Germany's COVID-19 death toll passes 100,000

FRANKFURT—Germany announced record coronavirus fatalities and infections Thursday as its total death toll passed 100,000, with its most severe virus wave yet breaking just as a new government prepares to take the reins.

Germany weathered earlier bouts of the pandemic better than many other European countries, but has seen a recent resurgence, with intensive care beds rapidly filling up. 

Europe's largest economy recorded 351 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 100,119, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute, a public health agency. 

The weekly incidence rate also hit an all-time high of 419.7 new infections per 100,000 people, RKI announced. 

The escalating health crisis poses an immediate challenge to the new coalition government set to take over from Angela Merkel's cabinet next month. 

The spike in Germany comes as Europe has re-emerged as the pandemic's epicenter, with the continent battling sluggish vaccine uptake in some nations, the highly contagious Delta variant, colder weather moving people indoors and the easing of restrictions. 

Last week, more than 2.5 million cases and almost 30,000 COVID-related deaths were recorded in Europe, making it by far the region currently worst hit by the virus, according to AFP's tally. 

'ACUTE OVERLOAD'

In a sign of the severity of the virus wave hitting Germany, its health sector has had to call on hospitals elsewhere in the EU for help.

Some hospitals are already facing an "acute overload" that has made it necessary to transfer COVID-19 patients abroad, according to Gernot Marx, head of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine.

Germany last week announced tougher restrictions, including requiring people to prove they are vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 or have recently tested negative for the virus before they can travel on public transport or enter workplaces. 

Several of the worst-hit areas have gone further, cancelling large events like Christmas markets and barring the unvaccinated from bars, gyms and leisure facilities.

The spike has ignited a fierce debate about whether to follow Austria's example and make vaccination mandatory for all citizens.

Incoming chancellor Olaf Scholz has voiced support for compulsory vaccinations for health staff, and said that his government would "do everything necessary to bring our country safely through this time". 

"The situation is serious," said Scholz's Social Democrats after announcing a coalition agreement with the Greens and the FDP liberals on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, outgoing Chancellor Merkel, who is retiring from politics after 4 terms, summoned the new center-left-led alliance's top brass for pandemic talks. 

Scholz said his new government would invest one billion euros in bonuses for health-care workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. 

But his critics accused him of lacking the urgency needed to tackle the national catastrophe. 

"It sounded like he wanted to be the leader of the Hamburg health authorities," snapped Spiegel online. 

Germany's COVID-19 crisis has in part been blamed on its relatively low vaccination rate of about 69 percent, compared to other Western European countries such as France, where it is 75 percent.

The country has urged all inoculated adults to get a booster to combat waning efficacy after 6 months.

Agence France-Presse

Germans to be fined up to 500 euros for breaking distancing rules

BERLIN - Germans risk being fined up to 500 euros (P27,000) for standing too close to each other starting Friday as officials crack down on people flouting rules brought in to control coronavirus.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has ordered people not leave their homes unless they have an exceptional reason such as grocery shopping, exercise or medical appointments.

Gatherings of more than 2 people are banned and a distance of at least 1.5 meters (5 feet) must be kept from others at all times.

Local governments have the power to set fines for transgressors, with city officials in Berlin saying their fines would be as high as 500 euros. 

Similar announcements have come from across Germany's 16 states.

Hesse, home to finance hub Frankfurt, and North Rhine-Westphalia both promised penalties of up to 200 euros for people who gather in groups of more than 2.

Bavaria, Germany's largest state, has been the worst affected by the coronavirus so far, with more than 18,000 cases.

There, people who stand less than 1.5 meters apart risk being fined 150 euros. 

Queues of people standing far apart have become a common sight outside German supermarkets and pharmacies, with many sticking down tape to mark where people should stand on the pavement.

However, German police have also reported numerous violations of the rules.

Germany has recorded over 79,000 cases of the novel coronavirus, according to the Robert Koch Institute for disease control.

A total of 1,017 people have died.

