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☆ Meet Europeans who moved to the US and say there’s no going back
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Terry Ward | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

We spoke with a handful of Europeans who are embracing American life about what brought and ties them to the United States. “I was always a career hunter, super career-focused,” says Herrmann, who eventually started his own tourism marketing business in the United States, Herrmann Global. “You have to have a certain level of cynicism and criticism because that’s what makes you smart.”She says she gets very upset when she sees Europeans “pooh-poohing” the United States. That said, she does find the “constant quest to be better, more efficient and more relevant” in the United States exhausting at times. She says living in the United States has afforded her the privilege to get to know and befriend people of many different ethnicities.

Persons: adieu, who’ve, they’ll, expats, ’ Florian Herrmann, “, ”, Herrmann, ’ ”, ‘, I’m, Gabriele Sappok, she’s, Sappok, Andreas, Gabriele Sappok “, it’s, ” Sappok, “ didn’t, Laurence Noguier, Jason W, Noguier, ” Noguier, Lawless, Clodagh Lawless, didn’t, she’ll, Lorna MacDonald, Lorna MacDonald Lorna MacDonald, MacDonald, she’d, Augustine, It's, Terry Ward Organizations: CNN, CNN Travel, Herrmann Global, Dubai Locations: United States, France, decamped, Italy, Portugal, Europe, Munich, Germany, California, Wyoming, America, German, Lander , Wyoming, “, New York City, Stuttgart, Washington , DC, Chicago, ” France, Dearborn, Galway, Ireland, American, Florida, Penzance, England, Australia, Singer Island , Florida, Augustine , Florida, St, ” Florida, Tampa

☆ VW is reviving a storied American brand to sell electric SUVs
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —When Volkswagen decided to relaunch the Scout SUV brand it took a very unusual step. The revived and revamped Scout Motors will introduce its new brand of all-electric off-road-capable SUVs, kind of like Rivian. Buzz, an electric update of the classic hippie bus, VW is touching on nostalgia to reach a new generation of car buyers. VW came to own the trademark for the defunct brand in 2021 when it purchased Navistar, a successor company to International Harvester. Scout’s parent company, Volkswagen, is building its own EV battery plant in Canada and a battery engineering lab in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Persons: it’s, Oliver Blume, “ What’s, ”, Erin Keating, Scott Keogh, Dave Mondragon, who’s, they’ll, Keogh, ” Keogh, ” Keough, Chris Benjamin, isn’t, roader, Keating Organizations: CNN, Volkswagen, Scout, Volkswagen Group, Audi, Porsche, VW, ” Volkswagen Group, Cox Automotive, Harvester, International, Bentley, Lamborghini, North, Ford, P Global Mobility, Dealers, Scout Motors, US . Scout Motors, Volkswagen North, Volvo, Mercedes, BMW, Tesla Locations: United States, America, Volkswagen North America, Blythewood , South Carolina, South Carolina, Novi , Michigan, Canada, Chattanooga , Tennessee

☆ Opinion: Trump’s praise of dictators tells us all we need to know
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Opinion Ruth Ben-Ghiat | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Viktor Orban, Adolf Hitler, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, Saddam Hussein: What do they have in common? Some of it is no doubt Trump airing his fantasies of the kind of authority he could exert as president. He praises Hitler, Chinese leader Xi, Russian President Putin and others because of their absolute power, not in spite of it. Thus Xi, in Trump’s telling, is “strong like granite. But Americans are the most important audience for the stream of praise he directs to autocrats.

Persons: Ruth Ben, Ghiat, Strongmen, Mussolini, CNN — Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Viktor Orban, Adolf Hitler, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong, Saddam Hussein, —, — Donald Trump, “, Jim Sciutto, Trump, Hitler, Xi, Putin, ”, ” Trump, Hussein, Erdogan, Kim, autocrats Organizations: New York University, CNN, GOP, Trump, Turkish, White Locations: Russian, Trump’s, Ukraine, Russia, Hollywood, Iowa, Turkey, cybercrime, Germany

☆ In Germany, Fighting the Far Right Poses a Conundrum for Democracy
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Erika Solomon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For Germany — a country that knows something about how extremists can hijack a government — the surging popularity of the far right has forced an awkward question. How far should a democracy go in restricting a party that many believe is bent on undermining it? German politicians have become increasingly alarmed that someday the party could wield influence in the federal government. Its popularity has grown despite the fact that the domestic intelligence services announced they are investigating the party as a suspected threat to democracy. History hangs heavy over Germany as well — the Nazis used elections to seize the levers of the state and shape an authoritarian system.

