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News of the day: TV triell, North Korea, inflation

2021-09-13T16:33:50.673Z


The day after the television triall belongs to the fact checkers and analysts. Images from North Korea show suspicious nuclear activity. And the economic knowledge of young Germans is poor. That is the situation on Monday evening.


1.

The trio remained without a clear winner, but the analyzes of the campaign performance are still useful

Basically, I think it's great how many of my colleagues are busy analyzing yesterday's election campaign on the day after the second triad between Annalena Baerbock, Armin Laschet and Olaf Scholz. One of the advantages of a democracy is that during the election campaign people listen carefully when politicians speak, and it is also very useful to look at their appearances. As far as the art of precise observation is concerned, my colleague Arno Frank paid special attention to the red ears of candidate Olaf Scholz in his review of yesterday's campaign appearance - and seems downright relieved that Scholz shows signs of feeling and fighting spirit. Overall, the triell reminds Arno of a wrestling match »in which the roles are also assigned.Here the guide shaft, there the pull-up bag. In between, a Green woman who, freed from the pressure of expectations, bravely maintains her claim to office. "

Enlarge image

Three more question marks

Photo:

Michael Kappeler / POOL / EPA

The colleagues of the SPIEGEL documentary subjected the statements of the television election campaign trio to a fact check - and found, among other things, that Annalena Baerbock was an understatement when she said that the state goes “around 50 billion euros annually through tax fraud and money laundering , through criminal activity through the rag. «The fact is: there are around twice as many billions.

Obviously, the candidate Laschet wrongly assumed that the candidate Scholz was directly responsible for the currently controversial work of the money laundering investigation team "Financial Intelligence Unit" (FIU). “Laschet accuses Scholz, as the responsible minister, of not leading the FIU properly. Scholz has to make sure that the supervisory authority does its job «, write the colleagues. "Assessment: Laschet's statement is wrong." The sober reasoning follows: "The Ministry of Finance has no specialist supervision, but only limited legal supervision over the FIU, so it can only check the legality of the administrative action, not its appropriateness."

Checking facts is a job that is part of the core business of journalism.

It is a little more difficult to answer the question of which of the three political experts Baerbock, Scholz and Laschet really has the skills to run our country.

When it comes to assessing talents or ingenious dispositions, some journalists can sometimes go completely wrong - this is what the writer Honoré de Balzac has noticed.

In the remake of his novel "Lost Illusions", the following joke is told.

Two newspaper journalists are sitting in a boat when they see Jesus walking on the water.

Then one of them says to the other: "Look at this - he can't even swim."

  • Read the full story here: On which topics Baerbock, Laschet and Scholz deviated from the facts

2.

Current satellite images feed the suspicion that North Korea has reactivated a decommissioned nuclear reactor - possibly for weapons production

There are numerous nuclear plants in the isolated and bitterly poor state of North Korea, some of them are designed not only to produce electricity for factories and households, but also to produce building materials for nuclear weapons.

North Korea is now suspected of having reactivated a nuclear facility particularly suitable for arms production, the Yongbyon reactor on the Kuryong-gang River in the north-west of the country.

Current, high-resolution satellite images, which are available to SPIEGEL, show the allegedly re-commissioned system and suspicious discharges into the watercourse.

Enlarge image

Yongbyon nuclear reactor

Photo: Pléiades / Cnes 2021 / Distribution Airbus DS

Representatives of the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called the latest findings "deeply worrying." The North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un has repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons and also had intercontinental and short-range missiles developed for their transport. From the point of view of the international community, the current situation is probably »extremely dangerous«, writes my colleague Christoph Seidler.

How reliable is the new information?

"Inspectors from the UN nuclear supervisory authority IAEA have not come into Yongbyon for more than ten years," says my colleague Christoph.

“So there is no direct information.

Satellite images provide us with at least indications that something is happening there again.

A small but clearly recognizable white spot on the picture suggests that cooling water from the reactor is being discharged into the Kuryong-gang river. "

  • Read the full story here: Kim's Secret Atomic Complex

3.

Many young people do not know what the "inflation rate" is - it would be good for political decisions if all Germans were better informed about economic issues

Almost a third of young people could not explain what exactly a stock is, only 50 percent of them knew what is meant by "inflation rate" - and only about one in four was able to interpret the term "mutual fund".

It is frightening but not particularly surprising that a recent survey of 700 young people between the ages of 14 and 24 has once again shown how little many Germans know about business matters.

Not even in the country's educated classes is economics an exciting topic.

The educational gaps are "alarming" and clearly show "that economic and financial topics must be given a higher priority in the curricula," announced a functionary of the banking association.

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High school graduates at the exam (archive): What is a share?

Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / picture alliance / dpa

Less than two weeks before the federal election, one can also speculate as to whether the Germans' election decisions would not be wiser if they were better informed about economic issues.

My colleague Yasmin El-Sharif and my colleague David Böcking interviewed Siegfried Russwurm, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), and discussed with him, among other things, the opportunities and costs of climate policy.

If I read how Russwurm talks about the taxation of companies in Germany, for example, I would like to see a little more expertise myself.