Agence France-Presse

Groups call for climate justice, urgent action on global climate crisis

Thousands of students gather at Berlin's Brandenburg gate to protest for climate protection. Meanwhile, in Asia, the global-climate strikes began in earnest, with groups calling for more concrete action from governments and the private sector. As Bruce Rodriguez reports, more companies in the Philippines are also taking part in sustainable initiatives.

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Casey Affleck's new film explores fatherhood in world without women

BERLIN - A new film about a father-daughter relationship in a world without women was shaped by Casey Affleck's own struggles with becoming a single parent, the Oscar-winning actor said at the Berlin Film Festival where "Light Of My Life" is premiering.

In the movie, which Affleck directs, he plays a father who isolates his daughter from society in a desperate attempt to protect her from a pandemic that has wiped out most women.

In this dystopia, the father and daughter - dressed as a boy - fear discovery and plan escape routes wherever they stop. They trek through rain and snow, camping in woodland and seeking shelter in an abandoned house, a church and a home with 3 religious men.

Affleck, who won the best actor Oscar in 2017 for his performance in the family drama "Manchester by the Sea," said some ideas in the new film could be considered feminist but his goal had not been to make a film with a political message.

"It's certainly about a young woman sort of asserting herself as the storyteller and beginning to define herself with the narrative that she chooses to tell," Affleck told a news conference.

Anna Pniowsky, who played the daughter - the only female in the movie other than her mother, who features solely in flashbacks - said: "I think it is partially about showing that women are critical in this world."

Affleck, who divorced his wife Summer Phoenix in 2017, said he was finding it hard to adjust to life as a single parent when working on the movie and got the idea for it from stories he had told his children and conversations he had with them.

Affleck - the younger brother of actor and director Ben Affleck - has been accused of sexual harassment by female crew members on an earlier film. Two lawsuits alleging unwanted advances were settled out of court for undisclosed sums. An attorney for Affleck denied the accusations at the time.

He said "Light of My Life" had been conceived before the #MeToo movement that took off in 2017 in response to accusations of sexual assault and harassment in the entertainment industry.

But he added: "I think everyone out there has had to do some sort of self-reckoning and think about culturally what part they play and how they can play a positive role no matter how much they like to think of themselves as one of the good guys."

Asked whether the movie reflected difficult times in his own life, Affleck said that as an actor, "your private life has been sort of invaded," and he had wondered whether to wait until his children were older to pursue his career.

"It's definitely difficult sometimes - you know I've developed a pretty thick skin but then you have kids and they don't have such thick skin and you have to do a lot of explaining to them about the world prematurely," he said.

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6 top trends at Berlin's IFA tech fair

BERLIN -- Europe's biggest tech fair, Berlin's IFA, opens its doors Friday with a flood of new product launches. Here are some of the top trends making waves along the aisles:

1. Future TV: higher resolution, bigger screens

With four times as many pixels as today's 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) screens, the latest 8K TV sets have the potential to wow -- but the first compatible content will only reach viewers in 2020 with the Japan Winter Olympics.

In the meantime, Europeans are buying bigger and bigger TVs, hitting an average of 50 inches last year.

And wireless or wifi connectivity is moving from the "nice-to-have" to the "must-have" column, with many sets offering on-demand video that users can launch via voice command.

2. Earphones get cuddly

Many of the bulky headphones that dominated audio over the past decade have shed wires in favor of Bluetooth connections in the past two years.

And as listeners increasingly opt for smaller earbuds for everyday use, headsets are evolving to fit new niches -- like integration in soft neckbands that won't bother users as they drift off to sleep while bingeing on podcasts.

For shared sounds, TV-connected sound bars or multi-room speaker set-ups sport fewer and fewer buttons as voice commands become the control scheme of choice.

3. Laptop or tablet? Why choose?

While ever-lighter and thinner laptops are a constant feature of tech shows, the real action at IFA is elsewhere.

