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China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing was “strongly dissatisfied” with Baerbock’s comments and “firmly opposes” them. “The remarks made by Germany are extremely absurd, seriously infringe on China’s political dignity, and are an open political provocation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular news briefing on Monday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry often leaves out content it deems sensitive from the transcripts of its regular briefings. In June, US President Joe Biden also referred to Xi as a “dictator,” sparking a fierce backlash from Beijing. As a result of this and China’s political decisions, we need to change our approach to China,” the paper said.

Persons: Xi, ”, Berlin’s, Annalena Baerbock, “, Putin, Germany’s, Patricia Flor, Mao Ning, Xi –, Joe Biden, Jiang Zemin, Mike Wallace, Jiang, Deng Xiaoping, Mao Zedong’s, Angela Merkel, Baerbock Organizations: CNN, Fox News, China’s, Ministry, Chinese Foreign Ministry, CBS, South China, Germany’s Greens Locations: China, Germany, United States, Ukraine, Beijing, Berlin, Moscow, Taiwan, South, “ China, Australian

CNN —As Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) grows ever popular, the country’s once dominant Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party finds itself at a crossroads. The center-right CDU was in power for much of Germany’s post-war era and oversaw the reunification of East and West Germany. Max Schwarz/ReutersBerlin’s CDU mayor, Kai Wegner, took to X to write: “What cooperation is there to be had? Populist parties as ‘lightning rods’The CDU’s Michael Kretschmer, state premier of Saxony, believes a shift in policy is the best approach for democratic parties to stop the rise of the far-right. Opinion polls in his state, one of the five that make up Germany’s former east, put the AfD in the lead; Saxony has long been a stronghold for the far-right party.

Persons: Angela Merkel, Friedrich Merz, shockwaves, Merz, Merz backpedaled, ”, Robert Sesselmann, Max Schwarz, Kai Wegner, Jörg, “, ” “, Kühne, ” Tino Chrupalla, John MacDougall, Merkel, it’s, sadi, Michael Kretschmer, Kretschmer Organizations: CNN, Christian Democratic Union, CDU, East, Social, Green Party and Free Democrats, ZDF, Reuters Berlin’s CDU, INSA, New, SPD, Greens, ARD, Bundestag, Getty, Federal Criminal Police, UN, UNHCR, “, Citizens Locations: Germany, West Germany, Sonneberg, Thuringia, Germany’s, Saxony, Leipzig, West, East Germany, East Germans, West Germans, Saxony Anhalt, Ukraine, Poland, Syria

☆ A New Energy Is Vibrating at This House
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Siddhartha Mitter | More About Siddhartha Mitter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The priest, Jean-Daniel Lafontant, had come from Haiti to help reopen the House of World Cultures, Berlin’s distinguished but dowdy center for non-European arts and ideas. The House — or H.K.W., as everyone calls it, using its German initials — is an unwieldy beast, an anachronism with promise. (The building was an American gift to West Berlin during the Cold War.) Founded in 1989 at the dawn of multiculturalism, and just months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, H.K.W. has yawed between programs that highlight foreignness — for instance one-country exhibitions, or “world” music and films — and more complex fare.

Persons: Jean, Daniel Lafontant, Berlin’s, Papa Legba Locations: Berlin, Haiti, American, West Berlin

☆ Sasha Waltz’s Dance Company: 30 Years of Giving Form to Feeling
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Roslyn Sulcas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The chance to have 13 dancers under contract, workshops to make sets and the possibility of large-scale productions. Yes, I was trying to create movement that was about larger choreographic forms, constellations of bodies in organic formations. After leaving the Schaubühne in 2005 you started to work with opera and ballet companies. There was a decision not to do that, so I did “Dido and Aeneas” with the Akademie für Alte Musik. I could create one big artwork, not divide singers, dancers, orchestra; that was very inspiring for me.

