Thursday, September 12, 2024

12 Sep 2024: Six German News Stories

 1.  The Carolabrucke....the bridge leading to the 'old-town' area of Dresden over the river....partially collapsed.  Built in 1967....the fire department is reviewing what remains....saying they expect the entire bridge is probably finished.  One interesting detail....no vehicles were lost, and no injuries reported.

It's one of four bridges in the city, and yes....it is a big deal on the non-use.  Last big audit/inspection of the bridge?  Three years ago.  

A continuing footnote on renovations of bridges and why so many are being reviewed for safety reasons.

Footnote: after this collapse....just a awful lot of chatter via TV news and discussion groups...in that dozens of major bridges in Germany are in a condition requiring replacement.

2.  1.8 meters of snow forecasted by this weekend in the Austrian Alps and encroaching upon Germany.  Maybe a month ahead of normal snowfall.  Last year? Well....it was one of the early snowfall years for central Germany, and around my valley....probably one-third of a meter over a week.  

Added to the snowfall....if you head into Czech and the region south....massive amount of rain expected over next four days....lot of flooding to occur.

3.  Interesting WELT article from Wed.....talking to the topic of media 'Antifa' situations.  German public has come to notice off public TV chat forums....moderators are gearing up a crew when AfD Party politicians appear on the show....to oppose them in strong ways.

I won't disagree with the tactic.  The moderators probably believe they are on some moral high-ground, and there's nothing wrong with 'hitting' AfD.  The problem I see....as people watch this, it wouldn't take much to say public TV has a problem, and enhance the idea of gutting the TV tax.

4.  Curious story over Koln's 'Pascha' brothel (largest brothel in Europe).  For those not familiar with it....it is a pink-colored building designed as a hotel, but serving as a legit and licensed German brothel.

So, there's been this investigation going on.  Oddly, the owners 'sold' residence permits to well-to-do Chinese folks.

Brothel temporarily owned by the gov't?  Well....yeah.  The rest of this story?  It goes off to suggest that the well-to-do folks are people-smugglers in some way, and I'm just guessing here....but female Chinese folks are being part of this story.

5.  There was a open-talk in the Bundestag yesterday.  Things got highly critical of the Chancellor (Scholz).  When he finally got up and did defensive talk....he got highly animated (more so than usual, lot of arm waving).

6.   Across all of Germany today (Thursday)....it's supposed to be a test of the national warning system (not just sirens, but includes cellphones as well).

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