1. Full up strike for bus/tram services in Wiesbaden (80 cities in this situation) yesterday. No public transportation.
2. Right to repair? The EU has spent years of talking around and trying to get into some type of negotiations on a mandate/regulation....where manufacturers in Europe of electrical appliances and cell phones would be forced in some way to fix/repair their equipment.
Selling this? They say consumers/the environment would benefit.
Agreement is now in final stages.
What I'd generally expect? Prices over the next year or two will swing upward (maybe 30-percent) to cover this service. To be honest, if you bought most appliances in Germany, and it broke....you'd call the service and they'd come out (figure 60 Euro minimum for the visit), and if the item was less than five years old....they'd fix the issue. If you had something over ten years old....the service guy would usually tell you it's time to dump the old appliance.
Not sure how this would work with smart-phones (I've never had a phone that got past four years).
3. The German Federal Employment Agency has come out and said this 'take-off' that they expected with incoming migrants....has not had much effect on filling jobs in Germany.
They didn't say 'zero' effect....just that all this anticipation going back for most of ten years...hasn't been fulfilled.
4. Spring here? Well....there's this odd factor....Germans have reported seeing cranes flying from south to north in the past couple of days. This typically only happens in the spring (like mid-March). Yeah, it is way early. To be honest, I haven't seen snow flurries since the first week of December.
5. New tax started up in Wiesbaden....five Euro per night for each hotel room occupied. Hotels and tourist industry are grumbling about this situation. Doesn't matter if you rent a 1-star room or a 4-star room.
6. Jürgen Falter, political analyst, wrote a fine commentary for WELT....worth a read (from Friday's edition) if you can find it.
Title? 'Why there will not be new elections, even if they are absolutely necessary.'
As he points out...a majority of the public (maybe going to two-thirds of citizens in Germany....have lost trust in the SPD-coalition. On most levels, it'd make sense to drop things, and have a new federal election.
However, things are so crapped up on polling numbers....that all three (SPD, FDP and Greens) would stand to take a huge loss. So it is best for all to manage for another 18 months and think something might change.
7. Massive farmer/tractor demonstration to be staged around the Frankfurt Airport today. Probably will delay thousands in reaching their flights.
8. Freising, Germany.....three political figures agreed to sit in on a master-craftsman roundtable. The 20 craftsmen....blasted the group. Two political parties in the mix: CSU and SPD. Green Party representative decided to skip this episode.
9. The boss of the Turkish Central Bank has suddenly resigned.....allegations of corruption.
10. I noticed off ARD (public TV, Channel 1) last night, they attempted to explain Taylor Swift-for-Biden antics in the US. This went on for about 150 seconds. My German wife (maybe in a daze) asked me if Americans are that consumed for Taylor Swift and if she was 'famous'.
To be honest around Germany, I don't think Swift is that recognizable. If you showed her picture to people....fewer than 40-percent would probably guess who she is.
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