Locations: Germany, Poland, Hungary

☆ The incredible story of how POWs played golf at the ‘Great Escape’ prison camp
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Jack Bantock | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

In comparison to other POW camps under German control, captives at Stalag Luft III received “excellent” treatment for the majority of the war, according to a 1944 US Military Intelligence Service (MIS) report. The rubber from such items would wrap around the core and then be cased within leather stripped from shoes — a process eerily reminiscent of “featheries,” some of the earliest post-wooden golf balls ever made. Immortalized in a book and then a film of the same name, what became known as the “The Great Escape” wasn’t even the first breakout at Stalag Luft III. When three prisoners made a successful escape, suspicious German eyes homed in on the golf course and its sprawling mounds and greens. In 1979, he donated two balls he made while in Stalag Luft III to the USGA Golf Museum, artifacts that headline its exhibit on golf during the Second World War.

Persons: — “, Stalag Luft, —, “, ”, John Strege, Pat Ward, Thomas, Victoria Nenno, ” Nenno, Tee, Sydney Smith, Smith, Ward, John Mummert, Thomas ’, Sagan, Stalag, Roger Bushell’s, Tom, ” “ Dick, Harry ” —, Adolf Hitler Organizations: CNN, Luftwaffe, British Royal Air Force, RAF, United States Army Air Force, Military Intelligence Service, Geneva Convention, USGA Golf, PGA, Stalag Luft, USGA Museum, Ward, Thomas, USGA, RAF Squadron, Guardian, USGA Golf Museum Locations: Nazi Germany, Berlin, Zagan, Poland, Norway, New Zealand, Geneva, Netherlands, New Jersey, Ward, Germany, —, England

☆ Russian oligarch went to Moscow in effort to broker complex prisoner exchange that included Navalny, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Sebastian Shukla | Alex Marquardt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —A multi-country prisoner exchange that might have freed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was being discussed and progressing when he died last month, multiple sources have told CNN, and included the direct involvement of a Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich. However, a source close to Navalny’s team told CNN that on the evening of February 15 they had received word that a message had been delivered to Putin. Clinton “initially passed on the message” to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Grozev told CNN. “We had to find a way to package the German asset [Krasikov] into an American negotiation,” the source close to the Navalny team said. Getting the message to Putin was one of the greatest challenges, the individual close to the Navalny team told CNN.

Persons: Alexey Navalny, Roman Abramovich, Navalny, Abramovich, Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Maria Pevchikh, “, ”, Dmitry Peskov, it’s, Christo Grozev, Clinton, Grozev, Biden, Viktor Bout, Brittney Griner, Clinton “, Jake Sullivan, Sullivan, Pevchikh, Vadim Krasikov, Krasikov, Tucker Carlson, Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Whelan, Gershkovich, Whelan –, Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, ” Abramovich Organizations: CNN, United Arab, Kremlin, IK, Aspen Ideas, FSB, US National, National Security, Wall Street, Krasikov, Navalny, US Department of Justice Locations: Russian, Moscow, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Siberia, Western, Russia, Aspen, Colorado, Berlin, Chechen, Europe, Germans, Brazil

☆ Everyone is angry at Germany after a series of snubs and screw-ups
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Leaked German military discussions about sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine have caused discord. It's the latest diplomatic spat related to Germany and aid to Ukraine. After the US, Germany is the country sending the most military aid to Ukraine, at least in terms of volume. A mortifying leakPart of this anger was triggered by Russian state broadcaster RT publishing a 38-minute leaked recording of four German officials discussing how Ukraine could deploy German Taurus missiles. Taurus missiles are — very broadly speaking — Germany's equivalent to the Storm Shadow: powerful, long-range weapons with a strong ability to evade air defenses.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, —, Emmanuel Macron, Le, Ben Wallace, Scholz, Germany —, Der Westen, Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin, It's, Edward Hunter Christie, — Scholz, Antoine Gyori, Macron, Le Monde, Rafael Loss Organizations: Taurus, Service, RT, German Taurus, Associated Press, Storm, France, Politico, MOD, government's Foreign, France's Ministry of Defence, NATO, Russian Security, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Macron, Ukraine Challenger, Ukraine, European Council, Foreign Relations Locations: Ukraine, France, Germany, allyship, German, Kerch, Crimea, Korea, Russia, Europe, Macron Germany

