1.
Because she criticized supervisors in a video, the Belarusian sprinter Kristina Timanowskaja was supposed to leave Tokyo against her will - she has now applied for asylum in Poland.
The sprinter Kristina Timanowskaja is not a world class athlete. Her greatest successes so far have been a silver medal over 100 meters at the U23 European Championships and qualifying for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Over the 100 meters she was eliminated in the preliminary run on Friday, she missed the start over the 200 meters on Monday today. Your starting block remained empty. But now she is world famous.
Timanovskaya was apparently due to be flown home early from the Olympic Games against her will on Sunday evening after she publicly criticized sports officials in her country. She sought refuge with the police at the airport and no longer wants to return to Belarus. She is afraid for her safety, she says. She has now applied for asylum in Poland. Belarusian opposition officials spoke of an "attempted kidnapping". Timanovskaya's husband claims to have fled Belarus - to Ukraine.
My colleague Anne Armbrecht writes in her story about the Timanovskaya case that this is by no means the first time that critical athletes have come under pressure in Belarus. "A hopeful athlete has become an enemy of the state who is now likely to lose her home." The athlete shared a video on Instagram on Friday. There she complained about her planned use in the 4x400 meter relay after some members of the team were apparently not eligible for the Olympic Games due to a lack of doping tests. In the realm of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is controversial because of various human rights violations, such criticism is apparently not welcome. A campaign against Timanovskaya has been launched in Belarusian media,on state television she was insulted as a traitor.
The exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya - the surname coincidentally resembles that of the athlete - compared the attempt to force the sprinter to leave Tokyo with the forced landing of a plane in Minsk in May, which served the dissident journalist Roman Arrest Protassevich and his girlfriend.
"No Belarusian who has left the Belarusian borders is safe because he can be kidnapped," she wrote on Twitter.
How aware was the athlete of the consequences of her uprising via video clip when she pissed off at her supervisor?
“Timanovskaya is probably not an opposition activist.
She didn't even criticize the regime directly, «says my colleague Anne.
That is precisely why her case shows "how quickly critical people in Belarus can come under pressure."
Belarusian Timanovskaya at Olympia: A sprinter as an enemy of the state
Scandal about the Belarusian sprinter at the Olympics: Timanowskaja receives a visa for Poland - her husband fled to the Ukraine
2.
In China, millions of people are in lockdown again - because of a focus of infection in the metropolis of Nanjing and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant
While German politicians and scientists argue about whether vaccination offers should be made to young people from the age of 12 to combat the corona pandemic, it was reported from China today that a lockdown was again imposed on several million people.
In the centrally located city of Zhuzhou, for example, the authorities ordered on Monday that over 1.2 million residents must stay at home for three days.
During this time, all people are to be tested and the local vaccination campaign is to be promoted.
Enlarge image
Metropolis Nanjing: Delta variant is spreading
Photo: Hildegarde / Getty Images
Compared with the number of infections in Germany and many European countries, the numbers of infections recently reported from China are by no means particularly high: In the past two weeks, little more than 360 cases have been discovered across the country. But unlike many governments in the world, the Chinese rulers are pursuing a so-called zero covid strategy. If small clusters appear in a city or province, the affected areas are immediately cordoned off and all residents are tested for the virus.
In large cities like Beijing, millions of residents have again been tested, residential areas have been cordoned off and people have been quarantined in order to stop the spread of the virus.
And the Chinese health authorities have also allegedly identified a place of origin of the latest corona outbreak.
According to their assessment, the new infections can be traced back to a source of infection in the east Chinese city of Nanjing - there, almost two weeks ago, nine cleaners at the international airport tested positive for the corona virus.
Corona news on Monday, 12:54 p.m.: Millions of Chinese in lockdown
Consultations with the health ministers: Lauterbach promotes vaccinations from the age of twelve - Stiko continues to hesitate
3.
Because the US Department of Justice is investigating Allianz funds, the company's share price plummeted - in fact, investor lawsuits could be very expensive for Allianz
Most people associate the group name Allianz with insurance companies, but the Munich-based company also includes asset management companies such as the US subsidiary Pimco and the Frankfurt-based Allianz Global Investors, or AGI for short. Because of the latter, the alliance is now grappling with an investigation by the US Department of Justice in the USA. The allegations amount to the fact that the AGI fund managers did not react appropriately to the market development in the early phase of the corona pandemic. Various investors argue that one of the reasons they suffered high losses was because the fund people allegedly failed to adhere to their own guidelines. According to US media reports, the investors suing against AGI include the New York Metro,the Arkansas State Teachers Pension Fund and the Teamsters Union.
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Allianz offices in Berlin
Photo: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
On Monday night, Allianz announced that the US Department of Justice has now launched an investigation after the US Securities and Markets Authority (SEC).
