Florists in Diez Germany

Merkel returns two Nolde paintings after exhibition exposes Nazi links - The Times of Israel

No explanation was given for the decision. Neither was an official reason offered as to why Merkel would not want them back when the exhibition closes in September. Emil Nolde. (Minya Diez-Dührkoop, Wikimedia Commons, public domain) But the move was quickly interpreted by German media as a belated rejection by Merkel of the artist over his anti-Semitic views and entanglement with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. Amid the controversy, Seibert said Merkel had been offered two other paintings by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. But after historians quickly pointed out that the concerned artist, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, was also known for his anti-Semitic comments, and Merkel simply decided to put off the decorating for a while. “The chancellor decided not to borrow any other pictures from the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation for her office,” a spokesman said. The episode has unleashed a round of soul-searching over what kind of place an artist’s moral values should have on the way his works are viewed or portrayed. ‘Panicky reaction’ Nolde was long cast in the post-war years as a victim of Hitler’s regime because his art was condemned by the Nazis as “degenerate” and removed from museums. But research has shown he was a vocal anti-Semite and fervent supporter of the Third Reich. At the exhibition of Nolde’s works which opened Thursday at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof museum, curators Aya Soika and Bernhard Fulda sought to dispel the myths surrounding Nolde’s persona, putting on full display his anti-Jewish views alongside his works. Fulda conceded that he was “slightly surprised” by Merkel’s decision to return the two paintings. “There is a way you can use the complex and difficult and indeed negative German past to say ‘it’s still relevant today, and we’re not just looking the other way’,” he said. Illustrative photo of a press ...https://www.timesofisrael.com/merkel-returns-two-nolde-paintings-after-exhibition-exposes-nazi-links/

The genetics behind being Not Like Daddy - EurekAlert

Dr. Thomas Widiez, an INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) researcher at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France.Haploid inducers were first discovered in the 1950s. Pollination of female flower with pollen of a haploid inducer strain will yield offspring that are haploid, meaning that they will only contain one single copy of each gene as opposed to the usual two copies. All their genetic material comes from the mother. Treating these haploid plants with a chemical that causes chromosome doubling will lead to plants with two identical copies of all genes in just one generation. With classical inbreeding, this condition takes seven to ten years to achieve.Haploid offspring in maize are not unusual; they emerge naturally, albeit at a very low rate. Haploid inducers can bring this rate up to about 10% of the progeny being haploid - enough to make it a useful tool for breeders. More than 50 years after the discovery of haploid inducers, Widiez and his team, in collaboration with Limagrain, have now identified the gene that mainly causes the phenomenon and termed it Not Like Dad to highlight the fact that its dysfunction induces embryos without genetic contribution from the father. The gene product is necessary for successful fertilization so that its failure promotes the formation of haploid embryos. Two other research groups have in parallel identified the same gene and come to similar conclusions.Haploid inducers are nowadays powerful breeding tools, but as yet the technology is restricted to maize, while in-vitro haploid induction in certain crops is labor-intense. Understanding the genes and molecular mechanism behind the process will help translate this technology to other crops. The identificatio...

Germany's second-highest traffic bridge opens - DW (English)

The Hochmoselbrücke, or High Mosel Bridge, stretches 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) across and 160 meters (524 feet) above the Mosel River in western Germany. Within Germany, the new bridge in the Rhineland-Palatinate is second only to the 185-meter-high Kochertal bridge in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg. Read more: World's longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Germany's Harz region Authorities expect about 25,000 vehicles a day to cross the bridge that now provides a direct link between the regions of Eifel and Hunsrück. Several hundred people gathered for the bridge's opening on Thursday. Over the weekend, thousands of pedestrians crossed the bridge by foot as part of the opening festivities. "Today is a good day for the Rhineland-Palatinate," said State Premier Malu Dreyer. She added that she was convinced "that the bridge will help advance our economically strong state even further and will strengthen ties between the people in Eifel and Hunsrück." Europe's largest construction project The controversial building project kicked off eight years ago. Some critics argued that the massive bridge would destroy the area's idyllic vineyard landscape, while environmentalists argued it would pollute the ground water. Others spoke out against the cost. The building of the bridge was part of a greater road project that included the construction of an additional 25 kilometers (16 mile...https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-second-highest-traffic-bridge-opens/a-51355455