High dynamic range (HDR) monitors increasingly offer gamers and other power users more true-to-life images on their desktop computers, while "convertible" PCs -- useable as either laptop or tablet -- are increasingly popular for travel.

As for "classic" tablets, sales fell some 18 percent last year according to IFA organizers.

4. Wearables quit the gym

After a 2017 that saw wearable gadgets for monitoring fitness take off, this year they're increasingly present elsewhere, for example as trackers on the wrists of children or the elderly.

But authorities in some countries are leery of such developments.
Last November, Germany banned a smartwatch aimed at children that allowed parents to remotely activate a microphone to listen in on the playground.

5. Smog alert

White goods buyers are increasingly convinced that "big is beautiful," according to Norbert Herzog of consumer research firm GfK, opting for roomier fridges and ovens and higher-capacity washing machines.

Elsewhere in the home, cordless vacuum cleaners are gaining ground, making up some 40 percent of global sales of small home appliances.

Devices from dishwashers to lightbulbs can be networked and controlled remotely by voice commands.

And global demand for air purifiers is rising, stoked by health-conscious Chinese consumers worried about pollution in the country's smog-choked cities.

6. Virtual reality mirage?

Virtual reality -- whether the low-end headsets that use the wearer's phone as a screen, or ultra-powerful dedicated rigs for gamers -- faces a "chicken and egg problem," said IFA executive director Jens Heithecker.

"Consumers will rush to buy once there's great content to enjoy, while content production is slow as long as consumers are not buying in large numbers," he lamented.

That hasn't discouraged Taiwan's Acer from launching a standalone gaming headset in Berlin this year.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

AI to seep further into everyday life at Berlin's tech fair

BERLIN -- Electronics manufacturers are betting on artificial intelligence weaving itself ever more tightly into our relationships with their products on show at this year's IFA, the sector's annual trade fair here.

From Friday, "new releases in the artificial intelligence niche will be the ones everyone is talking about" at the industry event in the German capital, predicted Gartner analyst Annette Zimmermann.

South Korean giant Samsung, through a new connected speaker, Home Galaxy, equipped to respond to spoken commands, may send its voice assistant Bixby into battle with Google's Assistant, Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri for dominance of living rooms and kitchens.

Such devices made a splash at last year's IFA, making the 2018 show an opportunity to take stock of their reception among the public.

Research firm Gartner predicts that by 2020, some 75 percent of American households will use a voice assistant.

Meanwhile similar technology is extending its reach into connected devices from fridges to lightbulbs, gigantic televisions with ever-higher resolution, and wearables used to track fitness data.

Such mass-market products are the bread-and-butter of IFA, which traditionally contrasts with its nerdier Las Vegas-based American equivalent CES.

AUGMENTED REALITY

Also from Korea, Samsung rival LG is set to unveil its CLOi SuitBot, a powered exoskeleton that increases the user's leg strength and can be networked with the firm's other robots for complex tasks.

But visitors looking for novelty in their everyday tech companion, the smartphone, will be disappointed.

Apple has historically shunned IFA, while Samsung unveiled its top-end Galaxy Note 9 phone just a few weeks ago.

Neither is a major announcement expected from China's Huawei, a star of past years at the Berlin show.

Instead, the 2018 edition could be a breakthrough moment for augmented-reality applications that have so far left consumers unimpressed.

The technology superimposes digitally-generated elements like sounds or 2D and 3D images onto real-world scenes, for example in an Ikea app that allows users to virtually try out the furniture giant's sofas or bookshelves in their homes.

With new glasses, lenses and helmets, "there are more and more technologies available that include very high-quality content, whether it's augmented-reality Harry Potter or shopping applications", said Klaus Boehm of consultancy Deloitte.

Filling out the vast halls of Berlin's trade fair center will be a bewildering array of products from around the world that range from the practical to the -- in some eyes -- downright dangerous.

Under German law, items like hoverboards, powered "monowheels" and electric skates can only be test-driven away from public roads.