☆ Josette Molland, Who Told of Life in Nazi Camps Through Art, Dies at 100
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Adam Nossiter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the spring of 1943, Josette Molland, a 20-year-old art student, was certain of two things: that she was making a pretty good living creating designs for Lyon’s silk weavers, and that it was unbearable that Germans occupied her country. She joined the Resistance. Fabricating false papers and transporting them for the famed Dutch-Paris underground network unburdened her of guilt. Captured by the Gestapo less than a year later, Ms. Molland lived the hell of Nazi deportation and Nazi camps for women, at Ravensbrück and elsewhere. “I had a happy life for the next 50 years,” Ms. Molland said in a privately published autobiography, “Soif de Vivre” (“Thirst for Life”), in 2016.

Persons: Josette Molland, Molland, “, ” Ms, Vivre, — Locations: Paris, Ravensbrück, France

☆ NATO navies can exploit a Russian fear and keep Putin from invading more neighbors
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Today, NATO's naval power is far superior to Russia's. NATO may dominate the oceans, but that may not be much help if Russian tanks invade the Baltic States or Poland. Or more specifically, use naval power to scare Moscow into allocating its scarce resources to defending its huge coastlines rather than invading neighbors. "Rather than naval combat per se, the purpose of Russian sea power is to ensure that the Russian state can compete and engage in conflict safely and effectively," the essay said. In 2024, the fear is that NATO ships could launch long-range guided missiles at the Russian heartland.

Persons: Napoleon, Hitler fumed, Russia —, Kaushal, Rene Balletta, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Channel, Royal Navy, NATO, Alliance, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Russian Navy, Black, Century, Russia, Russian Army and Aerospace Forces, West, Baltic, Defense, Foreign Policy, Rutgers Univ, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: British, Russia, Baltic States, Poland, Moscow, Britain, Europe, Asia, Russian, Crimean, Sevastopol, Ukraine, Russia's, Finland, Norway, Forbes

☆ 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

☆ Opinion | Myth and Reality in Israel’s Hostage Negotiations
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Dahlia Scheindlin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israelis were exhilarated when two hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7 were rescued this month in a daring raid by the Israeli military. It wasn’t just the thrill of seeing the hostages alive in their families’ arms. The rescue reminded many of Israel’s stunning hostage rescue in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976, when more than 100 hostages from an airplane hijacked by militant Palestinians and Germans were freed. But the myth of invincibility Entebbe engendered was always flawed: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own brother was killed in the raid. Today, there is no such military option for liberating hostages on a large scale, and the negotiation effort to release Israeli hostages from Hamas’s grip is not at all exhilarating.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu’s, “ Organizations: Hamas, Israel’s Defense Ministry Locations: Gaza, Entebbe, Uganda, Israel

☆ Germany joins legal cannabis club
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Industrial hemp plants of the Futura 75 variety are kept in a specially secured room at the Hemp Museum. The law passed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling three-party coalition legalises cultivating up to three plants for private consumption and owning up to 25 grams of cannabis. Larger-scale, but still non-commercial, cannabis production will be allowed for members of so-called cannabis clubs with no more than 500 members, all of whom must be adults. Germany becomes the ninth country to legalise recreational use of the drug, which is also legal in some sub-national jurisdictions in the United States and Australia. Some legislators questioned whether the new regulations would have much impact on dealing, since those who are unwilling to grow their own cannabis or join a cannabis club may still prefer to buy the drug.

Persons: Chancellor Olaf Scholz's, Karl Lauterbach, Tino Sorge, Lauterbach Organizations: Futura, Hemp Museum, Germany, Friday, Bundestag Locations: Germany, United States, Australia

☆ Let Tesla Expand? Germans Vote No.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Melissa Eddy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The NewsResidents in the German community where Tesla has its only assembly plant in Europe overwhelming rejected the company’s plan to expand its facilities, dealing a blow to the U.S. automaker and local supporters. Sixty-five percent of citizens in Grünheide who voted opted against Tesla’s proposal to clear 250 acres of forest near its plant to build a rail yard, warehouses and a day care center. The vote was nonbinding, but local officials said they would honor it by heading back to the drawing board to try to find an acceptable solution. “That is the big challenge for the community,” Arne Christiani, the mayor of Grünheide and a supporter of the expansion, told public broadcaster Inforadio rbb on Wednesday. But the company defended its plans in local media, while acknowledging “that the citizens of Grünheide have concerns in connection with the planned expansion of the site.”