Russwurm is attacking the current regulations on property and inheritance tax and calls them "very difficult". In this context, the BDI boss reports of apparently desperate company owners, “who say that they will no longer manage the next generation change as a family business because they cannot bear the inheritance tax. Your only way out is then to sell parts of your business in order to pay the tax liability with the profits. "

That sounds impressive, but my two colleagues put it in order in a cool and well-informed manner.

Because so far, according to the SPIEGEL people, "almost all corporate heirs have been spared either completely or 85 percent due to generous exception rules." It would be great if I and a large number of German voters could judge what to think of them with as much precision as my colleague Yasmin and my colleague David.

  • Read the whole interview here: "We are not in wonderland"

(Would you like to receive the »Situation in the evening« conveniently by email in your inbox? Here you can order the daily briefing as a newsletter.)

What else is important today

  • With these six promises Laschet wants to score points in the election campaign:

    Union Chancellor candidate Laschet presents his immediate program for the time after the election: In the paper that is available to SPIEGEL, six packages are described with partly new or more specific plans.

  • China apparently wants to smash Alibaba's payment app:

    According to a report in the Financial Times, China continues to put its large tech companies under pressure.

    Parts of Alipay, the payment service of the online retailer Alibaba, are expected to be completely split off.

  • Danish border instead of Italy - cyclist gets lost:

    completely wrong direction: A man set off on his bike in Hungary and said he wanted to visit friends in Italy - instead, police picked him up at the German-Danish border.

My favorite story today: "Operation Tinfoil" - Anonymous hackers take over channels from Attila Hildmann

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Screenshot from the video of the Anonymous activists: »Hello, Attila Hildmann«

Photo: Anonymous Kollektiv / Telegram

Attila Hildmann, who has become known as a vegan chef and who has now made right-wing extremist and conspiracy ideological statements, can temporarily only communicate with his followers to a limited extent. Members of the hacker collective Anonymous have taken over several Telegram channels and two websites from Hildmann and placed their own messages there. On the official website of Hildmann, where his cookbooks are usually advertised, the mask symbol of the hacking group appeared. For this purpose, a kind of confessional video of the anonymous attackers was published on the website, in which a computer voice says: "Hello Germany, hello Attila Hildmann".

Behind the action is the German-speaking group »Anonymous Germany«, which has previously drawn attention to right-wing extremists and conspiratorial ideological actors with hacker attacks.

The anonymous attackers call the current campaign "Operation Tinfoil", Operation Alufolie.

The group describes in a blog entry that the campaign was successful after a former Hildmann supporter and IT helper contacted them.

Hildmann himself reported in a Telegram message that was apparently published on a secondary route: "All my channels are now gone."

  • Read the full story here: Anonymous hackers take over channels from Attila Hildmann

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +

  • »What I think sucks: Corona and mask.

    And homeschooling «:

    Anyone starting the second year of school has hardly seen their classroom for weeks.

    Can the kids ever catch up on what they missed?

  • Why do politicians so often wear dark blue ?:

    What Armin Laschet lacks for a sovereign appearance, why Olaf Scholz does not have to shine, and whether purple pumps are a good choice in the triumph of the chancellorship - call an image consultant.

  • He wanted to "plant a hedgehog in Uncle Sam's underpants":

    Nikita Khrushchev rose in Stalin's shadow.

    He wanted to overhaul the Soviet Union - and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

    Who was the beefy, impulsive power politician who died 50 years ago?

  • "His goal is the coup":

    Brazil's president calls on his supporters to attack state institutions.

    Philosophy professor Marcos Nobre sees this as the “first step towards a coup d'état” - and parallels with Donald Trump.

Which is less important today

Enlarge image

More »privacy and transparency«: Lana del Rey has deactivated her profiles in the social networks

Photo:

Britta Pedersen / dpa

  • Partially silent singer:

    Lana del Rey, 36, has said goodbye to Twitter, Instagram and other social media channels.

    The American singer had more than 20 million subscribers on Instagram alone.

    In the past, she had been violently publicly poisoned because of some of her statements and posts - for example for a glittering, wide-meshed net mask that she wore during the corona pandemic.

    Now all of your social media profiles are shut down.

    In a video, del Rey justified her abstinence from communication by saying that she "had so many other interests and other jobs."

Typo of the day

, corrected in the meantime: "Above all, comfortable casual clothing was presented - wide denim jackets, dungarees and cropped sweaters."

Cartoon of the day:

We need more vaccination incentives!

And tonight?

Enlarge image

Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac in "Scenes from a Marriage"

Photo: HBO / Sky

Could you watch the Ingmar Bergman remake "Scenes from a Marriage", the first of five episodes can now be seen on Sky.

Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac play the catastrophe couple that Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson played 50 years ago.

My colleague Oliver Kaever finds the remake "stylistically compelling and demanding in terms of acting" - and he asked the actress Chastain, who is always great, about her work on the Bergman update.

"I wanted to play a modern woman who moves in a world that was once reserved for men," says Chastien.

In other words, a heroine who acts as rude and ruthlessly as "as men have always done, as a matter of course."


A lovely evening.

Sincerely


yours, Wolfgang Höbel

Here you can order the "Lage am Abend" by email.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-09-13

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