Category: News

It was probably the immediate effects of the abuse scandal in the catholic church that caused the german bishops to show remorse in a first shock reaction. Not only remorse, there should even be a comprehensive reappraisal of the scandal. Under the pressure of public opinion and numerous church resignations, it was necessary to act quickly to regain lost credibility and limit the damage as much as possible. That was in the summer of 2011. In the meantime, one and a half years have passed, and some bishops have obviously changed their minds. You may have internalized the dangers of giving an independent scientific body access to all personnel files from the past ten years. In the first rush, nine bishops even wanted to trace the investigation back to 1945. Yes for heaven’s sake!

If anything is surprising, it is the fact that it took so long for some bishops to become afraid of their own courage and to retreat. Especially in munich, you have to know what an independent investigation can mean. In the local archdiocese, a jurist had taken a closer look at the personnel files. As a result, they identified nine times more abuse traps than were known to the abuse commissioner of the bishopric. Apparently not all diocesan leaders want to take such a risk anymore.

The accusation made in this context by the criminological research institute of lower saxony that there is evidence of the destruction of files fits into the picture. So it’s business as usual in the catholic church. Possible perpetrators are protected, the victims are told to submit to their fate.
A dangerous thought. The pope agrees.

Alexander zverev has coped well with the scare before the australian open and sees no problems for his opening match at the first tennis highlight of the year. "The fub hurts a little. It’s like a bruise on the bone," said zverev in melbourne.

Two days earlier, he had twisted his ankle in training and suffered a swelling. "It takes time. I’m not too worried about it," the unofficial world champion added calmly. Zverev will play his first-round match against slovenian aljaz bedene on tuesday with a tape. Even his thigh, which was still sore at the beginning of the week, no longer causes the world number four any concern. On saturday, zverev practiced for two hours with spanish player fernando verdasco after what he said was a planned break from training.

Regardless of his fitness, the 21-year-old from hamburg stressed that he does not see himself as a favorite for the first grand slam tournament in the new year. Zverev named swiss defending champion roger federer, serbian world number one novak djokovic and rafael nadal. The spaniard, who has been out of action since the US open due to injury, says he is recovering well from a bone operation and recent thigh problems.

Fees for checking accounts, debit cards, paper transfers or small withdrawals – in view of the low interest rates, many banks have asked their customers to pay more.

Nevertheless, many consumers are reluctant to switch banks. This is shown by a survey of more than 2,000 bank customers conducted by the management consultancy oliver wyman. However, consumers are increasingly using second banks for consumer loans or construction financing.

The proportion of customers who changed banks within a year has averaged only one to two percent over the past 30 years, says the paper, which is available to the deutsche presse-agentur. In the past five years, this figure has risen significantly to three percent – still a low level. "The traditional financial institutions such as savings banks, volks- and raiffeisenbank, and other branch banks still hold the dominant position in the role of house bank," explained study author tobias dziggel.

The divorce from his wife has a 38-year-old man from the county probably difficult to cope with. In 2013, the self-employed person moved out of the shared apartment building. Since then, things have gone downhill. Business documents were lost, so that the tax office estimated the profit that his company generated and demanded 27,000 euros in income tax from the entrepreneur. His mountain of debt grew to as much as 140,000 euros.

He did not pay a bill from his tax advisor for 3691 euros. Since he did not respond to reminders and the bailiff could not locate the defaulting debtor, the tax office reported the now ex-client for fraud. As a result, the self-employed man received a penalty order for 80 daily rates of 35 euros (2800 euros), against which he lodged an appeal, so that he had to answer for his actions on friday in a criminal trial before the district court in habfurt.

There his defense lawyer alexander wessel said that the accused had been a client of the damaged tax office since 2003 and had always paid the invoices. The defendant himself stated that the mail was delivered to his company address and that he picked it up once a week. He was also always available by telephone. In addition, he knew the bailiff, who lived only a few houses away. The tax office had blocked his bank account. He was penniless and had been financed by his parents. In the meantime, he had transferred 500 euros to the damaged tax office. Up to 15 creditors had been waiting for their money at times.

Reporting on the study has dramatized the results and created "sausage hysteria" in germany were drawn, researchers from the rhenish-westphalian institute for economic research (RWI) criticized on friday in essen. The international agency for research on cancer, a WHO agency, had warned that daily consumption of 50 grams of processed meat increases the risk of colon cancer by 18 percent.

The researchers explained that the figure only describes the relative risk: it does not mean that, statistically speaking, for every 100 people, 18 more will develop colon cancer. Because the absolute risk of developing colorectal cancer is about five percent. The daily consumption of 50 grams of sausage increases this risk by only one percentage point to six percent. "That sounds a little less dramatic", the scientists wrote. "Relative risks are a proven means of exaggerating the danger and making people fearful."

