1.
Loosen, curl, lockdown?
Next week is the
Prime Minister's Conference (MPK) again
.
Then the prime ministers of the federal states (MPK) meet with the chancellor and some federal ministers and agree on how the shutdown will proceed.
For a while it actually looked pretty good: the incidence values had dropped over the course of weeks, there was the prospect of loosening, opening up, freedom.
Now the numbers threaten to rise again, visits to restaurants or the cinema are once again becoming a distant prospect.
But how long should that go on?
Health Minister Jens Spahn
only said yesterday in the Bundestag that he considered an incidence value of zero to be unrealistic.
Icon: enlarge Photo: Sebastian Willnow / dpa
Politics is in a tight spot.
A SPIEGEL team has been looking for answers on how the Chancellor and Prime Minister want to get out of it.
There are no clear answers.
Many SPD countries want further regional differentiation in the future.
If the incidence value falls, it is relaxed and opened.
And when people from Bremen make a pilgrimage to Lower Saxony because the hardware stores are open there, that is to be accepted.
Lower Saxony and Berlin have already presented step-by-step plans for openings, Hamburg's First Mayor Peter Tschentscher is doing the opposite, he is tightening the mask requirement.
From the weekend, masks have to be worn in public places that hardly allow gaps.
The main focus of the CDU is on what the new
federal chairman
Armin Laschet
is doing.
At a press conference on Tuesday, he was asked whether the MPK would be about openings next week.
Yes, said Laschet and snorted: "This is a decision, 16 countries expect us to present an opening strategy." Now Chancellor Angela Merkel has a say in this.
And for them, the incidence of 35 is still the determining benchmark, write my colleagues.
But because we are moving away from it, the opening plans remain theory for the time being.
Read the full story here: And the looseness beckons forever
2.
End with immunity
If you look up on Twitter today which hashtags are used the most, the picture is funny: 1st place: #Impfpass.
2nd place: # Nüßlein.
3rd place: #Nutlein.
It concerns the CSU member of the Bundestag
Georg Nüßlein
, whose immunity was lifted today at the request of the Munich public prosecutor.
The allegations against him are massive.
It is about both corruption and tax evasion.
According to SPIEGEL information, the CSU politician is said to have lobbied three ministries for a Hessian company and collected 660,000 euros for it.
Icon: enlarge Photo: Soeren Stache / picture alliance / dpa
The Hessian textile company is said to have actually delivered respiratory masks in not inconsiderable quantities to the Federal Ministry of Health.
The Ministry justifies itself with the fact that at the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020 the need for masks was very great and numerous MPs had "given or forwarded specific information on offers to buy personal protective equipment and other supplies and consumables".
Read the whole story here: Mask affair - CSU politician is said to have been bribed by a Hessian supplier
3. Out
on the streets for "Mother Suu"
In many parts of Myanmar, hundreds of thousands are
taking
to the streets
against the military coup
these days
.
They are demanding the release of de facto Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and the president.
Many people have given up their jobs.
Hospital staff, civil servants and also bank employees (so many that the financial system has partially stalled).
The civil disobedience makes the generals nervous.
On Saturday, security forces shot at a crowd in Mandalay, the country's second largest city.
Two people died and dozen were injured.
Icon: enlargePhoto: YE AUNG THU / AFP
Nevertheless, thousands again demonstrated for democracy by the middle of the week.
My colleague Laura Höflinger spoke to people in the country, for example me Ye, 26, who coordinates courses at a language school in Yangon, and speaks fluent German.
He does not believe that there will be new elections in a year's time, as announced by the military.
That's why he's demonstrating for the first time in his life, he told Laura.
Together with others he stands in front of the foreign embassies and the office of the United Nations, on their posters are sentences such as: How many corpses will it take for the UN to intervene?
He calls Aung San Suu Kyi "Mother Suu", she is really like a mother to him.
“She was under house arrest for 15 years.
She has not seen her sons for so many years, her husband died without her being able to say goodbye.
