The forecast election result allows for several possible coalitions

The Reuters news agency reports it, citing eight different sources. Now the Crown Prince’s husband has been recalled, but has fallen softly. He currently describes his position as « Chairman of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones ». So only the business card is new.

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WHAT’S UP?

Angela Merkel during the election campaign in Hesse. (Source: Boris Roessler / dpa)

The federal government can no longer get rid of the tiresome diesel issue. After sitting it out for three years, then accepted the first driving bans and finally came up with a half-baked solution under pressure from the courts, car chancellor Merkel, car company minister Scheuer and the once again overwhelmed SPD found that none of this was good for the voters arrives. So Merkel had her advisors write down a new plan: In order not to alienate diesel driver voters, further driving bans could be prevented by simply raising the limit values. If the foreseeable consequences were not so serious, we would have to laugh out loud at this flimsy maneuver. Reliability for drivers? City dwellers’ health? A sustainable transport policy? Seem to be subordinate under the leadership of this Chancellor.

After the asylum dispute and the Maaßen case, the diesel crisis also shows that this federal government is at the end of its line. She doesn’t even seem to be able to deal with the basic facts. « Mandatory European law requirements – and these are the limit values ​​without question – cannot simply be cleared aside by the stroke of a pen by the German legislature, » explains constitutional and administrative law expert Michael Brenner in an interview with my colleague Markus Abrahamczyk. There are also the hurdles of a proportionality test. It is just as complicated as it sounds, but the result is very simple: Merkel’s liberation should not work out. Simple facts expose their advance as a desperate campaign maneuver by a falling party.

We can see the consequences today in Mainz. There the administrative court hears about nitrogen oxides in the air in the morning. Observers expect a diesel driving ban here too. And so one city after the other follows, until at some point a federal government comes to power that takes the issue really seriously and acts long-term instead of short-term.

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Yes, that is the Hessian Prime Minister Volker Bouffier. (Source: Arne Dedert / dpa)

Until then, we’ll be dealing with the election campaign finals in Hesse, and that’s really exciting. According to a survey by Infratest Dimap, people in this beautiful state are particularly interested in these topics:

(Source: Statista)

« The country is doing well, the economy is developing positively, tourism is booming, and unemployment is low, » write my colleagues from Statista. « The downside here, too, are rising rents and the overloaded infrastructure. »

So much to do for the new state government. How exactly this will look like, however, could still be completely unclear on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. The forecast election result allows for several possible coalitions. Despite the foreseeable loss of votes, CDU top candidate Volker Bouffier could play a key role: A man who has changed from a conservative hawk to a compensatory father. When Horst Seehofer challenged the Chancellor in the summer, it was not clear for a few days whether the decisive forces in the CDU were still behind Angela Merkel. One of their main supporters these days was: Bouffier. What is his calculation and how did he become what he is today? My colleague Jonas Schaible describes the career of the man on whose fate Merkels now also depend.

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READ WHAT

Joachim Ronneberg (Source: Reuters)

Sometimes the fate of the world rests in the hands of a few people.list of argumentative essay One of them has now died: Joachim Ronneberg, who changed the course of history forever. Maybe you’ve never heard of him. But if the mission that he led as a young man had failed, the swastikas might still blow over Germany and Europe today.

The eight men skied to their destination with cyanide capsules in their luggage, which they would have swallowed if they were captured. The small group of Norwegian resistance fighters managed to sneak past guards and barracks full of German soldiers, to break into a strictly secured, secret facility and to place their explosive devices unnoticed. When these ignited, they not only shredded the equipment used to produce « heavy water », a substance that promotes nuclear chain reactions. The prospect of an atomic bomb in the hands of the Nazis also went up in smoke at that moment. So let us read the obituary for a man to whom we owe our free Europe.

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WHAT AMAZES ME?

Russia is huge. We all know But not as big as it normally seems to us – at least on world maps. Yes, say now and yawn a little, we had that in geography. Mercator projection or something. Something with distortions in the far north and south. We know. But how much is our worldview really distorted? You know what? You don’t know.

I wish you an insightful day.

Your Florian Harms, Editor-in-Chief of t-online.de, E-Mail: t-online-newsletter@stroeer.de

With material from dpa. Subscribe to Florian Harms’ daily newsletter here.

After traveling in a crowded elevator with other politicians and doctors, Health Minister Jens Spahn has to put up with criticism. He takes it sporty. 

A photo of Jens Spahn in a crowded elevator caused criticism on social networks. On Tuesday, the Minister of Health was a guest at the university hospital in Gießen, Hesse. There he wanted to talk to doctors, nurses and students about the conditions in the health system. Among other things, Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier and journalist Bodo Weissenborn were there. He took a photo of how the group stood tightly packed in an elevator despite the distance regulation, which now causes many people to shake their heads. 

Even with SPD politician Karl Lauterbach. He shared the tweet and commented that the photo shows exactly how it doesn’t work. « Plus in a university clinic. » And further: « Hopefully nobody was infected. »

Loosen corona rules? This is how the country leaders position themselves

Photo series with 16 pictures

In the photo you can see Spahn, Bouffier and Chancellery Minister Helge Braun, the Hessian Health Minister Kai Klose and the head of the Hessian State Chancellery accompanied by medical staff. More than ten people crowd into the elevator. All of them wear face masks, but there can be no question of a minimum distance. Weissenborn claims to have taken the photo on Tuesday morning.

