success as an entrepreneur. You have to take care of three groups, he said, "your products, your customers and your staff - then you are home and dry." | [
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War in Crimea unlikely, experts say
Russia has put its army on alert. Although experts doubt Russia will intervene militarily in Ukraine, they agree the relations between the two countries are difficult at best.
Russia is sending out conflicting signals. President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly put troops in the western and central parts of the country on alert on Wednesday (26.02.2014). A large number of the troops stand ready to move on short notice, announced Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu without giving a reason. Many Ukrainians now fear Russian military intervention following the change of leadership in their country. Moscow doesn't recognize the legitimacy of the new regime in Kyiv. A few years ago, Putin referred to a military confrontation with Ukraine as a "nightmare." Heated debate in Russian parliament On Wednesday Valentina Matvijenko, chairman of the Federation Council in Moscow, said it was "too terrible to think about," adding that such a scenario would be "impossible." The Federation Council is the lower chamber in the Russian parliament, representing the country's regions. In the upper chamber, the Duma, a heated debate is raging over the change of leadership in the neighboring former Soviet republic. Right-wing populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky has suggested issuing passports to interested Ukrainians. Not only Ukrainians but also experts from the West are closely monitoring such developments in Russia. Jens Siegert, director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Moscow, notes that Russia has been offering passports to people in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia. "I view this as a dangerous step," Siegert told DW. But he isn't sure whether the Kremlin would make a similar move in Ukraine. Other experts doubt that Russia will intervene militarily in Ukraine. "I rule out that scenario," said Gerhard Mangott from the University of Innsbruck. "That would severely damage Russian relations with the European Union and the United States," he told DW, adding that the Ukrainian army could also be expected to put up strong resistance. If there were to be any clashes in Crimea between the Russians and Ukrainians or the Tatar population and if the leadership in Kyiv were to intervene with security forces or if Crimean autonomy were to be in question, "then I could imagine Russian military intervention," Mangott said. But he views these possibilities as "highly unlikely." 'Huge defeat for Moscow' Christian Wipperfürth with the German Society for Foreign Policy (DGAP) in Berlin also doesn't expect any intervention on the part of Russia. "I see no reason why Ukrainian borders should be at risk," he told DW but doesn't rule out the possibility completely. Most experts agree, however, that Russia has made mistakes in its Ukrainian policy. "This is unquestionably a huge defeat for Moscow," Mangott said. The Kremlin, he added, underestimated the opposition protest on Independence Square. President Putin apparently believed he could sway Ukraine "to his side" with a $15 billion loan. "Russia has no opportunity to maneuver Ukraine in a direction," says Peter Schulze from the University of Göttingen. "This opportunity vanished with the resignation of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych," he told DW. Moscow, he argues "has absolutely no interest to bang on the table and behave carelessly" and knows that it can't play a "separatist card" in the Ukraine. Views also differ on how relations between the two countries will develop in the future. Schulze, for instance, believes much will depend on the outcome of the early presidential election in Ukraine in late May 2014. Even if Ukraine should seek stronger ties to Europe - a move that Russia views critically - Kyiv and Moscow would be forced "to get along with each other," he said. Possible 'nyet' to loans and gas discounts All the same, Wipperfürth expects the relations between Ukraine and Russia "to remain difficult." Ukraine continues to push away from Russia, he says, but doubts Russia will put "massive pressure" on Ukraine. Mangott is less convinced. He doesn't rule out Russia dropping its promised loans to Ukraine as well as its discount on natural gas. A majority of Russians also want the country to hold back on Ukraine. According to a recent poll conducted by the Moscow research institute VTsIOM, 73 percent of Russians said the country should not interfere. | [
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Egypt bans Hamas, labels it a terrorist organization
An Egyptian court has banned all activities by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Egypt. Cairo’s relations with the group have fallen apart since president Morsi’s military-backed ouster.
A Cairo court on Tuesday ruled on the ban and ordered that Hamas offices in the country be shut down and all dealings with the group suspended. The court also branded Hamas as a terrorist organization. The country's relations with Hamas, which rules neighboring Gaza Strip, have sharply deteriorated since the military removed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last July. Hamas, the Palestinian chapter of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, denounced the move saying it "serves the [Israeli] occupation." Egyptian officials have accused Hamas of plotting with Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood to carry out "terror attacks" in the country. The country's new military-installed authorities, led by military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, were angered by Hamas officials who openly criticized their decision to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood, the target of a deadly crackdown since Morsi's ouster. hc/ccp (AFP, AP) | [
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Ukraine, financial crisis overshadows EPP convention
Vitaly Klitschko and Yulia Tymoshenko have addressed delegates at the European People's Party (EPP) convention in Dublin - but it appears they both expect too much from the EU.
