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☆ World's biggest gallium buyer says clients stockpiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Ludwig Burger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, July 11 (Reuters) - China's planned export controls on gallium have caused frantic stockpiling of speciality semiconductor wafers made from the metal, according to the world's largest gallium buyer. Freiberger Compound Materials relies almost entirely on Chinese suppliers for its gallium needs to make wafers that go into mobile phone radio signal amplifiers and optical electronics. Chinese gallium companies have driven most rivals elsewhere out of the market by undercutting them on price over the last decade. Harz said his Chinese suppliers were providing authorities with data needed to obtain export licences. Harz does not believe that China will disrupt gallium trade flows over the next few years because that would quickly damage its own electronics industry.

Persons: There's, Michael Harz, Ludwig Burger, Matt Scuffham, Mark Potter Organizations: Reuters, Japan's Sumitomo Electric, Thomson Locations: FRANKFURT, East Germany, Harz, China, United States

☆ Opinion: What Putin must be dreading
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Peter Bergen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a speech Saturday condemning the mutiny by the Wagner group, comparing the uprising to the events sparked by Russia’s 1917 revolution. Putin claimed that the Russians were stabbed “in the back” by nameless enemies towards the end of World War I, which he said is why the Russians lost that war and that in turn led to “a civil war” in Russia, Putin said. The Russians were not stabbed in the back during World War I, as Putin suggested during his remarks on Saturday. During the 1917 revolution, a Marxist party known as the Bolsheviks seized power. A year later, Nicholas II and other members of the ruling Romanov family ended up on the wrong end of a firing squad.

Persons: Peter Bergen, Peter Bergen ”, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Putin, “, Nicholas II, Romanov, Josef Stalin’s, Mark Twain, Putin doesn’t Organizations: CNN, New, Arizona State University, Apple, Spotify, Peter Bergen CNN, Communist, Russo, Marxist, Communist Party, KGB, Soviet, Twitter, Facebook Military, Romanovs Locations: New America, Russian, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Soviet Union, Dresden, East Germany, Afghanistan, Japanese, Soviet

[1/2] German parliamentary group leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel speaks during budget debate in the plenary hall of German lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany November 23, 2022. Asked by broadcaster ntv if the AfD would name a chancellor candidate, party co-chief Alice Weidel said "of course, we would also nominate (one) without these polling numbers", side-stepping a question about whether she would present herself. The likelihood of an AfD candidate becoming Germany's chancellor is very low currently given the party would need to be able to form a government and currently all other parties have ruled out working with it. The AfD is currently on track to winning the vote in all three east German states holding elections next year. Reporting by Sarah Marsh; additional Reporting by Friederike Heine; editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Alice Weidel, Christian Mang, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's, Thomas Haldenwang, Haldenwang, Hans Vorlaender, Sarah Marsh, Friederike Heine, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: REUTERS, Scholz's Social Democrats, ntv, Thomson Locations: Germany, Berlin, BERLIN, Dresden

☆ As German Anxieties About Future Rise, Far Right Party Profits
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Erika Solomon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the die-hards worry Germany’s political leadership less than people like Ina Radzheit. An insurance agent in a flowered blouse, she squeezed in among platters of schnitzel and frothy beers for her first visit to the AfD, the German initials by which the party is known. She is exasperated by government squabbling over climate plans she fears will cost citizens like her their modest but comfortable way of life. “I can’t say now if I would ever vote for the AfD,” she said. “But I am listening.”As anxieties over Germany’s future rise, so too, it seems, does the AfD.

Persons: Ina Radzheit, “, ” Locations: Germany, German, Ukraine

China became Germany's single biggest trade partner in 2016 and is a core market for top German companies including Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), BASF (BASFn.DE) and BMW (BMWG.DE). "They know German companies will run up direct channels to the chancellery," said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund's Asia program. The talks come after Antony Blinken on Sunday became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit China in five years, stressing the importance of keeping open lines of communication to reduce the risk of miscalculation. The Chinese delegation will meet with some of those CEOs on Monday, according to people familiar with the plans. The Chinese delegation will head to Paris for an official visit and to attend a financial conference on June 22 to 23.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Fabrizio Bensch, China Scholz, Scholz, Li Qiang, Li, Wang Yiwei, Andrew Small, Marshall, Mikko Huotari, Antony Blinken, Sarah Marsh, Andreas Rinke, Laurie Chen, John Geddie, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, Volkswagen, BASF, BMW, Centre, European Studies, Renmin University of China, Greens and Free Democrats, Social Democrats, Analysts, Mercator Institute for China Studies, Sunday, Thomson Locations: Berlin, Germany, China, Beijing, Munich BERLIN, Europe, European Union, Asia, Munich, Bavaria, Paris

