January 19, 2013
Germany: images of Berlin bank tunnel raid emerge Berlin police have released pictures of a 100ft tunnel dug by thieves in a £10million bank heist. The robbers dug the tunnel before setting a fire as they left to cover their tracks. The team of thieves, which a Berlin police spokesman described as “very professional”, spent weeks and possibly months digging the hole which ran from a underground garage to the bank’s safe deposit room. Police were alerted to the break-in at the Berliner Volksbank branch early on Monday morning when a security guard noticed smoke coming from the vault. They besieged and eventually stormed the safe room where the thieves had holed up only to find out they had escaped through a tunnel dug by accomplices. The robbers made off with cash and valuables in deposit boxes setting fire to the elaborate tunnel, which even had ceiling supports, to cover their tracks. Several – but not all – of the thieves were later caught. (via Telegraph)

Germany: images of Berlin bank tunnel raid emerge

Berlin police have released pictures of a 100ft tunnel dug by thieves in a £10million bank heist.

The robbers dug the tunnel before setting a fire as they left to cover their tracks.

The team of thieves, which a Berlin police spokesman described as “very professional”, spent weeks and possibly months digging the hole which ran from a underground garage to the bank’s safe deposit room.

Police were alerted to the break-in at the Berliner Volksbank branch early on Monday morning when a security guard noticed smoke coming from the vault.

They besieged and eventually stormed the safe room where the thieves had holed up only to find out they had escaped through a tunnel dug by accomplices.

The robbers made off with cash and valuables in deposit boxes setting fire to the elaborate tunnel, which even had ceiling supports, to cover their tracks. Several – but not all – of the thieves were later caught. (via Telegraph)

8:18pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxc8dvGE
(Notes: 14)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Bank Robbery Berliner Volksbank Tunnels Tunneling 
January 19, 2013
Berlin, Germany Young visitors dressed in Bavarian regional dress from the Chiemsee region photograph suckling piglets at the Gruene Woche agricultural trade fair. The Gruene Woche is the world’s largest agricultural trade fair. (via guardian.co.uk)

Berlin, Germany

Young visitors dressed in Bavarian regional dress from the Chiemsee region photograph suckling piglets at the Gruene Woche agricultural trade fair. The Gruene Woche is the world’s largest agricultural trade fair. (via guardian.co.uk)

5:32am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxc5-ybB
(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Agriculture Trade Fair Gruene Woche Photography 
December 1, 2012
Berlin, Germany The German parliament approves a bailout payment of 44bn euros for Greece by a large majority, despite unease about the cost to taxpayers (via BBC News)

Berlin, Germany

The German parliament approves a bailout payment of 44bn euros for Greece by a large majority, despite unease about the cost to taxpayers (via BBC News)

6:28pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxYRK0tV
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Eurozone Crisis Eurozone Financial Crisis Greek Financial Crisis Bundestag Photography 
December 1, 2012
Germany: Berlin Christmas market hit by poisoner The “Bad Santa Poisoner” who prowled Christmas markets in Germany last year looking for the unsuspecting may have returned to cast a shadow over this year’s festivities after a woman fell ill after accepting a drink from a stranger. The 32-year-old woman, who has reported the incident to the police, went down with nausea and headaches not long after drinking mulled wine with a man in a Berlin Christmas market. The incident bares an uncanny similarity to a spate of mysteries poisonings that struck visitors to the traditional Christmas markets in the German capital last year. Victims were approached by a man, often dressed in a Santa costume, who claimed that he had just become a father and asked them to share a shot of schnapps to celebrate his good fortune. He then plied them with a drink laced with a date-rape drug or ecstasy. Victims exhibited a variety of symptoms including memory loss, nausea and headaches, while one man said the spiked drink had made him spit blood. (via Telegraph)

Germany: Berlin Christmas market hit by poisoner

The “Bad Santa Poisoner” who prowled Christmas markets in Germany last year looking for the unsuspecting may have returned to cast a shadow over this year’s festivities after a woman fell ill after accepting a drink from a stranger.

The 32-year-old woman, who has reported the incident to the police, went down with nausea and headaches not long after drinking mulled wine with a man in a Berlin Christmas market.

The incident bares an uncanny similarity to a spate of mysteries poisonings that struck visitors to the traditional Christmas markets in the German capital last year. Victims were approached by a man, often dressed in a Santa costume, who claimed that he had just become a father and asked them to share a shot of schnapps to celebrate his good fortune. He then plied them with a drink laced with a date-rape drug or ecstasy.

Victims exhibited a variety of symptoms including memory loss, nausea and headaches, while one man said the spiked drink had made him spit blood. (via Telegraph)

1:51am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxYOYekh
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Christmas Market Christmas Markets Spiked Drinks Poisonings Santa Claus Father Christmas 
November 29, 2012
Berlin, Germany Acrobats swing on a chandelier during a performance of Corteo by Cirque du Soleil (via guardian.co.uk)

Berlin, Germany

Acrobats swing on a chandelier during a performance of Corteo by Cirque du Soleil (via guardian.co.uk)

8:18pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxYIybqF
(Notes: 14)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Acrobats Acrobatics Cirque du Soleil Corteo Photography 
October 24, 2012
Germany Opens Memorial to Roma Holocaust Victims German Chancellor Angela Merkel is inaugurating a memorial to thousands of victims of the Holocaust who were ethnic Roma. Merkel opened the memorial in Berlin, the German capital. The circular pool is located across the street from the German parliament building. The Nazis deemed the Roma, like the Jews, to be genetically inferior. It is unclear how many Roma were rounded up and killed in the death camps during World War II, but estimates reach as high as half a million. (via Deutsche Welle)

Germany Opens Memorial to Roma Holocaust Victims

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is inaugurating a memorial to thousands of victims of the Holocaust who were ethnic Roma.