Delegates of the conservative European People's Party (EPP), a grouping of center-right parties in the European Parliament, have met for a two-day congress in Dublin on Thursday (06.03.2014) to nominate a front-runner ahead of elections in May. The winner could well become the next president of the European Commission - that is if the EPP, now the largest political grouping in parliament, manages to secure most of people's votes again. However, delegates are talking about little else but Ukraine. Before the debate kicked off, EPP's chairman Joseph Daul had asked for a minute of silence "in remembrance of the Ukrainian victims who have died for their flag and also for the European flag, which symbolizes our set of values," he said. "We will never accept aggression against a sovereign state." However, what was meant as strong support for Ukrainians may ring hollow to many. After all, what can the EU, let alone a European party, really do against the de-facto Russian occupation of the Crimean Peninsula? Expectations are too high Ukrainian politicians Yulia Tymoshenko and Vitaly Klitschko had both been invited to speak to the delegates. Former heavy-weight boxer Klitschko had led demonstrations against President Victor Yanukovych in Kyiv for weeks, while Tymoshenko was freed from prison as soon as Yanukovych was ousted. However, their expectations on what the EU could do were far from being realistic. Both politicians offered no clear answer to the question what the EU could do about the Crimean issue. However, Klitschko said his first goal was "Ukraine's accession to the EU", secondly, "immediate talks with NATO." But both his demands are out of reach. The EU has practically given up on Ukraine becoming a member of the bloc - even under a pro-European government - while NATO is relieved it is not obliged to defend non-member state Ukraine against Russia. Financial crisis lingers on Apart from Ukraine, there is a second crisis at hand - the bloc's financial crisis. Consequences are still being felt in many countries, particularly in Ireland. Despite the country's success at leaving Europe's bailout program, Ireland has been paying a heavy price in terms of high unemployment and poverty. Demonstrators put up a banner in front of Dublin's Convention Center where the EPP delegates have gathered that reads: "Merkel and EPP, austerity kills us." For some of Ireland's citizens it seems to be German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is responsible for their plight. The two crises could now indeed overshadow the party's task at hand: to nominate a front-runner for upcoming elections. | [
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Ulm – Where the Middle Ages Meet Modernity
The Ulm Minster boasts the highest church spire in the world. It's a major source of pride to locals, who have turned the area around the famous church into a beautiful architectural ensemble combining old and new.
Construction on the Gothic church began in 1377 and took 500 years to complete. Originally a Roman Catholic church, it became Protestant during the Reformation. The 161.5-meter steeple affords a view of the half-timbered houses all around as well as innovative designs like the pyramid-shaped city library and the white town hall. The Kunsthalle Weishaupt complements Ulm's cityscape, making a fascinating ensemble of architecture from the Middle Ages to the modern day. | [
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Rampant Bayern dismiss United's slump ahead of Quarter-Final
Pep Guardiola's side are familiar with the "favorites" label - but the Spanish coach is not comfortable with the tag. Bayern head to a crisis-hit Manchester United in a bid to aid their progression to the last-four.
Bastian Schweinsteiger could have been lining up for the team wearing red Tuesday night. But instead, the 29-year-old has become the first player under the age of 30 to have won seven Bundesliga championships at Bayern. If you add a further six German Cup winners medals, four other German domestic honors and a Champions League trophy - plus two runner-up finishes - then there might not be much room left on Schweinsteiger's mantel piece. Yet, Schweinsteiger was written off as a player on the decline after a problematic ankle injury which has become a nuisance for the midfielder. He underwent surgery twice in less than five months, but made a recovery during the club's recent winter training camp in Qatar. Since then, the German has wound back the clock, showing the same combination of tenacity, commitment and passing qualities that cemented his place in the middle of the park in the first place. With Thiago Alcantara on the sidelines for both legs following an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in Saturday's 3-3 draw at Hoffenheim, Schweinsteiger's importance to the team has increased tenfold. Losing the man who makes Bayern tick in a possession sense is bad enough, so Schweinsteiger will be key at Old Trafford. Bayern Munich's record on English soil is far from impressive: they've won just one from four matches at Old Trafford and only five from 18 in total. However, on their last trip to the Red Devils, Arjen Robben's sumptuous volley was enough to send the Germans through on aggregate (4-3) after a 3-2 defeat on the night. Bayern travel to England Tuesday evening (18:45 UTC) with many expecting the record English champions to roll over after a testing period. "I know it'll be unbelievably difficult. I've never won at Old Trafford," Schweinsteiger said. "It's great to have already one title, but we can't lose focus now." "We want to win every remaining game," he added. "We're a team that wants to win every game - even in training. This is no different." "All the coaches around the world do not want to be favorites," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. "They do not like the title. I have to accept that." "Bayern Munich won everything last year and are now 25 points ahead in Bundesliga," he added. "But there are eight teams in the quarter-finals and they all want to win the title. In the last 28 years Bayern won it twice, so it is difficult." Walking in big shoes The transition from Sir Alex Ferguson to David Moyes has been rough to say the least. Last season's English champions sit in seventh - outside of the Champions League positions - with Europe's premier club tournament the only glimmer of hope in a turbulent campaign. Guardiola was in a sympathetic mood during Monday's press conference and admitted the troubles Moyes has faced "can happen to him tomorrow." "It's been a very good competition for us so far in my short time here," Moyes said pre-match. "I came into it very inexperienced in the Champions League but we've done well and now we've got the ultimate test in Bayern Munich." The Red Devils are nursing some injury concerns in defense, but most troublingly to Robin van Persie, who will miss Tuesday's match. Both Rafael and Patrice Evra won't be available for selection either for the Scot. As cup-tied Juan Manuel Mata sits in the stands, Bayern will face a former foe in Shinji Kagawa. The Japanese midfielder won back-to-back titles at Borussia Dortmund and scored two goals against the Bavarians during his time in the Ruhr Valley. | [
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'Council of Europe must keep talking to Russia'
Russia's delegation at the Council of Europe may face sanctions, but the deputy president of the Council's parliamentary assembly, Axel Fischer, says it's unlikely Russia will be excluded altogether.