Only a few media had pointed out the difference between absolute and relative cancer risk, complained economist and RWI vice president thomas K. Bauer, dortmund statistician walter kramer and berlin psychologist gerd gigerenzer. Health risks in food are "turbo generators of headlines". Reports on this are often unobjective. In the case of the WHO study had "the absolute intestine cancer risk clarified and the krebsauslosende effect of sausage in the comparison to other risk factors correctly classified" must be. 

No doubt, those were exciting days in the fall of 2016, when the people of thurnau were able to get a taste of hollywood. Back then, it was possible to meet world stars like colin firth or rupert everett at dinner in a pizzeria (or, like me, to just miss them).

Ingenious and scandal-ridden

The reason was the filming of the movie "the happy prince about the last years of oscar wilde, the irish writer who was as brilliant as he was scandal-ridden. The producers had chosen, among other things, the mighty thurnau castle as their backdrop. For several days the potting village was in a state of emergency. Some of the burgers had won a casting and were allowed to appear in front of the camera in make-up and disguise.

Interest in the premiere of the historical drama was correspondingly high, and the open-air performance in the lower courtyard of the palace was also sold out very quickly.

As drought continues, danger of drought grows in germany.

"The last two years have been unusually dry. Soil now needs rain. Their water reservoirs have only been partially replenished," climate researcher mojib latif, who conducts research at the helmholtz center for ocean research in kiel, told the "rhein-neckar-zeitung" newspaper. Agriculture is threatened by crop failure: "but farmers still have hope. If there is heavy rainfall in the next two to three weeks, it may offset the dry april."

The german weather service (DWD) in offenbach also had the following to say on the weekend: "the current weather situation is somewhat reminiscent of the summer of drought in 2018."From tuesday on, however, widespread showers or shower-like rain must be expected throughout germany. Thunderstorms are also possible in the coming week. There is a risk of heavy rain and also gale-force winds.

In the meantime, the suspected perpetrator from brandenburg is in custody under investigation.

Alleged test
On the afternoon of 14. June the 75-year-old rang the doorbell of his victim's house in albert-schweitzer-strabe and pretended to be a tax office employee who allegedly had to check the woman's documents.
When the man left the apartment a short time later, the senior woman discovered that several thousand euros in cash were missing and informed the police. In the meantime, the perpetrator fled to fub and then in a car provided by the company.

Attentive witness
Due to an announcement in the media, an attentive witness contacted the hofer criminal police, who was able to give a decisive clue to the trick thief's vehicle. In close cooperation with their colleagues in brandenburg, the criminal investigators were able to identify the suspected perpetrator.
The hof public prosecutor's office immediately obtained a warrant for the 75-year-old's arrest. The brandenburger could be arrested finally on tuesday in its homeland and be brought before the investigating judge, who complied with the request for investigative detention.

He had distanced himself for years from the leadership and direction of the priestly brotherhood and refused to show respect and obedience, a spokesman said in stuttgart on wednesday. Moreover, the decision is connected with an interview of the bishop for swedish television, in which he had denied the holocaust.

The 72-year-old briton will therefore have to stand trial again next year before the regensburg district court on charges of incitement to hatred. A first conviction of the bishop had been overturned by the higher regional court of nurnberg (OLG) in february because of procedural defects. As a result, the public prosecutor’s office had revised the criminal order. This involves a maximum amount of 6500 euros (100 daily rates of 65 euros each).

Williamson had denied the murder of six million jews by the nazis and the existence of gas chambers in a TV interview at the seminary of the pius fraternity in zaitzkofen near regensburg in 2008. He said at the time, translated from english: "i believe that the historical evidence strongly contradicts the idea that six million jews were gassed in gas chambers as a premeditated strategy of adolf hitler. (…) i believe there were no gas chambers."

At least three people were killed and 20 others wounded in gun battles saturday night, the arabic news channel al-jazeera reported. Ansar al-sharia militia suspected of involvement in attack on u.S. Consulate in city ten days ago. The american ambassador and three other u.S. Burgers died in it.

Already on friday afternoon, about 20,000 people had gathered for a protest march against violence under the slogan "friday of the rescue of bengasi. Later, according to reports, the anger boiled up, hundreds of demonstrators stormed the headquarters of ansar al-scharia with shouts of "libya, libya" or "no to militia.

The demonstrators, some of whom were armed with swords and meat cleavers, had called on the fighters to lay down their weapons and chased them out of the camp. TV pictures showed burning buildings and vehicles. "After what happened at the american consulate, we’ve had enough of the extremists," said a demonstrator in front of the camera.