1.
How is Emmanuel Macron?
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Emmanuel Macron
Photo:
GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS
There are issues on which the French leave everything behind, fall into a discursive fever and simply argue, discuss and generally politicize, regardless of what they have just done before.
This includes coping with the corona pandemic and the president - if both come together, you can forget about France for the rest of the day or even the week.
When the news of Emmanuel Macron's illness was announced this morning, a national mental cinema began, in which the traumatic experiences of history were once again illuminated.
It must be confessed: the Élysée Palace has traditionally not been very honest about the health of the presidents who live there.
Citizens have been lied to again and again, which doesn't make communication easier today.
One must not trivialize the matter, but neither should one dramatize it.
But the diagnosis also throws a harsh light on Macron's full schedule, on his surroundings, his very narrow political circle.
Was he too reckless?
And what France is attentive to: the Chancellor is not ill.
Instead, Macron joins Trump, Bolsonaro and Boris Johnson - and even if he can't help it, it doesn't go down well.
Read here »Emmanuel Macron tested positive for Corona«
In addition: "Infection drivers: where people are often infected"
2. Who will save the turtles?
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National Sea Turtle Rescue Center staff, injured sea turtle
Photo:
Jonas Opperskalski / Der Spiegel
Emmanuel Macron actually wanted to travel to Lebanon again before Christmas to give the people there some hope and courage, but of course nothing will come of that.
It would have been a sign that Europe has not completely given up on this part of the world that is so close to us.
My colleague Alexander Osang has described how things stand for people in the Eastern Mediterranean using puzzling animals.
There is a specialist in Tel Aviv who takes care of sea turtles.
The critters don't know about the Arab Spring, Netanyahu and Hamas, but they suffer from the man-made conditions and tell us about them - at least when you read this great report from Osang:
Read here »The Secret of Tel Aviv's Turtles«
3. What happened to the nuns in Speyer?
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Ben König when he started school in the 1960s
Photo:
Private
The dramatic present seizes us, everyone knows the impulse not to want to read more sad stories.
But there is also a sublime and uplifting force in the enlightenment that gives us courage.
So it is with the story of Ben König: As a child, he came to a home run by nuns and was the victim of serious sexual offenses.
For a long time no one believed him, now that is changing - also because more and more people are found who have experienced and made similar statements.
My colleague Annette Langer has researched the case; it is a disturbing document and the best vaccination against the temptation that occurs again and again to rave about the good old days when Catholic institutions ruled people's lives without questioning.
Read here »The nuns were pimps«
What else is important today
Container chaos in British ports is driving up prices:
containers have been clogging British ports for weeks, companies want to replenish their stocks before possible customs controls.
This is expensive for retailers, and consumers need patience - especially before Christmas.
Hungary violates EU law with asylum rules:
The European Court of Justice has ruled that Hungary's asylum rules violate European law.
The court condemned Hungary primarily for "illegal detention" of those in need of protection.
Hanau uses refrigerated containers for Covid-19 deaths:
The mayor speaks of an aggravated pandemic situation: Because the refrigerated capacities for corpses in the hospitals are no longer sufficient, Hanau has put a container into operation in the main cemetery.
European Parliament sets a deadline of Sunday:
The EU and Great Britain have to agree on a Brexit trade pact by Sunday - otherwise the EU Parliament will not be able to ratify the deal.
Russia remains excluded from the Olympics, but the ban is shortened:
Partial success for Russia before the sports court: The Cas halved the duration of the doping ban for the country.
However, it will remain in place for the next Olympic Games and the World Cup.
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
"I am my tone":
The classical world began to love Khatia Buniatishvili when she recorded the 2nd movement of Schubert's Sonata in B flat major far more slowly than any pianist before her.
Who is the woman?
»The Muhackl should sneak«:
Thailand's monarch likes to reside in the Hotel Sonnenbichl in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
The government is looking for ways to get rid of it.
Why don't Bayern like him?
"It would look strange in our accounting":
The Swiss sports marketer Infront ducks after the SPIEGEL revelations about the allegedly bought 2006 World Cup.
Now he is obviously burdened by a newly emerged paper.
Why Saxony ?:
Hardly any other region in Germany is as badly affected by the pandemic as the district of Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains.
There are no longer any free intensive care beds for Covid patients.
An on-site visit in Pirna.
The people against Alexander Lukashenko:
Since the presidential election in August, tens of thousands have regularly taken to the streets in Minsk.
The autocrat and his regime react with violence and act like a mafia clan.
For how much longer?
Which is less important
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Tom Cruise
Photo:
Andrew Medichini / AP
Tom Cruise is back in the news because he was in the news yesterday:
He yelled at employees on the set who were standing too close together and violating the Corona distance rules.
Now he is upset that his outburst has become known.
And the employees are angry because they don't want to be threatened and yelled at in such a difficult year for the film business.
Several are said to have quit.
Cruise himself, with typical modesty, sees himself as the savior of the film industry, to which ingratitude is paid.
How about an episode of "Mission Impossible" that is about the production of a "Mission Impossible" film?
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "The city of casinos and daddel-halls on the US Atlantic coast has been in decline for years."
Cartoon of the day:
triage?
Icon: enlargePhoto:
Thomas Plaßmann
Do you have any plans for this evening?
Like so many friends of mine, I watch the Netflix series "The Crown", season four.
An admirable work: Would it be conceivable that a French production would so relentlessly show the business and family secrets of the presidents?
Or is a German series depicting the private lives of Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl?
Yours Nils Minkmar
Here you can order the "Lage am Abend" by email.
