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☆ Germany should legalize abortion up to 12 weeks, a government commission recommends
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Berlin CNN —Germany should overturn its 150-year old ban on abortions and make terminations legal within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a government-appointed panel of experts said on Monday. The procedure is de-criminalized up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, but anyone seeking a termination must attend a compulsory counselling session followed by a mandatory three-day waiting period. After 12 weeks, abortions are only allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as if the pregnancy or birth poses a risk to the mother’s physical or mental health. “(The commission’s) recommendations provide a good basis for the open and fact-based conversation that is now necessary,” German Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus said in a statement on Monday. The proposals from Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party would legalize abortion up to 12 weeks, a move more in line with some Western European countries.

Persons: Liane Woerner, “, Lisa Paus, Karl Lauterbach, ”, Donald Tusk’s, Andrzej Duda, Roe, Wade Organizations: Berlin CNN —, Reproductive, Social Democratic Party, SPD, Greens, Free Democrats, University of Constance, German Federal Statistical Office, Christian Democratic Union, Central Committee, Bishops ’ Conference, Family, German, Law, Justice Locations: Berlin CNN — Germany, Germany, France

☆ Germany defends support for Israel in international court against accusations of ‘facilitating genocide’ in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Nadine Schmidt | Niamh Kennedy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Berlin CNN —Germany has hit back at allegations by Nicaragua that it has been “facilitating genocide” in Gaza, telling an international court on Tuesday that history undergirds German support for Israel. But Germany argued Tuesday that because the “bedrock” of Nicaragua’s case was aimed at Israel and its “alleged violations of international law by Israel,” the ICJ did not have jurisdiction. British lawyer Samuel Wordsworth, who advocated on behalf of Berlin, said the case against Germany is “entirely dependent” upon a “prior finding of breach” of international law by Israel in Gaza. The ICJ is hearing a separate case brought against Israel by South Africa, but has not ruled on whether Israel has breached international law in Gaza. The international court will now consider whether to order the emergency measures requested by Nicaragua.

Persons: Germany’s, Tania von Uslar, Gleichen, Berlin “, “, ’, Von Uslar, ”, ” von Uslar, Netherlands Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, Alain, Samuel Wordsworth, Israel, Israel –, Christian Tams Organizations: Berlin CNN —, Israel, International Court of Justice, UN, German, Office, ICJ, Nicaraguan, UNRWA Locations: Berlin CNN — Germany, Nicaragua, Gaza, The Hague, Germany, Israel, Nazi, Netherlands, French, Berlin, South Africa

☆ Opinion: The male drivers who just can’t let go of their stick shift
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Opinion Paul Hockenos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Berlin CNN —For old-school connoisseurs of the automobile — usually men — driving means operating a beloved vehicle by touch, with three pedals underfoot and a shift stick at hand. Paul Hockenos Hayyan Al-YousoufIn Europe, this clientele is responsible for a good deal of the moaning about manual transmission’s demise. Well, Zen or not, the day of manual transmissions is speeding to an end — and this layman is shedding no tears. For one, the oft-repeated benefits of a stick shift over an automatic have been redundant now for years. The explanation: automatics select the right gear for the vehicle, usually the highest gear possible.

Persons: Paul Hockenos, ”, Paul Hockenos Hayyan, Mercedes Benz, upshift, ’ ”, Sigmund Freud, it’s, Robert M, It’s, —, “, Cristine Organizations: CNN, Berlin CNN, Porsche, BMW, Volkswagen, Swiss, Neue Zürcher, Art, Environmental Protection Agency, International Energy Agency, Toyota Locations: Berlin, Europe, New Berlin, Yousouf, Germany, New York, San Francisco, Oslo, Norway

☆ Tesla’s Berlin factory comes back online as power is restored after arson attack
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Olesya Dmitracova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London/Berlin CNN —Production at Tesla’s factory near Berlin is gradually resuming after the plant was reconnected to the power grid late on Monday following a week-long closure caused by an arson attack. Now production at the factory should be gradually ramped up, CNN affiliate RTL has reported. Prices in Germany for Model Y vehicles, the only cars manufactured at the factory, start at €44,990 ($49,196). That means a week of output is worth about €324 million ($354 million) in sales for Tesla. An aerial view of the Tesla car plant near Berlin on March 10, 2024.

