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German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, announced that their countries were ready to move ahead with a jointly developed new tank that would become the central pillar of their ground defenses.

Pistorius signed a memorandum of understanding on the development of the next-generation tank, the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), during a visit to France on Friday. The tank is meant to replace Germany's Leopard 2 battle tank and France's Leclerc.

What did Pistorius say?

Pistorius described the agreement in principle as "historic."

"We have agreed on the distribution of all tasks for this major project," he said while stopping short of publicly releasing more details.

The German defense minister said there was still a long way to go until tank production would actually begin, though he acknowledged that the agreement was an "important milestone."

Pistorius said contracts with industry were expected to be finalized by the end of the year. He expressed confidence that the German lawmakers would bless the scheme.

Lecornu, meanwhile, named KNDS, Rheinmetall and Thales as companies that were likely to contribute to the future tank.

The ministers also agreed on the contested distribution of tasks and contracts for the project. Two of the eight pillars of the project would be led by Berlin, another two by Paris, while the remaining four would be jointly led.

What do we know about the MGCS?

Shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron was elected in 2017, he and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on a list of joint armament projects costing more than €100 billion ($106 billion).

The MGCS is the second major arms industry project between the two European countries and comes on the heels of plans to build a next-generation fighter jet, FCAS, as well as drone systems.

The MGCS project does not only include the development of the battle tank, but also a series of systems and vehicles built off that platform.

Germany is meant to play a leading role in developing the MGCS, while France is taking the lead on developing the FCAS.

However, industrial rivalries and differing political interests weigh heavily on the prestigious Franco-German MGCS project.

rmt/sms (dpa, Reuters)

The announcement by the US on Wednesday that it had already provided Ukraine with long-range missiles has drawn focus to the ongoing debate in Germany over the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces. 

The US weapons system, called Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), has a range of up to 300 kilometers (180 miles).

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with the majority of German lawmakers, have repeatedly refused to send Ukraine long-range Taurus weapons system, arguing that doing so would bring Germany into direct conflict with Russia. 

On Wednesday at a press conference alongside UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Scholz reiterated his opposition to providing Taurus missiles. 

"My decision will not change," Scholz said, hours before the US disclosed it had quietly delivered ATACMS as part of an assistance package in March.

An unnamed senior US defense official on Thursday told reporters that delivering Taurus was up to Germany, but that given the US decision on supplying ATACMS, and similar decisions in London and Paris to provide long-range cruise missiles, "we would certainly hope that this could be a factor," on persuading Germany to change its mind. 

'It's time' to send Taurus to Ukraine, says CDU opposition

Chancellor Scholz's position has drawn harsh criticism from the conservative opposition CDU/CSU bloc. Others in his ruling coalition, namely the environmentalist Greens and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), are also in favor of sending the weapons.

"From my point of view, this is a very long-range weapon," Scholz told lawmakers in March. "Given the significance of not losing control over targets, this weapon could not be used without the deployment of German soldiers." 

 

Johann Wadephul, CDU deputy chairman in the German parliament responsible for foreign affairs and defense, said his party had been campaigning for months for the delivery of Taurus to Ukraine, but has so far failed to convince Scholz.

"It's now really the time to send Taurus because they are comparable to the ATACMS systems sent from the US, and they are very much needed in Ukraine," Wadephul told DW.

The Taurus missiles can make a difference, the politician said. "They have a little bit longer range than the American systems, and they are able to reach their their aims in a very sophisticated way," he said.

The Taurus KEPD-350 missile is considered one of the Bundeswehr's most modern weapon systems.

The missile, fired from the air by fighter jets, travels at almost the speed of sound and can strike targets as far as 500 kilometers (310 miles) away.

"It's not a silver bullet but Ukraine needs to really go deeper, strike deeper into the Russian head ground," Wadephul said.

Asked about Scholz's refusal to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, Wadephul criticized the chancellor's "stubborn position."

"To stop a person like [Russian President Vladimir Putin], you need strengths, you need clearness and you need the will to win," he said.

How important are ATACMS missiles to Ukraine?

Yesterday, a US official said that the long-range ATACMS missiles were used for the first time on April 17 in a strike on a Russian airfield in occupied Crimea, about 65 kilometers (103 miles) from the Ukrainian front lines.

While the precision strikes behind Russian lines can make some Russian positions more vulnerable, the overall strategic value is limited, as Ukraine needs air defense systems to defend against Russian strikes on critical infrastructure, according to Marina Miron, from the Department of War Studies at London's King's College.

Miron told DW that ATACMS is an offensive weapon that is well-suited for destroying specific hard targets, such as command posts.

"But given small number of missiles that Ukraine has, they will have to choose the targets very carefully," Miron added.

She cautioned that ATACMS is only one part of a "very long equation" and Ukrainians continue to lack other essential equipment like artillery shells and air defense systems.

"While Ukraine will try to orchestrate those surgical attacks using the small number of ATACAMS they have at their disposal, the Russians will be pounding critical Ukrainian infrastructure with impunity because Ukraine does not have the necessary air defenses," she said.

"I don't think these ATACAMS will change the battlefield dynamics dramatically," she added.

Written with material from AFP news agency

Edited by: Wesley Rahn 

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Germans have a more positive view of the role of the state than they did 30 years ago and consider it responsible for many areas of life, according to a new survey.

In the representative Allensbach survey carried out on behalf of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) broadsheet, 44% of Germans said they thought the state was "likeable" whereas only 18% considered it "unlikeable." When the survey was first carried out three decades ago, the two views were roughly equal at about 34% each.

Asked which areas of life the state ought to be responsible for, the answer among almost all Germans appears to be: nearly everything. But crime prevention (94%), schools (94%), universities (82%), the economy (80%) and management of inflation (79%) came out at the top of the list.

A majority of Germans were also in favor of more state regulation of immigration (78%), the internet (69%) and food safety (66%).

There were only three areas where a majority of respondents believed the state shouldn't get involved: balanced media reporting, healthy living and construction of housing.

Germany: little difference between East and West

Interestingly, and unlike in many other socio-political issues in Germany, the survey found little difference between eastern and western Germany, but rather between party affiliation.

While 70% of Green Party supporters and 53% of The Left Party supporters associated the state with largely "positive" things, 69% of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters associated it with "negative" things.

Even here though, it's not a case of a traditional left-right political split, with more conservative opposition parties, the CDU/CSU, supporters seeing the state positively (58%) than supporters of the governing Social Democrats (SPD) (43%).

The FAZ puts this down to current politics and dissatisfaction with the current coalition government, made up of the SPD, Greens and business-focused FDP. The paper put the dissatisfaction down to party disagreements over the recent "heating law," as it is colloquially known, stipulating new domestic heating systems must run on 65% renewable energy as of 2024.

'We are all the state?'

Nevertheless, despite broad support for the role of the state, the survey still revealed that Germans don't want an overly controlling state and that many think it is too involved in some aspects of daily life.

Asked whether they "had the impression that the state regulates more and more and interferes more and more in citizens' personal freedom," 61% concurred, while only 23% disagreed. Back in 2012, only 43% had agreed while 39% had disagreed.

Similarly, only 28% supported the idea that the state is primarily responsible for ensuring the well-being of citizens, with 51% saying that this is primarily the responsibility of the citizens themselves. 

In conclusion, presented with the statement: "We are all the state and how Germany develops is up to the citizens," the number of those in agreement has risen from 37% to 48%.

mf/sms (AFP, KNA)

German state prosecutors have charged a 17-year-old with four counts of attempted murder as well as grievous bodily harm after a knife attack at a high school in the western German city of Wuppertal in February.

On February 22, four male students suffered stab wounds after the 17-year-old suddenly attacked his fellow pupils during a break between lessons before causing severe injury to himself as well.

There were no fatalities but three of the pupils, including the attacker, were treated in intensive care, while three further female students suffered from shock.

Following initial investigations at the end of February, prosecutors said a teacher had been made aware of the attack after hearing shouts.

They said the teacher had managed to calm the attacker down and disarm him, but that he still attempted to attack armed police officers who arrived on the scene in response to an emergency call from the school secretary's office.

A possible motive for the attack was not clear. However, a letter found at the scene led investigators to suspect mental illness.

The 17-year-old was remanded in custody, a remand which state prosecutors have also requested be extended.

The youth court in Wuppertal will decide when to open proceedings against the minor.

mf/wmr (AFP, dpa)

Greater private investment is required to combat climate change, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday, adding that public money from developed countries isn't enough to stem the tide.

"We need a new approach to financing climate protection," Scholz told the Petersberg Climate Dialogue (PCD) conference in Berlin. "Discussions which focus only on public financial pledges aren't nearly enough."

Scholz pointed out that, according to experts, $2.4 trillion per year until 2030 is required to finance a switch to climate-friendly energy in developing countries.

"That is a gigantic sum," he said. "With the best will in the world, public money from a small group of countries will not be enough for investment on this scale."

While insisting that developed nations should continue to take their share of responsibility and highlighting the €6 billion ($6.4 billion) that Germany invested in climate protection and conversion in developing countries in 2022, Scholz called on the private sector to help shoulder the burden.

Lawmakers pass climate protection reform act

The Chancellor's comments came as lawmakers in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, on Friday passed a reform of Germany's Climate Protection Act.

The amended law will overhaul how targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions are implemented. German law requires the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

The proposed changes have been deeply controversial, pushed primarily by the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) but with some environmental groups sharply opposed to the changes, complaining that requirements which ensured accountability, such as placing specific responsibility with individual ministries, will be stripped from the law.

The conservative CDU opposition has criticized the reform as "removing the core" of the legislation.

How does Olaf Scholz want to encourage private climate investment?

Scholz said there needed to be a  favorable economic environment for private investments. He also called on development banks to encourage private investments by securing them against local currencies.

"Private investors want reliable regulatory frameworks and good governance," he said, echoing similar calls made by his foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, and development minister, Svenja Schulze, at the conference.

Scholz also called on emerging economies to contribute along with established industrial countries.

"Countries which have contributed significantly to emissions in the last 30 years should also contribute to public climate financing if they are economically able to," he insisted.

To help such countries do that, he said Germany plans to change its bilateral debt relief framework to enable middle-income countries to benefit from climate investment.

"In future, vulnerable middle-income countries that are willing to reform could also be eligible for a climate debt conversion programme," he said on the sidelines of the PCD.

COP29 host Azerbaijan defends green credentials

The PCD conference is seen as an important preparatory event for COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, later this year. But the choice of host country has been criticized given Azerbaijan's status as a major exporter of gas and oil.

Baku has signed contracts to continue delivering large amounts of gas to the European Union and wants to increase exports by 2027 but insists that it is also following a "green agenda" by investing in solar and wind energy, including potential new wind farms in the Caspian Sea.

Speaking at the conference, President Ilham Aliyev said he hoped that Azerbaijan could export up to five gigawatts of energy from renewable sources by 2030. For context, one gigawatt would be enough to power 500,00-700,000 homes, or a medium-sized western city, for a year.

