German minister of consumer affairs Renate K?nast has ordered Deutsche Bahn to pay damages in future to passengers on seriously delayed trains, reports the taz (in German). The German people have not yet begun, though, to say they need a man who can make the trains run on time.
Author Archives: Mrs Tilton
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New suspicions of avian influenza in Germany, this time in Dresden. (Link in German.) A Vietnamese man living in that city has fallen ill after returning from a visit home, where he worked on his brother’s chicken farm.
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No avian influenza in Hamburg, reports wire service AFP (link in German). The woman in question appears to be afflicted with, em, human influenza.
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According to CNN International, health authorities in Hamburg are examining two women (one of whom had recently returned from Thailand) for signs of avian influenza. Though the authorities stated it was ‘very unlikely’ that either woman was infected, the news was enough to send shares in Lufthansa down a bit. According to German wire service dpa (link in German), definitive test results are expected some time this evening.
Certains animaux sont plus ?gaux que d’autres
Brussels is sparing a thought for filmmakers in the newly acceding member states, reports the Independent. The idea is to facilitate subsidies to help films from our soon-to-be brother countries stand up to the Hollywood juggernaut.
But off in one corner there’s a villain twirling his moustaches. That would be France, which doesn’t like the idea. Now, if nos amis were taking a principled stand against subsidies of any sort, as a good liberal I could only applaud. But if France is about to abandon state support for its own ‘exceptionalism’, I must have missed the memo. Why is it that hypocrisy is always called an English vice?
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RT? News reports that the European Commission is expected to find tomorrow that Ryanair’s Charleroi airport deal with the Walloon government is illegal. Such arrangements will not be ruled illegal per se, but will be subject to significant limits of scope and time. We shall all have to wait to see what effect the ruling will have on the future of cheap air travel.
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The Spiegel reports that Gerd Schr?der and George Bush are to kiss and make up (article in German). The White House has invited Schr?der to lunch, where he will discuss with Bush ‘the continuation of transatlantic relations’, as well as developments in Iraq, the Near East and Afghanistan.
Just desserts?
In Kassel the court has spoken, and its words are a stern warning to us all: do not kill and eat people (unless you are prepared to give up eight and a half years of freedom for the privilege).
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A grave matter
Austere but elegant, and with fine views of an historic rococo church, this lovely building would make a fine weekend cottage. And you could be the lucky bidder when it comes under the hammer! There’s one thing you’ll want to have removed before settling in, though: the corpse of Franz Josef Strauss.
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Flirting on the west-?stlichen Divan
Joschka Fischer, visiting Ankara, comes out strongly for (eventual) Turkish accession to the EU, reports the S?ddeutsche:
Europa werde ?einen hohen Preis? daf?r zahlen, wenn es die T?rkei aus der Europ?ischen Union heraushalten wolle. F?r Europas Sicherheit sei die T?rkei wichtiger als ein ?Raketenabwehrsystem?…
[Europe will pay a high price if it wants to keep Turkey out of the European Union. For European security, Turkey is more important than a missile defence system]
But there are not a few hurdles in the way. In an interview with H?rriyet, the German foreign minister noted that, in Germany as well as other EU lands, there are ‘rational as well as emotional objections’ to a Turkish accession, and that these will need some serious wrestling.
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