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TOPIC: germany

Future

Crossing Europe, Sans Gas? My Summer Vacation 'Stress Test' For Electric Cars

The author set off on a three-week vacation trip across Europe in an electric car. Would the charging infrastructure be enough to get all the way, or would they end up stranded without battery, far from home?

BERLIN — "Do we really want to do that?" my wife asked. "Nearly 3,000 kilometers across Europe, in an electric car? We've already failed over much shorter distances."

She was right about that. But it's 2023, and e-mobility has outgrown its niche. It is set to become the new reality — in fact, it already is. After all, we're driving through Europe, not the desert.

After a lot of persuasion, I finally managed to assuage her worries. But I also prepared myself for a fairly big adventure. After all, our three-week vacation tour this year took us not only through Germany, but also Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.

On our last long electric trip just over a year ago, we got stuck in a charging station jam after only 160 kilometers. The charging park in Nempitz, Saxony-Anhalt, was overrun, and before we could get to the charging point we had to line up and wait for 45 minutes.

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Le Weekend: Chancellor Memes, She-Dracula, Great Wall Oopsie

Sept. 9-10

  • Back to school in Belgorod
  • Anti-depression helmet
  • Woof-gang Amadeus Mozart
  • … and much more.
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In Wartime Ukraine, That Fine Line Between Surviving And Collaborating With The Enemy

More than 6,000 collaboration cases have already been filed in Ukraine — but how does the law distinguish between wilful collaboration and simply trying to survive? And what should happen to the guilty?

KYIV — After the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many more Ukrainians have been forced to survive under occupation. That means the question of collaboration with the Russian occupiers, and how to determine responsibility for it, is a pressing issue.

The term "collaboration" appeared in Ukrainian legislation only in March 2022, but it has a far longer history. Collaboration was first used to describe the cooperation of local residents with occupying German authorities in France and Belgium during World War I. At the time, it did not yet have a sharply negative connotation.

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The more widespread use of "collaboration" appeared during World War II, when it became the official name for cooperation between Germany and France's Vichy government.

But how to define the term remains ambiguous, and it is difficult to draw a clear line between actions necessary to survive an occupation, and true cooperation with the enemy.

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This Happened — September 5: Munich Olympics Terrorist Attack

The Munich Olympics terrorist attack happened on this day in in 1972.

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In The News

Le Weekend: Venice Film Festival In SAG Strike Times, TikTok’s Granfluencers, Tiny T-Rex Race

Sept. 2-3, 2023

  • A Russian soldier’s dilemma
  • Portrait of Poland’s 96-year-old critic
  • “Menopause blanket” innovation
  • … and much more.
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Society
Kristian Frigelj

You Don't Clean Up Your Dog's Poop? DNA Could Trace It Back To You

In one German town, like in several places around the world, the mayor wants to take action against those who don't clean up their dog's "business." But Germany's data protection laws mean the initiative will be difficult to implement.

WEILERSWIST — Stepping in a pile of dog excrement is bad enough. But for city workers, the ick factor is often even higher. The droppings spray when public lawns are being mowed, stain clothing and equipment, and sometimes end up in employees' faces. Despite the increased use of bag dispensers and campaigns, almost all cities and municipalities continue to face the reality that certain resident dog owners are too lazy to pick up and dispose of their four-legged friends' "business."

In Weilerswist, a German municipality near Cologne, Mayor Anna-Katharina Horst wants to implement a measure that is DNA file for dogs. Horst wants the city to send all owners an invitation to take a DNA sample of their four-legged friend. In addition, a sample is to be taken with the registration of each new dog.

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This Happened

This Happened — August 25: Claudia Schiffer Born

German supermodel Claudia Schiffer was born on this day in 1970.

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This Happened

This Happened — August 19: Liberation Of Paris

Paris was liberated from Nazi Germany occupation on this day in 1944.

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This Happened

This Happened — August 13: Construction Of Berlin Wall Begins

The construction of the Berlin Wall began on this day in 1961. It was constructed by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) to prevent residents from escaping to West Berlin. It was intended in particular to halt the mass exodus of skilled laborers, professionals, and intellectuals from East to West, which was causing economic and political problems for the East German government.

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In The News
Anne-Sophie Goninet and Laure Gautherin

Le Weekend: Barbie Ban, Sziget Festival Kicks Off, Salvator NFTi

👋 Oraire ota!*

Welcome to Saturday, where we take a look back at what’s been happening in the culture world this week, from the Barbie movie getting banned in Kuwait and Lebanon to the start of Hungary’s Sziget Festival and the transformation of a famous painting into an NFT. For our special Summer Reads edition of Worldcrunch Today, we feature an article by Wieland Freund in German newspaper Die Welt — and three other stories from around the world on animals.

[*Nkore, Uganda]

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Green
Anita Dmitruczuk

The Oder River Poisoning: What Is Killing Hundreds Of Tons Of Fish In Central Europe?

Since last year, over half of the fish in the river have died, and Germany’s environment minister has said that Poland has not done enough to prevent a repeat of the incident. Now the Oder, which runs through the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany, is experiencing fish death en masse once again. Was this catastrophe doomed to repeat itself? Reporters from German newspaper Die Zeit and Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza looked for answers.

-Analysis-

LOWER SILESIA This week, more than one ton of dead fish have been removed from the Oder river within less than 24 hours, a throwback to last year's catastrophe in which half of all fish in the river died. According to a report from the European Union, this was largely caused by industrial pollution in Poland, which allowed for the mass toxic growth of golden algae, and poisoned the river's fish.

While Polish, Czech, and German authorities continue to assess the situation, some are wondering whether the catastrophe could have been avoided altogether.

Many people have criticized the Polish government for not doing anything about the 2022 poisoning of the Oder river in Western Poland, which wiped out the river's fish and left environmental consequences which are still felt today.

But this is untrue: the Polish government has been working hard — to try to silence the issue and make it disappear.

After the discovery of yellow-golden Prymnesium parvum algae in the Oder last year, you could almost hear a stone fall from the heart of Poland's Climate Minister Anna Moskwa. The river, which runs through Western Poland and marks part of the country's border with Germany, connects waterways in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic to the Baltic Sea.

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This Happened

This Happened — July 9: Italy Wins World Cup

Italy defeated France in the final of the FIFA World Cup on this day in 2006. The World Cup final took place at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, which was marred by Zinedine Zidane's red card.

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