Lufthansa pilots have called a two-day strike amid a dispute over pension payments. Meanwhile, Volkswagen says it plans to cut 50,000 jobs by 2030.
Dresden to evacuate 18,000 people after discovery of WWII bomb
Around 18,000 people in Dresden will have to leave their homes and workplaces by 9 a.m. on Wednesday, after a Second World War bomb was discovered near the Carola Bridge.
Authorities say two suspicious objects were found on the banks of the Elbe River, and experts confirmed that one is a 250‑kilogram British explosive. It’s set to be defused in a major operation tomorrow, the largest evacuation in Dresden since the war.
The 1,000‑meter evacuation zone includes key landmarks such as the Frauenkirche and the Semperoper, as well as the police headquarters, the Saxon state parliament, and several care facilities.
An emergency shelter will open at the Dresden Exhibition Centre from 7 a.m.
Germany’s unusable bunkers reveals issues in emergency prep
None of Germany’s roughly 600 public shelters are currently operational, making the country poorly prepared for emergencies. The federal government is depending on citizens to take personal precautions.
Emergency call network on German autobahns is offline nationwide
The orange emergency call boxes at the side of the German highway or autobahn network are currently all out of service as a result of a technical problem.
The government’s Autobahn GmbH public limited company announced on Tuesday that all the orange emergency call stations were offline because of a suspected technical defect in their central communication infrastructure.
The call stations inside tunnels, however, were not affected by the issue.
The company said that its officials and a technical service provider were currently analyzing the precise cause of the dropout, and that it was too early to say when it expected the system to be repaired.
It advised drivers to continue to call the emergency services on 112 using their mobile phones as a first resort and to be aware that the roadside option was currently not in service.
It also reminded drivers encountering an accident to first activate their hazard lights, park safely, put on a high visibility jacket and seek safety behind the barriers at the edge of the road prior to calling the emergency services.
Lufthansa pilots to strike on Thursday and Friday
Lufthansa pilots will launch a two-day strike starting early Thursday, escalating a long-running dispute over pensions.
The walkout, called by the VC pilots’ union, affects Lufthansa passenger and cargo flights departing German airports from 00:01 on March 12 to 23:59 on March 13.
The union says talks have dragged on without progress, and no improved offer is on the table.
Flights to parts of the Middle East, including Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, and the UAE, will be exempt “in light of the current situation” in the region.
The strike follows earlier action last month that Lufthansa said hit passengers “extremely harshly.”
German military mulls use of Joseph Goebbels’ villa
Germany’s military is reportedly considering using Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels’ infamous estate near Berlin, which includes an abandoned villa.
The property comprises several buildings. It has been unused and falling into disrepair since 2000.
The eastern state of Brandenburg and the municipality of Wandlitz are “closely involved” in discussions about the property located in a forest on Lake Bogensee, north of Berlin, an Bundeswehr spokesman told German news agency dpa.
It all comes as the Bundeswehr is looking for new infrastructure, as it grows in response to the geopolitical situation and new NATO requirements, the spokesman added.
Built in 1939, the residence was used as a retreat from Goebbels’ Berlin-based wife and six children. Apart from entertaining Nazi leaders, artists and actors, Goebbels was also believed to have used the villa as a love nest for his many secret affairs.
After Goebbels and his wife killed themselves and their children in a Berlin bunker in 1945, the villa was briefly used as a military hospital before being used by the youth wing of the East German communist party.
For about a decade following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the villa was put to various uses before being largely abandoned. Maintenance and upkeep have become an onerous task for the state of Berlin and the federal government.
Merz warns Israel that West Bank annexation measures a ‘grave mistake’
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has spoken out against any Israeli annexation plans in the West Bank.
Following talks with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis in Berlin, Merz said the “annexation measures being discussed in Jerusalem would make the two-state solution even more difficult.”
Merz said the German government was calling on Israel to refrain from the step, calling it a “grave mistake.”