Deutsche Welle: The Council of Europe has been critical of the situation in Ukraine for quite some time, in particular with regard to human rights, the rule of law and the democratization process. Why is the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe intent on imposing sanctions on the Russian delegation at this point in time? Axel Fischer: The Council of Europe and the OSCE have already sent observers to Ukraine and Crimea, and we're also going to accompany the upcoming presidential elections. Of course, the question was: what were the legal preconditions for the vote in Crimea on March 16, and how did Russia annex the Ukrainian peninsula afterwards - in particular bearing in mind that the US, Britain and Russia promised to guarantee Ukraine's territorial integrity after the country gave up its nuclear weapons. The question was, can the Council of Europe simply stand by and watch or must it take action. Our British colleague Robert Walter launched the first initiative: he submitted a motion suggesting that the Council of Europe must formally approach the delegation. He even demanded canceling he Russian delegation's accreditation. You also signed the petition: Are you aiming for Russia's expulsion from the Council of Europe? The petition aims at cancelling the accreditation, but withdrawing the right to vote could be a compromise solution. We believe there has been a breach of the Council of Europe's basic principles. We must make it very clear that the Council of Europe takes its duties seriously, and works towards understanding and a peaceful solution to the conflict. According to Russian media, the head of the Russian delegation has already announced their departure ahead of the Parliamentary Assembly vote. We don't want the situation to escalate any further and we want to keep the talks with Russia going. But under no circumstances will we be blackmailed. We will openly discuss the situation at the meeting and then we'll see what we can agree on. Perhaps the Russians have good arguments to convince us, but right now, I don't expect that to be the case. De-escalation is the first priority - but should the delegates really withdraw ahead of time, what signal would that send to the members of the Council of Europe? I don't believe the Russians will simply opt out. I could imagine the Russian delegation withdrawing if the monitoring committee were to advise the assembly to revoke accreditation. It's possible, but we shouldn't aim for that outcome. But we also can't decide to do nothing at all just because of the Russian announcement. We'll calmly analyze the situation - but de-escalation needs both sides. It's not acceptable that we hold back, discuss possible solutions as to how we could approach the Russian delegation, and meanwhile the Russian side only makes demands. That won't work: the two sides must approach one another. How have negotiations with your Russian counterpart gone up until now? The Russian side's criticism concerning Ukraine is very clear. They say it wasn't a revolution, but a coup, and it wasn't covered by the constitution. They accuse Europeans and Americans of interference. The role of the EU isn't seen in a positive light, either. But that's the Russian point of view. We have a clear point of view, too: we have clear criteria for the Council of Europe that are in accordance with the rule of law, and we know how democracy should function and how elections should be conducted. No matter who did what in Ukraine and in Kyiv, we want human rights to be observed and the rule of law to be guaranteed. That is the Council of Europe's duty. Axel Fischer is a Christian Democrat member of Germany's Bundestag. He heads the German delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). | [
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Submarine to be deployed in search for missing Malaysian Airlines plane
Australian officials have said they will deploy a submarine to search for any wreckage of missing flight MH370 on the seafloor. The move will bring the search underwater 38 days after the plane disappeared.
Search crews will, for the first time, send an autonomous submarine to determine whether signals detected by sound-locating equipment are from the missing plane's black boxes, the Australian head of search Angus Houston said at a news conference Monday. "Ocean Shield will cease searching with the towed pinger locator later today and deploy the autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 as soon as possible," Houston said. The sub can create a sonar map of the area to chart any debris on the ocean floor, but Houston warned the submarine will not automatically "result in the detection of the aircraft wreckage. It may not." He also said it would be "a slow and painstaking process," because canvassing the area with sub could take six weeks to two months. Over the past two weeks, crews have picked up a series of underwater 'pings' in the southern Indian Ocean consistent with an aircraft's black box, which has helped narrow the area of the search. The batteries in the plane's flight data recorders are now two weeks past their 30-day expected shelf life with the last 'ping' signal logged six days ago. "Despite the lack of further detections, the four signals previously acquired taken together constitute the most promising lead we have in the search for MH370," Houston added. Recovering the plane's black box is essential for investigators to try to figure out what happened to Flight 370, which vanished March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Houston also said an oil slick was detected in the current search area, which is about 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) northwest of Perth. Several liters of the oil were retrieved for testing but results will still not be available for several days. A visual search for debris was also planned for Monday over 47,600 square kilometers (18,400 square miles) of ocean. hc/av (Reuters, AP) | [
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UN: South Sudan leaders schedule talks this week in Ethiopia
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has traveled to South Sudan in an effort to broker face-to-face talks with the leaders of the country's warring factions. He said a meeting between the sides was likely later this week.
On Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon said from Juba that the leaders of South Sudan's warring factions – rebels led by former Vice President Riek Machar, and supporters of President Salva Kiir – were to meet for direct talks with each other this week in Ethiopia. "Fighting must end. Much damage has already been done. It may take long to heal," Ban said. "The country's leaders must close the wounds they have opened. They must support justice and accountability for the crime committed and they must act to address the root causes of the conflict." The meeting in Addis Ababa is to be facilitated by the prime minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn. Heartbreaking, says Ban The conflict has been broiling since December. A peace agreement reached in January did not hold, and thousands of people have been killed in the meantime. In addition, the United Nations human rights chief has cautioned that the situation needs to be brought under control before turning into a Rwanda-like genocide or a devastating famine. In Juba, Ban met with Kiir and refugees in a UN camp that is filled beyond capacity by many thousand people. "What I have seen and heard today breaks my heart and enrages my soul," Ban said, adding the "conflict destroying this fragile young country is senseless." During a joint press conference, Kiir said he would attend the meeting in Addis Ababa. Machar spoke with Ban by phone and said he would do his best to make it there by Friday, the date put forth by Ethiopian's Desalegn. "He said he will try his best, because he is in a very remote area," Ban said. mz/ipj (AP, Reuters, AFP) | [
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UN-endorsed report finds internal displacement growing in Syria, Africa
The world is experiencing a record number of people displaced within their own countries by armed conflict. In Syria alone, one family is displaced every 60 minutes, according to a UN report.
A report released Wednesday at the United Nations in Geneva has found that 33.3 million people were displaced within their own countries at the end of 2013 - 4.5 million more than in 2012. The report was compiled by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), a part of the Norwegian Refugee Council. "This record number of people forced to flee inside their own countries confirms a disturbing upward trend of internal displacement since IDMC first began monitoring and analyzing displacement back in the late 1990s," said Jan Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. "The dramatic increase in forced displacement in 2013 and the fact that the average amount of time people worldwide are living in displacement is now a staggering 17 years, all suggest that something is going terribly wrong in how we are responding and dealing with this issue," he added. In cooperation with the UNHCR refugee agency, the IDMC also reported Wednesday that 8.2 million people had fled their homes in 2013, including about 3.5 million in Syria alone, to bring the total of internally displaced people there to 6.5 million. The other two-thirds of the cumulative 33.3 million displaced by war worldwide had fled in previous years and have not yet been able to return to their homes. The figures show that 63 percent of those internally displaced worldwide find themselves torn from their homes in just five countries: Syria, Colombia, Nigeria, Congo and Sudan. Displacement in the Central African Republic is also on the rise. mkg/ (kna, dpa, AP) | [
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China oil drilling sparks violent protest in Vietnam
Thousands of workers in southern Vietnam have staged a violent protest against China, trashing property and setting buildings on fire. A dispute over islands in the South China Sea prompted the rampage.
On Wednesday, buildings at an industrial park in southern Vietnam showed signs of looting, some standing partially destroyed as the result of a mass protest. Hours earlier, thousands of anti-China demonstrators had rampaged the site. They targeted properties in the Singapore-run park believed to be owned by China companies. Authorities detained some 500 protesters linked to the unrest, according to news agency AFP. "Extremists" had aggravated the protests, which began peacefully on Tuesday evening, the deputy head of the province's people's committee, Tran Van Nam, said. At least 15 buildings were set on fire. Anti-China protesters then trashed a number of others. The Chinese government later expressed concern about the incident and had requested that Hanoi take the necessary steps to put the crimes to a stop. Officials from Taiwan also responded to the violent protest, summoning the Vietnamese ambassador, according to news agency DPA. Some of their buildings came under attack by demonstrators who were believed to have mistaken them for Chinese companies. Tuesday's demonstration against Beijing was not the first in Vietnam. Late last week, hundreds of protesters gathered before the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi, expressing their infuriation at the situation. A territorial dispute over the Paracel Islands - known as Hoang Sa in Vietnam and Xisha in China - in the South China Sea sparked the protests. In recent weeks, an oil-drilling venture by China has angered Vietnam. Hanoi claims the drilling is illegal. Beijing has refused to halt operations. Last week, there were reports of clashes between Vietnamese and Chinese vessels in the areas. According to Hanoi, the disputed waters belong to Vietnam's exclusive economic zone as defined by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. However, Beijing has controlled the islands since seizing them in 1974. kms/mkg (AP, AFP) | [
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UN condemns Al-Shabab attack on Somalia parliament
The UN Security Council and the UN chief have condemned an attack by the Islamist group al-Shabab on the Somalia parliament, which killed at least 10. There is a report the Somali security minister has resigned.
