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☆ 'Cannabis in Germany will be a success story': Europe's biggest economy moves closer to weed legalization
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

The sale of medical cannabis has been allowed in German pharmacies since 2016 — but several barriers to entry remain, including cost. "Patients, who cannot afford medical cannabis, may self-medicate with adult-use cannabis without medical advice. "An overall de-stigmatization of cannabis as a substance will also lead to a de-stigmatized medical cannabis market," Gallois added. The government is currently undertaking a review of its medical cannabis guidelines, including how it is prescribed and reimbursed under the country's statutory health insurance program. A 'domino effect'The plans come as cannabis legalization has fallen under renewed debate over recent years.

☆ 'Europe is very much open for you': Germany backs EU membership bid of Russia's neighbor Georgia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Robert Habeck, Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, and Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia, shared their views on Georgia's EU membership bid. BERLIN — German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck backed the European Union membership bid of Russia's Caucasus neighbor, Georgia, saying that the country was "very much welcome" in the bloc. Georgia, a former Soviet state situated to Russia's south-west border, applied for EU membership on March 3, 2022, one week after Russia's full-blown invasion of Ukraine. Georgia is one of a number of countries in the region that have hastened their EU membership bids in the wake of Russia's invasion. Ukraine and neighboring Moldova applied for EU membership in February and March 2022, respectively, and were granted candidate status in June.

☆ Man stabs passengers on German train; 2 dead, 5 injured
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN — A man fatally stabbed two people and injured five others on a train in northern Germany on Wednesday before being arrested, police said. Germany’s Federal Police force said the man used a knife to attack several passengers shortly before a regional train traveling from Kiel to Hamburg arrived at the Brokstedt station. The interior minister of Schleswig-Holstein state, Sabine Suetterlin-Waack, said the attack happened at about 3 p.m. local time. “We are shocked and horrified that something like this has happened.”Regional police and the federal police were on the scene and the prosecutor’s office was investigating the attack, NDR reported. The train station in Brokstedt was closed for several hours.

German-style Christmas markets crop up all over the world this time of year. For me, a visit to a Christmas market is an essential part of the festive season. Whether with family, friends, or colleagues, a Christmas market and a few glasses of mulled wine always hit the spot. I visited the "Weihnachten an der Spree," or Christmas on the Spree, all-inclusive Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, to see if it was worth it. So if, like me, you like to stroll through Christmas markets and look at stalls full of handcrafted objects, decorations, and other knickknacks, you'll be disappointed.

☆ Climate activists throw liquid at Klimt painting in Vienna
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

BERLIN — Climate activists in Austria on Tuesday attacked a famous painting by artist Gustav Klimt with a black, oily liquid and one then glued himself to glass protecting the painting’s frame. Members of the group Last Generation Austria tweeted they had targeted the 1915 painting “Death and Life” at the Leopold Museum in Vienna to protest their government’s use of fossil energies. After the attack, police arrived at the museum and the black liquid was quickly cleaned off the glass protecting the painting, Austria Press Agency reported. It’s one of the latest pieces of art to be targeted by climate activists to draw attention to global warming. Just Stop Oil activists also glued themselves to the frame of an early copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, and to John Constable’s “The Hay Wain” in the National Gallery.

☆ Qatar World Cup ambassador says homosexuality is ‘damage in the mind’
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN — An ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar has described homosexuality as a “damage in the mind” in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF just two weeks before the opening of the global soccer tournament in the Gulf state. Excerpts of the television interview were shown Monday night on ZDF’s news program Heute Journal. Concerns about the conservative country’s treatment of homosexuals living in the country as well as LGBTQ tourists attending the World Cup have also been expressed for a long time. In the interview, Salman also said that homosexuality “is a spiritual harm.”“During the World Cup, many things will come here to the country. The interview was cut short by a press officer of the World Cup organizing committee after Salman expressed his views on homosexuals, ZDF reported.

The top runners in the New York City Marathon’s nonbinary division won cash prizes Sunday, a first for a World Marathon Majors race. Instead, it reported, the nonprofit New York Road Runners awarded the monetary prizes to the top nonbinary finishers. Last year, the NYC Marathon recognized its first nonbinary division winner, Zackary Harris, but the division did not receive a monetary prize. Harris came in second place in the nonbinary division this year, with a time of 3:09:41. Of the six World Marathon Majors races, five of them — New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Berlin — have recently added a nonbinary category.

☆ LGBTQ Italians on alert as right-wing alliance triumphs in election
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

BERLIN — The triumph of a right-wing alliance in Italy’s election has raised concern among LGBTQ advocates, who fear nationalist leader Giorgia Meloni could adopt anti-gay policies as prime minister and set back their efforts to boost equality. What is Meloni’s stance on LGBTQ rights? Days before the election, however, a senior member of her Brothers of Italy (FdI) group suggested same-sex parenting was not normal. Despite lagging most of its EU neighbors on LGBTQ rights, a 2020 study by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center found 75% of Italians think homosexuality should be accepted. In the northern city of Verona, Stefano Ambrosini, a gay 28-year-old PhD student, said he feared Meloni’s election triumph could lead to an increase in homophobic violence.

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