Persons: Tesla, ” Arne Christiani, Inforadio rbb, “, ” Organizations: News Residents, U.S ., Inforadio Locations: Europe, Grünheide

☆ Andreas Brehme, who won the 1990 World Cup for West Germany, dies aged 63
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Ben Morse | Nadine Schmidt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Later that year, a unified German soccer team was formed following the country’s unification. Lothar didn’t fancy it [in the 1990 World Cup final]. He was part of the team which finished runner-up in the 1986 World Cup and runner-up in the 1992 European Championships. Andy was our World Cup hero, but for me he was much more than that – he was my close friend and companion to this day. “In 1990 he fired the German national team to the World Cup title with his penalty and became a football legend.

Persons: ” Andreas Brehme –, –, Brehme, ” Brehme, Franz Beckenbauer, West, FourFourTwo, “, ”, Rudi, Völler, Lothar, Matthäus, Lothar didn’t, “ Andreas Brehme, Bernd Neuendorf, Mario Götze, Gerd Müller, Helmut Rahn, Andreas Brehme –, Andreas ’, Andy, Ciao Andi, Otto Rehhagel, Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer, Sebastian Widmann, ” Kaiserslautern Organizations: CNN, West, Bayern Munich, Argentina, FIFA, FourFourTwo, Bundesliga, FC Kaiserslautern –, Italian Serie, Inter Milan, German Football Association, DFB, Kaiserslautern, Bavarian, Internazionale, UEFA, ” Inter, Real Zaragoza, Devils, German, FCK Locations: West Germany, Rome, German, Italian, Brehme, Italy, Spain, Kaiserslautern

☆ Ukraine's military is shifting to a defensive strategy that failed Nazi Germany in WWII
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Ukraine's military has chosen a defensive strategy that echoes the German approach from WWII. AdvertisementAnswering that question first requires defining “active defense,” one of those broad military terms that mean different things to different people. Active defense is meant to be waged by large units, while Ukraine appears to conducting small-unit operations. “Active defense was understood to be generally applicable to divisions, corps and field armies,” Nash said. Even a limited ‘active defense’ needs all of these elements, too.”Last summer, Ukraine’s frontal assault with vehicles hit mines and were menaced by missiles fired from Russian helicopters.

Persons: today’s, Douglas Nash, ” Nash, “, –, Erich von Manstein, von Manstein, von Manstein’s, “ Von Manstein, Ukraine —, Russia —, Diego Herrera Carcedo, Erich Von Manstein, it’s, Von Manstein, Hitler, inflexibly, von Organizations: Third Reich, Red Army, US, US Army, Western Allies, Wehrmacht, Keystone, Getty, German, Reuters, AK, Russo, NATO, West, NATO —, Soviets Locations: Nazi Germany, Ukraine, Russia, today’s Ukraine, Berlin, Stalingrad, Germany, Italy, France, Kharkov, Ukrainian, Donetsk Oblast, Avdiivka, Ukraine’s, It’s, Russian, Warsaw, Western Europe, West Germany

☆ Israeli Offensive on Rafah Would Be a Humanitarian Catastrophe, Says Germany
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

(Reuters) - An Israeli offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah where 1.3 million people have sought refuge would be a humanitarian catastrophe, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday. Speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, Baerbock said: "1.3 million people are waiting there in a very small space. If the Israeli army were to launch an offensive on Rafah under these conditions, it would be a humanitarian catastrophe." War in Israel and Gaza View All 206 Images"Let's agree on sanctions together in Europe. Photos You Should See View All 22 Images(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa in Berlin; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Persons: Annalena Baerbock, Baerbock, Riham Alkousaa, Sandra Maler Organizations: Reuters, German, European Union, West Bank Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Jerusalem, Germany, France, Washington, Britain, Israel, Europe, Berlin

☆ Opinion: How serious is Trump about pulling out of NATO? Very
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Peter Bergen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The idea that foreign countries are freeloading off the United States plays well with his base, but Trump either doesn’t understand how NATO works or chooses not to. Meanwhile, in 2014, all NATO countries agreed to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense by this year. Every US president since Barack Obama has pressed NATO countries to reach that expenditure level, but at the time of the agreement, only three NATO countries — the US, United Kingdom and Greece — were doing so. In 2017, NATO European countries and Canada spent around $270 billion on their defense, while the United States spent around $626 billion. No matter how wrong-headed it might be, according to his close advisers Trump seems quite serious about getting out of NATO.