The attack by al-Shabab on Saturday at the parliament in Mogadishu involved a car bomb, a suicide bomber and gunmen. There is conflicting information as to the exact death toll. At least 10 people died, but local reports have put number at around 20, while the militants themselves have claimed 30. "Ten government forces died and 14 others were injured in the attack today. Four lawmakers were also injured. Seven of the fighters who attacked the house were also killed," said police spokesman Kasim Ahmed Roble, who made no mention of civilian casualties. Witnesses said one of the dead was a soldier who tried to stop a suicide bomber from gaining access to the building. A large car bomb went off outside the gates of the parliament just before midday, while other smaller blasts and gunfire were heard coming from inside. Many MPs remained inside as the attack unfolded. Al-Shabab, a radical Islamist group that has links to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility. "We killed 30 from the AU (African Union) and from the various forces of the so-called Somali government," said spokesman for the group, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab. UN expresses outrage Senior UN officials and the UN Security Council have #link:http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47883:condemned the assault#. "There can be no justification for such attacks," UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in a statement. Ban expressed his support for the lawmakers, "who represent the people of Somalia and their aspirations for a peaceful future." The UN's special representative in Somalia, Nicholas Kay, gave his condolences to Somalia's Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed. The 15 member of the UN Security Council said they were "outraged that al-Shabab has attacked the federal parliament, an institution which represents the Somali people and their legitimate hopes for peace, prosperity and stability." The Security Council added that the African Union's peacekeeping mission in the country would continue to receive its support. Minister 'resigns' The Somalia National Security Minister Abdikarim Hussein Gulled tendered his resignation following the attack, according to a report by news agency DPA. Gulled apparently made the announcement on state-run Radio Mogadishu, while not giving a specific reason. It is understood he had been under broader pressure over Somalia's ongoing insecurity. Al-Shabab's deadly history The group has carried out several such complex attacks in Mogadishu - among them one earlier this month on a government vehicle, an attempt on the presidential palace in February that left 16 dead, including members of the group, and assaults on a hotel that killed a dozen people in March. Government forces drove al-Shabab from the capital in 2011, but the group still controls broad areas of southern Somalia. Djibouti attack Sources in central Djibouti, a nation in the Horn of Africa, said two people were killed on Saturday in an attack on a restaurant popular with Westerners. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. Police are apparently investigating reports of several explosions and a suicide blast. jr/msh (dpa, AFP, Reuters) | [
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Japan, North Korea talk but are unlikely to agree
Delegations are locked in talks on the Tokyo-Pyongyang relationship, but neither side has high hopes of a positive outcome. And many in Japan are firmly opposed to granting concessions without commitments.
Representatives of the governments of Japan and North Korea have been holding talks in Stockholm, with the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents topping of the agenda. The three-day meeting will end on Wednesday, May 28. The Japanese insist that North Korea carries out a full and thorough investigation into the whereabouts of its missing citizens, many of whom were seized in remote coastal areas of northern Japan, bundled aboard ships and then taken to North Korea to train future generations of secret agents in the Japanese language and customs. Officially, Tokyo lists 17 Japanese as having been abducted by Pyongyang, although human rights activists believe the true number is over 800. North Korea has previously claimed that only 12 Japanese were seized, five of whom were permitted to return to Japan in 2002. The others, it claims, died in accidents, of illness or committed suicide. In return for a promise to launch a new investigation, North Korea says Japan must drop sanctions imposed on the regime after it conducted a series of nuclear and missile tests. The sanctions include a ban on the export of luxury goods to the secretive state, similar bans on financial transactions and the suspension of a ferry service that used to travel regularly between Niigata, in northern Japan, and the North Korean city of Wonsan. Simplest concession Experts believe that a resumption of the ferry service might be the easiest concession for Japan to make as it tries to ascertain the fate of its nationals. "One of the sticking points from the Japanese position is that even if the North does promise to carry out a new search for the missing Japanese, they will not permit any third party to become involved and there will be no outside oversight, so how do we know they are genuinely carrying out a thorough investigation?" asked Jun Okumura, a visiting scholar at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs. "But even given that situation, I would suggest that relaxing the ban on travelling to North Korea and permitting the ferry to restart journeys would probably be the easiest step for the Japanese government," he said. "But I must say that I'm not very optimistic about much real progress emerging from these talks," Okumura added. That belief is echoed by the North Korean side, with Kim Myong-chol, executive director of The Centre for North Korea-US Peace and a mouthpiece for the regime in Pyongyang, telling DW that the chances of a breakthrough in Stockholm are "not very high." "Japan is demanding some kind of symbolic action from North Korea, but the bigger problem is that they have no idea about a real solution to the issue," he said. "The Japanese do not even agree on how many people were allegedly abducted. Some say 10, others say 20 or 100. They have no idea." 'No more abductees' "Personally, I do not believe there are any more Japanese in North Korea who do not want to be there and Japan is going to have to trust us on that, but the two sides are a long way apart and I do not think that trust is possible," he said. The government aside, the majority of Japanese people do not trust North Korea one inch. And that is hardly surprising given that Pyongyang consistently denied that it had anything to do with the disappearance of Japanese nationals until suddenly reversing that position in 2002. And while human rights groups agree that it is worthwhile to communicate with North Korea, they are strongly opposed to Japan immediately lifting all sanctions in return for North Korea's word that it will try to find the missing. On May 8, a group of NGOs representing families of the missing held talks with Shoichiro Ishikawa, secretary general of the Japanese Cabinet headquarters on the abduction issue, and handed over a petition signed by 18 organizations and 23 prominent individuals. The petition called on the Japanese government to employ probation-style lifting of sanctions, Ken Kato, director of Human Rights in Asia and a member of the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea, told DW. "We believe that if North Korea does not return abducted Japanese nationals within a certain period, for example three months, then the government should not only re-impose those sanctions but also make them stronger," he said. Ishikawa said that he would instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to insist that any "re-investigation" by the North Korean authorities would include all Japanese who may have been abducted by Pyongyang's agents. 