☆ Opinion: What Germany’s most famous trans woman could teach us about queer joy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Opinion Samuel Huneke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Talking about queer persecution in the past gave activists a language with which to combat queer persecution in the present. But the relentless focus on queer persecution — while politically necessary — often has the unfortunate effect of shunting to the side an equally important history of queer joy. In my own research on sexuality in modern Germany, queer joy also appears in the unlikeliest of places. Reports from the Gestapo, the Nazis’ feared secret police, chronicled monthly fetes attended by hundreds of Berliners: queer women and trans men sporting elegant evening coats, queer men and trans women dressed to the nines in flowing gowns. Understanding how and why trans, queer, gay, bi and lesbian people were and are persecuted is vital to recognizing and combating oppression of all sorts today.

Persons: Samuel Huneke, Huneke, Samuel Huneke Hugh Ross, ’, Harvey Milk, revel, ”, John Boswell, George Chauncey, Germany —, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Sally Bowles, fetes Organizations: George Mason University, Democracy, State, CNN, Pride Month, Briggs Initiative, Initiative, Gay, Stasi, Gestapo, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Europe, States, Liberation, Cold, Germany, Nazi Germany, York, East Germany, Nazi

☆ He ran out of countries to visit, so he created his own
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Richard Collett | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —“I like to put it simply,” says Randy “R Dub!” Williams, a late-night “slow jams” DJ from San Diego who’s also known as “the Sultan of Slowjamastan.” “I ran out of countries, so I created my own.”A broadcaster by night, Williams has spent his life attempting to visit every country in the world. The Republic of Slowjamastan even claims over 500 registered citizens, while 4,500 more are said to have been conditionally approved or are waiting in line for citizenship. Williams was inspired to create his own country after visiting various “micronations” – self-declared territories often run by eccentric leaders – on his world travels. Republic of Slowjamastan Ministry of CommunicationsWilliams says he is working on creating diplomatic ties with other countries, and he’s had his Slowjamastan passport stamped by 16 different countries on his recent travels, including South Africa, New Zealand, Vanuatu, and the United States. The next stage is for the sultan to gain recognition of his micronation’s secession from the United States, although that might be a little far-fetched even for Williams.

Persons: CNN —, ”, Randy “, ” Williams, San Diego who’s, ” “, Williams, Slowjamastan, that’s, Slowjamastan Williams, I’m, –, “, Kevin Baugh, We’re, we’ll, Williams ’, he’s, He’s, he's, Republic of Slowjamastan Ministry of Communications Williams, Republic of Slowjamastan, Biden Organizations: CNN, Republic of Slowjamastan Ministry of Communications, UN, The Sovereign, Democratic People’s, Independence, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace Locations: San Diego, Slowjamastan, California, United States, America, Dublândia, Republic of, Republic, Turkmenistan, United Territories, People’s Republic, Nevada, East Germany, Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, South Africa, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Montevideo

[1/3] German parliamentary group co-leaders of Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla attend a plenary session of the lower house of parliament, Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany May 25, 2023. In France, the far-right has become a stronger rival at the ballot box, while in Italy and Sweden, they are now are in government. Germany's domestic spy agency has branded the AfD's youth wing "extremist", saying it propagated "a racial concept of society". Some AfD initiatives have won backing from mainstream voters on the more local level. Wolfgang Buechner, a Scholz government spokesman, said he was confident the coalition could whittle away at AfD support.

Persons: Alice Weidel, Tino Chrupalla, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's, Stefan Marschall, Michael Kretschmer, Friederich Merz, Nancy Faeser, Marc Debus, Matthias Grahl, Wolfgang Buechner, Scholz, whittle, Sarah Marsh, Andreas Rinke, Madeline Chambers, Edmund Blair Organizations: Bundestag, REUTERS, Government, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social, University of Duesseldorf, Christian Democratic Union, CDU, Greens, Scholz's, Mannheim University, Thomson Locations: Germany, Berlin, BERLIN, Scholz's, Europe, France, Italy, Sweden, Nazi, Russia, Ukraine, Germany's, Saxony, Thueringen, Brandenburg, Bautzen

