Germany

A Holocaust survivor has launched a campaign for May 8 to be made a national holiday in Germany to commemorate the defeat of the Nazis and the end of World War Two. In an open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Esther Bejarano, 95, who survived Auschwitz argued that VE Day, which is a national holiday in France and a number of other European states, should also be a public holiday in Germany. “[It is] a day on which the liberation of mankind from the Nazi regime can be celebrated. This has been overdue for seven decades. And maybe it helps to finally understand that May 8, 1945, was the day of liberation, the suppression of the Nazi regime,” she said. Read more: VE Day 75th anniversary: As war ends in Europe, 'no wonder people went crazy' Victory in Europe - or ‘VE’ Day - is marked in Europe on May 8, the day that the armed forces of Germany formally surrendered to the Allies after six years of conflict. On April 30, …

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Russia 'took advantage' of Europe's energy issues says expert Sign up HERE for science breakthroughs in health, business and more that matter SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Russia’s new Nord Stream 2 pipeline was scheduled to transport gas from Russia into Germany, bypassing Poland and Ukraine. Mr Putin was waiting for months since the pipeline was completed in September, and has been accused of using the pipeline as a "geopolitical weapon" after decreasing gas supplies from other pipelines to speed up the certification process. The move to order Gazprom to decrease gas flow from his vast network of other pipelines had caused wholesale gas prices across Europe to skyrocket and further deepen the energy crisis. …

[Read more...] about Germany stokes Putin fury and SUSPENDS Russia gas pipeline amid EU energy crisis

German police had to close down an unauthorized event billing itself as a vaccination center on Saturday after a doctor began administering COVID-19 vaccine shots he had invented himself, German media reported. The jab, which was developed without any official recognition, was being administered as a vaccination drive at Lübeck airport in the north of Germany. Police said that some 50 individuals appeared to have received the mystery shot, while over 200 more people were in line when the authorities showed up. They seized the liquids, syringes and lists recording who had already been vaccinated that day, as well as the personal data of those present. Watch video 01:20 Germany: How can the unvaccinated be convinced? Unsupported vaccine claims Winfried Stöcker, a doctor and entrepreneur , came to fame in Germany in March after being interviewed by the magazine Der Spiegel about his homemade vaccine. Stöcker is also the owner of Lübeck …

[Read more...] about Germany: Dozens take illegal mystery COVID vaccine before police shut it down

When German defense ministers, chancellors or presidents get their official military farewell ceremony, they pick the music they want the Bundeswehr band to play on the occasion. Angela Merkel's musical picks for "der grosse Zapfenstreich" (Great Tattoo) which will take place on Thursday in front of a small crowd of only 200, due to coronavirus restrictions, are a remarkable mix. Merkel, a pastor's daughter who grew up in the East German GDR selected the hymn "Great God we praise you","Für mich soll’s rote Rosen regnen” (It shall rain red roses for me) by Hildegard Knef, the popular actress and singer from West Germany in the 1960s and 70s, "Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen" (You forgot the color film) by punk icon Nina Hagen, which was top of the East German charts in 1974. Merkel has been known to attend the Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth each year, but her taste for punk rock had so far gone unnoticed by the German public. Watch video 02:37 Merkel …

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US President Joe Biden on Monday said that the new COVID-19 omicron variant is "a cause for concern, not a cause for panic" in a speech at the White House. US top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said on Monday that it could not yet be predicted if the Omicron COVID-19 variant will become the dominant variant in the country. Biden said that the US would "face the new threat just as we have faced those that have come before it." "If people are vaccinated and wear their mask, there's no need for lockdowns," Biden said. But despite the president's reassurances, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that recent increase in infections and the emergence of the omicron variant "pose downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation." Powell said the new variant could also worsen supply chain disruptions. The US was one of the first countries to cut air travel links with southern African countries, where the variant was first …