"In particular countries with large reserves of oil and gas should be on the front line of climate change," said Aliyev.

mf/sms (dpa, Reuters)

The halls and corridors of the European Parliament were a hive of activity this week. Hundreds of elected lawmakers bustled between votes, racing to wrap up a record number of laws before bloc-wide elections in June. Outside the chamber of the European Union's only directly elected body, journalists jostled for space and final interviews before politicians enter campaign mode in earnest.

It's easy to forget just how many political twists and turns those lawmakers have navigated since the last elections in 2019, with Europe bouncing from one crisis to the next — first Brexit, then the COVID-19 pandemic, then Russia's war in Ukraine.

So amid the disorder, what did parliamentarians get done — and where did they fail to shift the dial? DW breaks down some landmark laws and parliament's limits.

Green Deal: Making good on climate promises

In 2019, the European Commission — the bloc's executive arm — unveiled a plan to slash greenhouse emissions by 55% compared 1990 levels by 2030 and to become emission-neutral by 2050. That followed pressure from young climate protesters taking to the street and a so-called electoral "Green wave" when record numbers of Green lawmakers won seats in the European Parliament.

Since then, the European Parliament has been involved in negotiating the myriad laws designed to make good on that pledge — including plans to ban combustion engine cars in the next decade and a tax on certain carbon-intensive imports in a bid to make polluters pay.

"The European Parliament has shown itself to be a well-seasoned legislator when it comes to environmental policy," said Peggy Corlin, head of the Brussels bureau of the Robert Schuman Foundation think tank.

These days, however, polling suggests the tides are turning on the green wave. Protests across the EU this year prompted Brussels to loosen some green farming rules in a bid to ease burdens on farmers, and in February, key nature restoration rules scraped through a final vote after the biggest center-right grouping withdrew support over concerns around food security.

Both moves were slammed by climate campaigners as a watering down of the earlier climate promises. 

World-first rules on AI, big tech

Since 2019, the EU has also rolled out a raft of laws aimed at reining in the power of big tech. Last year, Brussels' new rule book obliging online platforms to actively police harmful content kicked in. The EU has been flexing its new digital powers with several probes into social media sites, including measures which caused TikTok Lite to scrap parts of a controversial rewards scheme on Wednesday.

Andrea Renda, a director of research with the Centre for European Policy Studies, told DW parliamentarians were also "instrumental" in beefing up first-of-their-kind laws regulating artificial intelligence, adding thousands of amendments to "expand enormously" the uses of AI subject to most stringent EU oversight.

Still, Renda warned the bloc now faces "an enormous enforcement problem" with each piece of legislation replete with different procedures. "There is an almost an enormous exercise to be undertaken in streamlining compliance," he said.

Migration: Deadlock done, but deal still controversial

It was long one of the most toxic and divisive topics for the EU: migration and asylum policy. So when EU lawmakers gave their final backing to reforms after a decade of debate earlier this month, many among them claimed it was a success story.

Under the new rules, EU countries will have to take in a more equitable share of the migrants arriving at the bloc's shores or pay compensation to other states. To speed up deportations, asylum-seekers will also be separated according to how likely their requests to remain are to be approved.

"From a legislative perspective and considering the lead-up to the outcome that we've now seen, it can be considered a success," said Helena Hahn, a migration analyst with the European Policy Center, of the deal.

But Hahn said the outcome — heavily criticized by refugee rights campaigners — also left many lawmakers disappointed.

"The reason why MEPs ultimately greenlit is the simple calculus that it's still better to have the pact that not. Not passing the reforms would have likely led to a blow in the elections, and centrist and center-left parties would not have wanted to suffer the consequences," she explained.

Interference: A spy in the house of democracy?

A series of scandals involving alleged interference attempts by non-EU powers is still casting a shadow over the parliament. In 2022, Belgian prosecutors opened a probe into a suspected cash-for-influence scheme dubbed "Qatargate" — though the gulf state has denied all involvement.

Then, in swift succession this month, reports of an alleged Russian propaganda operation in the chamber emerged, before a staffer was arrested on suspicion of spying for China on Tuesday.

"I'm wondering what is next?" center-left German lawmaker Gabriele Bischoff told DW in Strasbourg. "It's really important that we make our democracy more resilient against foreign interference."

Over the past year, the Parliament has though moved to reinforce protections for whistleblowers and tighten transparency rules for members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Hungary: Highlighting rule-of-law concerns

The European Parliament cannot table new laws. Instead, it's limited to negotiating European Commission proposals with EU member states. Still, the chamber often flexes soft power muscles with legally nonbinding resolutions aimed at piling pressure on other institutions.

Parliamentarians have repeatedly used resolutions to draw attention to allegations of democratic backsliding in Hungary. This year alone, a majority of lawmakers publicly slammed the EU's executive for its controversial release of some funds to Budapest, and backed a text questioning whether Hungary could "credibly" assume the EU's rotating Council presidency in July.

These moves often ignite the ire of lawmakers from Hungary's ruling Fidesz party, who have accused fellow parliamentarians of attacking Hungarians' democratic choices.

Supporting Ukraine, penalizing Russia

Irish centrist parliamentarian Billy Kelleher told DW in Strasbourg that parliamentarians had also used soft influence to push national governments to cut dependency on Russian gas and bolster support for war-torn Ukraine.

"On the issue of sanctions also, the parliament was very much to the fore in pushing for an increased list of sanctions against Russia to diminish its capacity to fund its war in Ukraine," said Kelleher, among the many MEPs who have visited Ukraine since February 2022.

Ultimately, the chamber has little in the way of concrete foreign policy power — decision-making lies in EU governments' hands and lawmakers often argue they deserve greater clout given they are directly elected.

But beefing up parliamentary influence isn't a priority for all politicians. "We must respect decisions of national governments because the national governments are the real representatives of the people," MEP Nicola Procaccini, the head of the nationalist right-wing ECR group, said on Tuesday.

Like the center- and far-right, Procaccini's party is projected to make gains this June at the expense of centrist and left-wing forces.

Edited by: Andreas Illmer

Correction, April 25, 2024: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Irish lawmaker Billy Kelleher. DW apologizes for the error.

The German ambassador to China said on Thursday that she had been summoned by Chinese authorities to answer questions about the arrests of four Germans this week who are suspected of spying for Beijing.

"After four Germans were arrested this week for allegedly spying for Chinese secret services, I was summoned to the MFA [ministry of foreign affairs] today," Patricia Flor wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding that it was "a quite telling move."

Using the summons as "a good opportunity to explain a few things," she insisted that "We do not tolerate espionage in Germany, regardless of which country it comes from [and] we protect our democracy and our constitutional state by constitutional means."

She concluded: "The Federal Public Prosecutor General conducts the investigations. In the end, an independent court will decide on the accusations."

A spokesperson for the German foreign ministry confirmed the summons to the Reuters news agency, adding that the Chinese envoy to Berlin had been summoned earlier in the week to be briefed on the German government's "clear position on the ongoing investigations into suspected Chinese espionage activities".

Germany arrests suspected China spies 

Four German citizens were arrested earlier this week, including an aide to nationalist politician Maximilian Krah, the top candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the upcoming European elections.

According to state prosecutors, the aide is accused of acting as an agent for a foreign security service and of passing on details of proceedings in the European Parliament to Beijing.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited the Chinese capital and held talks with President Xi Jinping just a week ago, said the spying allegations concerning the far-right MEP were "very worrying" and would be investigated.

Another man and a married couple were also arrested in the states of Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, one of whom is accused of acquiring information on "innovative technologies" with "military use" on behalf of China.

The arrests have deepened concerns about the extent of Chinese espionage in Germany, and prompted an angry response from Beijing.

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said the accusations were aimed at "smearing and suppressing China" and "destroying the atmosphere of cooperation between China and Europe."

The spokesperson called on the German investigators to "give up their cold war mentality."

German parliament slams AfD over spy cases

Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, discussed the recent spate of spying scandals on Thursday, with DW's chief political editor Michaela Küfner reporting that the "gloves were off" as the far-right AfD "essentially stood accused of being traitors."

Interior minister Nancy Faeser of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) warned of attempts by Russia and China to influence Germany and "split us as a society."

She said it was "unacceptable that citizens' representatives allow themselves to become propaganda machines for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or Beijing."

Green Party lawmaker Konstantin von Notz accused the AfD of being "court servants for China and Russia."

Addressing AfD chief Tino Chrupalla, he said: "Your organization serves the Russian president, your party's role model is the Chinese Communist Party."

He called the AfD "a disgrace for this Parliament and our whole country."

SPD domestic policy expert Dirk Wiese asked the AfD deputees: "Is perhaps not your own country which you love so much, but rather dictatorships like China and Russia?"

Opposition conservative CDU lawmaker Marc Heinrichmann accused the AfD of "betraying and selling the German people."

Konstantin Kuhle of the pro-business coalition FDP party said: "The AfD willingly flings itself at the feet of dictators and autocrats, it rewards corrupt and criminal characters with top positions."

AfD politician Stefan Keuter rejected the accusations as "unfounded" and accused the government of trying to damage his party. "A government which agitates against the opposition is a reminder of the darkest periods of German history," he suggested, insisting that his party remains "innocent until proven guilty."

In response to the suggestion of an orchestrated campaign against the AfD, interior minister Faeser explained that the German judiciary is independent.

After speaking with a member of Germany's intelligence service committee, DW's chief political editor Küfner said that "the most important takeaway politically is not just the AfD being exposed and weakened in the polls, but that the incidents serve as a "wake up call for Germany."

According to the intelligence official, the German public needs to be "more conscious of the threats that are out there in this geopoltical struggle unfolding very concretely now between democracies and authoritarian states in the form of spying," Küfner said. 

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

mf/wmr (AFP, Reuters)

Police in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth recently arrested two German citizens in connection with a Russian espionage incident.

Identified as Dieter S. and Alexander J., in line with German privacy law, both are of Russian descent and are suspected of having prepared acts of sabotage in Germany on behalf of the Russian secret services. They are also accused of spying on US military bases and planning attacks on transportation routes used by the military.

The German Federal Public Prosecutor's Office has alleged that Dieter S. is "a member of the "Donetsk People's Republic foreign terrorist organization." German investigators have classified the self-proclaimed republic as a terror group, saying the "pro-Russian association took control over the Ukrainian administrative district of Donetsk from spring 2014 onward with the aim of seceding from Ukraine, and engaged in intensive clashes with the Ukrainian armed forces."

They have also said the group repeatedly used violence against civilians.

Dieter S. had been in contact with a person connected to a Russian secret service since October 2023, according to German investigators. He is also accused of having planned an act of grave violence against the German state.

The German Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said "there is strong reason to believe that Dieter S. served in a 'Donetsk People's Republic' armed unit active in eastern Ukraine between December 2014 and September 2016 and possessed a firearm."

Separatists proclaimed the "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics" in eastern Ukraine in the wake of the country's 2014 pro-Western opposition protests and the change of power in Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognized both separatist republics in February 2022, just three days before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In September that same year, Russia annexed Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

How one can end up on the terror list

"We are convinced there are constant Russian espionage efforts directed against German interests," said Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence service, in conversation with DW. "Germany is an important player in many policy fields with regard to supporting Ukraine."