As a result, the Allianz share temporarily plummeted by almost seven percent in today's trading.
The Allianz Board of Management spoke of a "relevant risk", according to which the matter could have "significant effects on the future financial results of the Allianz Group".
The lawsuits concern so-called hedge funds, which AGI launched under the name Alpha Fonds.
How bad can it get for Allianz?
"These lawsuits in the USA can be very expensive and, in the worst case, cost the company billions of dollars," says my colleague Stefan Kaiser from the head of the SPIEGEL economic department.
"The US authorities are not to be trifled with in such cases, as the Deutsche Bank, among others, has already been painfully aware of."
Dispute over billions in losses: US Department of Justice investigates Allianz funds - share sags
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What else is important today
Kevin McCarthy jokes about violence against Nancy Pelosi:
Kevin McCarthy is under pressure.
The leader of the Republicans in the US House of Representatives had joked that he wanted to hit Nancy Pelosi with a hammer.
Now the Democrats are demanding his resignation.
After the flood disaster in the Ahr valley, the public prosecutor's office is investigating investigative proceedings for negligent homicide: Were warnings omitted or did they come too late?
According to the Koblenz public prosecutor's office, there is initial suspicion of negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm.
Married couple is said to have spied together for China:
In return for travel, supporting programs and fees, a German political scientist is said to have obtained information for China for years.
His wife also allegedly helped - and has now also been charged.
According to investigators, the protester died of a heart attack:
Despite the ban, thousands demonstrated against the corona measures in Berlin on Sunday.
A 49-year-old died after being arrested.
According to SPIEGEL information, the preliminary result of the autopsy is now available.
Cycling Association warns sports director Moster:
After his racist derailment at the games, sports director Patrick Moster will be relieved of his international duties "until further notice".
The association wants to invite the two affected athletes.
My favorite story today: Waiting for the everyone's helicopter
Hundreds of start-ups and aviation companies are working on new types of aircraft, popularly known as flying taxis. E-helicopters, which take people from A to B at a height of three kilometers, are considered a great promise, especially for the German start-up scene, generously supported by investors. My colleagues Anton Rainer and Marcel Rosenbach looked around and asked around some of the possible future providers and came across many interesting details, but also many questions. Often there is still a lack of technology, and the business model is sometimes not clear either. Who should use the floating taxis later? Rich people or commuters, business people or tourists? Who are the planes supposed to replace: Uber taxis or the S-Bahn? Which provider actually gets approval in the end? And what happens to the many billionsshould the dream vanish into thin air? The central question my colleagues asked about the supposed means of transport of the future is of course: "Will they ever fly?"
Technology hurdles and little acceptance: Air taxis are the means of transport of the future - or a billion-dollar grave
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The day Beirut lost its soul:
a year ago a detonation destroyed parts of Lebanon's capital.
Since then, the country has been in free fall.
Visiting people who just want to leave - and others who are fighting on.
Which is less important today
Enlarge image
Singer Rumpf (1985) with partner and guitarist Niko Müller: "I learned from my mother: don't rely on others, rely on yourself"
Photo:
BRIGANI-ART / Heinrich / imago images
Transfigured from father to hit queen:
Inga Rumpf, 75,
has been venerated as a pioneer of German rock music and a singer in the style of Janis Joplin since the 1970s.
But her father assigned her to another profession for a long time.
"She sings Schlager!" The father always claimed to friends and acquaintances, so Rumpf in an interview that my colleague Arno Frank conducted with the musician on the occasion of the publication of her autobiography.
To explain this, Rumpf says: "My father played the accordion and painted, he was into operettas and shanties."
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "US Secretary of State Blinken accuses Iran"
Cartoon of the day:
12 to 17 year olds making decisions
And tonight?
Could you watch the music documentary "Summer of Soul" on Disney +, which features spectacular concert performances by Mavis Staples and Stevie Wonder, among others.
In the summer of 1969, Woodstock's hippie year, the Harlem Cultural Festival, held over six weekends in New York between June and August, was a historic, cultural and political event for the African-American and Hispanic communities in America.
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Black and proud: Audience at the Harlem Cultural Festival in the summer of 1969
Photo: Disney +
The live recordings of the festival, made by a filmmaker with a small crew, boxes full of tapes and cassettes, were stored in a cellar for almost 50 years.
A documentation has now been created from the recordings, which my colleague Andreas Borcholte praises as “stirring and electrifying”.
Especially because of the music performances it is worth watching: Nina Simone, for example, sings "My Precious Lord" with Mahalia Jackson, the favorite song of Martin Luther King, who was murdered the year before.
"We wanted progress," says the great singer Gladys Knight in an interview clip.
“Something important happened these days.
It wasn't just about the music ”.
(Read the full review here. And here's the Disney + music documentary.)
A lovely evening.
Sincerely
yours, Wolfgang Höbel
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