860 Japanese missing According to Kato, Japan's National Police Agency has a list of no fewer than 860 missing Japanese nationals "in which abduction by the North cannot be ruled out." Kato believes that Pyongyang simply cannot be trusted to carry out a genuine search for the people it kidnapped and to own up to its actions. And he is in favor of tightening the screw on a regime that he considers criminal and - because it is armed with nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them - potentially a threat to world peace. "I believe Japan should prohibit all remittances to North Korea that are above Y100,000 (some 720 USD), if they do not release Japanese abductees within a certain period," he said. "At present, North Koreans living in Japan can send money to their homeland if they report it to the Japanese authorities," he said. "This has been a source of funding for the North Korean regime's nuclear and missile programs. North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and crimes against humanity will never be solved if we do not stop the regime from gaining hard currency." | [
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Bad report card for EU's foreign policy
German peace researchers have accused the European Union of having contributed to the crisis in Ukraine. In their latest annual report they warn of the danger of a new Cold War.
The European Union has been given a poor report card for its foreign policy by a group of prominent peace researchers who point to shortcomings in how the EU has dealt with its neighbors in the Ukraine crisis. The assessment was made by five leading research institutes in their "Friedensgutachten 2014" (Peace Report 2014), presented jointly in Berlin on Tuesday (03.06.2014). "The European Union policy of essentially presenting Ukraine with an either-or choice in the form of the association agreement was a momentous mistake," said Ines-Jacqueline Werkner of the Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Heidelberg (FEST). According to her analysis, the EU has contributed to the development of the Ukraine crisis and has done little to resolve it. EU's mistake "When the EU sided with the opposition on the Maidan - against the regime with which it previously wanted to sign an agreement - it increased internal political polarization and excluded itself as a mediator and conflict manager," said Werkner. Bruno Schoch of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) argued that the EU was overwhelmed when confronted with a player like Russia at a geopolitical level. Attempts by the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France to mediate in Kyiv in February came too late, according to the report. By their own account, the five institutes hope their findings will enable them to influence foreign policy discourse in Germany. OSCE does it better The researchers view the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as the appropriate agent for conflict prevention but are critical of the fact that over the past few years, both the OSCE's political role and its budget have been consistently reduced. This trend, they said, must be reversed. In the future, the OSCE should provide ongoing reports from Ukraine in future and not just be sent on short-term missions. The researchers also made other suggestions for resolving the conflict. Among them: Ukraine should hold roundtable talks on regional and local levels, and supporters of the former President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions should be included in the government. Ukraine should also be clearly denied possible NATO membership. The long-term goal should be to make Ukraine a "connecting bridge" between the EU and Russia. Danger of a new Cold War For the time being, though, the researchers said it's crucial to prevent another Cold War. They write that Russian President Vladimir Putin is, in the manner of traditional power politics, flouting multilateral agreements. In doing this, they said, Russia is creating dangerous precedents and is eroding international order. The researchers fear the Ukraine crisis could lead to a new arms race in Europe. Sweden, they warned, has already announced a massive increase in its military spending over the next few years – a step in the wrong direction. "Dialogue and cooperation with Russia remain indispensable," they write. "We hope that, sooner or later, demands for democracy will become louder in Russia, too." Putin, the researchers note, is at the peak of his power and popularity. He is very careful to weigh the costs and benefits of his actions and ready to seize opportunities "to portray himself as a charismatic leader and Russia as a counterforce to the West." They speculate that this is also a way for Putin to draw attention away from domestic problems. The "modernization partnership" so often mentioned by German policymakers is "mirage," they claim. Humanitarian aid for Syria On the day of the Syrian presidential election, the peace researchers took the opportunity to comment once again on the bloody civil war that has taken the lives of more than 160,000 people and laid waste to large parts of the country. "I am very pessimistic about the possibility of influencing this conflict from outside via diplomatic means," said PRIF's Schoch. He said that this view was strengthened by the withdrawal of the UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who threw in the towel in May after two years of dogged diplomatic efforts. The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons was the last success for diplomacy, said Schoch. The problem, however, was that this disarmament initiative, which was welcomed by the international community, had strengthened the regime in Damascus. The researchers suggested that foreign countries could try to provide humanitarian aid, by way of an airlift or by taking in more refugees. "Both the European and the German refugee policies are absolutely scandalous," said Werkner. "We appeal to the German government to take in at least 200,000 Syrian refugees in Germany in view of the ongoing humanitarian disaster." To date, according to government figures, a total of 40,000 Syrians have found asylum in Germany. | [
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Mustafa Dzhemilev's battle for Crimea
The former leader of the Crimean Tatar community, Mustafa Dzhemilev, is receiving the Polish government's first Solidarity Award. It comes 70 years after he successfully fought for the right to return to his homeland.