German authorities haven't always designated the "Donetsk People's Republic" as a terrorist organization. So what explains the rethink?

There are two ways an organization can be classified as a terror organization in Germany, legal expert Matthias Hartwig of Heidelberg University told DW. One is when authorities designate it as such, another is through criminal law. Hartwig cited the example of Hamas, a radical Islamist movement, that the EU and several court rulings have deemed a terrorist organization.

While the German Federal Public Prosecutor General's Office regards the "Donetsk People's Republic" as a terrorist organization, it does not mean the German state does as well, Hartwig noted. That said, he added, it remains unclear whether the terrorist label applies to the entire separatist quasi-state structure and Russian authorities, or merely its paramilitary wing.

Hartwig assumes the German Federal Public Prosecutor General's Office regards all these separatist structures as illegal. Hartwig also said Ukraine has made it clear that these separatist structures are responsible for acts of "murder and death." It was now, therefore, up to the courts to decide whether these structures should indeed be regarded as terrorist entities, he said.

German public broadcaster ARD said the move by the German Federal Public Prosecutor General's Office to designate the separatists a terror group was a "novelty." ARD legal experts Michael Götschenberg and Holger Schmidt said "German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann had issued a prosecution authorization, a highly symbolic step that could have diplomatic consequences."

The only diplomatic consequence so far, however, has been that Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador following the espionage incident.

Legal expert Hartwig, meanwhile, has not ruled out the possibility that the espionage scandal could further exacerbate tensions between Germany and Russia.

"Germany is free to say: 'This is an annexed territory and we classify these power structures as terrorist.' Germany is not violating international law," Hartwig said.

This article was originally written in German.

Elaine Custodio arrived in the midsized city of Bonn in Germany's west in March 2018. She had six years of nursing experience and a B1 intermediate German language certificate in her backpack.

Before leaving her native Philippines to take up a nursing job at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), Custodio studied German full time to obtain the language proficiency required to work at the hospital.

Despite her certificate, she still struggled to speak and understand German, which proved to be a hurdle in the workplace.

German is one of the 10 most difficult languages to learn in the world, according to UNESCO. 

German is 'really hard'

The system for measuring language skill level starts at A1 for beginners, progressing to A2 for advanced beginners. B1 is intermediate, B2 is advanced intermediate. Learners at the C1 level are advanced and the C2 level is when someone speaks almost perfect German.  

"When I moved here, I felt safe on the streets, but I was scared of answering the phone at work," said Custodio, who hails from Quezon City in the Philippines. "The language was hard, really hard. During every shift, I would write down words I did not know and learn the meaning at home."

Custodio was among the third batch of nurses who arrived in Bonn when the UKB began recruiting qualified medical workers from the Philippines to offset Germany's labor shortage.

The hospital now employs some 740 foreign nurses, 300 of whom are from the Philippines. Like Custodio, many of these Filipino nurses at UKB struggle with speaking and understanding German.

Joel Licay, who also works as a nurse at UKB, said that he felt depressed two months into working in Germany because of the language barrier.

"Some patients told me that I'm stupid because I didn't know the language. Every day I was crying," he said, adding that he felt frustrated not being able to communicate with colleagues as well as patients and their loved ones.

Licay said when he first started working on one of the UKB wards five years ago, he needed to be accompanied by an advanced German speaker in order to effectively communicate with patients.

Even today he says he usually spends time honing his German skills when he comes home from work. His efforts have paid off and he is now on track for the C1 level.

Culture shock in Germany

The challenge of communicating in German is a "worldwide barrier," according to Maria Hesterberg, who heads recruitment for UKB, because it is not the easiest language to learn.

She and her colleagues noticed that their foreign nurses tended to struggle with the language.

And the language requirement to work as a nurse in Germany has been raised from B1 to B2, adding to the difficulties faced by them.

Many nurses in the Philippines who had been eyeing a career in Germany ended up dropping out of their beginners' courses, said Steffen Zoller, founder of CWC (Care With Care) Recruitment. 

Cultural differences can add to the language barrier. Many foreigners perceive Germans as being forthright in their communication, whereas people from other countries may not say things as directly.

"Germans communicate directly. We are very open, and it is not something that Filipinos are used to. We learned that in the beginning, it is very unusual in the Philippines to answer a question with 'no'," Hesterberg said.

She added that they had to discuss this in information events, explaining that saying 'no' is nothing personal. They have also encouraged nurses to ask questions proactively, no matter who they are communicating with.

Smoothing the path to Germany

Zoller added that CWC Recruitment — which has deployed around 700 Filipino nurses around Germany — also has an integration team to help prepare incoming health care workers for their big move to the country.

The Philippines is an important source of skilled workers for Germany, and remittances from Filipinos living abroad are a crucial source of income for their families back home.

Zoller said that an increasing number of Filipino nurses have expressed an interest in migrating to Germany since it opened more routes for skilled workers to migrate.

Since 2017, UKB has recruited more foreign nurses. They don't just come from the Philippines but also from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mexico and Argentina. The company has around 1,000 more nursing positions to fill by 2027.

Zoller said that, despite the language issues, Germany is often seen as a permanent destination for Filipino nurses who want to migrate, unlike in other countries.

"I see myself getting old here," said nurse Licay. As for his nursing colleague Custodio, she still isn't sure.

Edited by: Keith Walker

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"Speaking about Palestine in Germany should not be an act of courage," organizers of the ALFILM – Arab Film Festival Berlin stated at the event's opening ceremony in 2023.

A year later, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, organizing a film festival spotlighting Palestinian voices is an even greater challenge: "It feels like an impossible task right now. It doesn't even feel like an act of courage. It feels like a suicide somehow, honestly," says festival director Pascale Fakhry.

The team is nevertheless taking this risk. The ALFILM festival, which has established itself, according to Fakhry, as the "biggest cinema platform representing Arab culture in Germany" since it first started in 2009, is held once again from April 24-30.

"Everybody is extremely on edge," Fakhry told DW.  A number of incidents have contributed to this tense atmosphere.

For example, Fakhry says that police inquired about the event at one of the festival's venues, the City Kino Wedding, before the program had been put up in the cinema. Having heard that an Arab film festival was being held there, the authorities implied that there must be something suspicious about an event they didn't know about, according to Fakhry.

When the theater's director informed the police that five other venues in Berlin were also part of the film festival, that it has been held for the past 15 years, and that the entire program could be found online, the police "were extremely embarrassed," says the film festival organizer.

Arab filmmakers fear coming to Germany

Many international news outlets, including the New York Times, have been reporting on how Germany's cultural sector has been hit by cancellations and postponements of events that included participants showing support for Palestinians or having said statements about the Israel-Hamas war that were deemed antisemitic.

The number of antisemitic incidents has been rising in Germany, which also contributes to the additional degree of caution. In this context, German politicians have been called to react and draw a strict line against antisemitism, especially considering the historical responsibility of the country as a result of the crimes of the Holocaust.  

In February, the acceptance speeches of some prize-winning filmmakers at the Berlin International Film Festival caused an uproar among German politicians. One of the prize-winners, an Israeli director and activist, said that due to media coverage labeling his speech as "antisemitic," he received death threats in his home country.

Fakhry points out that in such a context, many of her festival's guests "are afraid to come to Germany … I mean, none of them wants to have a backlash and be accused of antisemitism."

'Trigger words' in Germany

The ALFILM festival organizers have held preparatory briefings with the international filmmakers they have invited to discuss some of the specific "trigger words in Germany," Fakhry says. "But we also told them that it is still a space that is free and that we will not censor them."

Contested terms such as "genocide," "apartheid," and "settler colonialism" have provoked outcry in Germany when used to describe Israel's policies. The expression, "From the River to the Sea" has been criminalized in Germany by the Ministry of the Interior. 

The festival's spotlight section, whose theme is always selected in reaction to current conflicts, is this year titled: "Here is Elsewhere: Palestine in Arab Cinema and Beyond." Fakhry says the programmers were transparent about this choice of theme with their financial backers, who maintained their trust in the team. This, at least, helped them "feel secure" in a way.

But the future of the event remains uncertain, knowing that the Berlin state government, which also funds ALFILM, attempted in January to implement a so-called anti-discrimination clause that would not allow anyone deemed to have made "antisemitic statements" to receive financial support from the city.

The clause would have followed the definition of antisemitism set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which is often criticized for labeling as "antisemitic" what others would see as legitimate criticism of Israel.  IHRA's definition includes "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis" and "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor." 

Even though the controversial clause has been tossed, the debate is still very present in the German capital and throughout the country.

"We are very much aware that what we are doing is not acceptable for a lot of the political and cultural actors in Germany," says Fakhry, but for the ALFILM team, offering an uncensored platform for dialogue feels "existential."

'Each Palestinian story is political'

Invited to open the film festival with her documentary "Bye Bye Tiberias," French-Palestinian-Algerian filmmaker Lina Soualem said that she is not necessarily more nervous to present her film in Berlin than elsewhere. "I mean, it's always hard to speak about this in general," she told DW. But since her documentary is based on her family's personal story, she knows these "life experiences are real and deserve to exist."

"Bye Bye Tiberias" centers on four generations of strong Palestinian women. In the film combining home movies, archive footage, photos and family reunions, we discover that Soualem's great-grandmother ended up raising her eight children alone following the family's 1948 expulsion from their home in Tiberias, during the war that followed the establishment of the state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced and dispossessed during what Palestinians refer to as the "Nakba" — which means "catastrophe" in Arabic. 

Another central figure in Soualem's documentary is her mother, acclaimed Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass (who starred in "Succession"). Abbas left her village of Deir Hanna to pursue her acting career in Europe — another form of exile that has affected the young filmmaker's own identity, as she grew up in France craving a better understanding of her background.

For Soualem, exploring intimate relationships within the context of a Palestinian family automatically conveys the collective history of the people: "Each Palestinian story is political per se," she points out, as they "continued to not only survive, but to live after having experienced mass dispossession and deprivation of their identity as Palestinians — which is the case of every Palestinian, specifically since 1948."

On the vital role of telling the stories of the marginalized

Her film, which premiered at the Venice film festival last September and was selected as the Palestinian entry for the 2024 Oscars, was completed before Hamas' October 7 terrorist attacks that led to Israel's retaliation in Gaza. 

But even before that, when Soualem made her film, "there was already dehumanization of Palestinians, deprivation of identity, silencing. All these things were already a reality," says the director.

"We always talk about Palestinians as a mass, as if it was an abstract people. We talk about Gaza as an abstraction. And it's actually lives and people."

She says that she was "motivated to make the film to give back complexity to the Palestinians and Palestinian lives through my personal story, because Palestinians were so dehumanized, so stigmatized."

