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Merkel lockdown update review

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

Those responsible in the federal states have known for some time that the federal-state round of talks next Monday would come to nothing, due to the Chancellor's ebarassing TV appearance on the Sunday evening after the "Easter rest" debacle. The agreement to define Maundy Thursday and Easter Saturday as quasi shut-down days was quickly removed from the table. What Angela Merkel and the Conference of Minister Presidents had decided proved impossible to implement. Merkel's prompt apology...

VP Iglesias steps out and runs for Madrid Government

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

Pablo Iglesias, former second vice-president from the Spanish Government, and leader of Unidas Podemos announced on March 15 from his personal account on Twitter that he resigns his vice presidency and gets in the running as the candidate from the left-wing parties for Madrid Community elections that will be held in May. Early last week Iglesias met Pedro Sanchez at Moncloa to explain the motivation of his spin-off from the Government. After Isabel Diaz Ayuso decision to call for elections...

Reform of euthanasia clears the first hurdle in the Bundestag

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

Whether out of pure charity or in return for payment - anyone who helps others commit suicide remains unpunished in Germany. That was the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court last year, when it overturned the ban on commercial euthanasia adopted in 2015 - a radical decision, as SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach recently put it. This means that any form of euthanasia, commercial or otherwise, is exempt from punishment. As before the ban, there is no legal framework for assisted suicide...

Political balance is broken at Madrid government

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

The Bureau of Assembly of the Madrid Community has admitted the two motions of censure presented this morning by PSOE and Mas Madrid. It thus opens a legal battle over which comes first, these motions or the dissolution of the Madrid Chamber decreed by President Diaz Ayuso this morning. According to the Bureau's decision, the parliament would not be dissolved. The dissolution has been prior in time to the motions. However, it will be published tomorrow in the Official Gazette of the Community...

Withdraw of the third-grade freedom regime to the imprisoned politicians

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

The penitentiary surveillance court number 5 of Catalonia has withdrawn the third penitentiary degree to the seven pro-independence prisoners of Lledoners, after the public prosecutor's office requested it. Initially, he did not suspend the semi-freedom, as requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office, but now, analyzing the merits of the matter, he has annulled it, and the prisoners will return to the second degree, the ordinary one, by which they will only be able to leave if they have specific...

The farce and the pose in Pablo Hasel

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

The conviction sentence of Pablo Hasel has become a powerful speaker. Days after his arrest, newspapers around the world talk about his case, his songs are downloaded by the thousands and his arrest has caused public excesses in several cities in Catalonia, including Girona. Authorities have condemned him by giving him, at the same time, such a fabulous marketing campaign that Nike would not get it with the most seasoned marketing brains. And not only that, the arrest has made him a kind of hero...

Shouldn't Riera offer his house to squatters?

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

I love anti-system people like Carles Riera, MP and leader of the CUP. They are the strongest proof that capitalism has no adversary. And that it will take centuries before the world changes in such a way that we find another way of doing things. I want to be an anti-system with the soul of a deputy in the Catalan Parliament, I want to corral constitutional disobedience, I want to have cadres (of Arran) who write a book with clauses for "occupying houses" as long as, of course, they don't...

Japanese Comfort Women resolution requires empathy for South Korea

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

For about 30 years, there have been strained relationships between South Korea and Japan because of the so-called Comfort Women Japan issue. Although an agreement was reached in 2015, South Korea feels it is not enough and insists that Japan has never fully apologized. Japan sees as if South Korea isn't interested in reconciliation. The comfort woman statue in front of Japan's embassy in South Korea that was raised by activists several years ago has yet to be removed. The Japan Comfort...

EU Stability and Growth Pact under scrutiny

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

One year has passed. And two more could follow: In March 2020, the EU Commission and member states suspended the Stability and Growth Pact, invoking the so-called general escape clause in this set of rules for sound public finances. Thanks to the emergency clause, governments can now incur large debts in the fight against the economic consequences of the pandemic without being reprimanded by Brussels. This Wednesday, the Commission will announce the criteria it will use to decide when the...

Scholz wants higher taxes for high earners

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

SPD candidate for chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to push through tax increases for higher earners and the wealthy as well as relief for lower and middle incomes in the coming legislative period. He knows that he "agrees with the vast majority of citizens that we need to make our tax system fairer," the federal finance minister told the Düsseldorf-based "Rheinische Post" newspaper. Scholz stressed that tax fairness includes "those who earn a lot, contributing a little more to the financing of the...

CSU conference during lockdown hints at double standards

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

The Munich CSU is setting a new standard in the corona crisis according to the Bavarian newspaper SZ. However, it is perhaps not one it should be proud of. More quickly than any or hardly any other major political party in the Bavaria, it is coming together for a party conference on a Thursday evening during the second lockdown. Just under 100 people are to meet in a hall on the Nockherberg. There is a hygiene concept in force, and the district administration department has approved the meeting,...

Controversial proposal for teachers to work on Saturdays and vacations

May 10, 2026 • 06:30 PM

The fight against the corona virus continues to have Germany firmly in its grip. Not only is retail, restaurants and cultural establishmentsforced to closedduring the second lockdown but also schools and daycare centers, despite evidence showing these areas are not places of high contamination. Although attempts are being made to make up for the lost classroom time via homeschooling, the fact is that the material cannot be taught to the same extent as it in the classroom. Additionally, numerous...

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Echtzeitalter

Join us for the premiere of Echtzeitalter, a captivating theater production based on the novel by Tonio Schachinger. The story follows Till, a new student at a prestigious gymnasium, who grapples with the outdated teaching methods of his strict teacher, Dolinar. As Till navigates his elite...

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