Tag Archives: Germany

The Associated Press reports: Germany’s health minister said Monday that the rapid rise in coronavirus cases means it’s likely everyone in the country who isn’t vaccinated will have caught COVID-19 by the end of the winter — and some of those will die. Official figures showed more than 30,000 newly confirmed cases in Germany over the past 24 hours — …

Reuters reports: Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full COVID-19 lockdown, it said on Friday as neighbouring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout. A fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe’s largest economy, into a national emergency, Health Minister Jens Spahn [photo] said, …

Religion News Service reports: Germany’s Roman Catholic archdiocese of Cologne held a service of penance Thursday for cases of sexual abuse by clergy, saying the ritual was not an absolution for the perpetrators but a “confession of guilt.” The German Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse reports has caused a crisis in Cologne, where the archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki …

ABC News reports: Germany’s capital Berlin will ban unvaccinated people from restaurants, bars, cinemas and other entertainment venues from Monday, as the country grapples with its highest surge in Covid-19 cases to date. From next week those who are not fully vaccinated will be excluded from a number of entertainment sites in Berlin, the city’s Senate announced on Wednesday, as …

Politico Europe reports: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is worried “it is getting harder and harder” to find compromises between European Union countries on hot-button issues like migration and the rule of law. “It is imperative to do everything possible to find a way to keep Europe together,” Merkel said in a wide-ranging interview published in Saturday’s edition of German newspaper …

The BBC reports: Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have claimed victory in the federal election, telling the party of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel it should no longer be in power. SPD leader Olaf Scholz said he had a clear mandate to form a government, while his conservative rival Armin Laschet remains determined to fight on. The two parties have governed …

Euronews reports: The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cologne will take a “spiritual time-out” from his duties after committing grave errors in a crisis over clerical sexual abuse, but will retain his post, the Vatican said on Friday. Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki, 65, had faced criticism for his handling of allegations of past child sex abuse, in particular for shelving a …

CNN reports: A nurse is being investigated by police in Germany for allegedly replacing Covid-19 vaccines with saline solution. The nurse replaced the vaccines between March and April this year at Roffhausen immunization center in Friesland, northwest Germany, the Friesland district administrator, Sven Ambrosy, said on Facebook Tuesday. “Today I had the sad duty to inform around 8,600 people who …

The New York Times reports: As concerns grow over a rise in coronavirus cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, Germany will offer vaccine booster shots to older people and people with underlying health conditions starting in September, according to a draft plan that is expected to be announced on Monday. The issue of booster shots has been hotly …

Reuters reports: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff said on Sunday he fears the number of new coronavirus cases in Germany could soar to 100,000 a day in about two months unless many more people get vaccinated and those who refuse may face restrictions. Helge Braun, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that cases were increasing by 60% per week even …

The Hill reports: German soccer player Leon Goretzka sent a message in support of gay rights after scoring his national team’s second goal during a match against Hungary, which has faced growing backlash to a new law seeking to curb the distribution of LGBT content. After Goretzka, a vocal supporter of LGBT rights, scored the equalizing goal, which put Germany …

Reuters reports: One of Roman Catholicism’s most influential liberal figures, Germany’s Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has offered to resign as archbishop of Munich, saying he had to share responsibility for the “catastrophe” of sexual abuse by clerics over past decades. His offer, which Pope Francis has yet to accept, follows an uproar among the German faithful over abuse. Last week, the …

Axios reports: German authorities announced it will ban most non-essential travel from the United Kingdom starting Sunday to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants. Germany classified Britain as “an area of variant of concern,” saying that outbreaks are reemerging and more infectious variants, including the one dominant in India, have been detected. The ban will not apply to German …

Reuters reports: German lawmakers voted for legislation on Thursday to rehabilitate soldiers who for decades faced discrimination, discharge or convictions on the basis of their sexual orientation. Until the year 2000, Germany’s military considered that homosexuals posed a threat to the discipline of the troops and were not suitable as superior officers. Gay soldiers could be denied promotions, discharged from …

The Associated Press reports: Germany’s powerful Catholic progressives are openly defying a recent Holy See pronouncement that priests cannot bless same-sex unions by offering such blessings at services in about 100 different churches all over the country this week. The blessings at open worship services are the latest pushback from German Catholics against a document released in March by the …

Deutsche Welle reports: Germany’s Oktoberfest, the world’s largestbeer festival held every year in Munich, will not take place in 2021 due to the coronavirus crisis, officials said on Monday. The pandemic has forced the cancellation of the hugely popular festival for the second consecutive year. It had been scheduled from September 18 to October 3. The decision was made by …

The Associated Press reports: A German police bomb squad called to investigate a suspected hand grenade in a Bavarian forest determined that the object actually was a rubber sex toy, authorities said Tuesday. The condoms and lubricant in the bag helped inform the hypothesis about the device’s intended use, police told German news agency dpa. “An internet search confirmed the …

Politico Europe reports: Germany is extending lockdown measures until April 18 and urging people to stay at home for five days around the Easter holidays in an effort to curb the “exponential” growth in coronavirus cases, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Tuesday. After negotiating with state premiers for hours starting Monday, Merkel said at a press conference overnight that they …

The Hill reports: In an article titled “Der Verlierer des Jahres,” which translates as “The Loser of the Year,” Der Spiegel‘s Washington bureau chief Roland Nelles and Berlin-based correspondent Ralf Neukirch described Trump as “a man who … was never concerned with the common good, but always with one thing — himself.” “Nothing is normal under Trump,” the article added. …

The Associated Press reports: Several German states moved closer to a “hard lockdown” Tuesday as officials warned that continued high coronavirus infections could overwhelm hospitals and that too many people were ignoring existing pandemic restrictions. The governor of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer [photo], announced that schools and most stores will close from Monday until Jan. 10, as the eastern state recorded …