The Telegraph •

Children of German steakhouse heiress kidnapped

The children of a German millionaire restaurant heiress have been abducted, with police investigating whether it is linked to a custody battle. The abduction of the children, aged 10 and 13, took place shortly after midnight on Monday while they were watching a firework display with their father in the Danish town of Gråsten. Several men knocked the father to the floor before beating him, then bundled the children into two cars, Danish police have confirmed. The vehicles, a Mercedes and a Cit
The Telegraph •

France warns of ‘very high’ terror threat on New Year’s Eve

French authorities have warned of a “very high” terror threat on New Year’s Eve because of the war in Gaza, as Germany also braced itself for violence. Gerard Darmanin, the French interior minister, said on Friday that 90,000 police officers and gendarmes would be deployed throughout the country during the festivities. “I’ve requested a very strong mobilisation of police forces and the gendarmerie under the context of a very high terrorist threat, of course due to what’s happening in Israel an
The Telegraph •

Charlie Sheen ‘assaulted by woman who broke into Malibu home’

A neighbour of Charlie Sheen has been arrested after she allegedly broke into the actor’s Malibu home and assaulted him with a weapon. Police were called out to Sheen’s home in the beach city near Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon and identified the star as the victim of an assault, Fox News reported. Neighbour Electra Schrock, 47, was arrested at the scene and taken into custody. “The suspect, Electra Schrock, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, force likely to create great bodil
The Telegraph •

Would-be Putin challenger barred from running against him in presidential election

A former Russian television journalist who planned to take on Vladimir Putin in next spring’s presidential election has been barred from running over “mistakes” in her application. The election commission unanimously disqualified Yekaterina Duntsova from running in March, Russian media reported on Saturday. Ms Duntsova, 40, had presented her registration documentation to the commission on Wednesday when she said she hoped to “inspire people who support us.” She had planned to fight the electi
The Telegraph •

US seizes thousands of units of counterfeit diabetes drug Ozempic used for weight loss

US consumers have been warned to be careful when buying diabetes medicines used as weight-loss drugs after the seizure of thousands of counterfeit doses of Ozempic. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that it could not guarantee the safety of the counterfeit drugs, warning that some may even be stocked in pharmacies. “Some counterfeit products may still be available for purchase,” the agency said. It was not clear how the counterfeit drugs entered the supply chain. The FDA warned
The Telegraph •

Iran threatens to shut Strait of Gibraltar as tensions ramp up

The Houthi leadership have described the attacks as retribution for Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which was run by another Tehran ally, Hamas. They claim that the attacks are targeted against shipping headed for Israel; however, several ships which have been struck have no connection with Israel or the war. On Friday, US intelligence accused Tehran of being “deeply involved” in the operational planning of the Red Sea attacks. US intelligence suggests that Iran has been providing a monitoring sys
The Telegraph •

The banker’s diary putting Olaf Scholz’s leadership in peril

The meetings all took place while prosecutors were investigating Mr Olearius for fraud. Mr Scholz, who has denied any involvement in the tax fraud scandal, dismissed the meetings as little more than standard talks with a local business figure and denied being able to recall details of their conversation. But diary entries paint an allegedly different picture of the meetings. In one entry, the banker described Mr Scholz as “listening attentively and asking smart questions” while also “not prom
The Telegraph •

Swiss museum under fire over exhibition of art stolen by the Nazis

The museum says its new show, “A future for the past – the Buhrle collection: art, context, war and conflict”, tries to examine what happened to the Jewish collectors. But some say it has not gone far enough. A week before the exhibition opened its doors, the museum’s advisory panel resigned en masse because of concerns that it sidelined the art’s original owners. “Despite our repeated recommendations to provide the necessary space to the fates of the collectors who were persecuted, looted and
The Telegraph •

German minister rubbishes claims that €1.5 bn of military radio systems are lying unused

Germany’s defence minister has dismissed reports that a billion-euro purchase of radio systems has flopped because of technical issues, saying that “nothing is rotting” or “gathering dust”. Boris Pistorius conceded on Tuesday that a major order of digital radios for German military vehicles still hadn’t been installed but rubbished allegations of a procurement disaster at the ministry. “Yes, there has been a delay but it is nothing that has even remotely put the acquisition itself in question,
The Telegraph •