Soualem's goal with her documentary echoes the Arab Film Festival's mission: "In a context of invisibilized and marginalized stories, images and storytelling become vital. Because if we don't tell our stories, history is written without us," points out the documentary filmmaker. "Being able to tell our stories, and transmitting them is also a way of surviving. Especially in a context when lives are disappearing, cinema will always exist to remember these people, these lives that are being erased."

Edited by: Sarah Hofmann and Tanya Ott

The so-called "gender pension gap," the difference in retirement income between men and women, is 27.1% in Germany, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Wednesday.

About every fifth woman (20.8%) aged 65 or older was at risk of poverty last year. The risk level for men in the same age group was 15.9%.

This income includes all kinds of pensions, from old-age and survivors' benefits to individual private provisions.

Why do German women have smaller pensions than men?

A person is considered to be at risk of poverty if their income is less than 60% of the median income of the entire population, considering the size and composition of the household.

Due to the lower income, women are remarkably more likely to be at risk of poverty in old age than men. In 2023, women over 65 in Germany earned an average of €18,663  annually, while men of the same age earned €25,599, both figures are for income before any deductions.

Part-time work, lower-paying jobs and more frequent leaves, such as caring for children and elderly relatives,  all contribute to lower income for women during their careers, which later means lower pensions for women.

Excluding interdependent pensions, such as pension payments made most often when a spouse dies, the gender pension gap could grow to 39.4%, with 29% of surveyed women receiving payments from deceased partners' pension, the Federal StatisticalOffice said.

ac/sms (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

Germany clinched the top spot among non-English-speaking countries in a ranking of the most popular countries in which to work published on Wednesday.

The market study "Decoding Global Talent" found Germany in fifth place, with primarily English-speaking nations making up all four most favored destinations.

What the figures showed about popular countries to work

The new international leader this year is Australia — ahead of the United States and Canada, which was the top-rated country in a 2020 ranking. Germany lost its fourth place in that study to the United Kingdom, but it remains the most popular non-English-speaking country.

Germany was seen as a particularly attractive destination country for those surveyed in Bosnia and Herzegovina (32%), Turkey (30%), and in Pakistan and Hungary (both 26%).

According to the study, conducted last December, around a quarter of people worldwide (23%) were actively looking for a job outside their home country.

The proportion of people open to going abroad for a job stands at 63%, slightly down from 66% in 2020 and far below 78% in 2018.  

Among those surveyed in Germany, the willingness to leave the country for a job was significantly lower.

Less than half would want to work abroad, and only just under 7% were actively looking for a job somewhere else.

The most popular destinations for German respondents were the country's Alpine neighbors of Switzerland and Austria, followed by the United States and Spain.

People's reasons for not wanting to move included an emotional connection to the country, security concerns, the language barrier, and a lack of knowledge about emigrating. 

What draws people to Germany?

The global study also showed that, in most cases, the specific job was the main lure rather than any particular advantage associated with a country. This also applies to Germany. For almost three-quarters of those surveyed who had moved to the country, job quality was the reason. 

Next came security (49%), monetary considerations (48%), potential to innovate (36%), and the German health care system (34%).

Among job seekers, 77% expected their future employers to give them significant help with the immigration process and applying for a visa and work permit. Such assistance could help address worker shortages, the authors noted.

"It is a huge opportunity that so many people want to move to Germany for a good job. Politics and business should work together even more closely in order to jointly promote more flexible and faster integration into the labor market," said Stepstone Group labor market expert Tobias Zimmermann, a co-author of the study.

What cities were most attractive?

On the scale of the most popular cities in the world, London was able to hang on to its first place in the ranking, followed by Amsterdam, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and New York.

Berlin came in 6th place and, for the first time, Frankfurt am Main appeared in the list as another attractive German city at number 40, followed by Munich in 41st place.

The study was published on Wednesday by the management consultancy firm Boston Consulting Group, the Stepstone recruitment platform, and recruitment agency umbrella group The Network. A total of 150,735 people took part in 188 countries, including 14,000 people in Germany. 

Edited by: Sean M. Sinico

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As the populist, anti-immigrant AfD (Alternative for Germany) party were rising fast in the German polls in 2023, national culture collective Die Vielen (The Many) decided to act.

The alliance of some 4,500 theaters, galleries and cultural institutions had been on hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic. But Die Vielen members saw the upcoming European elections, to be held from June 6-9 — along with local and state ballots and a 2025 federal vote — as an existential threat to the pluralist democracy that allows artistic expression to flourish.

Having initiated protests against the AfD in the run-up to the 2019 European elections, Die Vielen's new campaign, "Shield & Shine," brings grassroots art collectives and curators together with high-art orchestras, stagehands, opera houses and audiences to create culture events that double as open forums for debate. 

The goal, as articulated at a campaign launch in April, is to "stretch thousands of democratic protective umbrellas over all federal states" and hence neutralize the "normalization of right-wing extremist politics in democratic parliaments."

With the AfD second in the polls, swing voters and young people, many voting for the first time, will be encouraged to join the umbrella movement — a metaphor also used by pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.

Many of the 5,000-odd participants were especially galvanized to sign the "Declaration of the Many" after it emerged that AfD members sat with neo-Nazis at a secret meeting in November and called for the deportation of millions of migrants from Germany — even if they held German passports.

Mass protests ensued — also in the name of "protecting democracy" — giving impetus to Die Vielen's call to fight far-right exclusion through inclusive and creative democratic platforms.

Since then, an AfD leader will face trial for using a Nazi slogan.

Fear of censorship

There is a fear that if the AfD become the country's second-biggest party after the 2025 federal election, there could be a purge of pro-democratic cultural voices.

In the eastern state of Saxony, where the AfD have long topped the polls, arts practitioners are already self-censoring their work in anticipation of wins in upcoming regional and state elections, noted Philine Rinnert, a Berlin-based Die Vielen board member.

One theater festival in Saxony is already under threat of losing its funding, she said. Meanwhile, curators and artistic directors are concerned they could be forced out of their jobs if their work is unaligned with the AfD's monocultural and xenophobic agenda. 

Daniel Brunet, the producing artistic director of English Theater Berlin, which has been a member of Die Vielen since its inception in 2017, said AfD members in the current Berlin state parliament have been monitoring artistic institutions by requesting "itemized lists of recipients of cultural funding."

He fears potential censorship if the AfD make gains in upcoming elections. "Why precisely do they want that information, it makes us nervous," he told DW, implying a vendetta against culture organizations who promote liberal or progressive agendas.

European elections pivotal in stopping far-right momentum

Die Vielen has planned a "Week of Action" in early June before European elections that month, where what Rinnert calls "very diverse and different art institutions" will fashion democratic umbrellas in events and performances across the country. 

Brunet is anxious that far-right political factions that include the AfD, Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France and Hungarian populist president Viktor Orban's Fidesz party — who has famously made partisan appointments in state cultural institutions — could soon dominate the European Parliament.

The English Theater Berlin wants to interrupt this momentum by inspiring greater participation in elections where only about 60% of eligible voters cast their vote, noted Brunet.

He is concerned that the AfD, whose party's branches in eastern Germany including Saxony and Thuringia have been classified as "proven to be right-wing extremist" by the German intelligence agency, are running election ads featuring white people with slogans like "we'll make Germans ourselves" — as opposed to naturalizing immigrants.

Getting the (youth) vote out

With young people aged 16 potentially allowed to vote in future elections, the Die Vielen campaign is looking to compete with the AfD to inspire the next generation to come under the democratic umbrella of "the many."

"Real men are right-wing," Maximilian Krah, a right-wing extremist and the AfD's lead candidate in the European elections, said in one of a series of AfD posts aimed at young people on the video-sharing platform TikTok.

In a bid for the youth vote — a demographic the far right have struggled to attract — Krah has cast himself as both a politician and dating expert who dolls out love advice to young men. "Real men have ideals, real men are patriots," he added in the clip. "Then you'll get a girlfriend." The video went viral.

Following complaints that Krah was also spreading conspiracy theories and racist views, TikTok restricted his channel in March 2024 and blocked some of his videos.

Still, many other clips are getting hundred thousands of views; political communication experts believe the TikTok strategy could influence the vote.

Cultural scene united against racism

For Brunet, Germany "is a beacon of hope in the EU" due to its postwar commitment to pluralism and free artistic expression, and the fact that it is a net immigrant country.

"Never again must theaters, operas and orchestras, museums, libraries, literary and cultural institutions or cinemas put their work at the service of anti-democrats and fascists," Die Vielen said in a campaign statement that referenced the Nazi era. "It is time to take a stand against contempt for humanity and the destruction of our democratic culture."

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

Cars are special products: They're easier to ship than, say, oil rigs, but they're also so large that you can't just put them on a shelf. Each car occupies about ten square meters (107 square feet) of space, even when not in use.

This poses problems for ports where cars are loaded and unloaded ― in Germany, there are two really big ones in Bremen and Bremerhaven. The car terminal at the Port of Bremerhaven is one of the largest auto ports in the world with a turnover of more than 1.7 million vehicles per year.

BLG Logistics Group, an international seaport and logistics services provider, operates the car-handling terminal at Bremerhaven. BLG spokesperson Julia Wagner said the port has space for approximately 70,000 vehicles with more than 1,000 car carriers visiting the terminal every year.

Wagner told DW that the shipping business especially concerning automobiles at Bremerhaven had changed in recent years. "We used to have 80% export and 20% import for a long time. This ratio is now at 50:50."

Bottlenecks from truck drivers to sales networks

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Belgium, with its car terminal at Zeebrugge, is Europe's busiest port for car imports and handles twice as many vehicles as Bremerhaven. There too, huge numbers of cars are piling up currently as manufacturers and sellers are being hit by a Europe-wide slowdown in sales and logistical bottlenecks including a shortage of truck drivers.

"This is happening at all European ports that ship large numbers of cars," says Elke Verbeelen from the communications department of the Antwerp-Bruges port. The longer dwell time of cars at the ports, however, was not only caused by a surge in imports, she told DW.

"The problem lies less in the number of cars landed but rather in the fact that they are not transported onward promptly."

At the moment, the capacities of the main European car terminals are still large enough to park the vehicles, says Julia Wagner from Bremerhaven. "We currently do not observe a 'congestion' of the terminal, as reported in some media about the situation in European ports."

Modern-day marketing

At first glance, the shipping of vehicles seems a rather straightforward business with manufacturers, distributors and sellers. However, auto production and its multiple supply chains have changed rapidly in recent years as new markets such as China have grown and trade disputes have increased auto import tariffs.

Elke Verbeelen adds that carmakers' marketing and distribution strategies are also different from the good old showroom dealerships of the past. As customers increasingly like to buy their cars online, carmakers like Tesla have shifted their presence from the main street to the internet. With more direct marketing to customers, the cars typically "stay in the port for much longer," often without ever seeing a showroom.

EV sales slump

Another reason for the longer dwell time of vehicles experienced at the European ports is "relatively low car sales," said BLG Group's Julia Wagner.

The situation has worsened after Germany abruptly stopped subsidizing purchases of electric vehicles (EVs) in December last year. "The parking times of cars from all manufacturers at the terminal have increased with the discontinuation of state subsidies that diminished sales of electric cars," said Wagner.