DW’s chief political editor Michaela Kuefner posted on X:
Rare open criticism of Israel by a German Chancellor: Merz warns Netanyahu government of “grave mistake” over West Bank annexation plans. Calls on Israel to “refrain from ..steps towards annexation.” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is in Israel to attempt to de-escalate.
In August last year, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a plan for construction of 3,400 housing units in the so-called E1 area, between East Jerusalem and the the Maale Adumim settlement. He said at the time it “buries” the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.
Germany has said the development plan Israel has would divide the occupied West Bank and complicate efforts for a two-state solution.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem alongside roughly 3 million Palestinians. The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state.
On Monday, Berlin strongly condemned renewed acts of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank.
German culture minister cancels Bookshop Award ceremony
Germany’s Ministry for Culture and Media announced the award ceremony recognizing the country’s best independent bookstores had been cancelled.
The move comes after minister of state for culture, Wolfram Weimer, removed three left-leaning stores from consideration.
“The debate about the non-consideration of three jury proposals is increasingly threatening to overshadow the actual purpose of the event — namely to recognize and honour independent bookshops,” a spokesperson for Weimer said.
“The award ceremony planned for March 19 will not take place. The awards will be sent out,” the Ministry for Culture and Media said in a post on X.
The three stores were removed from the nomination list due to “findings relevant to the protection of the constitution,” although the allegations against them have not been made public.
The trio intend taking legal action.
Bookshop Prize is awarded to around 100 small bookshops with prize money ranging from €7,000 ($8,150) to €25,000.
German fuel prices: E10 clears €2 per liter, diesel nears €2.24
Germany’s ADAC motoring club reports continued increases in diesel and petroleum/gasoline prices at the pumps for drivers in the country, even as the oil price sharply dips from Monday’s highs.
“The early-morning prices on Tuesday, March 10 do not demonstrate any downward trend,” the ADAC wrote.
As of 7:15 in the morning (typically when prices are high as fuel stations try to cash in on commuters filling up) diesel was selling for €2.237 on average per liter. That equates to almost $8.50 per US gallon.
The budget brand of petroleum or gasoline, known as E10, was selling for €2.095 per liter. Those prices had passed the €2 mark for the first time in Monday’s averages.
The cost of diesel has risen by around 40 cents per liter since the war broke out, and petrol prices by more than 20 cents. This exceeds the extent of the change in oil prices on the markets as the figures currently stand, although they’re somewhat better calibrated to Monday’s peaks.
The government in Berlin on Monday said it would ask the national cartel office to investigate potential price gouging or opportunistic price hikes amid the conflict in the Middle East.
European Space Agency probing Koblenz meteorite
The European Space Agency (ESA) said that it was investigating the “very bright fireball” that shot through the skies of Europe before slamming into the roof of a house in the German town of Koblenz.
The space agency said the fireball glowed for around six seconds just before 7 p.m. central European time (1800 GMT) on Sunday and was observed by people across Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
The ESA said the Planetary Defence team in the agency’s Space Safety Programme was trying to estimate the size of the object and according to their assessment, believe it could have originally measured a few meters in diameter.
“The timing and direction of the impact indicate that the object was likely not visible to any of the large-scale telescope sky surveys that scan the night sky for such objects,” the ESA said.
BioNTech founders stepping down to embark on new venture
The founders of German biotechnology company BioNTech will be stepping down to start a new business, the company announced.
Under the leadership of the husband and wife team of Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, BioNTech developed the first vaccine against COVID-19.
The company partnered with US company Pfizer and received the first market approval for a coronavirus vaccine.
Sahin and Tureci founded BioNTech in 2008 with the aim of developing mRNA-based cancer therapies and will step down at the end of 2026, at the latest.
“Ozlem and I want to break new ground once again as pioneers,” Sahin said in a statement.
BioNTech said it supported their decision to “seize the opportunity to devote their strengths and full attention to a new company in order to exploit the full potential of mRNA-based technologies.”
Their new biotechnology firm will focus on developing the next generation of mRNA-based drugs
Source : https://www.dw.com/en/germany-news-updates-volkswagen-profit-job-cuts-discrimination/live-76285550