Persons: E.DIS, ”, Tesla, Odd Andersen, ” Musk, Stephanie Halasz Organizations: Berlin CNN —, CNN, “, RTL, Elon Musk’s, Tesla, EVs, Getty, Volcano Group, Reuters Locations: Berlin, —, Europe, Germany, London

☆ Neuschwanstein: US man gets life sentence for Germany rape and murder
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Nadine Schmidt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Berlin CNN —An American man has been sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a tourist and the attempted murder of her friend – both US citizens from Illinois – in a gruesome attack near one of Germany’s most popular tourist sights. A German court convicted the 31-year-old tourist from Michigan, identified as Troy B., for the attack on the two women near Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. Police officers arrested Troy B. near the scene of the attack. Troy B. attends his sentencing at a court in Kempten, Germany, March 11, 2024. “If it stays that way, our client will definitely have to spend 15 years in Germany before he is extradited.

Persons: Berlin CNN —, –, Troy B, Christoph Schwiebacher, Eva Liu, Kelsey Chang, Liu, Chang, Karl, Josef Hildenbrand, Alexander Stevens Organizations: Berlin CNN, Illinois –, University of Illinois, Prosecutors, Police, Troy Locations: Illinois, Michigan, Neuschwanstein, Bavaria, Kempten, Germany, University of Illinois Urbana, Champaign, German, Straubing, USA, Munich, Europe

☆ Lufthansa is hurting as Germany is gripped by strikes
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The strikes have also discouraged numerous customers from booking flights — particularly last-minute ”profitable” flights — resulting in a ”significant sales loss” for the company, he added. Lufthansa Group reported operating profit of around €2.7 billion ($2.9 billion) — the third-biggest in its history, and up 76% from 2022. The Verdi union, which represents 25,000 Lufthansa ground staff, had called for them to go on strike from early Thursday and until Saturday morning. The strikes are just the latest in a wave of industrial action in Germany, famed for its strong legal protections for workers, and follow walkouts by train drivers in January over wages. Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s state-owned rail operator, said it expected the industrial action to have a “massive” impact on its operations.

Persons: Berlin CNN —, Remco Steenbergen, Verdi, Marvin Reschinsky, Michael Niggemann, Chris Stern, Olesya Dmitracova, Eve Brennan, Rob North Organizations: Berlin CNN, Berlin CNN — Germany’s, Lufthansa Group, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Security, Hamburg, Monetary Fund, Deutsche Bahn Locations: Berlin, €, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Germany, Germany’s, London

☆ Opinion: What it means to be born Black in Germany
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Opinion Josephine Apraku | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

It is hard to group Black Germans — sometimes also referred to as Afro-Germans — under one umbrella; there is no one description that encompasses the diversity of Black people here. The same year I was born, a seminal work about Black Germans, “Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out,” was published. I think that these are precisely the times when Black community, Black alliances and Black spaces are so important. In 2020, the Black Student Union at the University of Bremen renamed February “Black Our Story Month,” and has been holding Black History Month events every year since, creating visibility for the complexity of Black experiences. The Black community in Germany celebrated its first Black History Month in 1990.

Persons: Josephine Apraku, I’m, I’ve, ” Josephine Apraku Dahahm Choi It’s, there’s, ” Josephine Apraku, ”, Christian Mang, Audre Lorde, Lorde, Roma, Sinti, — that’s, Steffi Loos, Schwarzer, George Floyd, Black, — Organizations: African Studies, CNN, Berlin CNN, Black, Africa, Free University of Berlin, CDU, Christian Democratic Union, Black Student Union, University of Bremen, ISD, of Black People, White Locations: Berlin, Germany, Black, East Germany, Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, German, Ghana, Europe, Territories, Namibia, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Cameroon, Togo, ” Josephine Apraku Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, United States, Tiergarten, Black Germans, Deutschland

☆ Germany’s far-right AfD face mounting protests over plan to deport migrants
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Sophie Tanno | Nadine Schmidt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Protests of up to 30,000 people have already taken place in cities including Berlin, Leipzig, Rostock, Essen and Cologne. Demonstrators gathered outside the capital’s redbrick town hall on Wednesday holding placards reading “Nazis out” and chanting slogans against far-right AfD politician Björn Höcke. The gathering of AfD members, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists took place at a lakeside hotel outside the city of Potsdam on November 25. The AfD told CNN that the two “separated with mutual agreement.”However, the idea of a “mass deportation plan” was openly supported by one AfD representative in the state of Brandenberg. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/picture alliance/dpa/Getty ImagesAsked whether he thought the protests would encourage people to stop voting for the AfD, Abaci was hopeful.