This comes at a time when Chinese carmakers have launched an aggressive push to ramp up their global EV exports which climbed 58% in 2023 from the year before.

Verbeelen noted, however, that while EV sales may experience stagnation, overall car imports, including combustion-engine vehicles, are picking up again "compared with the years 2020 and 2021," when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the auto industry as well as transportation businesses.

The result is "lower capacity for [onward] road transportation of cars due to a shortage of truck drivers," which would "further increase the time of vehicles spend at the ports."

This article was originally written in German.

Indonesia wants progress on a free trade agreement with the EU despite ongoing disputes over deforestation and nickel mining, the country's ambassador to Germany said in an interview on the fringes of the world's most important industrial fair in Hanover, Germany.

"Fifteen, twenty years of negotiation I think is too long," Arif Havas Oegroseno told DW.

The two economies opened trade talks in 2016, with Brussels aiming to build on recent agreements with Singapore and Vietnam.

Yet more than a dozen rounds of negotiations have failed to produce an agreement with Indonesia. One stumbling block is the language surrounding sustainable development, an area that includes biodiversity and deforestation.

'Fair treatment is the key'

Indonesia has taken issue with a new EU law requiring countries to certify their forest products against deforestation, a measure that covers the country's considerable palm oil exports. Jakarta says the law puts a burden on smaller landowners, in particular, some of whom lack the paper titles to their land.

"You're actually killing the smallholders who have nothing to do with deforestation," Oegroseno said.

The ambassador complained that European cooking oils don't require such certifications, and he repeated his country's complaint that Brussels was engaged in "regulatory imperialism."

"Fair treatment, that's the key," he said.

A joint task force between the EU and Southeast Asian countries is now working to implement the new law.

Indonesia is also fighting EU efforts to force continued exports of nickel, an essential component for electric car batteries. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of Brussels in 2022, saying Jakarta was wrong to ban exports of the metal two years prior to prioritize direct investment in extraction.

Indonesia's efforts to appeal the ruling have been hampered by the political crisis surrounding the WTO's appellate body, which ceased functioning in 2019.

Oegroseno said the EU could join other countries that have announced investment in Indonesia and even help clean up the smelting process. "Brussels should help us instead of attacking us," he said.

Trade disputes

Bernd Lange, the head of the European Parliament's committee for trade defended the new deforestation law in an interview, saying the EU wasn't trying to lecture other countries. "These are not European values or European legislation or European vision of society," Lange told DW. "It's a universal perspective for people and the environment."

He also said the EU was also working with nations to monitor deforestation.

The disagreement with Indonesia is part of the broader complications surrounding EU trade deals in recent years.

An agreed deal with leading South American economies known as Mercosur has run into opposition from EU member states, including France. Opponents point both to concerns over new competition and worries over deforestation in the Amazon Basin.

European concerns over market competition in agriculture also helped kill a free trade agreement with Australia last year.

European capitals are still responding to a spate of farmer protests in the winter, which were sparked by concerns over rising costs, growing bureaucracy and changing environmental standards. At the same time, Brussels is under pressure to seal new trade deals given uncertainties with traditional partners China and the US.

A new study from the German Economic Insitute in Cologne, Germany, recommended the EU diversify its trade to buffer against possible disruptions, in particular from the US. 

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

German consumer confidence rose for the month of May, according to a market research survey released on Thursday.

The survey was published jointly by the GfK market research company and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM).

What did the survey find?

According to the survey, consumer confidence rose by 3.1 points to -24.2 heading into May.

The increase was higher than expected, with experts interviewed by the Reuters news agency foreseeing a rate of -26.

This was the third monthly increase in a row, with GfK saying that its barometer hit a "two-year high."

The increase was driven by rising income expectations after unions achieved wage agreements in multiple sectors of the German economy.

"Wage increases combined with a recent decline in the inflation rate form the basis for increased purchasing power among private households," said Rolf Bürkl, a NIM consumer expert.

Bürkl said consumers in Germany were purchasing more expensive products like cars and furniture.

However, he stressed that Germans' propensity to buy was still substantially lower than before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a stark drop in consumption due to lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.

The German economy has also been marred by inflation and rising energy prices since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.

German economy sees mildly improving indicators

The survey came amid a number of improved indicators for Europe's largest economy, which has grappled with inflation and lagging growth.

On Wednesday, Germany raised its economic forecast for the year to 0.3% growth, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous prediction. It cited rising private consumption as the reason for the increase.

The inflation outlook for 2024 was also lowered from 2.8% to 2.4%.

"The fall in inflation will lead to consumer demand — people have more money in their wallets again, and will spend this money," Economy Minister Robert Habeck said, referring to the change in Berlin's economic outlook.

sdi/sms (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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The German government  revised its economic growth forecast for 2024 marginally from 0.2% to 0.3%, Economy Minister Robert Habeck confirmed on Wednesday afternoon.

"We are adjusting our expectations marginally upwards," explained the Green Party politician, citing "signs of slight cyclical improvement."

In February, the government sharply lowered its forecast from 1.3% to just 0.2%, so the 0.1% change represents a small glimmer of relief after months of economic stagnation. Habeck said at the time that the economy was in "rough waters" and that the country was "emerging from crisis more slowly than we had hoped."

More 'structural changes' required 

The economy minister said production was "on the up" due to sinking energy prices, which are also starting to drive inflation back down.

This, according to Habeck, is slowly restoring people's purchasing power and boosting privat consumption.

"The fall in inflation will lead to consumer demand, people have more money in their wallets again, and will spend this money," Habeck told a press conference. 

"Signs of an economic upturn have increased significantly, especially in recent weeks," Habeck added. 

However, he noted that "structural changes" would be required for higher growth rates going forward.

This includes the strengthening of innovation and the reduction of unnecessary bureaucracy as well as greater incentives to work "so that more people are willing to work harder and longer."

Habeck said he the government is expecting an inflation rate of 2.4% across 2024, falling to 1.8% in 2025.

mf/wmr (AFP, dpa)

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German Development Minister Svenja Schulze on Thursday called for greater contributions from the world's richest people to protect the environment.

"Billionaires have the greatest CO2 footprint but still contribute far too little to the solution," Schulze said ahead of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin.

The German minister expressed her support for the Brazilian proposal to tax the superrich to help pay for projects necessary to tackle the threats of global warming.

'Enough wealth in the world'

Schulze called for "record-breaking efforts for global climate protection" as diplomats met in the German capital to take part in the two-day summit that includes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

The aim of the dialogue is mainly to prepare for this year's COP climate meeting in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

"The diagnosis is clear," Schulze said. "Public funds alone will never be enough to cover the needs for climate investments.

"At the same time, there is enough wealth and money in the world. That's why the initiative by the Brazilian G20 presidency to finally tax the global superrich fairly is so important," she added.

The minister, a member of Scholz's Social Democratic Party, stressed that progress has already been made.

"With the World Bank reform, we've been able to secure an additional $70 billion (€65 billion) in investments over the next years in climate protection and other global challenges," she said.

"Last year also a non-traditional donor, the [United Arab] Emirates joined us in paying into a new UN climate fund, the Loss and Damage Fund," Schulze added.

More funds for developing countries

Foreign Minister Baerbock said at the summit that industrialized countries like Germany "must continue to embrace our responsibility."

Germany has stuck to its financial pledges and will continue to do so, she added. The German government has earmarked €6.4 billion for this year and another €6 billion for next year.

Industrialized countries pledged to mobilize $100 billion a year for climate protection in developing countries from 2020, according to the 2008 Copenhagen Agreement.

But "public money will simply not be enough," Baerbock stressed. "We must get the private sector to invest significantly more in a safe, clean and resilient economy in developing countries," she added.

Leaders prepare for COP 2024

Representatives from around 40 countries will take part in the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, including G20 members such as the EU, US, China and India.

G20 countries are responsible for some 80% of global emissions.

Germany's foreign ministry said the Berlin meeting will discuss the feasibility of sticking to the limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming that was set out in the Paris Agreement. Experts are skeptical that this goal can be acheived.

"Despite initial measures to limit CO2 emissions, the world continues to warm up and is headed toward unreversible climate catastrophe," Greenpeace's German chief Martin Kaiser said.

"To keep within the 1.5-degree limit and avoid human catastrophes on a much greater scale, the German chancellor should call on states to significantly raise their nationally stated contributions to reducing CO2 and to introduce the phaseout of oil and gas," Kaiser added.

The Petersburg Climate Dialogue has been taking place annually since 2010 in preparation for the COP summits.

ab/sms (AFP, EPD, KNA, dpa)

Germany's motorways, internationally famed for their high speeds, are currently the subject of heated political debate.

The topic has long been divisive in the country. In 1973, the introduction of a 100-kilometers-per-hour (62-miles-per-hour) speed limit in response to surging petrol prices during the oil crisis caused widespread outrage for the few months it was implemented. Germany's ADAC automotive club protested against the measure.

Since then, various attempts to introduce a general speed limit have failed. But now more than half of Germans — including ADAC members — support a speed limit.

Yet it remains a polarizing issue and faces stiff opposition. Bavaria's center-right Christian Social Union party has even launched a petition against it.

Motorway speed limits (almost) everywhere — except in Germany

Certain stretches of Germany's Autobahn do have speed limits, but this applies to only 30% of the motorways.

For the speed-unrestricted stretches, the government recommends a voluntary top speed of 130 kilometers per hour, but drivers are free to go as fast as they want. Speeding on German motorways is even advertised as a tourist attraction by sports car rental companies.

What are the benefits of a speed limit?

The slower a vehicle drives, the less fuel it consumes. This means it also emits less pollutants, such as climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

A speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour on motorways would save 4.5 million tons of CO2 equivalent and equate to a 2.9% drop in emissions compared to 2018 levels, according to  calculations by the German Environment Agency, or UBA. They estimate this could increase to saving 6.7 million tons and 4.2% of emissions if a speed limit also encouraged people to switch to taking trains, choose shorter routes or even forgo certain journeys altogether.

And if the speed limit on states road was reduced from 100 kilometers per hour to 80, this could save up to 8 million tons of CO2 equivalent.

Proponents also argue a limit would lead to fewer accidents, as traveling slower reduces a car's braking distance. It would also cut noise pollution, because driving at 100 kilometers per hour is around half as loud as at 130 kilometers per hour.

They also highlight it would allow more cars to be on the road simultaneously and therefore help ease traffic jams, particularly if cars went at 100 kilometers per hour or less.

What are the arguments against a speed limit?

According to an analysis from the German Economic Institute, 77% of people on German motorways already voluntarily drive slower than 130 kilometers per hour. 

However, men, as well as those under 24 and frequent drivers (people clocking up over 50,000 kilometers per year), were more likely to be against speed limits, citing concerns about more traffic jams and longer journey times, according to a survey by Allianz insurance group. 

How many accidents could be avoided by the speed limit on German motorways is not fully clear.