Persons: Dido, Aeneas ”

☆ Rammstein Singer Till Lindemann Is Cleared of Sexual Assault Allegations
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Christopher F. Schuetze | More About Christopher F. Schuetze | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Berlin’s public prosecutor’s office on Tuesday said it had dropped its sexual assault investigation into Till Lindemann, the frontman for the rock band Rammstein, citing a lack of evidence. The investigation began in June after several women said that Mr. Lindemann had plied young people with alcohol and drugs before, during and after concerts in order to have sex with them. Lawyers for Mr. Lindemann denied those claims in a statement and threatened legal action against those making the claims and news outlets reporting on them. “I thank all those who have waited impartially for the end of the investigation,” Mr. Lindemann, 60, posted to Instagram on Tuesday. When the German news media reported on the allegations of impropriety against the leader of one of the country’s most successful modern music groups, commercial partners ended their ties with Mr. Lindemann.

Persons: Till Lindemann, Lindemann, ” Mr

☆ Germany spends big to win $11 billion TSMC chip plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC on Tuesday committed 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) to a factory in Germany, its first in Europe, taking advantage of huge state support for the $11 billion plant as the continent seeks to bring supply chains closer to home. TSMC said it would invest up to 3.499 billion euros into a subsidiary, European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC), of which it will own 70%. The factory will cost around 10 billion euros in total. “There is going to be a real ecosystem for semiconductor manufacturing in Germany,” he said. TSMC said in a statement after a board meeting that approved the German investment that it had also approved a capital injection of not more than $4.5 billion for the Arizona plant as part of the overall $40 billion investment.

Persons: TSMC, Olaf Scholz, Michael Kretschmer, ” Kretschmer, Germany’s, NXP, Robert Habeck, ”, “ It’s Organizations: European Union, Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Germany, Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Germany’s Bosch, Infineon, Semiconductor, EU, Sony Locations: Germany, Europe, Taiwan, China, Asia, United States, Dresden, Saxony, ” Saxony, Netherlands, Ukraine, Arizona, Japan

☆ They Know the Blessing and Curse of Warhol and Basquiat
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Arthur Lubow | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Using her bare breasts as paintbrushes, Berlin, beginning in the ’70s, made “tit prints,” in which her pigment-laden aureoles produced forms that resemble balloons and angelfish. Even more scandalous are three of the chapbooks in which she kept drawings she cajoled artists into making of their penises. She was making the ‘tit prints’ without thinking of burning her bra. What really matters is what is in the work.”Like Powell, Berlin in many of her Polaroids documented the Warhol entourage. The show concludes with homages to Berlin made by artists today, including Francesco Clemente, Jenna Gribbon and Jane Kaplowitz.

Persons: Jasper Johns, Leonard Cohen, Dennis Hopper, Robert Smithson, Brice Marden, ” Gingeras, “, ”, Warhol, Gingeras, Willem de Kooning, John Cage, Francesco Clemente, Jenna Gribbon, Jane Kaplowitz Locations: Berlin, Powell

Brigid Berlin, a fixture of the downtown art world in the ’60s and ’70s, will be forever associated with Andy Warhol — the Factory superstar played Duchess, a version of herself as a lesbian drug dealer, in Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s 1966 film “Chelsea Girls” — but three years after her death in 2020, a new exhibition considers Berlin’s art in its own right. “Brigid really was an innovator when you think of the way she used persona as a medium,” says Alison M. Gingeras, who has curated “Brigid Berlin: The Heaviest,” at New York’s Vito Schnabel Gallery, which examines the artist’s life, from her tony uptown upbringing to her secluded later life, with the wild times in between. “For too long she has been pushed into the footnotes.” In a room that features the same wallpaper as Berlin’s Murray Hill apartment, visitors can peruse photos and letters from her childhood. “Brigid Berlin: The Heaviest,” is on view through Aug. 18, vitoschnabel.com. Stay HereA Hygge Homestay in Seoul

Persons: Brigid Berlin, Andy Warhol, Warhol, Paul Morrissey’s, “ Brigid, ”, Alison M, Gingeras, New York’s Vito Schnabel, tony, Murray, Honey Berlin, Robert Rauschenberg, Willem de Kooning, Larry Rivers, “ Brigid Berlin Organizations: Factory, Chelsea Girls ”, Max’s, “ Locations: New, Max’s Kansas City, Seoul