Persons: Björn Höcke, Annalena Baerbock, Olaf Scholz, Sebastian Christoph Gollnow, Correctiv, ”, Alice Weidel, Roland Hartwig –, René Springer, Christian Dürr, Rika von Gierke, “, ” “, ’, It’s, ” Kazin, ” Chancellor Scholz, Baerbock, Abaci, Scholz, Robert Habeck, Stern, –, Nadine Schmidt, Sophie Tanno Organizations: Berlin CNN, Potsdam Sunday, CNN, Free Democrats Party, ” Locations: Germany, Berlin, Leipzig, Rostock, Essen, Cologne, Potsdam, Brandenberg, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Nazi, Thuringia, Saxony, Brandenburg, London

☆ Opinion: Germany’s far right is surging. Banning it would backfire
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Opinion Paul Hockenos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

But today, Germany is staring at a surging far right – and the country’s mainstream politicians and democratic citizens, still by far the lion’s share of the population, are understandably rattled. Since then it has veered steadily to the far right, where its members tout barely veiled racism and Islamophobia. But studies show that time and again the accommodation of radical right positions benefits the hard right – and not its imitators. Moreover, democrats of all stripes should expose the far right’s populist arguments for what they are: exaggerations, falsehoods and demagoguery. Germany’s ascendent far right shows that all of Europe – and beyond, including the US – could be at a tipping point.

Persons: Paul Hockenos, ”, Paul Hockenos Hayyan, Adolf Hitler’s, Reich, Alice Weidel, –, Ulrich Perrey, Holstein Daniel Günther, Vladimir Putin’s, Austria –, Germany’s Organizations: CNN, Berlin CNN, Parliament, Research, Brandeis University Locations: Berlin, New Berlin, Hungary, Italy, Finland, Germany, Schwerin, Schleswig, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Austria, Europe

Berlin CNN —German security services are investigating after two Molotov cocktails were thrown in the direction of a synagogue in Berlin during the early hours of Wednesday. Posting on X, Berlin police said the incident took place around 3.45am local time (9.45pET) at the synagogue on the Brunnenstraße street in Berlin’s central district of Mitte. Police have arrested a 30-year-old man who rode an e-scooter along the street and threw it away before running towards the synagogue. Germany’s state level security agency, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is investigating the incident, according to police. Police stand outside the complex following a pre-dawn attack on October 18, 2023 in Berlin, Germany.

Persons: Markus Schreiber, Olaf Scholz, ” Scholz, Maja Hitij, Élisabeth Borne Organizations: Berlin CNN, Police, State Office, “, London’s Metropolitan Police Locations: Berlin, Berlin’s, Mitte, Israel, Germany, France, London’s, ”, French

☆ Opinion: My 12-year-old son is cutting school… and I couldn’t be prouder
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Opinion Paul Hockenos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Berlin CNN —My 12-year-old son is cutting school on September 15 — an act of non-violent civil disobedience that his mother and I approve of entirely. Then-15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg leads a school strike in Stockholm, 2018. Irish schools students demand immediate action on climate change during the "Global School Strike for Climate Action" march from St Stephen's Green to Leinster House in 2019. An array of climate activist groups surged in the slipstream of the global climate strikes, and now campaign on their own and together with it. The majority must mobilize and the global climate marches are one, high-profile, legitimate way to do it.

Persons: Paul Hockenos, ”, Paul Hockenos Hayyan, Greta Thunberg, Michael Campanella, Essien, ” They’ve, Stephen's Green, Artur Widak, — Organizations: CNN, Berlin CNN, Leinster House, Deal, Biden, Future, Entrepreneurs for Future, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Berlin, Europe, New Berlin, Stockholm, Sweden, Montana, Stephen's, Germany, California, Greece

☆ Germany charges 98-year-old former Nazi camp guard
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Nadine Schmidt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Berlin CNN —A 98-year-old former Nazi concentration guard has been indicted on charges of aiding and abetting the murder of more than 3,300 people during the Holocaust, German authorities said on Friday. The public prosecutor in the western city of Giessen, near Frankfurt, said in a statement that the man worked at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1943 and 1945. Germany is racing against time to bring the last surviving perpetrators of Nazi war crimes – now well into old age – to justice. Of the roughly 200,000 prisoners who passed through the camp, around 100,000 are thought to have died there. An estimated 6 million Jews were killed in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

Persons: “, – Organizations: Berlin CNN Locations: Giessen, Frankfurt, Sachsenhausen, Hanau, Germany, Stutthof, Polish, Gdansk

☆ Melting ice reveals remains of climber lost on glacier 37 years ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Nadine Schmidt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Berlin CNN —The remains of a German mountain climber who went missing 37 years ago while hiking along a glacier near Switzerland’s iconic Matterhorn have been recovered, as melting glaciers lead to the re-emergence of bodies and objects thought to be long lost. “DNA analysis enabled the identification of a mountain climber who had been missing since 1986,” police said in a statement. The discovery of the remains of the German climber comes as scientists revealed earlier this week that this month is on track to be the planet’s hottest in around 120,000 years. All glaciers are melting very fast and receding across the European Alps,” Nicholson said. “Some regions of the world are much more dependent on the glacier mountains than we are here – in some cases they are much more vulnerable than the Alps,” Nicholson added.