According to the ADAC, Germany doesn't have more serious accidents on its motorways than in countries with a speed limit. If you compare the number of fatalities per motorway kilometer driven, France, the United States and the Czech Republic saw more fatalities than in Germany in 2020.

However, in absolute figures, Germany had the highest number in 2020, with 317 deaths on the Autobahn. 

Who supports a speed limit in Germany?

Environmental organizations have called for a speed limit, as have the police union in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the German Road Accident Victim Support Association. They also support reducing the speed limit on state roads to 80 kilometers per hour, a move the insurance industry believes would help increase safety.

Among political parties, the motion has received the support of the Greens, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left Party. More than half of Germans are now behind a speed limit. 

Who is against a speed limit?

The conservative Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union, the far-right Alternative for Germany and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) do not want a speed limit. 

Opponents believe it would have little impact on the environment and would restrict individual freedom. 

The FDP, which forms the federal government together with the Greens and the SPD, already pushed back on a speed limit in the coalition agreement. It also commissioned a counter-study to that of the German Environment Agency, which arrived at significantly lower figures for CO2 reduction. However, the credibility of the counter-study has been called into question as it was written by climate-skeptic academics. It has been criticized by the German Environment Agency, environmental associations and other political parties.

No speed limit in the German Climate Action Act

The Climate Action Act, which was passed into law in 2021, states Germany must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030 and by 88% by 2040 compared to 1990 levels. Following a reform to the act, excessive emissions, such as those from transport, can now be offset elsewhere, for example by using more renewable energy. The act contains no mention of a speed limit. 

This article was originally written in German.

Sources: 

Speed limit report, University of Stuttgart (2023) (in German): https://www.isv.uni-stuttgart.de/vuv/publikationen/downloads/ISV_2023_UBA-FV_Gutachten_FDP_Tempolimit_20230303.pdf 

Speed as the cause of accidents (in German): https://www.udv.de/resource/blob/112634/81f8e441aadad1d01047e5510233f5b1/neuer-inhalt-2--data.pdf

FDP against a speed limit (in German): https://www.fdpbt.de/kurzstudie-tempolimit-autobahnen

A camel escaped from a circus near the southwestern German city of Kaiserslautern on Wednesday and enabled a dozen further animals to break out in the process, according to local police.

Officers were first alerted to the situation when drivers spotted the camel walking down Entersweilerstrasse, just to the east of Kaiserslautern city center.

The single-humped dromedary had escaped from a nearby circus while staff had been dismantling tents, but it was quickly rounded-up and returned to the site.

However, the four-legged mammal appeared to get the hump at being recaptured and managed to slip away a second time, tearing a hole in a tent, through which other animals also made a bid for freedom, including at least one sheep and one cow.

All the want-away animals were eventually enticed back to the circus by police and animal carers with the help of food.

The breakout came on the same day that two British Army horses caused havoc by galopping through the streets of central London after getting spooked during a training exercise. Fortunately in Kaiserslautern, however, none of the animals were hurt.

Copy-camel escape attempt from Austria

Camels aren't native to Germany, but its not the first time they have been spotted roaming the streets of western Europe.

In October 2023, eight camels took advantage of a midnight power cut to escape from a circus in the Austrian town of Hallein, just south of Salzburg.

The camels, double-humped Bactrians in this case, were en route to the local train station when they were rounded up after 15 minutes of freedom. 

Camel babies in Bamberg

Indeed, it's been a busy few months for circus camels in German-speaking countries.

In February 2024, a circus in the small town of Hallstadt just outside the south-eastern German city of Bamberg celebrated the birth of two baby camels.

"Robert" and "Roberta" were named after the founder of a local medication company and have yet to make any spontaneous bids for freedom.

2018 was also a busy year for German circus camels, seven of which paid a Monday night visit to a discount supermarket near the northern city of Celle.

A few months earlier, two camels had approached a McDonald's restaurant near Bremen, but the vegetarians opted for the grass outside instead.

mf/wmr (dpa, AFP)

Marte van der Graaf does not hold back when it comes to criticizing airlines' efforts to protect the environment.

"It's difficult to take the aviation industry's net-zero targets seriously," she said. Graf is an aviation policy officer in Germany for the NGO Transport & Environment, which focuses on promoting sustainable transportation. "The aviation sector must significantly reduce its consumption of fossil fuels in the next decades. But things are going in the opposite direction at the moment," she said.

More and more people flying

As climate change threatens the planet, the industry's CO2 emissions continue to rise. And according to future projections, more and more people will be flying in the coming years. That has environmental groups worried. "Green growth and CO2-neutral air traffic remain an illusion," said the Stay Grounded network, which campaigns for less air traffic.

Nevertheless, the aviation industry has set ambitious goals for itself.

"The goal is to be climate-neutral by 2050," said Wolf-Dietrich Kindt, head of climate and environmental protection at the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry. German airlines have invested billions of euros in renewing their fleets in recent decades, he added, making it possible to drastically reduce jet fuel use and emissions.

"That is a very significant achievement," said Kindt.

New planes are more efficient

The most achievable way to reduce emissions at the moment is simply to make planes more fuel efficient. And according to experts, fuel efficiency can be increased by 20% with each new generation of aircraft.

The EU has imposed regulations for airlines in the bloc, including blending quotas for more climate-friendly fuels, which come with a higher price tag. Additionally, the EU emissions trading system, an air traffic tax in Germany as well as a possible jet fuel tax have put European airlines at a disadvantage against competing non-EU airlines. As a result, there isn't as much investment in newer aircraft as there should be.

Markus Fischer, director of the aerospace division at the German Aerospace Center, also believes in the innovative power of the aviation sector. "The industry has made a big effort to increase its efficiency through better engines and aerodynamics," he said.

He pointed out that the average fuel consumption per seat and kilometer today is only a third of what it was 50 years ago, though admitted that this still wasn't enough. The solution is alternative, non-fossil fuels.

Alternative fuels only available in small quantities

But this is precisely where the industry is struggling. Some airlines are promising electric aircraft for short-haul flights. Airbus, meanwhile, has announced a hydrogen-powered aircraft that will be ready to fly in 2035.

Yet sustainable fuels produced from renewable energy or biomass, which could replace fossil jet fuel in the short term and are less harmful to the climate, will only be available in small quantities — and at very high prices — for the foreseeable future. "There are currently no revolutionary and immediately available solutions for emission-free aviation due to major technological challenges," according to the German Aerospace Center.

Michael Haid wants to change that. He's head of EDL Anlagenbau, a company that is planning one of the world's first factories for the industrial production of green jet fuel near Leipzig.

"It will be very difficult to reach the goal of climate-neutral flying by 2050," he said. "Especially when you see how long it all takes." He blames the EU for imposing complicated regulations, which have caused delays. They've been planning the production of their fuel, called HyKero, since 2021, but production will not start before the end of 2027.

Is climate-neutral air travel even possible?

There are additional barriers to achieving climate-neutral aviation. CO2 accounts for only a portion of the climate-damaging emissions from an aircraft.

Markus Fischer of the German Aerospace Center estimates that the "non-CO2 effects" are responsible for at least 50% of the environmental impact of flying. Contrails, for example, contribute to global warming.

"Even without alternative fuels, you can do a lot to help the environment," he said. Negative effects of flying can be reduced simply by modifying flight speed, altitude and routes, for example.

And yet the industry itself does not seem to believe it will reach the goal of climate-neutral aviation by 2050. The International Air Transport Association, for example, speaks of CO2 neutrality that is likely to only be achieved through carbon offsetting.

"Compensation measures are a bogus solution for the environment," said Marte van der Graaf of Transport & Environment. "Airlines should stop using them as an excuse to postpone real climate protection measures."

She put it bluntly: "The only truly green flight is the one that stays on the ground."

This article was originally written in German.

Ernest Hemingway has famously been credited with saying: "It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." But then again, Hemingway didn't quite have the kind of modern, jet-setting lifestyle that many people have become used to.

Air travel is more popular than ever, and is projected to almost double from 3.7 billion global air passengers in 2016 to 7.2 billion in 2035. But it's also killing the environment: aviation accounts for around 2% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. 

So instead of having yet another hypothetical discussion about how we all ought to fly less, I walked the talk to see for myself how rail, long-distance buses and ferries stack up against a flight — in terms of time, price, convenience and, of course, carbon footprint.

With a half dozen tickets in my pocket I embarked on an epic journey from Berlin to Helsinki, Finland, via Poland, the Baltics and Nordic waters.

Second thoughts on Platform 9

Waiting for my 9:37 a.m. train from Berlin to Warsaw, I chatted with a businessman on his way to the airport to fly to Stockholm. At this point, I hadn't left Berlin yet, but already I was having second thoughts. By the time he was due to arrive at his destination in less than two hours, I would hardly have left German territory.

I reminded myself that I would get to enjoy the beautiful landscapes while air travelers are crammed into a tube that shoots across the sky. As the train pulled its wagons across Poland's plains, I sat down in the restaurant for a refreshment and struck up a conversation with a Polish man in his 40s.

Michal Michalewicz told me he flies from Warsaw to another EU country for business once a month for an average of four days. He only considers the train if the price for a return flight exceeds €250 ($268).

For Michalewicz, to fly or not to fly is not a matter of sustainability, but of convenience.

I asked him if he'd be willing to make any sacrifices for the environment. "I believe that the climate is changing," he replied, "but I don't believe people can change it by themselves." Many Poles share Michalewicz' denial of human-made climate change. 

Serendipity of slow travel

Before we said goodbye in Warsaw, Michalewicz told me about a place I should visit during my layover in the Polish capital. The "Invisible Exhibition" ("Niewidzialna Wystawa") — an immersive experience where a blind guide takes you through a series of pitch-black rooms.

I checked it out, and as I dove into this world, time seemed to stop. I relaxed into my own slowness.

This was a form of slow travel, a movement that emphasizes the importance of creating connections to local people, cultures and experiences instead of rushing through as many sights as possible.

Having extra time on my trip allowed for spontaneous decisions, which could lead to wonderful opportunities. 

From Warsaw to Riga, via Vilnius

Once the bus left the highway, the ride to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius became bumpy. I was beginning to get uncomfortable. With my seat hardly reclining, real rest was hard to come by.

I reminded myself that the whole point of this journey was to give up the privilege of aviation that I had become so used to. No one said that trying to reverse climate change was going to be easy.

When we reached Vilnius, I got off at the wrong bus stop and missed my bus connection to Riga.

I was learning that generous layovers are an important thing to consider when traveling overland. 

Fewer connections in smaller cities

I also learned about the difficulties of people who live in small countries like Lithuania, or those who don't live near a major airport: flight connections tend to be more expensive and less frequent.

A direct flight from Vilnius to Warsaw takes an hour and uses less fuel than a multi-stop flight, but is around five times more expensive than a flight via Riga, Latvia, for example.

During my bus journey from Riga, to Tallinn, Estonia, I researched transportation options in the Baltic countries. There are few rail links connecting cities and even fewer connecting each country.

But in 2026, the Rail Baltica electric railway project, currently under construction, is expected to significantly shorten the travel time from Berlin to the Baltic states via Warsaw with high-speed overnight trains.