Persons: Peter Bergen, ”, Donald Trump’s, James Mattis, Trump, “, ” Trump, Barack Obama, Greece —, Vladimir Putin, Olaf Scholz, Monday, Putin, United States isn’t “, Angela Merkel, Merkel, John Bolton Organizations: New, Arizona State University, Apple, Spotify, Trump Administration, CNN, NATO, Trump, New York Times, United, Canada Locations: New America, Russia, United States, United Kingdom, Greece, Trump , Russian, Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Germany, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, New Hampshire, Germans, Washington, New York City, Afghanistan, France

☆ Can Germany’s sputtering economy be revived in 2024?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Europe’s biggest economy shrank last year for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. And the outlook isn’t much brighter: the International Monetary Fund predicts that Germany will be the slowest-growing major economy in 2024, eking out an increase of just 0.5%. “Germany needs a fundamental economic transformation,” Marcel Fratzcher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, told CNN. Carsten Koall/Getty ImagesHomegrown troublesAlongside an external environment that has become more hostile to Germany’s outward-facing economy, the country’s internal political climate has worsened. Businesses such as these, which can find new markets and applications for their know-how, may hold the key to reviving Germany’s moribund economy.

Persons: What’s, ” Marcel Fratzcher, ”, Carsten Brzeski, Jens Schlueter, Constanze Stelzenmuller, Christian Lindner, Olaf Scholz, Robert Habeck, Carsten Koall, Michael Probst, Karl Haeusgen, ” Sebastian Shukla, Chris Stern Organizations: London CNN — Trains, Lufthansa, International Monetary Fund, European Union, European Commission, German Institute for Economic Research, CNN, ING, Brookings Institution, Volkswagen, Biden, Free Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party and, Green Party, Deutsche, LinkedIn, Investors, SAP, chipmaker Infineon, Intel, MAN Energy Solutions, Germany’s Machinery, Equipment Manufacturers Association Locations: Europe’s, Germany, Ukraine, Berlin, Europe, China, Zwickau, United States, Russia, “, Japan, masse, Frankfurt, ”, Hamburg, Jungheinrich, Augsburg, Munich, Esbjerg, Denmark

☆ I moved to Germany for a free education 8 years ago. I struggled to fit in, but here are the biggest reasons I never left.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Adriana Stein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

She also says she appreciates Germany's Turkish community, ease of travel, and food transparency. It describes the tight-knit Turkish community and their ability to come together and help one another, regardless of the location. Insurance provides coverage, rather than trying to get out of payments with vague loopholesIn Germany, insurance is basically a way of life. AdvertisementNo matter where I rent a car, I use my German insurance because it has absolutely stellar coverage. My German insurance covered everything and it was a really easy process to go through.

Persons: Adriana Stein, Stein, —, I've, I'm, they've, you've, didn't, Germany hasn't Organizations: Service, Family Ministry, Social, EU, Turkish, Insurance, pharma, Big Pharma Locations: Germany, Hamburg, Kindergeld, Europe, Oregon, Turkish, South Africa

☆ Inside a meeting of Germany’s far-right AfD: Beer, bratwurst and conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Sebastian Shukla | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Outside the hall, people grabbed a beer and a bratwurst before taking their seats inside, ignoring calls from the protesters down the road to come and talk. They came for an evening of conversation with the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), Germany’s leading far-right party. To one camp, this meeting represented a call for political change; to the other, a risk to German democracy. The AfD has officially tried to distance itself from the reports, saying it was not an official party meeting. But the AfD knows it has a struggle on its hands, as opponents of the party vow to keep protesting.

Persons: Germany’s, Adam, “, Chris Stern, Bessin, Lars Hunich, Marlon, Berndt, Hans, Christoph Berndt, he’s, ”, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Scholz, Nouripour, Dr Berndt, Hitler, Conspiracy, wouldn’t Organizations: CNN, Adam Sevens, ”, CNN Coalition of, Green, East Germany –, ” Protesters, Sevens Locations: Brandeburg, Germany, Freienthal, Netherlands, Italy, Berlin, Brandenburg, Potsdam, Brandenburg’s, Frienthal, East Germany, East Germany – Brandenburg, Thuringia, Saxony

LONDON (AP) — Actor Ian Lavender, who played a hapless Home Guard soldier in the classic British sitcom “Dad’s Army,” has died, his agent said Monday. Agent Hilary Gagan said Lavender had been ill for some time and died with his wife and sons at his side. Lavender was the last surviving main cast member of “Dad’s Army,” about a ragtag volunteer unit assembled to defend their seaside English town from potential Nazi invasion during World War II. Originally broadcast between 1968 and 1977, it attracted as many as 18 million viewers an episode -- a third of the British population -- and remains perennially popular in reruns. Lavender played Private Frank Pike, the youngest member of the unit and frequent butt of the epithet “stupid boy!” from commanding officer Captain Mainwaring.

