1.
Withdrawal of the jihadist scene into private life
Icon: enlargePhoto:
Ronny Hartmann / Getty Images
For three and a half years, the judges at the Celle Higher Regional Court heard evidence against Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A. alias
Abu Walaa
.
He was believed to be the head of the terrorist militia "Islamic State" in Germany and is said to have radicalized young people in the Ruhr area and Lower Saxony and sent them to IS battle zones.
For this he has now been sentenced to ten and a half years in prison.
My colleague Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt has repeatedly reported about Abu Walaa.
He says it was a huge success for the authorities when the network was disrupted.
"Unfortunately, it was not prevented that Anis Amri, who also moved for a while in the orbit of Abu Walaa, became an assassin in the same year."
When I read about the verdict, it occurred to me that the danger from
Islamist terror is
no longer as omnipresent as it was a few years ago.
Wolf confirms that Islamists no longer agitate so openly.
“Radical mosques were closed not only in Hildesheim, but also in Berlin, for example.
The jihadist scene has withdrawn into chat groups and private circles, ”he says.
"That doesn't always make it easy for the security authorities to watch them."
Read more here: Ten and a half years imprisonment for IS chief recruiter Abu Walaa
2.
The mass extinction of spruce and beech
Icon: enlarge Photo: Fabian Strauch / DPA
Today, for once, it's not about Corona, but I still can't come up with really positive news.
Because my colleague Philipp Kollenbroich has
evaluated
a report on the
condition of the German forest
, which the Federal Ministry of Agriculture commissioned - and it does not look good.
If you're interested in nature, you won't be surprised, but I'll put it this way: It's getting worse and worse.
Only 21 percent of the trees had completely intact treetops, which is the worst value since the evaluation began in 1984. In addition, more spruce and beech trees have died than ever before, Philipp writes of a "mass extinction".
Why is that?
There are several reasons: "
The storms, the drought, the massive bark beetle infestation and also the increased forest fires of
the past three years" are listed by the ministry.
To counteract this, politicians want to fund the planting of new trees with money, even if this is controversial.
My colleague Elke Schmitter wrote down a few months ago that tree deaths not only affect the German forest, but also historical gardens (after all, I work in the cultural department).
Unfortunately nothing has changed in the diagnosis.
Read the full analysis here: The German forest is dying
3.
Step back, please
Icon: enlarge
Chemnitz: Pauline (back right) and Helene (front left) Schaefer train on the Olympic base.
Photo:
Sonja Och / DER SPIEGEL
My interest in sports is limited.
But the reporting in the SPIEGEL about the
gymnastics scandal
in Chemnitz interests me
very much
, probably also because I
did gymnastics
myself in my childhood and youth.
I wasn't bad, but no one predicted a great career as a sportsperson if I only trained hard enough.
Nobody pressured me.
That's why I had a good time.
Unlike the women who accuse the trainer Gabriele Frehse at the Chemnitz Federal Training Center for psychological violence.
She mentally abused them, sometimes gave them strong painkillers or drove them into an eating disorder.
That was in November.
Frehse denies the allegations - and is still in office.
My colleague Antje Windmann, who uncovered the scandal, has no understanding.
In a comment she wrote that Frehse should resign, that that was the "only correct consequence."
The national
swimming coach
Stefan Lurz, who is said to have manipulated, bullied and sexually coerced female swimmers for years, finally showed how.
SPIEGEL reported on him as well.
As soon as the research was public, Lurz resigned from his position as a junior coach at the federal base in Würzburg.
Today the Bundestag Sports Committee is discussing the consequences of the gymnastics scandal.
Antje hopes that they won't let themselves be distracted by the person who is stylizing themselves as a victim: the accused trainer Gabriele Frehse.
Read the whole comment here: Particularly bad freestyle
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What else is important today
Spahn considers incidence of zero to be unattainable:
permanent Corona incidence values of zero?
Health Minister Spahn does not think this is achievable.
He also commented on rapid tests in a questionnaire in the Bundestag - but failed to answer.
New mutation in California worries researchers:
A corona mutation is circulating in California and other US states that could be more contagious and dangerous.