In Tallinn, I boarded the liquefied natural gas powered Megastar ferry for a comfy, two-hour voyage to Finland's capital, Helsinki. Plans are also in the works for a rail tunnel going from Tallinn to Helsinki.

Can trains and buses really compete with planes?

After a 30-minute walk, I arrived at my Helsinki hotel — 36 hours after I had left my apartment in Berlin. I felt tired, but also happy I had followed through with my idea.

Reaching my final destination took me almost 10 times as long as taking a one-way flight.

What would actually need to happen to make trains and buses not only more sustainable but a competitive alternative to medium-distance flights?

Booking overland travel itineraries would have to be as easy as booking a multi-stop flight. To make things more sustainable, air passengers could be charged a carbon offsetting fee. Alternatives to flying could be subsidized to incentivize passengers and transport operators. 

When it comes to making travel more time efficient, implementing a comprehensive high-speed train network across Europe with standardized fares would help. 

Until then, I think we all need to go the proverbial extra mile to chose the least-damaging mode of transportation. I invested a great deal of extra time and planning into this undertaking. 

Αlong the way, I met people with different views, and learned how to make slow travel work for me. Try achieving all that on a flight.

Author's note: Expenses for this trip were covered by the European Commission.

There is a reason mountaineers on Everest call the passage through the Khumbu Icefall from the western slope the "ballroom of death." A mighty hanging glacier hangs like a sword of Damocles, threatening the route and making for tricky climbing.

Acidents there are frequent. Ten years ago, on 18 April 2014, an ice avalanche broke loose there. Sixteen Nepalese mountaineers, who were carrying equipment for commercial expeditions to the high camps, died in the accident.

Since then, the "Icefall Doctors" — a group of Sherpas who specialize in icefall — have been trying to place the route to Everest's summit as far away from the western slope as possible. This spring, however, climate change forced them back into the "ballroom of death."

There was simply no alternative. Two attempts to find a less risky route had failed. The snowless winter in Nepal had led to unstable ice towers and snow bridges in the icy labyrinth. In addition, crevasses had formed that were so wide that they could not be crossed with ladders.

Every year, the Icefall Doctors set up the route through the dangerous icefall, secure it with ropes and maintain it during the climbing season until the end of May. Only when the route up to Camp Two at 6,400 meters (21,000 feet) has been completed can the commercial teams ascend. Time was of the essence. Around ten days later than planned, the eight Sherpas finally announced that they were ready. However, the Icefall Doctors warned that there were at least five dangerous spots that should be passed as quickly as possible. The whole endeavor is reminiscent of Russian roulette.

'The mountain is gaining momentum'

Last winter, two passes over 5,800 meters high in the Everest region were completely snow-free. This is "worrying," says Nepalese glaciologist Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa.

"The data shows that the number of snow days, the amount of snow and the snow cover are decreasing — a negative trend. These 'naked' passes and mountains illustrate what is happening," said Sherpa.

The glaciers are melting faster and faster, becoming thinner and shorter. Larger glacial lakes are forming and their natural dams are threatening to burst. That happened this week on Manaslu, the eighth largest mountain in the world. The subsequent tidal wave, however, caused only material damage.

More and more pools of meltwater are also forming in the valley at the foot of Everest. Up to the summit at 8,849 meters, snow and ice are retreating. The result: increased risk of falling rocks and, because it is getting warmer, a higher chance of avalanches. "Many people lose their lives in avalanches. The mountain is becoming more and more dynamic," warns glaciologist Sherpa.

20% fewer permits

"The current difficulties at the Khumbu Icefall to get to the higher camps could have an impact on the entire season and could possibly be the harbinger of a major disaster on Everest," fears Norrdine Nouar.

The German mountaineer from the Allgäu region has just climbed — without bottled oxygen — the 8,091 meter Annapurna in western Nepal, his second eight-thousander. Now he wants to attempt the highest mountain on earth without a breathing mask.

"I really hope that we don't break last year's sad record of deaths on Everest again," the 36-year-old told the blog Abenteuer Berg (Mountain Adventure).

In spring 2023, 18 people — six Nepalese and 12 clients of commercial teams — lost their lives on Mount Everest, more than ever before in one season. However, the Nepalese government had also never issued so many permits for Everest: 478. This year, the number of permits is a good 20% lower compared to the same time in 2023.

This may or may not indicate a decline in interest in Everest. On the one hand, it could be due to the fact that many Everest candidates are now pre-acclimatising at home in hypoxia tents and therefore arriving later. On the other hand, the fact that the highest mountain on earth can be climbed from the Tibetan north side for the first time in four years may also play a role.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese authorities had closed Tibet's mountains to foreign expeditions. Teams that want to climb Everest from the north this spring are still waiting for their entry permits into Tibet. According to reports, the border will not be opened until May 7. The Everest season on the north side ends on 1 June. Chinese authorities have capped the number of permits at 300. Climbs without bottled oxygen are prohibited above an altitude of 7,000 meters.

Tracking chips and poo bags

There are also new regulations on the southern Nepalese side. All mountaineers must now have electronic tracking chips sewn into their down jackets. These are intended to facilitate rescue searches should someone go missing on the mountain. The system has proven its worth in avalanche searches in the Alps. However, experts doubt that it can also increase safety in the summit area of Mount Everest. According to Lukas Furtenbach, head of the Austrian expedition provider Furtenbach Adventures, the range of the system is significantly reduced in the event of ice avalanches.

"It would be better if the guides [mountain guides — editor's note] didn't leave their clients alone," says Furtenbach. "Then the problem would be solved."

This year, for the first time, it is also compulsory for climbers to take excrement bags up the mountain, use them and bring them back down again. The poo bags have been specially developed for outdoor use and can be sealed tightly. Their inside is coated with a mixture of gelling agents, enzymes and odour-neutralising substances. These ensure that feces is sealed in the bag and the odor is reduced.

The Nepalese environmental protection organization Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), which is responsible for the management of the Everest base camp and also employs the Icefall Doctors, is tasked with ensuring that the rule is adhered to. The SPCC estimates that between Camp One at 6,100 meters and Camp Four on the South Col at just under 8,000 meters, there is a total of around three tons of human excrement — half of it at the South Col, the last camp before the summit of Mount Everest. As the snow cover is increasingly disappearing, it literally stinks to high heaven, threatening to turn the South Col into a "ballroom of feces."

This article was originally published in German

What is the function of the cruciate ligament?

There is an anterior and a posterior cruciate ligament in both knees. They connect the femur to the tibia and stabilize the knee joint forwards and backwards, as well as during rotational movements. In addition to the cruciate ligaments, there are the medial and lateral collateral ligaments and the menisci [crescent-shaped cartilage discs between the lower and upper thigh bones].

All ligaments together limit the extension of the knee so that it is not overstretched under normal circumstances. They also restrict the rotation of the knee joint and are supported by the joint capsule, tendons and surrounding muscles. The better the stabilizing muscles are developed, the lower the risk of suffering a cruciate ligament rupture.

How does a cruciate ligament rupture occur?

If the cruciate ligaments are overloaded by a sudden twisting movement, hyperextension or bending the knee to the side, they can tear partially or completely. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is affected ten times more frequently than the posterior cruciate ligament because it is longer and thinner. Most cruciate ligament tears are so-called non-contact injuries. This means that they occur without external influence or direct contact with the opponent, for example during a foul in football.

Landing on one leg, abrupt stops and sudden changes of direction are the most common causes of a rupture. The patient usually feels a stabbing pain in the knee. It usually swells in the hours following the injury because the tear causes fluid to collect in the joint.

What are the consequences?

The knee can usually no longer be moved well due to pain and swelling, and can only be bent slightly. Pain occurs when weight is placed on it. In addition, the knee joint is unstable due to the lack of function of the ligaments — it slips like a drawer when walking. In many cases, the cruciate ligament is not the only structure in the knee that has been damaged. The outer and inner ligaments, menisci and bones can also be affected.

In rare cases, however, a cruciate ligament may tear without the patient realising it. Such cruciate ligament ruptures often only become apparent later due to damage to the menisci or cartilage in the knee.

How are cruciate ligament ruptures treated?

A torn cruciate ligament is treated either surgically or conservatively. During surgery, also known as cruciate ligament plastic surgery, the torn parts of the cruciate ligament are removed and replaced with a transplant made from the body's own tendon material. However, there are also transplants made from donor material or synthetic material. The operation is usually not performed until weeks or even months after the injury until the swelling has subsided and the knee can move well again.

In conservative treatment, the knee is initially immobilised for several weeks and stabilized with a splint. If the ends of the torn cruciate ligament are still in close contact with each other, in rare cases the cruciate ligament can even grow back together on its own. However, this does not usually work with the anterior cruciate ligament. The chances are greater with the posterior cruciate ligament, which is shorter and more compact. Conservative treatment always includes targeted training of the muscles around the knee.They should stabilize the knee and thus take over the function of the missing cruciate ligament.

What are the long-term consequences of a cruciate ligament rupture?

Cruciate ligament ruptures can subsequently lead to altered statics in the knee joint, and thus to incorrect loading. This applies to both operated and untreated cruciate ligament ruptures, although the risk is higher in untreated cases. The load on the menisci and joint cartilage increases, which can lead to tears in the meniscus as well as osteoarthritis, the irreversible degradation of the cartilage surfaces in the knee joint that protect the joint. In the worst case scenario, an artificial knee joint will eventually be necessary.

Why do women have a higher risk of suffering a cruciate ligament rupture?

Anatomically, genetically and hormonally, women have less favourable conditions for ligament health. Because they have a wider pelvis, women tend to have a knock-kneed posture, which favours a cruciate ligament rupture if the knee is subjected to the corresponding force. The female musculature is generally weaker than the male musculature, meaning that the stabilizing function is also less strong.

Hormones also play a role: in the second half of the menstrual cycle, the sex hormone progesterone softens the ligaments in the female body and the risk of cruciate ligaments increases. Overall, the risk for women is around twice as high as for men.

How long are you out for with a cruciate ligament rupture?

This depends on the severity of the other injuries to the knee joint and the type of sport you play. In the case of a pure cruciate ligament rupture without involvement of other ligaments, bones or menisci, it usually takes six to nine months before you are able to compete again. Normally, there is nothing to stop you returning to sport after a healed cruciate ligament rupture.

With appropriate physiotherapy, you can train on a bicycle ergometer or go swimming about six weeks after the operation. Sports that do not involve sudden changes of direction and high force exerted by jumping and landing, such as running, swimming and cycling, can be resumed after six months. In team sports such as football and basketball, as well as tennis and alpine skiing, it usually takes two to three months longer to make a comeback. The psychological component also plays a major role as it takes time for patients to trust their healed knee again.

Can you play competitive sport without cruciate ligaments?

This is certainly possible in swimming, running, cycling or other sports with less stress on the knees, but is not recommended for sports with high knee stress. Former footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic played with a torn cruciate ligament for six months in 2022, and although he won the Italian championship with AC Milan, he was barely able to train and only played a few minutes at a time. He underwent surgery at the end of the season.

