News of the day: triage, women's rights in Afghanistan, death trap used clothing containers

1. More protection for people with disabilities

Who can hope for the last free intensive care bed?

Who should be helped if there are not enough medical staff, who do doctors

possibly have to leave to their own fate

in the

?

A

requires decisions of dire consequence.

"So far, politicians have shied away from questions of prioritization, switched on the ethics council or relied on guidelines from medical specialist societies," says my colleague from the SPIEGEL capital city office, Cornelia Schmergal.

Since this morning at 9.30 a.m., the ducking away has been over.

Enlarge image

Covid-19 patient

Photo: Fabian Strauch / dpa

The

has obliged politicians to take precautions "immediately" to protect people with disabilities. This gave the complainants concerned the right, who feared being given up by doctors if there were no legal requirements. The Karlsruhe judges warned in clear words that "unconscious stereotyping" entails the risk of disadvantaging people with disabilities in making medical decisions.

Patient protectors

and health minister

welcome the decision -

on the other hand, criticizes the union because it

did not act

in the last legislative period when it was still

the health minister

with

.

One of the complainants before the Federal Constitutional Court is the judge and disability activist

In an interview with my colleague Hannes Schrader, she also said: "Jens Spahn misunderstood the constitution." "Acting for the well-being of

doesn't seem to have been his main concern,

" says Poser. Incidentally, in the case of triage, she herself finds “the rule 'first come, first serve' to be most bearable”. Which then would mean, however, that a 98-year-old might be given preference over a young person who has their whole life ahead of them.

The

Ministry of

now wants to work out a first template "promptly".

What is required is a framework that leaves no room for discrimination, not even for the unconscious.

The Constitutional Court has already given a few pointers, for example the

or special requirements for intensive medical training in order to avoid discrimination.

"It is right and important to now lead the debate where debates of great importance should take place: in Parliament," says my colleague Schmergal.

• More on the subject: Complainant Nancy Poser says which criteria she would favor in the event of a triage

2. Rethink power

In many cities in Germany people are currently taking to the streets to defend themselves against the alleged

in Germany or to point out "the victims of the Covid measures".

Enlarge image

Photo: Mstyslav Chernov / dpa

It

is unlikely that

a woman in

will be able to explain the reason for these citizens' protests.

The

taking more and more measures to push women out of the public eye and make it difficult for them to lead an independent life.

"Women cannot travel alone or go to schools and universities," said Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry last night.

The ARD reporter and author of the SPIEGEL bestseller "Between the Worlds - Of Power and Powerlessness in Iran"

posted a video on Twitter today of women protesting for their rights in Kabul.

To do this, you have to "be really brave," says Amiri.

In addition,

is currently ravaged by a drought of the

shortages, as the SPIEGEL reporter Christoph Reuter from Faryab reports.

How can Germany help?

Possibly with a

such as that

envisaged by

.

To do this, one would first have to know what the term actually means.

Katharina Horban, who is currently an intern at the SPIEGEL capital office, writes in her story in the current issue: »Feminist foreign policy means that military strength, power and security are rethought.

It's about disarmament, the enforcement of women's rights, about more women in military missions and in diplomacy. "

Little was heard of this in the first few days and weeks of Baerbock's tenure.

Horban fears: "As a minister, her scope for value-based foreign policy seems to be shrinking - and with it that for feminism."

In any case, today Baerbock was not quoted with suggestions for improving the situation of

, but rather her husband made the headlines of the day: Daniel Holefleisch gave up his job at the logistics group Deutsche Post DHL in favor of his wife's career.

A company spokesman confirmed to the magazine “Bunte” that Holefleisch “has not been active for the Deutsche Post DHL Group since July 2021”.

• Read more here: Pakistani minister criticizes the lack of women's rights in Afghanistan

3. Deadly trap

If I correctly interpret the motorcade in front of the recycling center near my home in Munich, the days between Christmas and New Year are a good time to part with the superfluous.

If you are considering clearing out your wardrobe, I recommend reading the text by my colleague Kristin Haug beforehand.

Enlarge image

Cut open container in which Ralf Bader died

Photo: STA Braunschweig

Time and again, people die in used

writes Kristin.

Mostly when trying to pull something out instead of throwing something in.

However, the sad case of Ralf Bader shows that a house key that accidentally ends up in the container when disposing of old clothes can trigger a tragedy.

At the end of July, a 25-year-old lost her life in a container near Aschaffenburg.

In June, a 41-year-old in Düsseldorf and a 40-year-old in Hilchenbach died in containers.

In May 2018 an 18-year-old in Landshut, in December 2017 a 40-year-old in Wetzlar.

According to TÜV Süd, there is currently no specific product standard for used clothing containers.