☆ Vladimir Putin was never the Soviet super spy he'd like us to believe. He was merely a KGB 'errand boy,' report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been portrayed as an elite KGB intelligence officer in the 1980s. But a new report from Der Spiegel suggests he was never the super spy he was thought to be. Horst Jehmlich, a former Stasi officer who also worked in Dresden, told Der Spiegel that Putin was nothing more than an "errand boy." Putin worked for the KGB, the Soviet Union's intelligence service, for nearly two decades. Officially he retired from active KGB service with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Der Spiegel, —, Spiegel, Der, Putin, Horst Jehmlich, Oleg Kalugin Organizations: Service, Red Army, Dresden University, KGB, RFE Locations: Soviet, West Germany, Dresden, East Germany, Germany, Russia

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

“This is the second train, there was one like it just before.”The video, seemingly filmed in late March, shows old Soviet tanks being transported, somewhere in Russia. Moscow has been known to bring out older military equipment from storage to help it prosecute the war in Ukraine, but these are different. The tanks are T-55s, a model first commissioned by the Soviet Union’s Red Army in 1948, shortly after the end of World War II. Soviet T-54/T-55 tanks form a threatening ring round the Parliament buildings in Hungary on November 12, 1956. T-55 tanks drive through the streets of Prague, capital of what was then Czechoslovakia, in 1968.

☆ Germany is finally focusing on defending NATO, but its military 'lacks almost everything' it needs to do it, a former German general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

That's the warning from a former German general who argues that Germany must refurbish its badly neglected armed forces — though this will take years to accomplish. Today, the German military is just 183,000-strong, and it can't meet its recruiting goals. In 2020, German defense spending was only 1.4% of GDP, well short of 2% goal that NATO members have pledged to hit by 2024. "Armament procurement concentrated on armored transport vehicles rather than on battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles," Vad writes. RONNY HARTMANN/AFP via Getty ImagesDespite years of calls by France for pan-European defense, coordinating German defense procurement with other EU states — each with distinct military needs and political priorities – is difficult.

☆ Russia to launch Friendship Games after 40-year gap, sports minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Russia plans to relaunch the multi-sport Friendship Games next year, 40 years after its first edition, Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin has told President Vladimir Putin. Matytsin said the event would be held after the Paris Olympics, which will run from July 26-Aug. 11 next year. "We continue to fulfil your (Putin's) instruction to organise the World Friendship Games in the autumn of 2024. FRIENDLY TIESLast year, Russia held a competition called the Solidarity Games with the aim of "strengthening of international friendly ties between states". The Friendship Games were first organised in 1984 in the Soviet Union and eight other socialist states which boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

☆ Touching the sky: A rare solar eclipse and a new hotel in the clouds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Courtesy Amelia Earhart Hangar MuseumAmelia Earhart wasn’t just the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic. Camelot Theme Park (England): Set in the leafy Lancashire countryside, the Magic Kingdom of Camelot resurrected tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Scott Audette/AP Pripyat Amusement Park (Ukraine): This theme park was orphaned in 1986 following the Chernobyl meltdown just five kilometers (three miles) away. Considered the first theme park in Southeast Asia, it featured an artificial lake, huge swimming pool with giant water slides and a Prehistoric Animal Kingdom. Anne Jones/Alamy Stock Photo 10 fascinating theme parks that have closed forever Prev NextThat’s the question posed by these no-longer-in-operation theme parks around the world.

☆ 10 fascinating theme parks that have closed forever
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Joe Yogerst | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

In April, we’re taking a thrilling ride into the world of theme parks. “We think of amusement parks as vibrant, colorful, noisy, cheerful places,” says Jim Futrell of the National Amusement Park Historical Association. Pripyat Amusement Park (Ukraine)The Pripyat Amusement Park was built right before the Chernobyl disaster. Yongma Land (South Korea)Once in a blue moon, abandoned theme parks find new life by adopting totally new functions. Faced with increased competition from Orlando’s modern theme parks, Cypress Gardens closed in 2009 and was eventually absorbed into LEGOLAND Florida.

☆ 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.

☆ Ukraine is getting Soviet-era fighter jets from Poland after Germany approves transfer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Poland will provide Ukraine with five Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets. The jets originally belonged to East Germany during the Soviet era and were sold to Warsaw. Poland obtained the MiG-29 jets from Germany in the early 2000s, according to media reports. Poland has said it was willing to provide Ukraine with its entire fleet of 28 MiG-29s. "So far, everyone has agreed that it's not the time to send fighter jets," Pistorius said just last month.

☆ Germany allows Poland to export old fighter jets to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - Germany has approved Poland's request to export five old MiG-29 fighter jets to bolster Ukraine's air power against the Russian invasion, the German defence ministry said on Thursday. Germany inherited 24 MiG-29 jets from the East German GDR during reunification in 1990. At the time, the aircraft were seen as among the most advanced fighter jets in the world. Ukraine, which hopes to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months, wants to secure fighter jets to defend against air strikes. Western countries have so far been reluctant to send advanced fighter jets such as F-16's to Kyiv, but some countries have stepped in to send old MiG-29 jets that Ukraine already uses.