And there are certain to be thousands of exhibitors showing off the latest fridge that re-orders food when stocks run low or Bluetooth headsets with an extra hour of battery life -- jockeying for position in a relentless technology race.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Ed Sheeran searches for new lines in movie 'Songwriter'

BERLIN - British singer Ed Sheeran said on Friday that the hardest part of songwriting was coming up with lines that had never been written before as a new documentary detailing his creative process premiered at Berlin's international film festival.

The movie "Songwriter" was directed by Sheeran's cousin, Murray Cummings, and follows the Grammy winner as he travels around the United States and England writing songs on his laptop, jamming in a garden and recording in the studio.

The intimate portrait of Sheeran, who was the most-streamed artist on music service Spotify globally in 2017, includes footage of him belting out songs while crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2, returning to high school to see his music teacher and talking to his father about his songs.

"I think the most difficult thing to do with writing a song is finding a phrase that you haven't heard before because there's always a song that's going to be like: 'I love you baby like crazy, I miss you maybe'," Sheeran told a news conference.

He said he had learned not to push himself if he was struggling to write and did not believe writer's block existed.

"What I do when I can't write a song is I just put the guitar down and go and do something else for about a couple of weeks and then come back and then I'll be able to write a song," the 27-year-old said.

"So the way that my mind is now is, I will be able to write songs forever - they probably will start being about pretty mundane things because my life is getting more and more calm."

Sheeran said he liked the documentary because it showed a song being written from start to finish, rather than just an album being recorded.

"I like that Murray found a niche that hasn't really been done before. It's quite difficult to find something that hasn't been done in a music movie," Sheeran said.

Sheeran, who said he planned to make a film next year in which he would play something other than himself, listed "Goodfellas", "Cool Runnings" and "Love Actually" as his favorite movies.

Cummings told Reuters the documentary would give fans an insight into Sheeran off-stage.

"When he's on his own he's kind of very like relaxed and chilled and stuff. So I think they're going to see that's what he's like because this film just kind of shows what I see every day," Cummings said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Asylum-seeker arrested over truck attack on Berlin Christmas market

* Police believe truck driven deliberately into crowd

* Suspect arrested, denies involvement

* Confusion over whether actual perpetrator still on loose

* Calls for harder line on immigration

* Merkel says Germans mustn't be paralyzed by fear

BERLIN - A man arrested on suspicion of killing 12 people by plowing a truck into a crowded Berlin Christmas market was an asylum-seeker, the government said on Tuesday, as politicians in Germany and beyond demanded a crackdown on immigration.

The truck smashed into wooden huts serving mulled wine and sausages at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, one of west Berlin's most famous landmarks, on Monday evening. Forty-eight people were injured, 18 severely.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the arrested man, who denied involvement, was probably from Pakistan and was in the process of applying for asylum. A security source said he was 23 years old, was known to police for committing minor offenses, and had been staying at a refugee center in the now defunct Tempelhof airport.

Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters: "There is much we still do not know with sufficient certainty but we must, as things stand now, assume it was a terrorist attack."

She added: "I know it would be especially hard for us all to bear if it were confirmed that the person who committed this act was someone who sought protection and asylum."

In a surprise development, Die Welt newspaper later quoted security sources as saying the arrested man was not believed to be the perpetrator.

"We have the wrong man," a police chief told the paper. "And therefore a new situation. The true perpetrator is still armed, at large and can cause fresh damage."

Berlin's police chief said it was not clear if the arrested man was the driver. Police said on Twitter: "The temporarily arrested suspect denies the offense. Therefore we are particularly alert. Please be also alert."

"STATE OF WAR"

The attack fueled immediate demands for a change to Merkel's immigration policies, under which more than a million people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere have arrived in Germany this year and last.

"We must say that we are in a state of war, although some people, who always only want to see good, do not want to see this," said Klaus Bouillon, interior minister of the state of Saarland and a member of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).

Horst Seehofer, leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, said: "We owe it to the victims, to those affected and to the whole population to rethink our immigration and security policy and to change it."