Persons: “, Lindsey Nicholson, ” Nicholson, ‘ Organizations: Berlin CNN, ” Police, Valais Hospital, Police, University of Innsbruck, CNN, Reuters Locations: Zermatt, Valais, German, Austria

London/Berlin CNN —Tesla has lodged an application to double the production capacity of its plant near Berlin to 1 million electric vehicles a year. The expansion means the Tesla factory, which delivered its first vehicle in March last year, would overtake Volkswagen (VLKAF)’s sprawling plant in the German city of Wolfsburg, stealing its crown as Europe’s biggest car factory. Anyone objecting to Tesla’s proposal to expand the German factory has until September 18 to do so. Tesla’s biggest factory outside the United States is in Shanghai. In 2022, more than half of the vehicles Tesla delivered were made in China.

Persons: Berlin CNN — Tesla, Tesla, China’s, Warren Buffett Organizations: Berlin CNN, Tesla, CNN, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Group, Reuters, Tesla’s Locations: Berlin, German, Wolfsburg, United States, North America, Canada, Shanghai, China

London/Berlin CNN —Germany announced Thursday that it would reduce its dependence on China in “critical sectors” including medicine, lithium batteries used in electric cars and elements essential to chipmaking. The government published its first ever “Strategy on China,” a 40-page document that highlights the tightrope Berlin must walk in managing its dependence on the world’s second-largest economy amid growing criticism of Beijing’s human rights record and attitude towards international law. China is Germany’s most important trading partner, with imports and exports between the two nations reaching nearly €300 billion ($335 billion) in 2022, according to the government. China is a crucial partner in tackling climate change, pandemics and sustainable development, the strategy paper added. China is a key market for several major German companies, including Volkswagen (VLKAF) and BMW, and the government said it planned to hold talks with firms “particularly exposed to China” with a view to “identifying concentration risks.”

Persons: Berlin CNN —, ”, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s, ” Scholz, Olaf Scholz, Germany Heiko Becker Organizations: Berlin CNN, Siemens, Reuters, Volkswagen, BMW Locations: Berlin, China, ”, Beijing, Germany, overdependent, EU, Bavaria

☆ Naked sunbather: German landlord wins right to keep sunbathe nude
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Nadine Schmidt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Berlin CNN —A German landlord has won the right to sunbathe naked in the courtyard of his Frankfurt building, in spite of complaints from his tenants. The landlord, who has not been named, resorted to taking legal action after a human resources company that rented premises in the building withheld payments because of his fondness for sunbathing nude in a common courtyard area, according to Frankfurt’s highest regional court. The firm, which has also not been identified, had reduced and partially withheld payments that it owed for its office space in the residential building in an upscale neighborhood of the city. “On the contrary, the plaintiff had credibly stated that he always wore a bathrobe, which he only took off directly in front of the sunbed,” it said. There are about 600,000 Germans registered in more than 300 private nudist or FKK clubs and a further 14 affiliated clubs in Austria.

☆ Opinion: No, nuclear power isn’t the ‘big bazooka’ climate fix you might think
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Opinion Paul Hockenos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Berlin CNN —Germany’s exit from nuclear power on April 15 doesn’t single it out as a quirky anomaly or black sheep in a world otherwise enthusiastically embracing nuclear energy. Since a highpoint in the early 2000s, the number of operational nuclear reactors worldwide has fallen – from 438 to 411, according to this year’s World Nuclear Industry Status Report. While at the same time, renewable energy generation – clean tech like solar, wind, bioenergy and geothermal – has expanded by more than 30-fold. In fact, when matched up against renewables as a source of energy that doesn’t emit carbon, nuclear power falls egregiously short. Nuclear power may look like an attractive, big bazooka fix to rising emissions.

Berlin CNN —Nationwide strikes in Germany — the biggest the country has seen in decades — are causing disruption at the country’s biggest port, airports, and on public transport Monday. The walkouts have been called by two major transport unions in Europe’s biggest economy. Flights at eight major airports, including those in Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg, have been affected by the strikes. And some hubs such as Munich Airport closed their doors entirely, with 200,000 passengers impacted by the two-day closure that started Sunday. Sina Schuldt/dpa/picture alliance/Getty ImagesIn Munich, the local transport operator MVV has announced the suspension of nearly all trains, underground and tram lines.

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