DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Madeleine McCann suspect: German prosecutors seek 15-year jail term in separate rape trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-02 | by ( Story The Associated Press | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Prosecutor Ute Lindemann argued that he should be convicted of two counts of rape and two of sexual abuse, and should be kept in preventive detention after he has served a 15-year sentence, German news agency dpa reported. The suspect hasn’t been charged in the McCann case, in which he is under investigation on suspicion of murder. He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he committed in Portugal in 2005. There are no formal pleas in the German legal system and there is no obligation for defendants to respond. In July, the court lifted an arrest warrant in the cases at stake in the current trial, citing a lack of “urgent suspicion” against the defendant.

Persons: Brueckner, Prosecutor Ute Lindemann, Lindemann, hasn’t, McCann Organizations: Berlin AP, Prosecutor Locations: Braunschweig, Germany, Portugal, Praia da Luz

☆ Germans Combat Climate Change From Their Balconies
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-29 | by ( Melissa Eddy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

At a Berlin trade fair for sustainability, a new gadget caught Waltraud Berg’s eye — a solar panel small enough to be easily installed on the side of a balcony and then plugged into a wall socket to feed energy produced by the sun directly into her home. “I was absolutely thrilled to learn that such a thing even existed, that you can generate your own power and be more independent,” said Ms. Berg, a retiree who installed several panels on the south-facing balcony of her Berlin apartment by herself. Each of the lightweight panels produces only enough electricity to charge a laptop or run a small refrigerator. But in homes across Germany, they are powering a quiet transformation, bringing the green revolution into the hands of people without requiring them to make a large investment, find an electrician or use heavy tools.

Persons: “, ”, Berg Locations: Germany

☆ Alexander Zverev: Tennis star and former partner settle assault case
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-07 | by ( Nadine Schmidt | Sammy Mncwabe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —German tennis star Alexander Zverev and his former partner have agreed to settle his assault case, with no admission of guilt by Zverev, the Berlin Tiergarten District Court announced in a statement on Friday. Zverev was accused of “physically abusing and damaging the health of a woman during an argument in Berlin in May 2020,” according to a court statement from October 31, 2023. The alleged victim was said to have suffered shortness of breath and considerable pain, according to the court statement. “The defendant and the co-plaintiff had agreed to the proceedings being discontinued,” the court said in its statement Friday. Zverev is scheduled to play Norwegian Casper Ruud in the French Open semifinal on Friday with both players in search of a first grand slam title.

Persons: Alexander Zverev, Zverev, “, “ Alexander Zverev, Norwegian Casper Ruud Organizations: CNN, Berlin, of Locations: German, Berlin Tiergarten, Berlin, Norwegian

☆ No European country more than Germany is going further in clamping down on Hamas
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Sophie Tanno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Adding to a complex picture, Germany has the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe, estimated at 300,000. J'rg Carstensen/picture-alliance/dpa/APThere are thought to be around 450 Hamas members in Germany and, like the rest of the European Union, Germany considers Hamas a terrorist organization. There were also reports of people celebrating the Hamas attacks on the streets of Berlin. Spreading propagandaOn November 2, Germany took the step of banning Hamas and all activities linked to the group. Police stand outside a building that houses a synagogue following a pre-dawn attack on October 18 in Berlin, Germany.

Persons: Friedrich Merz, “, Molotov, Jakon Schindler, Schindler, ”, Uli Deck, Der Spiegel, Matthew Levitt, Maja Hitij, Yossi Mekelberg, ’, Germany we’re, Lamya Kaddor, Nadine Schmidt, Sophie Tanno Organizations: CNN, Nazi, Christian Democratic Union, ZDF, Palestine, European Union, Federal Office, Protection, Counter Extremism, Hamas, Police, Brandenburg’s, Act, George Washington University, Israel, Washington Institute for Near East, U.S ., EU, Atlantic Council, IDF, Israel Defensce Forces, Chatham House, West Bank, Reuters, Rights Watch Locations: Israel, Gaza, Germany, Berlin, Europe, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, German, Potsdam, Karlsruhe, Israel American, U.S, Austria, Hamas, East, Africa, Chatham, Palestine, London

☆ German Lawmakers Agree to Ease Path to Citizenship
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Christopher F. Schuetze | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lawmakers in Berlin approved legislation allowing shorter waiting periods before naturalization and the possibility of dual citizenship, ushering in changes that proponents say will draw more skilled workers to the country and that opponents warn will lessen the value of German citizenship. “Our reform is a commitment to a modern Germany,” Nancy Faeser, the country’s interior minister, said in a statement. “We are creating a modern immigration law that does justice to our diverse society,” she added, noting that it was high time for such a change. That waiting period can be reduced to three years for exemplary cases of integration or service to the German state. They will also allow dual citizenship, which currently is not widely allowed.

Persons: ” Nancy Faeser Organizations: Bundestag Locations: Berlin, Germany, Germany’s

[1/5] Newly elected Mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner and his predecessor and designated Berlin Senator for Economics and Energy Franziska Giffey look on at the city's town hall Rotes Rathaus (Red Townhall), in Berlin, Germany, April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Nadja WohllebenBERLIN, April 27 (Reuters) - Berlin appointed its first conservative mayor in more than two decades on Thursday after the Christian Democrats (CDU) beat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) in a repeat election in February, dislodging its centre-left coalition. Kai Wegner, 50, a former insurance salesman, was sworn in as mayor after a vote in local parliament, succeeding the SPD's Franziska Giffey who had been Berlin's first female mayor. His CDU won a clear victory in February's election held after a court ruled the 2021 vote invalid due to irregularities. Critics have accused his CDU party of dog-whistle politics.

☆ Ukraine's fighter jet fleet is slowly growing, but its weapons to bring down Russian jets are dwindling, leaked US document shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The jets will bolster Ukraine's fighter fleet, which is still under fire from Russia's larger air force. But air-defense ammunition is a more urgent need, one underscored in recently leaked US documents. Berlin approved Warsaw's request to send jets to Ukraine on Thursday, the same day it was received. Both air forces have shifted tactics and now operate farther from the front line, playing to the advantage of the Russian aircraft, which have an edge at longer ranges. Without the threat posed by those interceptor missiles, Russian aircraft would have greater freedom to attack Ukrainian aircraft and bomb Ukrainian targets, including in support of Russian front-line troops, the leaked document says.

☆ Explainer: West mulls sending German Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

BERLIN APPROVALThe re-export of Leopards requires German government approval, so other countries with such tanks could not send them to Ukraine without it. WHY HAS THE WEST NOT SENT BATTLE TANKS TO KYIV SO FAR? The Leopard 2 is one of the most widely used Western tanks. Germany has about 350 Leopard 2 tanks today, compared to some 4,000 battle main tanks at the height of the Cold War, German military expert Carl Schulze says. WHAT OTHER WESTERN BATTLE TANKS ARE THERE?

If you are dreaming of a white Christmas, your dreams may just come true this year. While a white Christmas might help the treetops glisten, the storm is likely to bring hazardous travel conditions as well. Last year, NOAA updated the average probabilities of a white Christmas across the United States. The song “White Christmas” was written during one of those long, snowless-Christmas spells. By the time he wrote the song at the end of the 1930s, New York City had not seen a white Christmas since 1930, according to weather service data and the official definition of a white Christmas.

Search resuls for: "Berlin AP"

9 mentions found