Mother Suu always says: The population is her family and she relies on us. "
Read the full story here: "When they shoot us, the whole world sees it"
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What else is important today
Bouffier blames the federal government for the lack of acceptance of the AstraZeneca vaccine:
Many people do not want to be vaccinated with the vaccine from the manufacturer AstraZeneca.
The Prime Minister of Hesse sees the reason for this in the communications of the federal government.
A shot that changed Turkey:
five years ago, human rights lawyer Tahir Elçi was shot dead in Turkey.
Now the alleged perpetrators have to answer in court.
Elçi's death is still a mystery today.
Suspicious youth is already known to the police for a violent act:
He is said to have killed a teenager in Sinsheim: The 14-year-old suspect has already appeared in the police force - in November he injured a boy with a knife.
Much fewer road
deaths
- but significantly more e-bike riders
who
have had accidents:
The number of deaths on German roads fell sharply in the pandemic year 2020 - even the booming bicycle traffic became safer.
However, researchers are wondering why significantly more pedelec riders died.
My favorite story today: The Sieg Heil practitioner
In Leinburg-Diepersdorf, a 2400-inhabitant town east of Nuremberg, Susanne G. was known as the operator of a natural and sports healing practice.
The alternative medicine offer included homeopathy, cupping therapy and massages.
Icon: enlarge
Natural healer G. on a demo of the »Third Way« (on May 1, 2019 in Plauen, Saxony): images like in a Riefenstahl film
Photo: Robert Andreasch
But Susanne G. has been in custody since September, she is considered a suspected neo-Nazi activist.
In January, the Attorney General's office filed a lawsuit against allegedly planning terrorist attacks on Muslims, local politicians and police officers.
She is said to have already explored possible destinations.
When she was arrested, the investigators seized materials for the construction of incendiary devices, including a balaclava, a bulletproof vest and prepared plastic cuffs.
"The case of Susanne G. shows once again that women in the right-wing extremist scene are apparently ready for violence and terror," write my colleagues who researched the case.
“And it illustrates the danger emanating from a small party called the 'Third Way'.
It has long since become a threatening reservoir for Nazi fans and militant neo-Nazis.
G. has been active in the party for years. "
Read the full story here: Right alternative medicine is said to have planned terrorist attacks
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
Why a dozen data nerds deliver fresher corona numbers than the RKI:
Health authorities and the Robert Koch Institute are struggling with software problems and late reports.
It would be as simple as a disaster researcher and his project »Risklayer« show.
Getting up after defeat - this is how it works:
It can hit anyone and everyone: At the peak of success, it pulls you down into a deep crisis.
Now to get up again - how does that work?
Ex-politician Christian Wulff and ex-ProSiebenSat.1 board member Sabine Eckhardt know it.
How language comforts and arouses hope:
Our columnist uses examples from literature to show how powerful the German language can be.
Episode 55: Anna Seghers' novel of the century »The Seventh Cross«.
Which is not so important today
Icon: enlarge Photo: EDUARDO MUNOZ / REUTERS
Top Shots: Bruce Springsteen
, 71, has to pay a fine of $ 500 and $ 40 in court fees after admitting he was drunk.
He was checked in the US state of New Jersey in November.
When the incident became known, the automaker Jeep had withdrawn a commercial with Springsteen.
Now the clip should be shown again.
The hearing took place online because of the pandemic, around a hundred people watched.
The musician said in court: "I had two small tequila shots."
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "It will be a long time before the solutions can be implemented in the day."
Cartoon of the day:
headline with a link to the photo gallery
And tonight?
Icon: enlarge
Actress Buabeng
Photo: Kimi Palme
Could you watch the new talk show that starts today on SWR.
However, it is not broadcast on television, but on YouTube and Instagram.
The three moderators Tasha Kimberly, Hadnet Tesfai and Thelma Buabeng talk about family, partnership, sex, professional life.
The special feature: moderators and guests are not-white.
Thelma Buabeng says about the start: »I'm happy to be able to talk about everyday topics, like every white person on every talk show.
And not always being asked about racism. «(Here is the whole interview.)
Tomorrow my colleague Oliver Trenkamp will take over again.
A lovely evening.
Sincerely,
Laura Backes
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