https://www.scmp.com/rss/325204/feed Erik is an author, journalist and executive director of German-American exchange programme RIAS based in Berlin. He previously worked for Reuters in Germany and Austria for 27 years. He has written four books, including “Rocking the Wall”, about a record-breaking Bruce Springsteen concert in East Berlin in 1988 that may have helped bring down the Berlin Wall a year later. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand has returned to Germany – together with 30 poodles – after spending more than a year away from his adopted home in the Bavarian alps, according to German media reports. The tabloid-style Bild newspaper published a picture of what it said was the 69-year-old monarch wearing a dark brown and orange Adidas track suit on the way to the public swimming pool of the Hilton Airport hotel in Munich. The newspaper said the king had arrived in Munich on Monday and that... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3155742/thai-king-maha-vajiralongkorn-returns-germany-entourage-250-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3155742/thai-king-maha-vajiralongkorn-returns-germany-entourage-250-people?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Nov 2021 13:45:05 +0000 Once Europe’s poster child in the battle against Covid-19, Germany has turned into a problem child with the pandemic threatening to spin out of control – even after two months of a strict national lockdown that has frayed nerves, eroded faith in the government and darkened the country’s mood. German leaders had to scramble on Monday to defend a controversial decision to shut its borders to the Czech Republic and parts of Austria to foreign travellers, including commuting workers, in a desperate... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3121890/coronavirus-germans-sick-and-tired-long-lockdown-hits-national?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3121890/coronavirus-germans-sick-and-tired-long-lockdown-hits-national?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Feb 2021 08:18:44 +0000 Germany reported 952 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours on Wednesday, a daily record, as the nation returned to a strict lockdown mode for the second time this year. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases also increased by 27,728 to 1,379,238, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The national death toll stood at 23,427 and the previous one-day high was 598 last Friday. Under new rules meant to counter a surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths, schoolchildren will stay at home and non-essential... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3114166/coronavirus-record-952-dead-24-hours-germany-enters-lockdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3114166/coronavirus-record-952-dead-24-hours-germany-enters-lockdown?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Dec 2020 07:15:53 +0000 Thirty years after it was first planned and 14 long years after the groundbreaking ceremony in 2006 that marked the start of its troubled construction, Berlin’s new international airport will be unceremoniously opened on Saturday – more than nine years late and nearly triple its original costs. Instead of cracking open champagne to toast the oft-delayed completion of one of Germany’s biggest-ever infrastructure projects, there will be only quiet sighs of relief when the first two planes –... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3107635/berlin-looks-china-southeast-asia-it-opens-new-airport-nine-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3107635/berlin-looks-china-southeast-asia-it-opens-new-airport-nine-years?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Oct 2020 23:30:14 +0000 As Thailand’s pro-democracy demonstrations present an unprecedented challenge to the power of the monarchy, King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s long-term residence in the German state of Bavaria is becoming a headache for the government. Demonstrators this week appealed to Berlin for support, stirring debate about whether the Thai king conducting affairs of state while in Germany would constitute a violation of his visa and therefore grounds for expulsion. Why are Thai people protesting and what will... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3107392/thailand-protests-pressure-mounts-german-government-over-kings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3107392/thailand-protests-pressure-mounts-german-government-over-kings?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Oct 2020 10:30:19 +0000 Thailand’s capital of Bangkok is more than 8,800km away from the scenic Bavarian lake region where King Maha Vajiralongkorn quietly took up residence as crown prince over a decade ago. The 68-year-old’s improbable choice for a life shrouded in secrecy in Germany was long just a staple of reports that appeared in the curiosity sections of tabloid newspapers and on lifestyle TV programmes here. Those occasional reports of an eccentric monarch were nourished by at-time bizarre public sightings –... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3106641/germany-about-lose-patience-thai-king-maha-vajiralongkorn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3106641/germany-about-lose-patience-thai-king-maha-vajiralongkorn?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Oct 2020 02:00:29 +0000 Angela Merkel has been so successful in outfoxing and systematically eliminating any would-be challengers to her rule that there are not any obvious political heavyweights left in her conservative party with the clout or stature to step in to succeed her when she retires next year. No heir apparent. No one in the wings. Germany has come through the coronavirus crisis in relatively good shape so far and much of the economy has reopened as the numbers of daily new infections and deaths have... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3094785/angela-merkel-makes-improbable-comeback-germanys-crisis-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3094785/angela-merkel-makes-improbable-comeback-germanys-crisis-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Jul 2020 02:02:44 +0000 In the eight weeks since Germany became the largest European Union country to begin easing Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the nation that has emerged as a case study for how to handle the virus has managed to build upon its early success despite some regional setbacks. Having flattened the curve with rates of new infections and deaths now a mere fraction of their peaks in early April, Germany has become a poster child for how a major Western nation can deal with the public-health crisis. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3091151/germany-world-leader-coronavirus-war-far-mission-accomplished?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3091151/germany-world-leader-coronavirus-war-far-mission-accomplished?