A grey-haired man in a suit and tie is walking along a rural street, surrounded by bodyguards who make him seem small and helpless. He doesn't make it far. Dozens of police officers in combat gear with two military vehicles have blocked the streets. One of the officers says he can't continue. Meanwhile, on the other side of the blockade, thousands of mostly young men have come to receive the older gentleman. Some of them even break through the barricade and cry, "Mustafa!", but they can't help him. This scene played out on May 3 near the city of Armyansk, along the new border between Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in March. The older man's name is Mustafa Dzhemilev. For decades, he was a leader of Crimea's Tatars, and on that particular day, he wanted to go home. Authorities in Crimea continue to deny him entry to this day. Honored in Warsaw It's against this background that Dzhemilev will receive the Polish government's first Solidarity Award, which grants the honoree one million euros ($1.36 million). The name of the prize derives from Poland's Solidarnosc (Solidarity) trade union, whose fight against the communist regime contributed to the first somewhat free elections and a change of power in Warsaw in 1989. Dzhemilev is being honored for his "service to democracy and respect for the rights and freedoms of citizens in Ukraine, particularly with respect to the Tatars," the Polish government said of its decision. Forced resettlement For the 70-year-old, the denial of entry to Crimea is particularly bitter. For the first time in decades, Dzhemilev could not take part in a May 18 ceremony memorializing the forced relocation of Crimean Tatars. Now, he must once again fight for a home that he already won once. Mustafa Dzhemilev was born on November 13, 1943, in a Soviet village in Crimea that was then occupied by Nazi Germany. Around six months later, his family, along with more than 180,000 other Crimean Tatars, was deported to Central Asia. As a justification, the government in Moscow claimed the Crimean Tatars had collaborated with the Nazis. Dzhemilev's family was sent thousands of kilometers east of Crimea to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, like most other Crimean Tatars. 15 years behind bars Even as a youth, Dzhemilev harbored a deep interest in the history of his people in Crimea. He founded a union for Crimean Tatar youth before he was even 20 years old - an organization that fought for Tatars to return to their homeland, which led the Soviet Union to ban it. Dzhemilev lost his job as a laborer in an aircraft factory, but was permitted to study at an agricultural institute. That also proved short-lived. In 1965, he was removed from school on formal grounds. One year later, in May 1966, Dzhemilev was convicted by a court for refusing military service. But he accused the Soviet security agency, the KGB, of wanting to punish him for his activism in support of Crimean Tatars' rights. Later, Dzhemilev was convicted five times and spent a total of around 15 years in prison. He was friends with famous Soviet dissidents, including the Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov. Human rights activist Petro Grigorenko described Dzhemilev in a magazine as "a person with an unbelievably strong will." In 1975, Dzhemilev embarked on a ten-month hunger strike and was force-fed. From dissident to politician During the perestroika period under Mikhail Gorbachev, Dzhemilev was released from jail. He returned with his family to Crimea in 1989 and was voted head of the traditional Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, a group he led through 2013. He worked in favor of bringing back Crimean Tatars from Central Asia - a time full of tense conflicts. That's because houses in which Crimean Tatars once lived had been handed over to Russians during the Soviet era. Dzhemilev managed to de-escalate the tensions. In the 1990s, Dzhemilev got involved in politics and was elected to parliament in Kyiv in 1998 for the party Narodny Ruch Ukrainy (Ukrainian People's Movement). He remains a member of parliament today, although he is now without a party. During the Orange Revolution in 2004, Dzhemilev and the Crimean Tatars on the side of pro-Western presidential candidate Viktor Yushenko. Possible minister post? As pro-Russian sentiment grew stronger in Crimea at the end of February 2014, thousands of Tatars protested against a break-up of Ukraine. Shortly before the annexation of the peninsula, Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to win Dzhemilev over to his side. "He apparently wanted us to maintain neutrality, although that word was never used," Dzhemilev said in a televised interview about his half-hour phone call with the head of the Kremlin. The approximately 300,000 Crimean Tatars did not take part in the March 16 referendum on Crimea joining Russia. They also opted not to engage in armed conflict against the vote. Today, Dzhemilev resides in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Petro Poroshenko, who was elected president on May 25, announced he would establish a ministry to deal with Crimean affairs. Dzhemilev is being discussed as a potential head of the institution. | [
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From stem cells to physics fraudulent science results are plenty but hard to find
A Japanese stem cell scientist who fabricated research has agreed to retract two of her papers. But many other mistakes, sloppy or even fraudulent results in science may never be exposed.
