Saturday, March 11, 2023

Ten German News Stories

 1.  Karlsruhe hostage situation at a pharmacy ends.  Cops stormed the place.....freeing the two hostages.  Nothing much said over the guy holding them (he's alive).

Via N-TV this AM....they say the guy responsible....20 years old....is fairly well known to the police (robbery, assault).  On charges?  By the time you add this up....unless he proves he's a nutcase, he's looking at 15 years minimum.  

2.  Massive storm front yesterday evening.  Ludwigshafen area was blacked-out for hours while they tried to restore power.

3.  Public TV (ARD/ZDF) spent a fair amount of time last night explaining the religion of the Jehovah's Witness....because of the shooting in Hamburg.  Up until that point, I'd say 99-percent of Germans knew next to nothing...other than they seem to show up on the shopping district streets a good bit.

4.  There's general talk of the new property tax assessments (across the nation) inviting a massive challenge within the legal system.  Some are suggesting that the deadline point where it's in place and people have to pay.....it may be extended because of the chaos involved.

5.  Focus brought up an interesting trend going on.....where a shop or cafe may refuse 'bargeld' (cash).  It is legal that they can decline both coins and cash....mandating you pay with a card of some type.  I've yet to see this situation myself, but the trend does exist.

6. England appears to be offering France 540 million Euro to build and run a detention center for 3 years.....to hold migrants.  No word from France if they would accept the deal.  I would have doubts it'll be accepted.....would create a tidal wave of issues for the EU to handle.

At the same time....the UK is working up a law which will say you don't get asylum or immigration by just showing up.  You'd be given a choice....return to your home-country, or accept a one-way ticket to Rwanda (under a cash deal that the two have worked out).  

For 2022, there were around 90,000 to arrive on the shores of the UK and be in this category.  Will be massive chaos if this pushed through.  

7.  The Nord Stream explosions still on the front page?  WELT laid out two more issues: (1) no one can explain who the seven were in the yacht rental....who the US claims are the folks who carried out the bombing, and (2) there's this freighter which lingered in the same area....same time....for days.....as the yacht.  As much as the NY Times sought to clean up the previous story, the freighter business makes the Times story a bit strange.

The possibility that the seven (said to be Ukrainians but with fake passports) are just actors and did nothing?  Someone (via social media) brought up this possibility and I was a bit amused.  I could see a James Bond-like movie where you did a 'screen-test' with seven folks and then at the end....just dumped them off.  Kinda funny, if you think about it.  

8.  Via WELT, the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution says that 29 Germans are in the Ukraine and involved in the war.  This gets you automatically on a 'watch-list'.  

9.   Via N-TV this AM....some segment by researchers says that 'yes, more money does make you happy.'  At least German researchers say this about German people.  It probably is not true with other cultures or societies.  

10.  Cops in Hanover have the determined the 'kid' in the attempted bank robbery from 10 days ago (I essayed the piece when it occurred).  Kid is actually 7 years old and his brother gave him the bank robbery idea.  Apparently, no legal trouble will come out of this.  The brother (16 years old) has been dragged in front of the court, and there's going to be some type of juvenile charges arranged on him.

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