☆ DEI Meets East Germany: U.S. Universities Urge Students to Report One Another for ‘Bias’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Iván Marinovic | John Ellis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Anonymous informers have always been a hallmark of totalitarian regimes. Friends, neighbors and even family members are encouraged to inform on those who speak against the regime. This is effective social control: Nowhere is safe to discuss politics, and everyday life is subdued. To this day, when Cubans want to discuss something sensitive, they go into their bathrooms, let the water flow and whisper. They have been setting up their own systems of anonymous informers.

"From our point of view, Rostock with its overseas port and an existing ammonia terminal can become a hub for international hydrogen imports into eastern Germany," said Hans-Joachim Polk, board member for infrastructure and technology. In another cooperation, VNG is sounding out Algeria's state oil and gas producer Sonatrach with a view to possibly arranging green hydrogen imports into Rostock via Tunisian and Italian natural gas pipelines, Polk told a press briefing. As customers across Europe baulked at sky-high prices, VNG's gas sales fell 23% last year to 588 billion kilowatt hours (kWh). As well as gas sales to local utilities and industry, the group has a wide range of activities in high pressure and distribution gas pipelines, storage facilities and biogas. Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Rachel More, Friederike Heine and Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ I work in a naked spa. It's exhausting and so much fun – but every now and then we have to stop people from getting intimate.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Andy Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Felix Kühn manages the sauna at a "textile-free" spa in Berlin, Germany. "It's a very physical and exhausting job, but I have so much fun with it," says Kühn. I started at Vabali Spa Berlin in December 2014. I was working in a pizza shop and on the first day of my university geography studies in Berlin, I met a guy who told me they were looking for people to work at the sauna at Vabali Spa Berlin. It's a very physical and exhausting job, but I have so much fun with itI still do sauna infusions.

☆ Factbox: Jehovah's Witnesses: some facts about their history and community in Germany
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, March 10 (Reuters) - Here are some facts about the Jehovah's Witnesses and their community in Germany, shaken by a mass shooting at a Jehovah's Witness hall in Hamburg on Thursday. - The first German branch was founded in 1902 in Elberfeld in west Germany - before the "Watch Tower Society" was renamed Jehovah's Witnesses. - Jehovah's Witnesses have struggled to have their beliefs and practices accepted in some parts of the world. - Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted in Nazi Germany for their refusal to swear allegiance to the Nazi regime or join the military. On Dec. 25, 2022, a couple attempted arson with explosives at a Jehovah's Witness' Kingdom Hall in Thornton in the U.S. state of Colorado.

☆ Germany reports another African swine fever case in farm pigs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HAMBURG, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Another case of African swine fever (ASF) has been confirmed in farm pigs in east Germany, authorities said on Tuesday. It was reported on a small farm with 11 animals in the eastern state of Brandenburg, the state's health ministry said. Wild boar coming into Germany from Poland were believed to have spread the disease to Germany, especially in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony. The German government has been seeking to contain and eradicate ASF in the east partly by reducing the wild boar population. But the country’s large numbers of wild boar, which move over great distances, has made containment difficult.

☆ Putin's KGB past is key to grasping what he might do next in his failing Ukraine war, ex-spies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Putin's time in the KGB helps explain his worldview and brutal approach to warfare, ex-spies say. As Western intelligence agencies vie to stay two steps ahead of the Russian leader and get inside his head, peering into Putin's KGB past may offer clues on what he's thinking. "Putin's KGB background tells us a lot about how he thinks and how he sees the war. He is a creation of the KGB, and the KGB was a terrorist organization," John Sipher, a former CIA officer who served in Russia, told Insider. The Ukraine war has seen Putin and his propagandists make a series of assertions — ranging from plausible to preposterous — to justify Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

☆ East Germany's last Communist premier dies aged 95
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz/File PhotoBERLIN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Hans Modrow, who as the last Communist prime minister of East Germany oversaw democratic reforms that opened the way to German reunification, has died at age 95, Germany's hard-left Die Linke party said on Saturday. With this, our party loses an important personality," the party, successor to the East German Communist Party, said in a statement. Modrow saw himself as a reformer who had wanted to change the communist party from the inside and make it more democratic. He also served in the East German parliament for more than three decades. Modrow became East Germany's de facto leader after Egon Krenz resigned as SED leader on Dec. 5, 1990, leaving Modrow holding the highest state post.

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