However, a working group on behalf of the Central Office of the Federal States for Safety Technology has drawn up a principle after the containers are checked.

But not all containers meet such requirements.

Ralf Bader's partner told editor Kristin Haug: “Of course this death is totally absurd.

But we all regularly act rashly, something can happen to us at any time. "

• Read more about the deadly dangers of used clothing containers here

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

What else is important today

• Federal government buys one million packs of anti-Covid drug:

  It should work against severe coronavirus courses: Germany has ordered one million packs of Paxlovid.

  Federal Minister of Health Lauterbach considers the drug from the US company Pfizer to be "extremely promising".

• Russia dissolves the most famous human rights organization:

  activists complain

  about

  increasing authoritarian tendencies.

  Now the supreme court in Moscow has decided: The human rights organization Memorial is not allowed to continue working.

• Birgit Vanderbeke is dead:

  German-language literature has lost "a powerful, headstrong and unmistakable voice": Piper Verlag has announced that the author Birgit Vanderbeke has died.

• Murder of sister?

  Prosecutors are bringing charges against two men:

  They are said to have killed their sister together, packed them in a suitcase and finally buried them.

  Now the Berlin public prosecutor has charged two brothers with murder - they also name their image of women as a motive.

My favorite story today: my 

colleagues' annual reviews

Sebastian Rether / DER SPIEGEL

When a text has been researched, written and published, our

actually finished.

However, some texts continue to concern us.

That is why we want to reveal the "stories behind the stories" by the end of the year.

Also to make our work more transparent:

Among other things, reporter Maik Großekathöfer describes how he had sleepless nights because he did not know whether he could believe the declarations of innocence of an educator who is said to have sexually abused children.

Katrin Elger thematizes the difficult handling of the fate of refugees in a very touching way.

Without meaning to, she raised false hopes in a Syrian woman who is stuck in Lebanon.

She has never had her grandson living in Germany in her arms.

Elger, on the other hand, does.

The head of the SPIEGEL capital city office, Martin Knobbe, wonders whether SPIEGEL will write down politicians.

And I tell of a phone call with the CSU press spokesman, during which my voice became very loud.

I was responsible for a mistake in a text about Markus Söder.

Not him.

• Read more »stories behind the stories« here

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +

• »The relationship between the EU and Switzerland threatens to collapse«:

  Maroš Šefčovič is Vice President of the EU Commission.

  Here he talks about the Brexit troubles with Great Britain and the difficult negotiations on an agreement with Switzerland.

• Spectacle on four hills:

  The Four Hills Tournament is celebrating a big anniversary - there will be jumping for the 70th time.

  The tour has been a crowd puller at the turn of the year since 1953: a spectacle, a collection of stories, dramas, successes and crashes.

• Bankruptcies, sheet metal and breakdowns:

  Ugly cars, crazy road projects, cyclists without manners: A lot of traffic went wrong in 2021.

  A personal worst-of from our mobility desk.

Which is less important today

• The

  Matterhorn

  swings back and forth. This is what researchers have described in the journal "Earth and Planetary Science Letters". The phenomenon is already known from high-rise buildings and bridges. The reason are

  seismic waves of

  the earth, which are generated for example by the tides, the ocean surf, the wind and earthquakes or by human activities. In a good two seconds, however, the summit only moves a few nanometers to micrometers, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. A nanometer is a millionth part of a millimeter, a micrometer is equivalent to a thousandth of a millimeter.

Typo of the day

, now corrected: "The now 26 and 22-year-old Afghan defendants wanted to punish their sister for their western-oriented lifestyle."

Cartoon of the day:

watching the news with lateral thinkers ...

And tonight?

In preparation for New Year's Eve and perhaps also to get in the mood for the New Year in which the traffic light coalition is planning to legalize cannabis, I recommend the film

in the home theater

(Read the film review by my colleague Wolfgang Höbel here) Four teachers dare an experiment: How does their life change when they encounter everyday life with a blood alcohol level of 0.5 per mille?

I don't want to give too much away, but let's put it this way: not everything is going downhill.

Enlarge image

Actor Mikkelsen in "Der Rausch": Newly lively

Photo: Henrik Ohsten / Weltkino

The Danish film starring

was rightly awarded an Oscar this year.

It is about »paying tribute to alcohol« without hiding the fact that »people die or are destroyed by excessive drinking«, said director Thomas Vinterberg about the basic idea of ​​his film.

What about the new

you have been able to borrow since last week?

Forget it.

For my colleague Lars-Olav Beier, the film is one of the greatest disappointments of the cultural year 2021. Bond dragged his way through "boring action scenes with tired bones," writes Beier.

"Some believe he has become more human," but that is "grotesque nonsense."

Have a nice evening, cheers and Santé!

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