She Believes Trees Will Save Germany — If She Can Save the Trees - OZY

Klöckner’s thesis, therefore, is simple: Save the forests, and they’ll save Germany. Klöckner as German Wine Queen. Blonde and quick to grin, Klöckner, 46, was born in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and got into politics early, shortly after her yearlong reign as German Wine Queen, a position that’s sort of like Miss America but for German wine. Before the age of 30, she was a member of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Angela Merkel’s ruling party. In 2012, she was elected as one of the deputy chairpersons of the national party. By 2016, she was running for Minister-President (governor) of Rhineland-Palatinate. Articles touted her as a potential successor to Merkel. And then she lost. she has the difficult job of juggling these different interests and keeping everybody happy.Joachim Curtius, professor of geosciences at Goethe University Klöckner’s more conservative than Merkel in some ways, a trait that hasn’t always served her well electorally. Her opposition to Merkel’s open-door asylum policy is widely blamed as a factor in her losing her 2016 race, and as recently as this year, she called for a burqa ban in Germany. Still, while the ultraconservative AfD party has wholeheartedly embraced climate change denial, Klöckner — as minister of food and agriculture — doesn’t have the luxury of ignoring scientific evidence. “The climate change has hit us much faster than expected,” she said at a forest summit last month, and while the scientific community might argue that it was definitely expected, she’s now gearing up for battle against the conditions that are destroying the forests. “Climate change isn’t German; it isn’t going to be solved in Germany. None of the existing policies around the world are up to the scale of the challenge,” says Britta Fri...https://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/she-believes-trees-will-save-germany-if-she-can-save-the-trees/221908/

German teachers fined for treating wasp sting with heated fork - DW (English)

Hesse were fined for causing bodily harm with their questionable home remedy for a student's wasp sting. The incident occurred during a school trip to a youth hostel in the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate in May 2017, when a 14-year-old student was stung by a wasp. In response, a 39-year-old male teacher heated the handle of a fork with a lighter and pressed it on the boy's hand where he'd been stung. After a blister formed, another 40-year-old female teacher cut it open and treated the wound with cream. The student's lawyer said that as a result of the sting, the boy had to wear a protective glove for a considerable period of time. The German daily Bild reported that the boy's hand became infected and that he wasn't able to attend an internship as a result. A district court in Cochem fined the male teacher €2,700 ($3,160) for causing bodily harm. The female teacher was fined €2,500 ($2,900) for both assisting and causing bodily harm to the student. The decision was made last Thursday, a court spokesperson said, adding that the judgement is not yet final, as a timeline for appealing the decision has not yet passed. All about the birds and the bees... As sweet as honey They are the pollination super stars...https://www.dw.com/en/german-teachers-fined-for-treating-wasp-sting-with-heated-fork/a-45505055

Dead gardener left booby traps behind to target his enemies, German police warn - Fox News

Authorities in Germany are warning anyone who may have had a conflict with a recently deceased gardener to be on the lookout, after an apparent set of booby-trapped bombs left one dead and two hurt.Rhineland-Palatinate Police said in a news release that gardener Bernhard Graumann, 59, was found dead in his bed in Mehlinhen, near Kaiserslautern in west Germany, on Friday night.Earlier that day, a 64-year-old doctor in a nearby town was found dead in front of his practice after an explosion. Police believe the bomb may have been in a package that was left in front of the office as part of a "booby trap" which the doctor picked up, triggering the blast.MAN ADMITS KILLING AIRBNB GUEST AT AUSTRALIA HOME OVER UNPAID $149 BILLTwo days later, an "explosive-engineered log" exploded in a wood-burning stove at a home about five miles from where Graumann lived, according to police. A woman and her 4-year-old daughter were injured in that blast. Police in Germany are warning anyone who may have had a conflict with a recently deceased doctor to be on the lookout for booby traps. (iStock)Police said all three had been known to Graumann, who either had a "personal or business" connec...https://www.foxnews.com/world/dead-german-gardener-suspected-of-planting-trail-of-bombs-as-revenge-plot-against-neighbors