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Jun 2020 04:57:36 +0000 US President Donald Trump’s plans to withdraw 9,500 US soldiers stationed in Germany would hurt the United States’ interests and shake the Nato alliance, political leaders and defence analysts said. Even though the 34,500 American troops that are still in Germany largely as a legacy of the Cold War, those US forces are poised to deploy rapidly to other parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East rather than to defend Germany. In outlining his plans to remove nearly a third of those forces by... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3089396/disaster-nato-us-hurt-trump-does-battle-ally-germany?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3089396/disaster-nato-us-hurt-trump-does-battle-ally-germany?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jun 2020 07:42:31 +0000 Germans have long viewed the United States as a protector of human rights and democracy around the globe, the undisputed leader of the free world. But many have recoiled in horror at America’s chaos in the last week since the killing of black man George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, which US president Donald Trump threatened to end with military force. The demonstrations have resonated in Germany, a deeply pacifist nation for which military force is anathema. Thousands have protested in front... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3087531/america-crisis-reluctance-germany-be-leader-free-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3087531/america-crisis-reluctance-germany-be-leader-free-world?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jun 2020 07:11:02 +0000 The coronavirus causing such mayhem around the world has mercifully left much of Germany relatively unscathed compared to the rest of Europe, but the pandemic has nevertheless caused serious damage to continent’s leading nation in one vulnerable spot – its historically close ties to the United States. Exacerbating simmering anti-American sentiments in Germany, the coronavirus crisis has caused a major erosion of public support in Germany for its traditional allies in the US while feeding into a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3085015/pitiful-sight-german-views-us-and-china-shift-amid-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3085015/pitiful-sight-german-views-us-and-china-shift-amid-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 May 2020 06:14:18 +0000 A celebrity cook who called the coronavirus a government trick to plant mind control chips into Germans under the guise of vaccinations was hauled away by police from an unlawful demonstration in front of the parliament building. A pop star attacked face mask requirements and demanded evidence that Covid-19 really exists, while a leading Roman Catholic Cardinal in Germany added his name to a letter claiming the pandemic was a pretext to create a global government. Prominent supporters of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3084165/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-about-mind-control-chips-bill?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3084165/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-about-mind-control-chips-bill?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 May 2020 05:13:12 +0000 Authorities in Germany were bracing for further street protests in coming days after more than a 1,000 demonstrators in Berlin flouted Germany’s month-old coronavirus lockdown. More than 100 people were detained and faced charges of assault, battery, bodily injury and resisting arrest at Saturday’s demonstration, in what was the biggest protest yet against the government’s sweeping Covid-19 restrictions that also outlaw such large public gatherings. Nearly 300 police, many wearing protective... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3081703/germany-coronavirus-protests-bring-people-closer-together-perhaps?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3081703/germany-coronavirus-protests-bring-people-closer-together-perhaps?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Apr 2020 07:04:36 +0000 Declaring that it has brought the coronavirus “under control”, Germany will allow thousands of shops, bookstores, furniture stores and car dealerships to reopen on Monday in what amounts to a first significant step towards a return to normality in Europe’s biggest economy. But the cautious restart in Germany after a month of public lockdown – a reflection of its low Covid-19 death and falling reproduction rates – stands in sharp contrast to Spain, France, Italy and the UK. Lockdowns designed to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3080599/germany-has-coronavirus-under-control-other-parts-europe-are-far?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3080599/germany-has-coronavirus-under-control-other-parts-europe-are-far?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:41:24 +0000 The global toll from the coronavirus crisis neared a new grim milestone on Tuesday with nearly 2 million reported cases and 120,000 dead. But the remarkable differences in the way Germany and the UK have handled their outbreaks and the starkly divergent case fatality rates will be studied for years to come for insights into how to respond – or not respond – to the next pandemic. On Monday, with Germany’s tally approaching 128,000 cases with 3,043 coronavirus-related deaths, the UK reported... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3079813/germany-uk-and-stark-difference-coronavirus-deaths?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3079813/germany-uk-and-stark-difference-coronavirus-deaths?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Apr 2020 07:01:25 +0000 The German government could send empty Lufthansa passenger jets to Shanghai every day to collect payloads of face masks and medical equipment as part of a Luftbrücke (airlift) to improve the supply chain of urgently needed goods for its battle against the coronavirus. Recalling the spirit of the historic “airlift” of Allied food and fuel supplies that helped West Berlin overcome the Soviet blockade in 1948/49, Germany is now counting on daily deliveries of 25 tonnes of airfreighted surgical... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3079268/coronavirus-lufthansa-resumes-flights-china-just-collect-tonnes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3079268/coronavirus-lufthansa-resumes-flights-china-just-collect-tonnes?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Apr 2020 11:01:41 +0000 Austria, Denmark and the Czech Republic announced plans to start cautiously easing the lockdowns that have crippled their economies next week as the Covid-19 curves begin to flatten in several of the smaller European countries that took early and aggressive steps to slow the spread of the virus last month. But with Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain still battling the coronavirus that has claimed 45,958 lives in five of Europe’s largest countries, the plans to allow small shops... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3078797/rest-europe-battles-coronavirus-these-three-countries-plan-ease?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3078797/rest-europe-battles-coronavirus-these-three-countries-plan-ease?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Apr 2020 09:37:21 +0000 The Berlin city government has asked the German military for assistance in securing the transport of surgical masks and other protective medical clothing after conflicting reports about the mysterious disappearance of 200,000 face masks Berlin had bought for its police department. A spokesman for the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, confirmed a request for the military help had been made and was being studied after Dilek Kalayci, the city’s minister for health, said on Sunday the city... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3078565/coronavirus-german-military-asked-secure-transport-face-masks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3078565/coronavirus-german-military-asked-secure-transport-face-masks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Apr 2020 04:40:29 +0000 The Auerbach men’s accessories maker in Berlin has been sewing tailor-made neckties, elegant scarves and stylish handkerchiefs for more than a century. But with demand for its finely handcrafted wearable works of art in free fall due to the coronavirus crisis, managing director Jan-Henrik Scheper-Stuke realised he needed a quick fix to keep his 40 employees working. Just a few days after abruptly shifting production from dapper bow ties to fancy face masks last Thursday, Auerbach has been... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3078126/bow-ties-face-masks-german-firms-shift-gears-coronavirus-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3078126/bow-ties-face-masks-german-firms-shift-gears-coronavirus-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Apr 2020 08:55:17 +0000 A rising star in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party committed suicide apparently because he had become distraught over the economic turbulence and financial distress that the coronavirus crisis is causing for Germany, the governor of Hesse state Volker Bouffier said on Sunday. Bouffier said that Thomas Schaefer, the Hesse state’s finance minister since 2010 and long seen as his successor as governor, had killed himself because he was in despair about the financial crisis resulting... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3077507/german-ministers-suicide-linked-coronavirus-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3077507/german-ministers-suicide-linked-coronavirus-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2020 03:17:06 +0000 Germany has stood out during the coronavirus pandemic with an improbably low mortality rate so far – just 92 deaths from the 23,921 cases of infected people recorded as of Sunday. Has the country been just lucky or are there tangible reasons – such as a strong medical care system and extensive early testing – for the strikingly low case fatality rates compared to the other countries battling Covid-19? Are there demographic reasons with fewer elderly Germans afflicted? Or might there even be... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3076420/coronavirus-why-are-so-many-more-people-dying-italy-germany?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3076420/coronavirus-why-are-so-many-more-people-dying-italy-germany?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2020 06:50:22 +0000 Edward Snowden, the US spy agency contractor who leaked troves of classified information about the US government’s mass surveillance programmes, has stepped up his lobbying efforts to get asylum in Germany or France after spending the last six years in exile in Moscow. In a series of interviews with European media outlets coinciding with Tuesday’s release of his memoir Permanent Record, Snowden said that he hoped to be granted asylum in Germany or France, countries where he is widely considered... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3027605/wanted-new-german-or-french-home-edward-snowden-who-never-chose?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3027605/wanted-new-german-or-french-home-edward-snowden-who-never-chose?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Sep 2019 06:03:47 +0000 Even though it was long considered a paradise for renters with prices so cheap that hardly anyone wanted to buy their own flat, steep increases in recent years have rattled Berlin to the point that the city government is working on plans to impose a five-year freeze on rents – and possibly even to force some landlords to cut their prices. The draconian measures being drafted by the city housing department comes amid rising pressure for action from the public, where about 85 per cent of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3024822/why-berlin-paradise-renters-1100-sq-ft-flat-could-be-capped-us886?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3024822/why-berlin-paradise-renters-1100-sq-ft-flat-could-be-capped-us886?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Aug 2019 03:32:10 +0000 German Chancellor Angela Merkel was re-elected to a fourth term in the country’s general election on Sunday despite suffering heavy losses to a new far-right party that is virulently opposed to refugees and migrants. But Europe’s longest-serving leader, who has come to rely increasingly on China as an important ally on global issues such as climate change, said she does not expect to have any difficulty forming a new government by the end of the year with two smaller coalition partners. Merkel,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2112765/germanys-favour-china-still-intact-after-merkels-election-victory?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2112765/germanys-favour-china-still-intact-after-merkels-election-victory?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Sep 2017 10:25:29 +0000 Germany will be eager to deepen economic and diplomatic relations with China in a shifting multilateral world regardless of whether Chancellor Angela Merkel wins re-election next week or is knocked out of power by challenger Martin Schulz. That is the consensus view of analysts and a key official in Merkel’s right-left grand coalition government as the European Union’s wealthiest country heads down the home stretch for the election next Sunday. There is precious little difference between the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2111564/age-trump-china-seen-important-global-partner-germanys-next?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2111564/age-trump-china-seen-important-global-partner-germanys-next?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Sep 2017 10:12:57 +0000