Former Germany goalkeeper Toni Schumacher suffered a torn cruciate ligament at the age of 18 before his professional career, but Schumacher decided against an operation. He played his entire career (1973 to 1996) with a ‘wobbly knee', but paid for this decision with severe consequential damage and pain, which significantly reduced his quality of life after his career.

This article was translated from German.

The late German football legend Franz Beckenbauer will be honored with a statue in front of Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena, a club supporters foundation announced Sunday.

The player and coach, also known as "der Kaiser" (the Emperor), is to be cast in bronze in an elegant pose as the game's conductor.

The Kurt Landauer Foundation said he will stand on a pedestal in the shape of the Bavarian flag's rhombus.

Beckenbauer, widely considered one of the best players of all time, passed away in January in Salzburg, Austria, and was buried in a cemetery south of Munich, near where he grew up.

Beckenbauer and Müller together again

His statue will stand next to that of former teammate and Bayern striker Gerd Müller, which was unveiled in September. Müller, who still holds the Bundesliga goal scoring record, died in August 2021 at the age of 75.

"The elegant captain Franz and his friend Gerd Müller will then together cast their shadows positively on the present day, and the awareness of our great club history will be carried on into the next generations," Christian Kröll from the Kurt Landauer Foundation said.

The Kurt Landauer Foundation was also responsible for the statue of Gerd Müller, which was erected on the esplanade of the Allianz Arena.

The foundation expects the Beckenbauer project to take about 18 months to complete. It has already launched a campaign to collect donations from Bayern fans and fan clubs for the project

The Kaiser's stunning career

Beckenbauer made his name at Bayern Munich, helping the club to their first promotion to the Bundesliga before winning league titles and European Cups.

Bayern also helped launch Beckenbauer's stunning career in the German national team, where he won the World Cup both as a coach and as a player. Only three men have achieved that feat.

Beckenbauer played a key role in the building of the Allianz Arena, which was opened in time for the 2006 World Cup, hosted in Germany.

dh/lo (AFP, dpa)

World Athletics seems to have poked a hornet's nest, with the federation's recent decision to pay athletes bonuses for Olympic medals sparking global debate.  Last week, the governing body of athletics announced that it would pay $50,000 (€46,800) for victories in each of the 48 athletics disciplines at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris (July 26 to August 11).

The organization said there will also be bonuses for silver and bronze at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. This is the first time in the 128-year history of the modern Olympic Games that a world federation of a single sport has offered bonuses for Olympic performances.

"I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is," said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. Such sentiment from Coe, who won gold in the 1,500 meters at the 1980 and 1984 Games medal, risks ruffling the feathers of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as well as the governing bodies of other sports.

Cycling, through its body the UCI, has already responded. "The Olympic spirit is to share revenues and have more athletes compete worldwide," its president David Lappartient said. "Not only put all the money on the top athletes but spread the money. If we concentrate money on top athletes, a lot of opportunities will disappear for athletes all over the world."

Disparity between sports

The IOC's model relies on solidarity. All but 10% of the revenue from the Olympic Games goes to organizations of the Olympic Movement — primarily to the world federations of the sports and the National Olympic Committees. The IOC uses the rest to pay for its administration and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

After the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo, the IOC distributed around $540 million dollars (€505 million) to 28 world federations. World Athletics received the most: almost $40 million. At the bottom of the list were the world associations for taekwondo, golf and rugby, with just under $13 million each. In other words, a financial disparity between the sports already exists.

It is a disparity highlighted by Great Britain's rowing legend, Steve Redgrave. "Most of the other sports won't be able to follow this. You're making this into a two-tier process," he told the Daily Mail. 

The ITF, which governs tennis, followed a similar theme of collaboration in response to questions from DW. The tennis federation made it clear that it would only change its approach, if at all, in consultation with the IOC and ASOIF - the alliance of federations represented at the Summer Games. 

"The opportunity to compete for the prestige of an Olympic medal has always been a unique and special incentive for players to take part in the Games. If a change to this was to be considered in the future, any decision would be made in consultation with the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations and the International Olympic Committee." 

FIBA (the basketball federation) would say only that it "has no plans to introduce [Olympic] prize money in basketball."

It seems that the IOC, the world sports federations and the National Olympic Committees were all surprised by the initiative of Coe and his organization. "They create a problem because now other sports are clearly going to get some scrutiny or even pressure from athletes saying 'well what about our sport, how can this sport do it and not us?'," said British Olympic CEO Andy Anson.

Basketball player Johannes Herber, managing director of Germany's association of athletes, Athleten Deutschland, felt the move to pay athletes for medals would act as "wake-up call for the IOC and the other world federations to finally give athletes a share of the income they generate." But the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) reacted a little more calmly. It is "the responsibility of the world athletics federation how it distributes the income it receives from the IOC", said the umbrella organization of German sport.

Bonuses on top

The DOSB backed the German Sports Aid Foundation's awarding of bonuses to athletes who finished in first to eighth place at the Olympic Games. Sporthilfe, which is financed by public funds, donations, lottery income and charity events, has been supporting German athletes for over 50 years. According to its own figures, it will distribute around €23 million in 2024, more than ever before. There will be €20,000 for gold in Paris, €15,000 for silver and €10,000 for bronze. Even eighth place will get €1500. This applies to all sports.

"The Sporthilfe bonuses also apply to track and field athletes - regardless of whether they are rewarded for their success by associations, private sponsors or other third parties," Sporthilfe said in response to a DW inquiry. In other words, German athletics winners at Paris 2024 could double up, with €50,000 gold bonus from World Athletics and a top up €20,000 from Sporthilfe to sweeten the deal.

This article was adapted from German with controbutions from Jonathan Crane.

Though he has yet to lead Germany in a competitive match, Julian Nagelsmann has won a contract extension with the German Football Association (DFB).

The former Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig coach, 36, has been in charge since September 2023 and led his team to victories over France and the Netherlands in his most recent matches. As hosts of Euro 2024, Germany have only played friendlies since Nagelsmann replaced Hansi Flick. As such, his first meaningful match will be the Euro 2024 opener against Scotland in Munich on June 14.

The Bavarian city is twice implicated, as Bayern Munich's reported interest in re-hiring Nagelsmann, after they sacked him in March 2023, was arguably the catalyst for his contract extension with the national team.

Tournament failures mounting up

"This is a decision made with the heart. It is a great honour to coach the national team and work with the best players in the country," Nagelsmann said, in a statement released by the DFB.

“With a successful, passionate performance we have the chance to carry an entire country with us. The enthusiasm of the fans has touched me a lot. We now want to play a successful Euros at home and after that, myself and my team are very much looking forward to the challenge of the World Cup." 

The German national team has struggled in recent years, exiting the last two World Cups at the group stage and the previous Euros in the last 16. As a result, 2014 World Cup winning coach Joachim Löw and then Flick, who won the Champions League with Bayern, paid the price.

DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said extending Nagelsmann's deal offers security. "It is a strong signal for the DFB and the national team that Julian Nagelsmann will remain head coach beyond the home Euros because he was on the list of many big clubs across Europe.

"But the national team is for Julian Nagelsmann more than just a job, it's a real matter of the heart. Now we have security in planning, and everyone can focus entirely on a successful performance at the Euros"

Bayern left to look elsewhere

But, in a warning that the DFB chose not to heed, Löw was given a new deal just months before the 2018 World Cup, in which Germany crashed out after shock losses to South Korea and Mexico.

Nagelsmann and his bosses will be hoping for a different outcome this time, with Germany also set to face Hungary and Switzerland in a home tournament that many believe will be critical for the future of football in the country.

Though Germany are happy to keep their man, the news is seen as a blow to Bayern. Thomas Tuchel will depart at the end of the season and, having already seen Xabi Alonso opt to stay at Leverkusen, the dethroned Bundesliga champions are rapidly revising their shortlist.

Edited by: Kalika Mehta

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It's been an historic week for German football on the pitch as Bayer Leverkusen won the Bundesliga for the first time and both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich progressed to the semifinals of the Champions League.

But it's also a big week off the pitch as the German Football League (DFL), which operates the Bundesliga, opens the bidding for the sale of its domestic broadcast rights for the seasons 2025/26 to 2028/29.

The billion-euro negotiations take place every four years and are a vital process since they concern German football clubs' most important revenue stream.

However, the DFL confirmed on Wednesday evening that it had taken the unprecedented step of suspending the auction after just three days following a legal complaint from one of the bidders, current rights holder DAZN.

What exactly has DAZN complained about?

According to German media reports, the online streaming service has complained of unfair treatment by the DFL, accusing the league of "abusing its dominant position in the football broadcast rights market" and "contravening German and European competition law."

In a letter to the DFL seen by the mass daily BILD and the regional Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper, DAZN expressed "deep disappointment and great dismay that our offer was rejected, even though [we] had made the most financially attractive and most convincing offer for rights package B."

"We are led to believe that our financial offer lay substantially above every other offer."

Rights package B is the largest package on sale, according the winning bidder the rights to exclusively broadcast 196 live games per season, including the five 3:30 p.m. kickoffs every Saturday, the weekly Friday night fixtures and the end-of-season relegation/promotion play-offs.

DAZN, which in the current broadcast deal has the rights to the Friday and Sunday fixtures, making it the DFL's second-biggest broadcast partner, says it had bid for the package against pay TV broadcaster Sky, the premier partner which currently holds the rights to all Saturday matches.

Claiming to have lost out due to a failure to produce a last-minute bank guarantee rather than a private letter of responsibility which it said had sufficed in previous auctions, DAZN complained: "We have no other explanation for this behavior other than that the DFL management had already anticipated awarding package B to its preferred bidder."

DFL rebukes 'incorrect and unfounded' accusations

The DFL confirmed the reports to the German SID sports news agency on Wednesday night but strongly rejected the accusations.

"The insinuations and accusations raised are incorrect and unfounded and we reject them in the strongest possible terms," it said in a statement, claiming that the DAZN letter of complaint contains "numerous incorrect portrayals and misrepresentation of facts."

The DFL said it would discuss the issue with Germany's Federal Competition Regulator, the Bundeskartellamt, which has already been alerted by DAZN.

It insisted that it is conducting the auction process in adherence to all relevant rules and regulations and "in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner," but that chief executives Marc Lenz and Steffen Merkel had decided to temporarily halt the auction "in order to protect the legal security of the process."

Bundesliga TV rights: What now?

The legal dispute comes at a highly inopportune time for the DFL, whose current domestic broadcast deals with Sky and DAZN run out at the end of next season.

The current deals are worth around €1.1 billion ($1.17 billion), a sum which is divided up among Bundesliga clubs according to a points-based formula.

By way of comparison, the equivalent deal for England's Premier League is worth £1,63 billion (€1.9 billion; $2 billion).

The DFL will be especially keen to increase that figure following the recent collapse of a proposed private equity investment in its international broadcast rights after large-scale fan protests.

But it now faces the prospect of weeks or months of potential legal wrangling.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery 

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