☆ German metal band Rammstein’s lead singer Till Lindemann under investigation on allegations of sexual offenses and distribution of narcotics
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Inke Kappeler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Till Lindemann, the lead singer of German industrial metal band Rammstein is under investigation on allegations relating to sexual offenses and the distribution of narcotics on the basis of “several criminal complaints,” according to a spokeswoman for the Berlin’s Public Prosecutor’s office. Neither the band nor Lindemann have commented publicly since the investigation was launched on Wednesday, or responded to CNN’s request for comment. Concertgoers have accused Lindemann of coercion and systematic abuse of young women on social media in recent weeks. After Lynn went public with her account, German Youtuber Kayla Shyx, 21, released a video revealing details about her experience at a Rammstein concert in Berlin the previous year. The band is scheduled to perform in Berlin on July, 15, 16 and 18, with all concerts sold out.

Persons: Till Lindemann, Lindemann, Christian Schertz, Simon Bergmann, Concertgoers, Shelby Lynn, Lynn, Lindemann’s, “, ” Lynn, Rammstein, ”, Till, Kayla Shyx, Shyx, ” Shyx, ” KiWi, Iris Spranger Organizations: CNN, German Journalists Association Locations: Lithuanian, Vilnius, Berlin, Europe, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Poland, Belgium, Minneapolis , Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City

☆ Travel news: Best airlines, city break inspirations and ambitious bridges
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Maureen O'Hare | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —In CNN Travel’s latest news roundup, we bring you the world’s best airlines for 2023, city break inspiration from Texas to Mongolia to Ecuador and why China might have overstretched itself by building a 15-mile, $6.7 billion bridge. Air New Zealand – which just topped a list of 2023’s best airlines – is on the case by asking all of its international departing travelers to hop on the scales as part of a passenger weight survey, the results of which are thankfully anonymous. Destination inspirationPop quiz: What was the world’s first capital city be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site? And now that the country’s president has vowed to revitalize the city, the future’s looking bright, too. Here’s our roundup of 20 of the world’s best nude beaches.

Persons: CNN —, CNN Travel’s, Genghis, Kublai, it’s, Richard Linklater’s, Matthew McConaughey’s, San, Trevi Fountain, Venice, ”, Mount Everest’s Organizations: CNN, Air, Zealand, Federal Aviation Administration, Airbus, UNESCO, Developers, Pride Locations: Texas, Mongolia, Ecuador, China, United States, America, Rome, Athens, Quito, Inca, Karakorum, Austin , Texas, Bay Area, San Francisco, New York, Rwanda, Kigali, Dubai, Nantucket, Mount

The logo of Russia’s state gas company Gazprom was emblazoned on the shirts of players at the soccer club Toennies chaired. In Germany, Toennies’ story is far from unique. At the centre of Gazprom’s influence campaign was Schalke 04, the soccer club Toennies chaired at the time and which Gazprom began sponsoring in 2006. Russian gas imports have dropped dramatically and Germany is supplying tanks and other weapons systems to Ukraine. In 2001 Toennies assumed another of his older brother’s roles – chairman of soccer club Schalke 04.

Persons: Clemens Toennies, Vladimir Putin, Toennies, Willy Brandt, ”, Putin, Sberbank, Angela Merkel, “, ” Merkel, Bernd, Clemens, Putin’s, Alexei Gromov, Gromov, Gerhard Schroeder, Schroeder Organizations: Gazprom, Toennies, Schalke, Gazprom’s, Reuters, Miele, Volkswagen, Deutsche Telekom, ” Schalke, Chelsea, Kremlin, Former Locations: WIEDENBRUECK, Germany, Russia, Russian, Moscow, Ukraine, Berlin, Russians, Crimea, Gazprom, Rheda, German, Europe, Nord Stream, Dresden

☆ ECB’s crisis tool works best if it’s never used
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Rebecca Christie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

BRUSSELS, May 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - In the euro zone bond market, unlimited backstops are the cheapest. The European Central Bank has been trumpeting its ability to buy member states’ debt if it comes under attack from investors. The danger here is that too much divergence would lead the euro zone to fracture, creating a powder keg for crisis. The central bank has been deliberately quiet about exactly when and how it might activate the crisis tool, except to say it will be ready if necessary. They have noted that the euro zone central bank has a new instrument to combat any sharp increase in the differential between yields of euro zone government bonds.