The record influx has hit Merkel's ratings as she prepares to run for a fourth term next year, and boosted support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD). Senior AfD member Marcus Pretzell blamed Merkel for the attack on Twitter.

AfD leader Frauke Petry said Germany was no longer safe and "radical Islamic terrorism has struck in the heart of Germany".

Newspaper Die Welt said the man behind the wheel had jumped out of the driver's cab and run down the street towards the Tiergarten, a vast park in central Berlin. It said several witnesses phoned police to inform them, including one who chased the suspect while on the phone, constantly updating officials on his whereabouts.

The incident evoked memories of an attack in Nice, France in July when a Tunisian-born man drove a 19-tonne truck along the beach front, mowing down people who had gathered to watch the fireworks on Bastille Day, killing 86 people. That was claimed by Islamic State.

EUROPE DIVIDED
The mass influx of migrants and refugees to the European Union has deeply divided its 28 members and fueled the rise of populist anti-immigration movements that hope to capitalize on public concerns next year in elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico said the latest attack would change perceptions of migration. "I think that the cup of patience is beginning to spill over and Europe's public will rightfully expect rather stronger measures," he said.

Nigel Farage of Britain's UK Independence Party tweeted: "Terrible news from Berlin but no surprise. Events like these will be the Merkel legacy."

On Tuesday morning, investigators removed the black truck from the site for forensic examination. People left flowers at the scene and notes, one of which read: "Keep on living, Berliners!" One woman was crying as she stopped by the flowers.

Berlin police are investigating leads that the truck had been stolen from a construction site in Poland. Authorities said a Polish man was found shot dead inside the vehicle, but minister de Maiziere said no gun had yet been found.

Bild newspaper cited security sources as saying the suspect was named Naved B. and had arrived in Germany a year ago. In legal cases German officials routinely withhold the full name of suspects, using only an initial.

Local broadcaster rbb cited security sources as saying the man came to Germany via Passau, a city on the Austrian border, on Dec. 31, 2015.

Die Welt said police special forces stormed a hangar at Berlin's defunct Tempelhof airport at around 4 a.m. (0300 GMT). It said, without citing its sources, that the arrested man was registered there.

A refugee there who gave his name only as Ahmed told Reuters security guards had told him there was a raid at around 4 a.m.

Prosecutors declined to immediately comment on the report.

"FEAR OF EVIL"
Merkel and de Maiziere both stressed the need for Germans to remain uncowed by the attack.

"We do not want to live paralyzed by the fear of evil," said the chancellor, who discussed the attack by phone with US President Barack Obama and convened a meeting of her security cabinet.

"Even if it is difficult in these hours, we will find the strength for the life we want to live in Germany - free, together and open."

Other European countries said they were reviewing security.

Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said he had told the heads of regional police forces to intensify surveillance measures. He called for biometric and fingerprint checks to be introduced along the Balkan route traveled by many migrants arriving in Europe, in order to better control foreign jihadist fighters' movements.

London police said they were reviewing their plans for protecting public events over the festive period.

Flags will be hung at half-mast around Germany on Tuesday and Berlin Christmas markets were closed for the day out of respect. The German soccer league announced a minute's silence at all matches on Tuesday and Wednesday, at which players will wear black ribbons.

Dresden tourist information service said authorities had erected concrete blocks around the Striezelmarkt, one of Germany's oldest Christmas markets, to increase security.

Festive markets selling ornate, often hand-crafted decorations, seasonal foods and hot spiced wine are a beloved tradition in Germany.

Manfred Weber, head of the center-right European People's Party, said: "It's not an attack on a country; it's an attack on our way of life, on the free society in which we are allowed to live." - With reporting by Caroline Copley, Joseph Nasr, Emma Thomasson and Paul Carrel in Berlin; additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla in Vienna

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Truck plows into crowd at Berlin Christmas market, 12 dead

* 45 injured brought to hospitals, police say

* Interior minister says a lot points to an attack

* Suspected truck driver is arrested after fleeing scene

* Incident evokes memories of truck attack in Nice, France

BERLIN - A truck plowed into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin on Monday evening, killing 12 people and injuring 48 others in what Germany's interior minister said looked like an attack.