Persons: Ian Lavender, “, ”, Hilary Gagan, Lavender, Frank Pike, Captain Mainwaring, Mainwaring thunders, Pike ”, Army ”, he’d, Pike, Britain’s, Mainwaring, ” Lavender, Michelle Hardy Organizations: Home Guard, Army, Bristol Old Vic, “, EastEnders, “ Dad’s Army

☆ Germany Braces for Decades of Confrontation With Russia
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Steven Erlanger | David E. Sanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has begun warning Germans that they should prepare for decades of confrontation with Russia — and that they must speedily rebuild the country’s military in case Vladimir V. Putin does not plan to stop at the border with Ukraine. Russia’s military, he has said in a series of recent interviews with German news media, is fully occupied with Ukraine. But if there is a truce, and Mr. Putin, Russia’s president, has a few years to reset, he thinks the Russian leader will consider testing NATO’s unity. “Nobody knows how or whether this will last,” Mr. Pistorius said of the current war, arguing for a rapid buildup in the size of the German military and a restocking of its arsenal. The alarm is growing louder, but the German public remains unconvinced that the security of Germany and Europe has been fundamentally threatened by a newly aggressive Russia.

Persons: Boris Pistorius, Russia —, Vladimir V, Putin, ” Mr, Pistorius Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Germany, Europe

BERLIN (AP) — German beer sales dropped 4.5% last year, resuming a long-term downward trend, official figures showed Thursday. German-based breweries and distributors sold about 8.4 billion liters (2.2 billion gallons) of beer last year, the Federal Statistical Office said. That figure doesn't include non-alcoholic beer and beer imported from outside the European Union. In 2022, beer sales increased 2.7% thanks to a recovery in demand at home and in the EU following the end of COVID-19 restrictions. Sales inside Germany — more than four-fifths of the total — dropped 4.2% to 6.9 billion liters (1.8 billion gallons).

Organizations: BERLIN, Federal Statistical Office, European Union, EU Locations: EU, COVID, Germany

“We know this is silly; we know this is fun,” said Marcy Galando, executive director of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Members of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, organized in 1899, care for Phil at a customized space beside Punxsutawney Memorial Library — where there's a window with a view into the creature's burrow. The Punxsutawney groundhog makes predictions but he's not always predictable. In 1998, a groundhog club leader wearing a $4,000 groundhog suit reported being assaulted by a half-dozen young men. Intended to preserve Pennsylvania German culture and traditions, clubs would sometimes fine those who were caught speaking anything but their Pennsylvania Dutch language at meetings.

Persons: Phil, there'll, Bill Murray, ”, there's, Marcy Galando, Joseph, Jesus, Don Yoder, Yoder, he's, didn't, PHIL, Charlie Hart, Hart, Orphie, “ Octoraro Orphie, It's, Travis Lau, ” Lau, groundhogs, William W, Donner, ” Donner Organizations: Historians, University of Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, University, National Centers for Environmental, Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, U.S Locations: Pa, Pennsylvania, U.S, Canadian, Europe, Jerusalem, United States, Morgantown , Pennsylvania, —, Pittsburgh, Punxsutawney, Quarryville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania's

☆ Opinion | Germany Has Finally Woken Up
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Anna Sauerbrey | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The ground was icy as my partner, my son and I made our way to the center of Berlin two Sundays ago. The protests, some of the country’s largest in decades, emerged everywhere: not just in liberal cities like Berlin, Hamburg and Munich but also in many cities in eastern Germany, where the far right is particularly strong. The far right, we know, is built on racist fantasies of ethnic homogeneity, and the AfD has long been deemed extreme. Germany, at last, has woken up. It’s that in many parts of the country, a general sense of discontent has tipped over into disdain.

Locations: Berlin, Potsdam, Germany, Hamburg, Munich

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