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Spahn reacted promptly to the Lauterbach tip. The health minister accepted the criticism: « Yes, it works better: keep your distance even with a face mask. And next time just take the stairs. »

Lauterbach is reminiscent of Armin Laschet’s mistakes

Lauterbach then responded to the fact that at least the face mask was fitted correctly. With a swipe, he was reminiscent of a photo by Armin Laschet, which also caused criticism. The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister had his mouth covered, but not his nose. 

In the event of easing too early: Experts warn of years of Corona contact bans News blog on the Corona crisis: All current information

The situation also met with malice and criticism on Twitter. One user writes: « Great role models how to keep your distance […] Are they getting a fine now? Because that would be fair and would have a learning effect. » Another writes: « That is what the scientists probably meant, who advised against masks because they would induce recklessness. »

Sources used: Twitter Bodo Weissenborn, own research

Hesse’s CDU Prime Minister Volker Bouffier spent his 67th birthday in a negotiating marathon with the Greens. The effort was worthwhile.

CDU and Greens want to continue their government alliance in Hesse. After over eleven hours of negotiations, both parties agreed on a new coalition agreement early on Wednesday morning. The joint paper is to be presented next Thursday in Wiesbaden. The black-green government alliance has been in power in Hesse since the beginning of 2014.

Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) and his deputy Tarek Al-Wazir (Greens) were very satisfied with the negotiated paper. « We are through. We have reached an agreement. We have a coalition agreement, » said a visibly relieved Bouffier. « We are building on the trusting cooperation that we have cultivated over the past few years. »

« We are very different parties, but we also complement each other, » stressed Al-Wazir. Nevertheless, the election result presented the government partners with new challenges. CDU and Greens got to know each other again during the talks.

Details of the content of the coalition agreement have not yet been presented. Because of the changed balance of power, the Greens will have additional departmental responsibility in the new Hessian state government.

So far, the party has two members in Prime Minister Bouffier’s cabinet: Economics and Transport Minister Al-Wazir and Environment Minister Priska Hinz. In the future state government, the Greens will also hold the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Science. There will also be a new digital ministry under the leadership of the CDU.

Cooperation can exist with a wafer-thin majority

After the state elections in autumn, Christian Democrats and Greens can continue their cooperation in the state government with a wafer-thin majority. In the vote on October 28, the CDU remained the strongest force in Hesse. Compared to the previous state election, however, the Christian Democrats slipped by 11.3 percentage points and only got 27.0 percent of the vote. That was the CDU’s worst result for over 50 years in Hessen.

The Greens, on the other hand, gained 8.7 percentage points and reached 19.8 percent. This made the party the second strongest force in the country, ahead of the SPD. The contract that has now been negotiated is to be put to a vote in their own ranks at party meetings this Saturday (December 22nd). The CDU meets in Nidda and the Greens in Hofheim.

Questions and answers: Why the Hessen election is so important At a glance: The parties’ election programs

The coalition negotiations began on November 19th. Previously, there had been delays in the schedule for days due to counting errors in the state election. The CDU and the Greens had set up eleven specialist groups to discuss the most important issues in the country.

After a major fire, a warehouse of a waste disposal company in Themar (Hildburghausen district) is in danger of collapsing. In the fire, mixed waste and aerosol cans caught fire on Tuesday for an unexplained cause, the police announced on Wednesday. Two men, aged 55 and 57, had to be taken to hospital with suspected smoke inhalation. Around 100 firefighters spent hours fighting the fire. According to initial estimates, there was property damage of around 185,000 euros.

In the afternoon, the police initially called on the population to keep windows and doors closed. Ventilation and air conditioning systems should be switched off. In the evening the warning was lifted. Because of the intense heat, girders in the hall buckled and broke away and the roof partially collapsed – that is why the fire brigade could not enter the building, a police spokesman said that night.

Three people were injured in an accident near Lauterecken (Kusel district). The 21-year-old driver lost control of his car on a country road on Friday evening, which tipped on its side and slipped into an embankment, as the police in Kaiserslautern announced on Saturday. The driver said he had to avoid a deer. The police assumed that the 21-year-old was traveling too fast. The man and his two passengers suffered minor injuries. They obviously had « a guardian angel, » as the officials found.

The major fire in a warehouse in Themar (Hildburghausen district) with damage of around 185,000 euros is due to the spontaneous combustion of the waste stored there. The specialists used had ruled out arson as the cause of the fire, the police said on Thursday. In the fire on Tuesday, mixed waste and spray cans went up in flames. Two men, aged 55 and 57, had to be taken to hospital with suspected smoke inhalation. The hall is in danger of collapsing after the fire.

A 19-year-old who hoarded hundreds of kilos of explosives in an apartment has been sentenced to two years suspended prison sentence by the Kaiserslautern Regional Court (Rhineland-Palatinate). The public prosecutor’s office had investigated him, among other things, on suspicion of an attack.

The court found that the trainee was storing almost 300 kilograms of explosives – illegally. A spokesman for the court announced on Wednesday. The 6 September indictment mentioned substances with a gross weight of 276 kilograms. Investigators discovered the substances in the 19-year-old’s parents’ house in Lauterecken in the west of the Palatinate.