Police said on Twitter that they had taken one suspect into custody and that another passenger from the truck had died as it crashed into people gathered around wooden huts serving mulled wine and sausages at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church in the heart of former West Berlin.

The nationality of the suspected driver, who fled the crash scene and was later arrested, was unclear, police said.

German media cited local security sources as saying that there was evidence suggesting the arrested suspect was from Afghanistan or Pakistan and entered Germany in February as a refugee.

"We heard a loud bang," Emma Rushton, a tourist, told CNN. "We started to see the top of an articulated truck, a lorry ... just crashing through the stalls, through people."

Rushton said the truck seemed to be travelling at about 40 mph (65 kph).

Police later said that 48 injured people were brought to Berlin hospitals.

Pictures from the scene showed Christmas decorations protruding from the smashed windscreen of the black truck. In the aftermath, it was resting lopsided on the pavement with a mangled Christmas tree beneath its wheels.

Berlin police said on Twitter they were investigating leads that the truck had been stolen from a construction site in Poland.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the circumstances of the crash were still unclear, adding: "I don't want to use the word 'attack' yet although a lot points to that."

The incident evoked memories of an attack in Nice, France in July when a Tunisian-born man drove a 19-tonne truck along the beach front, mowing down people who had gathered to watch the fireworks on Bastille Day, killing 86 people. That attack was claimed by Islamic State.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump condemned what he called an attack, linking it to "Islamist terrorists" before German police officials had said who was responsible.

The White House on Monday condemned what it called "what appears to have been a terrorist attack".

Germany has not in recent years suffered a large-scale attack from Islamist militants like those seen in neighbouring Belgium and France.

But it was shaken by two smaller attacks in Bavaria over the summer, one on a train near Wuerzburg and another at a music festival in Ansbach that wounded 20 people. Both were claimed by Islamic State.

And government officials have said the country, which accepted nearly 900,000 migrants last year, many from the war-torn Middle East, lies in the "crosshairs of terrorism."

In mid-October, police arrested a Syrian refugee suspected of planning a bomb attack on an airport in Berlin. The 22-year-old man committed suicide in prison shortly after his arrest.

PEOPLE URGED TO STAY AWAY

A government spokesman said Chancellor Angela Merkel was briefed on the situation by de Maiziere and the Berlin mayor. Police said there were no indications of further dangerous situations in the area and urged people to stay away from the scene.

"I'm deeply shaken about the horrible news of what occurred at the memorial church in Berlin," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

The truck veered into the market around 8 p.m., normally a crowded time when adults and children would be gathering in the traditional cluster of wooden huts that sell food and Christmas goods in an annual celebration replicated across Germany and much of Central Europe.

Ariel Zurawski, whose Polish freight company owns the truck, said the driver of the truck did not work for him.

"It wasn't my driver," Zurawski told Polish private broadcaster TVN 24. "I vouch for him. He's my cousin."

The incident took place near a famous Berlin landmark - the Gedaechtniskirche or memorial church built in 1891-95, which was left a ruin with a jagged tower after it was damaged in World War Two bombing raids as a monument to peace and reconciliation.

Police cars and ambulances converged quickly on the scene. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber and Paul Carrel,; Additional reporting by Jakub Iglewski in Warsaw and by Roberta Rampton in Washington; Writing by Robin Pomeroy and Ralph Boulton; Editing by Mary Milliken and Cynthia Osterman)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Humanity, where are you?' protestors ask at rally for Aleppo

BERLIN - Protestors rallied in Berlin on Saturday against the war in Syria denouncing the international community for failing to help civilians, especially children, in the besieged city of Aleppo.

Holding banners saying "The children of Aleppo are calling you!", or "Aleppo is bleeding and the world is watching", around 900 people braved plunging temperatures to gather in front to the Reichstag, the German parliament building, according to police estimates.

