Germany

An 82-year-old man from Münster (Germany) has fulfilled an old promise he made to his wife who died years ago - and has given Münster Zoo the largest single donation in its history: the zoo has now received 750,000 euros from Horst Eschler.

Zoo director Simone Schehka thanked the donor at a press event on Thursday. The zoo wants to use the money to finance the renovation of its bear house, among other things, she said. A trip to Australia was the deciding factor, the donor said. There he had seen how animals suffered from the devastating bush fires and how many people had helped them.

The Federal Constitutional Court said that a policy to freeze rents in Berlin for the next five years to combat soaring living costs was unlawful in a ruling published on Thursday morning.

The capital’s “Mietendeckel” law or rent cap “violates the Basic Law and is thus ruled void”, the court in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe said in a blow to millions of tenants.

The federal government has said "emergency brake" measures to combat rising case numbers are legally mandated in all federal states, replacing a patchwork system. The change needs to be approved by the Bundestag.

If approved, the new system means that any region in any state with a high Covid-19 case incidence will be legally required to implement a uniform set of rules set out by the federal government.

The leaders of Germany's biggest conservative party will support Armin Laschet to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor candidate at the next election.

CSU's Markus Söder told the party leadership meeting that he was against a hasty decision, and called for talks with the CDU at the end of the week.

On Wednesday, the number of Covid-19 vaccinations in Germany reached a new high: 656,357 doses were administered according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) - 290,000 more than the previous day. This means that around 11.5 million citizens have now received at least one vaccination against Covid-19. 4.7 million people - and thus 5.7 percent of the population - are now fully vaccinated.

North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) State Premier Armin Laschet called for a harder lockdown on Monday as Germany struggles to contain a third wave of the coronavirus. The chairman of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and one of her potential successor as chancellor said that Germany needed harder lockdown measures to stem a rise in cases of Covid-19.

"We need a bridge lockdown. We have to build a bridge to the point in time when a lot of people are vaccinated," Laschet told.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the president of Germany, has been vaccinated with AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine at the Bundeswehr Hospital in Berlin on Thursday, his office reported.

"I trust the vaccines approved in Germany," Steinmeier said in a statement. "Today I received my first vaccination with AstraZeneca. Vaccination is the crucial step on the way out of the pandemic. Take advantage of the opportunities. Get involved!"

The Berlin Senate agreed on Thursday on stricter contact restrictions from Good Friday. The governing mayor Michael Müller (SPD), announced this after a Senate meeting. According to this, Berliners are initially only allowed to be outside alone or in pairs between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Over Easter, the previous regulations with a maximum of five people from two households will remain. In both cases, children up to the age of 14 are not counted.

Michael Müller (SPD), the governing mayor, defended the stricter rules at a press conference after a senate meeting on Thursday afternoon. "Infections arise through direct contacts in the professional, school and private environment.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn and the 16 state health ministers on Tuesday decided to suspend the routine use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under age 60 at an emergency meeting. The decision came amid fresh concern over unusual blood clots reported in a tiny number of younger people who received the vaccine.

Several European countries briefly suspended the use of the vaccine earlier this month, albeit in that instance for more elderly people rather than the young, but resumed jabs after EU regulators said the shot was safe for use.

As of today, entry by air to Germany is only possible with a negative Covid-19 test. A corresponding amendment to the Coronavirus Entry Regulation came into force at midnight. The new regulation applies regardless of the Corona situation in the country from which someone is flying to Germany. The test may be no more than 48 hours old at the time of entry. The measure is limited until 12 May.

Union politicians and several businessmen are alleged to have received several million euros as commission for brokering protective masks to ministries. The affair has been exposed - now the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office has applied for an arrest warrant against one of the accused. This was reported by several news agencies and the Bayerischer Rundfunk.

The accused was arrested on Thursday, the investigating authority announced. The investigators did not give a name.

After massive criticism, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has decided to put a stop to the extended 'Easter lockdown' that had been planned to go from Maundy Thursday to Easter Monday. This was announced by Merkel on Wednesday in a meeting with the Minister-Presidents of the federal states, which was convened at short notice, as SPIEGEL learned from several participants. At the federal-state roundtable on Monday, Merkel and the heads of the states had initially agreed on a comprehensive cut over the Easter holidays.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and German state leaders have agreed on an even stricter shutdown over the Easter holidays. From April 1 to April 5, over the Easter holiday period, shops, including grocery stores, will largely have to close.

Tuesday's announcement marks a reversal from earlier this month when state leaders agreed to begin a cautious reopening process.

According to Germany's Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases (RKI), the seven-day incidence rate stood at 107 on Monday, above the 100 threshold at which hospitals often become overwhelmed.

Karin Strenz, a member of the Bundestag, died on a flight from Cuba to Germany. According to media reports, the crew of the plane decided to make an emergency landing in Ireland's capital Dublin. Last year the German Bundestag lifted the politician's immunity because the public prosecutor's office was investigating her on suspicion of corruption.

Due to the suspicion of avian influenza (bird flu), 30,000 hens have to be killed in Delbrück (Germany). On Monday morning, this will be done by fumigation with carbon dioxide, the district of Paderborn announced on Sunday. According to the avian influenza ordinance, the animals in the epidemic flock must already be killed if there is a clear clinical suspicion. In addition, a surveillance zone is set up around the suspected infection area, where chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry on other farms must remain in their enclosures.

Lars Schaade, Vice President of the Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI), has warned that Germany is facing "another tough few weeks" as Covid-19 cases rise and hospitals are "heavily burdened". Germany has seen an increase in infections with the more potent B.1.1.7. strain and Schaade warns of an "exponential" rise in cases that could potentially overwhelm hospitals.

In 2021's World Happiness Report, Finland has retained the number 1 position.

In second place, Iceland jumps forward 2 places from 4th last year. Denmark and Switzerland move down 1 to third and fourth place respectively, with The Netherlands and Sweden jumping forward 1 to fifth and sixth place respectively.

Germany makes great strides in 2020, gaining 8 places on last year, moving to 7th place.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday he would be in favour of signing a national supply deal with Russia for its Sputnik V vaccine for Covid-19.

"I can also well imagine that we conclude contracts - and conclude them quickly," Spahn told a weekly news conference, adding that Germany was in close contact with Russia on questions to do with the vaccine. A prerequisite, however, is that there is more detail on how many doses could be delivered, he said.

Several European countries, inclduing France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania will resume administering AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine in the following days after European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced the vaccine was "safe and effective".

Emer Cooke, head of the EMA, said that while "a small number of cases of rare and unusual but very serious clotting disorders" were uncovered, the agency did not find that the vaccine caused an increase in the risk of blood clots.

Recent summers in Europe have been the driest in the past two millennia, according to a recent international study based on tree ring analysis. Using a specific method, the team led by Ulf Büntgen of the University of Cambridge succeeded in creating a massive dataset that traces hydroclimatic conditions in Central Europe from Roman times to the present.

For the work, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Büntgen and his colleagues from the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland took more than 27,000 measurements on tree rings from 147 oak trees, covering a period of 2,100 years (75 B.C. to 2018). The samples came from historic wells, buildings, and pile dwellings, as well as from archaeological remains and shore sediments, and also from living trees from what is now the Czech Republic and parts of southeastern Bavaria.