Merkel opened the memorial in Berlin, the German capital. The circular pool is located across the street from the German parliament building.

The Nazis deemed the Roma, like the Jews, to be genetically inferior. It is unclear how many Roma were rounded up and killed in the death camps during World War II, but estimates reach as high as half a million. (via Deutsche Welle)

4:37pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxVuVL4s
(Notes: 10)
  
Filed under: Berlin Ethnic Minorities Germany Holocaust Memorial Monument Monuments Roma Roma Holocaust Romani Romany World War Two WWII 
April 21, 2012
Berlin, Germany A visitor stands in front of a light sculpture by the British artist Anthony McCall at the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art (via guardian.co.uk)

Berlin, Germany

A visitor stands in front of a light sculpture by the British artist Anthony McCall at the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art (via guardian.co.uk)

4:37pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxK1Y-31
(Notes: 9)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Art Contemporary Art Light Sculpture Anthony McCall Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art Photography 
March 15, 2012
Protest Songs: Germany Sees Eurovision as Forum for Civil Rights German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Wednesday that the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on May 26 and the European soccer championship in June, which is being co-hosted by Ukraine, should be used to protest against civil rights abuses in those nations. “We should use these events to create a critical public forum in order to talk to people and promote our democratic values,” Westerwelle told German newspaper Die Welt. He stopped short of suggesting a boycott, however, saying: “I’m against hastily calling for a boycott of events such as a football tournament and a song competition that don’t have much to do with politics.” The minister was speaking ahead of a visit on Wednesday to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku as part of a trip to the Caucasus region. The German government’s human rights representative, Markus Löning, who will be joining him on the trip, has in the past criticized Azerbaijan’s civil rights record, saying it is not a free country, that the political opposition is being suppressed and that there are no free elections. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in February, Löning had called on Baku to release all its politicial prisoners before it stages the song contest. Ukraine, too, has been criticized for jailing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year prison term for alleged abuse of office. Her sentencing last October was seen by the West as politically motivated and derailed the signing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. The rights campaign group Reporters Without Borders said Westerwelle should call for the release of jailed bloggers and journalists when he holds talk with Azerbaijani government officials. “The Song Contest is a European competition that should be based on European values like freedom and democracy,” the group said in an open letter to the minister. “We therefore bear a special responsibility for those who fight for those values in Azerbaijan — in a climate of fear and not infrequently by putting their lives on the line.” (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)

Protest Songs: Germany Sees Eurovision as Forum for Civil Rights

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Wednesday that the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on May 26 and the European soccer championship in June, which is being co-hosted by Ukraine, should be used to protest against civil rights abuses in those nations.

“We should use these events to create a critical public forum in order to talk to people and promote our democratic values,” Westerwelle told German newspaper Die Welt. He stopped short of suggesting a boycott, however, saying: “I’m against hastily calling for a boycott of events such as a football tournament and a song competition that don’t have much to do with politics.”

The minister was speaking ahead of a visit on Wednesday to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku as part of a trip to the Caucasus region.

The German government’s human rights representative, Markus Löning, who will be joining him on the trip, has in the past criticized Azerbaijan’s civil rights record, saying it is not a free country, that the political opposition is being suppressed and that there are no free elections. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in February, Löning had called on Baku to release all its politicial prisoners before it stages the song contest.

Ukraine, too, has been criticized for jailing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year prison term for alleged abuse of office. Her sentencing last October was seen by the West as politically motivated and derailed the signing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union.

The rights campaign group Reporters Without Borders said Westerwelle should call for the release of jailed bloggers and journalists when he holds talk with Azerbaijani government officials.

“The Song Contest is a European competition that should be based on European values like freedom and democracy,” the group said in an open letter to the minister. “We therefore bear a special responsibility for those who fight for those values in Azerbaijan — in a climate of fear and not infrequently by putting their lives on the line.” (via SPIEGEL ONLINE)

2:58pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxI12iel
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Azerbaijan Europe Eurovision Eurovision Song Contest Civil Rights Human Rights Democracy Politics Music Guido Westerwelle Markus Löning Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko 
March 13, 2012
Berlin, Germany Competitors speed during the women’s mass start ISU Speed Skating World Cup event (via Reuters.com)

Berlin, Germany

Competitors speed during the women’s mass start ISU Speed Skating World Cup event (via Reuters.com)

5:04am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxHvrutt
(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Winter Sports Ice Skating Speed Skating ISU Speed Skating World Cup Photography 
March 9, 2012
Berlin, Germany Students surround the wax figure of Anne Frank displayed at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (via guardian.co.uk)

Berlin, Germany

Students surround the wax figure of Anne Frank displayed at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (via guardian.co.uk)

9:29pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuyxWxHjYZv0
(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: Germany Berlin Madam Tussauds Madame Tussauds Wax Museum Waxwork Anne Frank Photography 
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