The data situation is still unclear, but some things are worrying.
Kramp-Karrenbauer admits mistakes - but not her own:
The defense minister is trying to limit the damage in the recent KSK affair.
The Bundestag and she herself were informed too late.
She does not want to draw any personal consequences yet.
Customs secures 16 tons of cocaine in the port of Hamburg:
A man was arrested in the Netherlands who is said to be responsible for importing around 23 tons of cocaine.
According to the investigators, the drugs have a street sales value of several billion euros.
My favorite story today: Learning for life from Tinder
Icon: enlarge Photo: Violeta Stoimenova / E + / Getty Images
Rachel Greenwald is a matchmaker - and claims that blind dates and office life have more in common than you think.
The first impression has a direct influence on whether you get a job, impress the executives in the company and move up.
Ah, wonderful!
Fortunately, Greenwald gives very specific tips on how to improve the first impression other people have of you.
It's about self-deprecating LinkedIn profiles, interested inquiries and entertaining anecdotes to tell about yourself.
My favorite tip is related to the rampant video conference fatigue.
Greenwald says you shouldn't be boring and think up a surprising introduction to the conversation.
Your suggestions:
“When you meet a potential investor, play an energetic song at the beginning (I think of 'Eye of the Tiger').
At an interview, you could ask, 'What's the story behind the thing on your desk?' Or 'If you didn't have to talk to me today, what would you rather do instead?' «
I am chairing the cultural department conference tomorrow, digitally of course.
There can be no question of a first impression, but video conference fatigue can also be felt there.
How would my colleagues react if I just started with "Eye of the Tiger"?
Read more here: Tips from the matchmaker
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
»A criminal through and through«:
Thomas Drach is back behind bars.
The Reemtsma kidnapper allegedly carried out three robberies of money messengers.
A former investigator describes the professional criminal as cold and inhuman.
The Stone Age Musk:
The young Heinz Hermann Thiele ran the 100 meters in 10.8 seconds.
With the brakes, he became a billionaire - and one of the most contentious entrepreneurs.
His last coup was when he joined Lufthansa.
An obituary.
"These products should not actually be sold":
CBD products are supposed to relieve stress and help against sleep disorders without getting high.
Can you recommend it?
An interview with Nicole Merbach from Stiftung Warentest, who checked the funds.
How travel professionals plan their vacation now:
book the vacation?
If so, where?
Or is it wiser to wait?
Here, four travel enthusiasts explain the insights and considerations they use to guide their personal vacation planning.
Which is less important today
Icon: enlarge
Sirens in the symbol image hell
Photo: Brian Stablyk / Getty Images
Nepper, tractor, car dealer: Brandon Soules
, 19, from the US state of Arizona was so reluctant to work in a car dealership that he preferred to fake his own kidnapping, like the New York Times, among others.
At first, the teenager claimed that he had been knocked unconscious in front of his house by two masked men and kidnapped, but was released a little later.
His explanation: his father hid a lot of money in the desert.
The police investigated several days before the vertigo was discovered.
Typo of the day
, corrected in the meantime: The first wave of deliveries of syringes for global vaccinations against Covid-19 is to be continued in the coming days.
Cartoon of the day:
Quo vadis Bundeswehr
Icon: enlarge Photo: plasmann
And tonight?
Icon: enlargePhoto: Christian Werner
Could you follow one of the strange longings that awaken in the pandemic, as my colleague Tobias Becker writes?
»It can happen that you want to go from the couch to the office these days - or, even more daring, to a
motorway service station
.
If you can't get anywhere anymore, at least you'd like to be on the road again. ”How did he get the idea?
Because the writer Florian Werner published a declaration of love to the rest stop.
To do this, he stayed for days in the motel at the Garbsen Nord service station, located on the A2 near Hanover, "a place of gorgeous mediocrity, a dream in eighty-fifteen, normality turned asphalt." Photos by photographer Christian Werner illustrate the sadness very nicely.
(Click here for the book review for the pictures.)
A lovely evening.
Sincerely,
Laura Backes
Here you can order the "Lage am Abend" by email.