Persons: Christine Lagarde, –, Lagarde, Fabio Panetta, hasn’t, there’s, Nils Redeker, Berlin’s Jacques Delors, Philip Lane, Francesco Guerrera, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, European Central Bank, ECB, Italy, Reuters Graphics Reuters, ECB won’t, Reuters Graphics, U.S . Federal, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, ”, European Union, Twitter, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Frankfurt, Italy, Spain, Greece, Lithuania, Silicon, EU, Ukraine

☆ Private jets get a bad rap. Jetex is trying to make them greener
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Rym Bendimerad | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Because they often travel shorter distances than commercial jets, private jets are generally less efficient, and their emissions per passenger are much higher. According to data from European non-profit Transport and Environment, private jets can be five to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes, and 50 times more polluting than trains. Yet the private aviation sector has seen considerable growth in recent years. EVTOL aircraft have a more limited range than private jets, and would be used for short flights around and between cities – which, in the future, could be an eco-friendlier option for the many celebrities who’ve been criticized for traveling short distances in their private jets. “We are seeing some really exciting innovations coming from private aviation,” said Dr. Kearns.

Speaking to reporters in Rome after meetings with his Italian counterpart and Italy’s prime minister, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were “preparing very seriously.”“There will definitely be very serious steps. Earlier, Zelensky met with Pope Francis, who has been outspoken in his support for an end to the war in Ukraine. Vatican News/APZelensky said last week that his country still needs “a bit more time” before it launches the counteroffensive, in order to allow some more of the promised Western military aid to arrive in country. Russian attacksAs Zelensky toured Europe, Russia’s assault on Ukraine continued. In western Ukraine, at least 21 people were injured following Russian strikes on the city of Khmelnytskyi in the early hours of Saturday, Ukrainian authorities said.

☆ Discreetly, Berlin Confronts Russian Spies Hiding in Plain Sight
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Erika Solomon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN — Every day as he settles into his desk, Erhard Grundl, a German lawmaker, looks outside his office window into the embassy he knows may be spying on him. “I come into the office, and on a windy day, I see the Russian flag waving. It feels a bit like Psalm 23: ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies,’” he said, chuckling. For years, a silent espionage struggle played out here along the city’s iconic Under den Linden avenue. Members of Parliament like Mr. Grundl were warned by intelligence offices to protect themselves — to turn computer screens away from the window, stop using wireless devices that were easier to tap, and close the window blinds for meetings.

SL Naturenergie's predicament is common in the renewables sector where companies, from startups to medium sized and blue-chip firms, are competing for a limited pool of labour with appropriate skills. Currently it faces a shortage of around 216,000 skilled workers needed for the expansion of the solar and wind energy sectors, a study by German organisation KOFA, or the Competence Centre for securing skilled labour, showed. In many jobs in the renewable energy sector, pay is above average, he said, citing a renewable energy wage premium of more than 10% in construction and installation activities, as well as architectural and engineering services. Volker Quaschning, a professor of renewable energy systems at HTW university in Berlin, says a third of places on these courses at HTW are unfilled. Last month Germany also unveiled draft reforms on skills training accreditation and promoting immigration in a bid to plug labour shortages in the economy.

☆ New EU debt rules have way to avoid past mistakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Rebecca Christie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

BRUSSELS, April 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The European Union’s new set of fiscal rules need to answer two simple questions: will they help the bloc’s economy grow? The fiscal rules are at the crossroads of the EU’s monetary union and budgetary sovereignty. Past rounds of budget rules have carried the threat of top-level sanctions but the enforcers could not follow through. EU countries need to encourage scale-up financing and allow more cross-border cooperation. New rules need to put the future ahead of philosophy to have a chance to work.

The Greens in particular, but also the SPD, want to invest more in the transition to a low-carbon economy. The FDP on other hand, seeks a return to solid public finances after signing off on hundreds of billions of euros of exceptional expenditure during the pandemic and energy crisis. German coalition disputes are also spilling over into European Union policymaking, sparking irritation among partners. Proportional representation, for example, means coalition governments are the norm, which can slow down decision-making. However singling out just one minister could could result in that minister's party exiting the coalition, he said.