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The world's best chess players are facing off this week in Germany's GRENKE Chess Classic and Open, which began on March 31 and runs until April 9. The games got off to an exciting start on Monday in the city of Kahrlsruhe, when 13-year-old Vincent Keymer won the GRENKE Open , the largest open chess competition in Europe. The teen finished ahead of many expert players and won an invitation to next year's GRENKE Classic, a 10-player round robin tournament which is reserved for the world's top players. Read more: 'The legendary Garry Kasparov was a competitive beast!' Keymer reached the top of the Open competition on Monday when he defeated Hungarian Grandmaster Richard Rapport. The title of grandmaster is the highest awarded by the World Chess Organization FIDE. According to chess.com, the German teenager finished ahead of some 50 grandmasters to win the top prize, with a score of 8/9. In addition to having qualified for next year's GRENKE Classic, the teen received …

[Read more...] about German chess wunderkind Vincent Keymer, 13, wins Europe’s GRENKE Open tournament

There is a certain uncharitable Schadenfreude to be derived from the fact that Grant Shapps is on holiday in Spain just as the Government reimposes quarantine on travellers arriving from that country. The Transport Secretary is the architect of air bridges, a suggestion he made weeks ago to avoid a 14-day isolation of everyone arriving in the UK. The notion that people coming from countries with lower levels of Covid-19 should be placed in quarantine was always hard to justify. Indeed, while the UK has fewer new cases than Spain, the difference is not great – about 700 as against 900. Moreover, most Spanish regions have fewer infections than here and the spikes are mainly around Barcelona and Aragon. Does it make sense, therefore, to require holidaymakers to isolate when they return from, say, the Balearics or the Canary Islands, where there are hardly any Covid cases? After all, the aim of travel corridors was to obviate the need for a blanket approach that was both unfair to …

[Read more...] about The Government’s quarantine policy piles more pain on an already decimated travel industry

Australian officials were racing Sunday to conduct further tests on passengers arriving from southern Africa who tested positive for COVID-19 to determine if they were carrying the omicron variant as nations around the world tightened controls against the worrying new strain. Neighboring New Zealand announced it was restricting travel from nine southern African countries because of the threat posed by the variant, and Japan widened its border controls to include more countries from the region. Tourist-dependent Thailand which only recently began loosening its tight border restrictions to leisure travelers from certain countries, announced a ban of its own on visitors from eight African counties. Similar restrictions took effect in the business hub of Singapore, which is barring entry and transit to anyone with a recent history of travel to seven southern African nations. The tighter restrictions in the Asia-Pacific region echoed steps rapidly taken by countries …

[Read more...] about Travel curbs aimed at COVID variant tighten across the world

Young children in Vienna can start getting coronavirus vaccinations next week as part of a pilot project, Austria media reported on Saturday. Austrian broadcaster ORF reported that about 200 children between the ages of 5 and 11 can get jabs of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine each day in the Austrian capital starting Monday. The pilot project is limited to Vienna only and doesn't apply to the rest of the country. While in the United States or Israel, children of this age group can already officially get vaccinated against COVID-19, the European Medicines Agency which regulates approval within the European Union has not yet given the go-ahead for vaccinations of children under the age of 12. The EU's drug regulator said earlier this week it had started evaluating whether to authorize Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, and it has been evaluating the vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech for use in the same age group since last month. The agency has …

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Pfizer said Tuesday it is asking U.S. regulators to authorize its experimental pill for COVID-19, setting the stage for a likely launch of the promising therapy in the coming weeks. The company's filing comes as new infections are rising once again, driven mainly by hot spots in states where colder weather is driving more Americans indoors. It is one of a handful of pills that have recently been shown to significantly cut hospitalizations and deaths among people infected with COVID-19. If authorized by the Food and Drug Administration it could be a major step toward managing the pandemic and returning to normal, offering an easy, effective way for patients people to treat themselves at home. “We are moving as quickly as possible in our effort to get this potential treatment into the hands of patients, and we look forward to working with the U.S. FDA on its review of our application," said Albert Bourla, Pfizer's CEO, in a statement. All FDA authorized treatments …

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