Health

The sakharov prize goes to ukrainian director sentsov

The Ukrainian filmmaker Sentsov, imprisoned in Russia, receives the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Expression. He has been in a Siberian penal camp for four years.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought this year goes to the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov. With the award, the European Parliament honors special commitment to human rights.

20 years in prison

Sentsov had campaigned against the illegal annexation of his homeland, the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, by Russia in 2014. He was then sentenced by a Russian court to 20 years in prison for allegedly planned terrorist attacks. He is reportedly currently in a prison camp in Siberia.

Travels

The spectacular exchange of the "polarstern" team

The Polarstern on the way to Spitsbergen

It is the most complex and expensive Arctic expedition of all time. In September 2019, the first team set out with the research icebreaker "Polarstern" in Svalbard to freeze onto an ice floe and drift past the North Pole with it. The budget of the expedition is around 140 million euros. Around 300 scientists from 17 countries are expected to be on board during the course of the year. They come from Belgium, China, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Great Britain, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain

Mosaic expedition

Marine biologists, climatologists, oceanologists and meteorologists are involved in the MOSAiC expedition to explore the last white spot in climate research. A total of 600 international participants are accompanying the mission. An international fleet of four ice breakers, helicopters and airplanes supplies the team on this extreme route.

Mosaic Expedition: Crew goes from Kapitan Dranitsyn to Polarstern

The "Polarstern" team should be replaced about every two months. The scientists flew to Northern Norway from all over the world, from there to be brought to the research ship in icebreakers or airplanes. The third team arrived here on March 2nd, brought to the "Polarstern" by the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn. The corona pandemic changed plans and the research vessel had to stop its ice drift for three weeks. This is the only way to enable the next change of personnel on board, said expedition leader Markus Rex. "We are glad we found this solution," he said.

Sport

The personal review of the year: our sport stars 2020

s Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka are good at kicking football, on and off the pitch. “We kick Corona”, that’s how the national players of FC Bayern called their fundraising campaign in March – and of course they didn’t kick the virus away. But, to stay in the picture: a few problems shot aside. Also because Kimmich and Goretzka made a starting amount of one million euros. The money goes to social institutions. In the meantime, more than five million euros have been raised, with more than 4000 donors contributing. The Haus Lindenhof Foundation from Schwabisch Gmund, which operates homes in which people with dementia are cared for, is one of the youngest profiteers. Two Hollywood swings could be purchased, they have been shown to have positive effects on the sick. We only say one thing in the direction of Messrs. Kimmich and Goretzka: Chapeau – and keep it up! Photo: dpa / Marius Becker

Every year the German athletes of the year are chosen. Our editorial team also looked back on the sporting year 2020 and found athletes who shaped this year in a special way – as you can find out in our picture gallery.

Stuttgart – It doesn’t always have to be records that put athletes in the spotlight. The sport also has something extraordinary to offer besides medals and victories. Seven editors present their sport stars of 2020 in our picture gallery, who have shaped this year in a special way. Dirk Preiss likes athletes who also achieve great things outside of their competitions, like wrestler Mark Buhler. Marco Seliger likes to criticize the aloofness of some football stars. He can only praise Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka. Tim Wohlbold sacrifices his sleep for US sport, dreams of the next German MVP in Dallas – and finds the courage of German basketball player Satou Sabally strong. Jurgen Kemmner is convinced that he too has a little gasoline in his blood – and suffered with Romain Grosjean, who survived one of the most spectacular motorsport accidents. Gregor Preiss likes to play tennis doubles himself – and recalls two German successes. Jurgen Frey has experienced almost everything with the Stuttgarters Kickers – now also a deliberate own goal in the spirit of fair play. Carlos Ubina likes to go to the golf course – and is still amazed at the magic of the professional Jon Rahm.

Leaders

The spd’s chancellor candidates

Kurt Schumacher (SPD)

In the election to the first Bundestag in 1949, the SPD headed up with Kurt Schumacher. He played a key role in rebuilding the SPD after 1945. During the time of National Socialism he was locked up as a political prisoner in concentration camps for many years. With Schumacher, the party reached 29.2 percent and landed just behind the Union in second place, which achieved 31 percent. The picture shows Schumacher in a London hotel at the end of 1946.

Erich Ollenhauer

Erich Ollenhauer was not only chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag for nine years, but also the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor. Ollenhauer competed twice against Konrad Adenauer (CDU) without success. In 1953 he got 28.8 percent of the vote, in 1957 it was 31.8 percent. Here he gives a speech in March 1958 at the rally "Fight against nuclear death" in Frankfurt am Main.

The SPD chancellor candidates since the founding of the Federal Republic

Willy Brandt led the SPD four times in the federal election campaign: 1961 (36.2 percent), 1965 (39.3 percent), 1969 (42.7 percent), 1972 (45.8 percent). In 1961 the Lord Mayor of Berlin failed against Adenauer, in 1965 against Ludwig Erhard. In 1969 Brandt was promoted from Vice Chancellor of the Grand Coalition to Chancellor of a social-liberal alliance. In 1972 he defended his chancellorship from office.