Haruko Obokata at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, claimed to have discovered an easy and straightforward way to reprogramme adult cells to become stem cells. Soon after publication in "Nature" in January, problems and accusations arose with fellow scientists saying they could not replicate the results. Obokata was accused of having plagiarized passages of text and of having used duplicated images. The Riken Research Center urged her to retract the papers. Obokata refused - until this week. No surprise "Couldn't we see that this news would follow when we first read the news of the discovery?" a reader writes in a forum at German news magazine "Spiegel Online." Indeed: the results were too good to be true. Especially where stem cells are concerned, sudden miracles tend to fall flat when they are checked rigorously by peers. The story of South Korean veterinarian Hwang Woo-suk is similar. In 2006 he claimed to have created human embryonic stem cells by cloning, but was later dismissed from Seoul National University when it was revealed that he had faked his results. And in the field of physics, a German researcher called Jan Hendrik Schön became prominent with his groundbreaking experiments on semiconductors, until 2002 when it turned out his results were a fraud. The case produced one true result: the emergence of a new saying. German scientists can now often be heard talking about "Ergebnisse schönen" - which basically means "to buff your results." It's a nod to the fraudster's surname "Schön," which means beautiful, nice, pretty or good, and perhaps also an acknowledgement of the fact that buffing results happens quite a lot. The exception proves the rule But be careful if you are tempted to "schön" your results. The German research funding organization "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" (DFG) has a central committee for whistleblowers. It's a place where researchers can report colleagues whom they suspect of misconduct or fraud. "Faking results is not a mass phenomenon," says Marco Finetti, a DFG spokesperson. In 15 years the committee has dealt with 500 suspected cases. Most cases involve sloppy or wrong citation, or plagiarism. Finetty says, "hard data manipulation is an exception." It does happen, though. Haymo Ross, an editor with the journals "Angewandte Chemie" and "European Journal of Organic Chemistry," says he often finds faults in the experimental sections of papers submitted for publication. "As recently as last week I received two manipulated spectra," Ross says. "That happens quite often. Authors delete unwanted signals out of them." But given that he receives about 10,000 manuscripts every year, Ross says this is indeed an exception. You just have to be clever enough If, when challenged, an author cannot explain why his results seem strange or manipulated, the journal may reject the paper. And if the fraud is very serious, "we might ban the author from publishing with us for a certain time," says Ross. At least two reviewers check each paper before publication. There is also software that can check pictures and graphics for any peculiarities or anomalies. "But those who really want to deceive will find a way to do it," he says. Sometimes frauds only become apparent when other researchers try to reproduce the results, the DFG's Finetti says. Facing the paper stress So why do researchers fake results? The reasons are plenty. Eva Wille, vice president and executive director of Global Chemistry with the publisher Wiley-VCH, says one reason is the growing pressures that scientists face within the academic community. "Funders and politicians can build up a lot of pressure because they want to see a quick return of investment on their money." Especially in Asia, the pressure can be enormous, she says. "To complete a PhD, scientists need at least three publications in respected journals" - showing good results. Some researchers - particularly the more ambitious one - will find it hard to cope, or easier to cheat. Wille says the situation in Germany is a bit better. But the country is far from pure. A 35-year-old German biochemist, who wants to remain anonymous, has told DW that he has experienced a lot of pressure while doing his PhD. The fact that he doesn't want to be named is a reflection of how sensitive the issue of fraudulent science is. "Scientists are evaluated entirely based on the number of the papers they publish and in which journals they appeared," he says. "That put my boss and my whole research group under a great strain." Publication means money A long list of publications in well-known journals can help secure research funds. And without a long, credible list, a scientist's whole career may even fail to get off the ground. So some scientists will be tempted to spice up their results. The biochemist we spoke to says this has never happened in his group. "We have avoided the pressure," he says, by choosing projects that have resulted in a lot of papers in a comparably short amount of time, and by avoiding "riskier" projects. But there is one thing that no professor has time for these days, the biochemist says, and that is time to teach their students. Perhaps also about ethics. "It is a nuisance for many professors," he says. "Because they need their precious time to push their own research further." Wiley-VCH's Eva Wille agrees. Professors are always on the run, she says, flying from one conference to the next. "They don't train their people any more," says Wille. And they don't have the time to check the results of their researchers in detail. "And that's when things happen like at the Riken Institute [with Haruko Obokata's research]." It is important, she adds, to teach students about ethics in science even as early as during their first semester. Sometimes, however, it may just come down to a personal craving for recognition that generates these amazing but wrong results. And no amount of ethics is going to change that. | [
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Reporters and users have their say
We'd like to hear what you think. Have your say, using the hashtags #dw and #bti14 on Twitter. You'll also find blog entries from the network "Future Challenges," which was started by the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
[View the story "Feedback \"Secrets of Transformation\"" on Storify] | [
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Unexpected energy source
Germany plans to shut down its last remaining coal mines by the end of 2018.
The move towards clean enegry has been supported by voters. But the question remains of what to do with the leftover mines. Energy provider RAG has come up with a novel idea. germany, power, coal, hot water, renewables | [
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