1.
We procrastinate
Enlarge image
Syringe photography
Photo:
Jens Schlueter / Getty Images
Oh no.
Biontech will deliver significantly less vaccine in July than in June,
according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
The vaccination campaign threatens to slow down significantly, report my colleague Maria Marquart and my colleague Claus Hecking.
Johnson & Johnson struggles with production problems;
Many do not want AstraZeneca;
the failures cannot be compensated with Moderna - and it is completely unclear when Curevac will be approved.
(Read more here.)
Less vaccine than necessary, plus a more contagious virus mutant
- sounds as if the late summer looseness could be followed by an early autumn of frustration.
Especially since the Delta variant has already appeared in Dresden, in a daycare center, elementary school and high school.
But tests also found the mutant in Hamburg, also at a primary school, and in Hildesheim, at a grammar school.
Everything is manageable, but you don't have to explain exponential growth to anyone anymore.
(If so, more here.)
Summer 2020 was wasted, waited too long in autumn 2020, loosened up too early in winter 2020/2021 -
Germany turned out to be a Prokrasti nation
that pushes the necessary in front of them, especially in schools and daycare centers.
After all, the federal government now wants to inject 500 million euros for air filters, as it became known a few days ago (more here).
Unfortunately, the criteria seem confusing and complicated: Where children over 12 are taught, the funding does not apply (they could be vaccinated, theoretically, if there was enough vaccine).
The school directors are also not allowed to pay for mobile devices with the subsidy, but only for fixed devices - for fear “that the cleaning will not be successful or only partially”.
Sometimes I fear that we are not only putting off the necessary action, but also thinking.
Read more here: Germany threatens massive slowdown in the vaccination campaign
2.
Small litter
Oha, the grand coalition wants
to
spend
around eight billion euros on an
immediate program for climate protection
.
That sounds like a big hit, so let's take a look at the small things: Representatives of the Union and the SPD have agreed on 26 projects and measures, as my colleagues Christian Reiermann and Gerald Traufetter report.
Largest single item: 2.5 billion euros for federal funding for energy-efficient buildings.
But the list also says:
the construction of two emission-free survey and wreck search ships
gastight liquid manure storage facilities
more bike paths
Research on Hybrid Electric Flying 1
1000 fast charging stations on the highways.
The problem:
many, if not all of these measures take effect late
, maybe too late. Everything that would have an effect more quickly was left out - a speed limit on motorways, for example, or a specific agreement on the faster increase in the price of CO₂. There is now a more general formulation: The CO₂ price is "an important instrument" for climate protection. "How much it should increase because of the once again tightened climate targets is not said," write the colleagues.
My colleague Kurt Stukenberg, host of our new podcast »Climate Report«, says: »Even if such an immediate program is the right step, it shows again how much the grand coalition limits itself to taking out mortgages for the future.« that the CO₂ dispute can only be tackled by the next government.
"Then the unofficial climate policy motto of the last few years would have prevailed again," says Kurt.
"What you can get today, just postpone it until tomorrow." Sounds like a lot of small things without a big throwback.
Read more here: Government agrees on immediate program for climate protection
3.
A little relaxation
Enlarge image
Meet on neutral ground
Photo: Saul Loeb / dpa
Oho.
At their meeting in Geneva,
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin
agreed on the return of their ambassadors to Moscow and Washington, as the Russian President announced afterwards.
The diplomats were withdrawn after tensions between the two countries increased.
Now Putin says: "You will return to your workplace." The conversation with the US President was "constructive".
Read more here: USA and Russia agree return of their ambassadors
And here more about the background: What Biden and Putin argued about today
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What else is important today
"The snipers deployed had him already in their sights":
Shortly before the German European Championship opening game in Munich, a Greenpeace paramotor
pilot
crashed into the arena.
According to Bavaria's Minister of the Interior Herrmann, an unacceptable action - which could have ended much worse.
Kim Jong Un admits poor supplies in North Korea:
In North Korea, the population has suffered from food
shortages
for a long time.
Now ruler Kim Jong Un is also speaking of a "tense" food situation - and is making an appeal to local farmers.
Ziemiak takes back allegations against Emcke:
Paul Ziemiak had severely criticized Carolin Emcke for alleged Holocaust comparisons in her guest speech at the party conference of the Greens.
After a phone call with the publicist, the CDU general secretary has now adopted a different tone.
EU countries are lifting travel restrictions for US tourists:
For more than a year, tourist trips from many third countries to the EU have been prohibited.
Now tourists from the USA are allowed to enter again.
The permit also applies to seven other countries.
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
"The white cis man can also go to all other law firms":
Because they had had enough of power games in law firms, Rebecca Richter and Katja Dunkel went into business for themselves.
Now they primarily advise women and queer people.
Your goal: to fundamentally change the industry.
Can we big cities save the province - and they save us?
Why live in the metropolis when you can now work anywhere thanks to Corona?
Together with 19 other city dwellers, Verena Töpper and her family dare an experiment: They swap Hamburg for Homberg.
The start is choppy.
America's money party getting out of hand?
The US government is pumping trillions of dollars into the economy and consumer prices are rising rapidly.
Finance Minister Yellen hopes that the central bank will fix it - but the criticism is growing louder.
New contraceptive pill with an unclear risk of thrombosis:
A contraceptive pill should be reliable, tolerable and safe.
But before approval, manufacturers don't even have to prove that drugs score points in all of these areas - this is shown by a current case.
Which is less important today
Getting into a swim: Franziska von Almsick
, 43, talked to the "Bunter" about life paths that have not followed suit.
"As a young woman, I found it desirable to become a politician," she told the magazine.
"In the meantime I see things differently." In politics, too many compromises have to be made and clusters have been established.
"That is not my strength."
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "She is one of the richest women in the world - and apparently also one of the most generous."
Cartoon of the day:
Gradual easing
And tonight?
Enlarge image
Color film about black and white birds
Photo: Netflix
And tonight?
Could you watch a documentary about African penguins on Netflix?
The "City of Penguins", which gave the eight-part series its title, is the South African coastal town of Simon's Town.
Every year around 2000 animals gather there to court, mate, lay eggs and finally foster the offspring.
Of course, that first results in very moving images, as my colleague Wolfgang Höbel from the cultural department writes.
But in truth, the behavior of the animals points to a problem: the penguins, like us, are too hot.
"The heat in the summer months in the southern hemisphere obviously gives them a hard time," writes Wolfgang.
"According to the information here, only around half of all eggs laid by penguins end up hatching a chick."
Excuse me, I didn't mean to spoil your joy in the summer sun.
Here is Wolfgang's criticism: "The aim is to get as fat as possible as quickly as possible"
A lovely evening.
Sincerely
yours, Oliver Trenkamp
Here you can order the "Lage am Abend" by email.