Finance

The opaque finances of the vatican

The Vatican is not just the smallest state in the world. It is also characterized by one of the most opaque financial systems. Gold reserves, real estate, treasury notes and stocks are among his assets. How high it is, however, nobody outside the Vatican walls knows.

"You cannot serve God and Mammon", Jesus Christ once said to his disciples according to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 16, Verse 13. But times have changed, also for the Vatican. Because he has been mixing since 1942, when Pope Pius XII. founded the bank "Istituto per le Opere di Religione" (IOR) in the international money business. The "Institute for Religious Works", whose owner the respective pontiff has been since then, operates money and investment transactions of all kinds in addition to the granting of loans. How high the respective returns are and how much the Holy See has in assets, however, knows outside the Vatican walls nobody so exactly.

Vatican Financial System: Closed Society

But one thing is certain: the Vatican has considerable wealth. The estimated value is a minimum of 1.2 billion and a maximum of twelve billion euros. These include gold reserves in Switzerland and the US, real estate, treasury bonds, stocks and fixed income securities. The assets are now managed by the Curia’s Asset Administration (APSA) after the IOR financial institution was reformed in 1990 due to repeated financial scandals. However, the new administration hardly provides any insight into the financial situation either.

News

Lawyer brought to psychiatry because of corona lawsuit?

The case sounds explosive: A lawyer who is fighting against the Corona measures is taken to the psychiatric ward by the police. The authorities make it clear: There is no connection.

The measures that the federal states have adopted to contain the corona pandemic are far from being understood by all citizens. Some take action against it with different means – also legally. The case of the Heidelberg lawyer Beate B., who became known as the "Corona lawyer", made the headlines. She had submitted an urgent application to the Federal Constitutional Court to lift the measures in all federal states.

A few days later, the police took her to a mental hospital. A link between their fight against restrictions and psychiatric accommodation is being made on numerous platforms.

News

The protection of the constitution uses "virtual agents"

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution wants to better track right-wing extremists on the Internet – in order to identify possible attackers at an early stage. For this he is increasingly relying on "virtual agents".

There are constitutional protectors who mingle with the demonstrators during right-wing extremist marches. Others observe Islamists, watch them on their way to the mosque or try to recruit the extremists as sources, as so-called informants. However, there is an increasing number of constitutional protectors in the digital space. They are on the move as "virtual agents" in internet forums, in social networks and also in conspiratorial chat groups in which extremists exchange ideas, spread hatred and agitation – or even plan attacks.

The concept with which the constitution protection goes online in search of potential terrorists and violent criminals is called "operational use of the Internet" (ONI). The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and some larger state authorities have been relying on this for years. Their employees penetrate deep into the virtual networks of the extremist scenes with specially created profiles and accounts.

Leaders

The pressure on cdu mp amthor is not easing

In the lobbying affair, the CDU member Amthor continues to face massive criticism. A waiver of his seat in the U committee for the Breitscheidplatz attack is also required. There is even criticism from the CDU.

Green leader Robert Habeck has called for the criticized CDU member of the Bundestag, Philipp Amthor, to leave the Bundestag’s committee of inquiry into the terrorist attack on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin. If Amthor does not act himself, the group leadership of the Union must do so. In the committee, ex-constitution protection chief Hans-Georg Maaben should also be interviewed, who "is recognizable as a buddy of Philipp Amthor", said Habeck, "so that I cannot see how a neutral questioning should be possible.".

The chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the committee, Benjamin Strasser, said that the Union should "seriously consider withdrawing Philipp Amthor from the investigative committee". In such close personal and business relationships with acting persons like Maaben, "an impartial and critical questioning is unthinkable".

News

The president and the stock exchange

On today’s "Super Tuesday" important preliminary decisions should be made. Statistics show that if Americans elect their president, prices will go up. But this time other rules could apply: Has incumbent Trump already shot his powder on the stock exchange?

The primary campaign for the US presidential election in November is in full swing. Who will become Trump’s democratic opponent should soon become clearer: On today’s "Super Tuesday" decisions will be made in 14 of 50 states.

Important cycle

This is also followed closely on the stock exchange. Election years are generally given a positive nimbus on the stock exchange. According to the US presidential cycle, prices rise in an election year.

Travels

Lawsuit against lufthansa due to delayed ticket refunds

Lufthansa threatens further trouble in the Corona crisis. The consumer advice center Baden-Wurttemberg has sued the airline – because of the slow reimbursement of canceled flight tickets.

Because she has not been able to keep up with the reimbursement of canceled flight tickets for months, Lufthansa is now threatened with further trouble. The consumer advice center Baden-Wurttemberg has filed a lawsuit against the airline with the Cologne Regional Court. A negotiation date has not yet been set.

Warning was without consequences

This was preceded by a warning from the consumer advocates: Lufthansa had not informed its customers of their rights, withheld the right to a quick refund and did not repay the flight price within seven days. Since the company did not respond to the warning, the lawsuit followed.