☆ Germany’s electricity headache has an M&A cure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Sorting out a rickety power grid is an especially pressing issue in Germany, but luckily Scholz also has the means to act. Cutting carbon emissions means powering more cars and homes through zero-carbon electricity rather than fossil fuels. It has to transport electricity all the way from wind turbines in the northern regions to its southern industrial heartland, which means the power network is often overloaded. The German power network is also unusually complex. Germany’s historic dependence on Russian gas deepened its energy crisis last year, and underscored the risks of relying on foreign-owned critical assets.

On energy, the ministry has “completely overhauled the previous government’s Russia-friendly policy” to reduce Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas, it said. “That tells you something.”Germany consistently underestimated the Russian threat and gave counterintelligence work a low priority, but that is changing now in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, experts and Western officials said. Last April, Berlin expelled 40 Russian Embassy employees for allegedly working for Russian intelligence services. Germany’s intelligence services failed to anticipate that Russia would invade Ukraine, a failure that has yet to be the subject of any publicly released “lessons learned” review. Such a review would show Germany is serious about altering its approach, the Western official said.

☆ Europe Stays in Washington’s Shadow as It Argues Over Tanks for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Daniel Michaels | Marcus Walker | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Germany has said it will only give Ukraine Leopard 2 tanks if the U.S. sends its main battle tank equivalent. BRUSSELS— Fear that the U.S. could eventually dial back its support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion is adding to the pressure on Europe to increase its own military and financial aid to Kyiv. The frustration in many European capitals over Berlin’s resistance to sending German-made tanks isn’t only because of their battlefield utility, but also because Germany is making Europe’s response to the war even more dependent on the U.S., officials and analysts say.

☆ U.S., Allies Fail to Persuade Germany to Allow Tanks for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Gordon Lubold | Michael R. Gordon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany—U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ‘s attempt to persuade Berlin to sign off on a proposal to get German-built tanks to Ukraine failed here Friday, the first significant rift within an alliance that has held steady since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago. Berlin’s resistance to pressure from the U.S. and also European allies eager to send their own German-made Leopard 2 tanks has frustrated the White House and many European governments ahead of what they see as a critical phase of the war.

☆ Poland Suggests Sending German-Made Tanks to Ukraine Without Berlin’s OK
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Drew Hinshaw | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Poland would supply Ukraine with German-made Leopard battle tanks if Germany doesn’t grant approval for the transfer soon, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said, increasing pressure on Berlin to back down from its stance that the U.S. must send American-made tanks to Kyiv before allies donate the most-widely used tank in Europe. The statement is the latest sign of exasperation shared by the U.S. and its European allies that Germany’s hesitation over sending tanks will deprive Ukraine of resources needed in a critical phase of its war with Russia or at least delay their arrival onto the battlefield.

☆ Greta Thunberg joins protest against coal mine expansion in German village
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Around 6,000 protesters — including climate activist Greta Thunberg — marched through mud and rain to the German village of Luetzerath on Saturday, according to a police estimate, demonstrating against the expansion of an opencast lignite mine. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg at a protest march over the pending razing of the settlement of Luetzerath Germany on Saturday. Sean Gallup / Getty ImagesAs the protesters neared the village, they were confronted by police in riot gear, and some used batons to push the protesters back. Earlier this week, police cleared out protesters from buildings they have occupied for almost two years in attempt to stop the nearby mine’s expansion. Earlier Economy Minister Robert Habeck told Spiegel on Friday that Lutzerath was the “wrong symbol” to protest against.

☆ Just how bad was the war in Ukraine for Europe’s biggest economy last year?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —Germany’s economy grew slightly last year despite battling an energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The bank predicts the German economy will stagnate this year, rather than decline, as it had previously forecast. Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty ImagesEither way, it’s welcome news for Europe’s biggest economy. “The German economy has been more resilient than initially feared,” Jan-Christopher Scherer, a research associate at DIW Berlin, told CNN. About 40% of German companies expect business to decline in 2023, and another 35% think it will stagnate, according to a November survey of 2,500 firms conducted by the German Economic Institute.

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