At the same time, another 1,800 people joined a second demonstration elsewhere in the German capital, police said.

"What is happening there amounts to what is the worst in the world," said Mahmoud Almizeh, a 19-year-old Syrian refugee who comes from Raqa, now the bastion of the Islamic State jihadist group.

Germany has opened its doors to some 600,000 Syrian refugees since the conflict began in 2011.

Having arrived in Germany a year ago, Almizeh lamented that European leaders were "unfortunately doing nothing".

In Aleppo on Saturday trapped Syrian civilians and rebels waited desperately for evacuations to resume from an opposition-held enclave of the city which has fallen to the brutal onslaught by Syrian government forces.

Aleppo has been ravaged by some of the worst violence of the nearly six-year war that has killed more than 310,000 people.

"We feel so powerless" about the tragedy facing the Syrians, said Anna Bone, a Berlin resident at the demonstration where another banner declared: "Stop murdering! Peace talks NOW."

"This powerlessness... this grief, it's what brought me here today," she added.

Hundreds of protestors also joined demonstrations in France on Saturday in the cities of Paris, Lille, Strasbourg and Marseille.

"It's crazy that the world powers cannot intervene," commented two protestors of Turkish origin, Hilal, 25, and Gulsan, 26, in Paris.

Thousands of trapped civilians and the last remaining opposition fighters in Aleppo were waiting for evacuations to resume on Saturday, a day after the operation was suspended by the Syrian government.

Meanwhile in New York, the UN Security Council could vote as early as this weekend on a French-drafted proposal to allow international observers into Aleppo and ensure urgent aid deliveries.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Patient shoots, kills doctor in Berlin then kills self

* Shots fired at clinic in Berlin's Steglitz district -police

* Doctor badly injured and later dies, gunman kills self

* Police say "no signs at all" of link with terrorism

BERLIN - A patient shot a doctor in a university clinic in Berlin on Tuesday before killing himself, but there were "no signs at all" of a link with Islamist militancy, police in the German capital said.

Germany is on edge because of a spate of violent attacks on civilians by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin since July 18 that have killed 10 people. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for two of those four attacks before Tuesday.

Berlin police said the doctor had sustained life-threatening injuries in the attack at the Benjamin Franklin campus of the Charite university hospital in the southwest of the city and died shortly afterwards.

They added that the situation at the hospital in Berlin's Steglitz district was now "under control" and investigators were on the scene to determine the background to the crime.

"There is currently no danger," police said on Twitter.

Winfrid Wenzel, a spokesman for Berlin police, said the crime took place in the jaw surgery area of an outpatient clinic where the doctor was in a treatment session with the patient.

"In the course of the consultation, the patient pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the doctor. The attacker then directly turned the gun on himself and died as a result of the shots," Wenzel told Reuters TV.

He said police did not yet have information on the suspect's background, history, personal details or motivation, but added: "We do not have a single indication that this crime was motivated by extremism or Islamists."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Fashion Cases for Laptops, Phones

BERLIN, Germany (DPA) — Laptop cases used to be grey, dull accessories without any character but that image is now firmly in the past.

Today, cases for laptops, tablets, and smartphones are colorful and elegant designer items that can match and enhance a man or woman’s style perfectly.

“There are a wide variety of cases on the market. There’s no longer a standard model. It’s been replaced by many different designs, sizes, and materials,’’ says Sabrina Vogel, an expert for bags at Germany’s taschenkaufhaus.de online shopping portal.

Vogel says laptop cases are not just for storing and transporting electronic equipment, they can also express your own individual style. “There’s a case for every type of person: from trendy to classic,’’ she says.

Young notebook owners appear to be especially fond of messenger bags like those used by bicycle couriers. They must be lightweight and made from robust materials, according to Claudia Schulz from the umbrella organisation of Germany’s shoe manufacturing industry, the Bundesverband der Schuhindustrie.

Laptop case-maker BOOQ has a range of messenger bags made from tough nylon with a rubber bag-bottom that protects the notebook from moisture. Inside individual compartments can store a smartphone and other items safely and securely.

Messenger bags have padded straps that allow you to carry the bag either off the shoulder or like a bicycle courier with the bag firmly attached to your back. By adjusting the strap and making it shorter the bag can be carried by hand.

Most models can be adjusted to suit your momentary need. Boss Black has a women’s bag that has a padded interior for a laptop that can be detached and slid out. That makes your laptop very easy to access. The interior can be left at home, providing you with an elegant-looking women’s handbag made from calfskin.

Swedish bag-maker Sandqvist has reinterpreted the business case and come up with a range of high-quality, retro-design models.

“Leather was, and is, in high demand in many variations: classic smooth leather, the vintage look but also in combination with canvas,’’ says Vogel. Women often prefer bags with playful design details while men go for elegant understatement.

Vogel’s advice for finding the ideal laptop case is to first consider exactly what you are looking for. Where do you use your laptop? At home or at work? What forms of transport do you use? Bicycle, train, or car? What other items do you need to transport?

A business person who needs to transport large amounts of documents is better off with a hardcover trolley bag on wheels than a classical briefcase, according to Vogel. If elegance is less important than functionality, a backpack might be a wise choice.

“Backpacks are in fashion again,’’ says Vogel. A backpack represents the return of the urban look. The manufacturer Incase produces a number of stylish versions in different sizes to suit the dimensions of your laptop. Their backpacks have compartments on the exterior that give you quick access to other items like a water bottle or umbrella.

But thanks to materials like leather and canvas, backpacks are now extending their popularity into other areas. “Backpacks have become an accepted, elegant accessory in big cities,’’ like Paris and London, Schulz says.

source: mb.com.ph

Fukushima in spotlight at Berlin film festival

BERLIN — The Fukushima nuclear disaster has come under the spotlight at Berlin’s film festival with three films exploring its impact on Japanese society less than a year on.

The 11-day festival, which prides itself on its generally edgier and more politically-overt line-up over other film showcases, was perhaps a fitting backdrop for the documentaries.

“I’m more than happy to be here because the Berlinale has got a long history of showing all those political, socially conscious films,” Atsushi Funahashi, director of “Nuclear Nation,” told AFP.

He said that although he was sensitized to the nuclear question because his family had been affected by the 1945 allied atomic bombing of Hiroshima, he was unsure at first how to tackle Fukushima.

“First of all, I didn’t know what to do as a filmmaker, but I knew I had to do something,” he said, adding one of his motives had been the difference in data from international and Japanese officials.

He focuses on the exile of residents of Futaba, where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was based, to an abandoned high school 250 kilometers away.

The story homes in on a mayor whose town no longer exists as he tries to keep the community together.

“No Man’s Zone,” by Toshi Fujiwara, journeys inside a 20-kilometer area which was evacuated after the disaster, as well as surrounding areas, to talk to “normal” people about how their lives were affected.

With slow panoramic sweeps of battered buildings by the sea, thick piles of rubble, boats lying on their side and crumpled cars, the film opens saying that images of destruction are “always difficult to digest.”

It intersperses lingering shots of cherry blossom trees in the spring, cattle and green landscapes with frank conversations with farmers and fishermen who have lost their livelihood.

An older couple talk openly and animatedly about how they want to keep their damaged home despite the cost of repairing it and their experiences of having to stay in a refuge.

“I had a very strange feeling that the people who were directly concerned were somehow very neglected,” Fujiwara said.

Meanwhile, in “Friends After 3.11,” director Iwai Shunji discusses the political, social and economic state of the country with new “friends” that include a nuclear plant engineer, banker and journalists.

“I want to portray Japan’s present and future as told by these ‘friends,’” he said.

The disaster, triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, contaminated the environment and forced tens of thousands of residents around the Fukushima nuclear site in northeast Japan to evacuate their homes.

Many still do not know if or when they will be able to return.

source: japantoday.com