How Olaf Scholz turned Germany into the 'sick man of the world'

Olaf Scholtz took to the pulpit of Germany’s parliament this week to paint a picture of a country stuck in “gridlock” that is falling behind its peers. Himself the worse for wear after a running accident, the 64-year-old chancellor said his country was afflicted by a “blight” of timidity and risk aversion that only an “act of national strength” can heal. “While we discuss extending a single metro line or building a skyscraper, other countries have long since finished entire projects,” he said. “
The Telegraph •

Accused German party leader insists he has not been an anti-Semite ‘since adulthood’

A German party leader insisted he has not been an anti-Semite “since adulthood” as a scandal over an Auschwitz pamphlet found in his school bag in the 1980s mounted. Hubert Aiwanger, head of the centre-right Freie Wähler, or Free Voters, party, said on Wednesday that “this or that” incident from his youth “could be interpreted in one way or another”. But he added that it was “certainly true that since adulthood [I’ve] not [been] an anti-Semite, nor an extremist, but rather a humanitarian.” Th
The Telegraph •

France and Germany mull sanctions on vaccine providers as EU row over delays escalates

France and Germany threatened legal action against AstraZeneca on Sunday as they scrambled to explain their shortages in vaccine supplies and warned that any firm which favoured UK orders for the jabs would be penalised. Clement Beaune, the French Europe minister, threatened sanctions against the Anglo-Swedish firm, which produces the Oxford vaccine, if it emerged that Britain had been given priority. "If there is a problem and that other countries have been favoured - for example the UK over
The Telegraph •

Calls for 'vindictive' Ursula von der Leyen to resign over Irish border debacle

Motivated by her hatred of Brexit, Ursula von de Leyen overruled her top trade advisors with a plan for a new Irish border, The Telegraph has learnt. The European Commission president was warned she would cause uproar but pressed on regardless as part of what one of her own employees called “an increasingly vindictive” attitude towards the UK government. Furious Brussels-based diplomats were on Saturday piling pressure on the Commission chief over her disastrous handling of the affair amid sug
The Telegraph •

Germany and Russia create 'green' foundation that skirts US sanctions to finish Nord Stream pipeline

A German state has been accused of using a 'green' foundation backed with Russian money to bypass US sanctions against the completion of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the northeasternmost state in Germany, set up the Climate and Environmental Protection MV foundation earlier this month claiming its goal was to “further environmental projects in the Baltic Sea region.” One such project, the state confirmed, would be assisting in the completion of the N
The Telegraph •

Boris Johnson first European leader to get call from President Biden

Boris Johnson told Joe Biden his arrival in the White House was a "moment of hope in a dark time" as he became the first leader outside North America to speak to the US President. The Prime Minister is believed to be the third world leader to speak to Mr Biden after his scheduled call was brought forward by two days in what will be seen as a major boost for the special relationship between the UK and US. Mr Johnson spoke to Mr Biden in a 35 minute phone call from his office at 10 Downing Stree
The Telegraph •

Germans who keep refusing to quarantine could be put in detention centres under new Covid rules

Germans who repeatedly refuse to enter quarantine after being exposed to coronavirus will be held in detention centres under new rules drawn up by regional authorities. Legal experts say the detention centres are permitted by emergency powers granted to German authorities during a pandemic. The eastern state of Saxony, where hospitals have been struggling to cope with one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country, has confirmed plans to hold quarantine breakers in a fenced off section
The Telegraph •

Germany accused of breaching EU rules by purchasing supplies of vaccine unilaterally

Germany has come in for criticism over a bilateral vaccine deal with Pfizer/Biontech to secure an extra 30 million doses of its vaccine at a time when talks between Brussels and the pharma firms were still ongoing. Berlin ordered the extra doses of the vaccine back in September at a time when it was trumpeting the virtues of a common EU purchasing strategy during its role as rotating president of the European Union. German Health Minister Jens Spahn confirmed last week that he had purchased an
The Telegraph •

German equivalent of Oxford-dictionary will no longer use masculine as standard for all professions

Germany’s top dictionary publisher has provoked a storm by ending the use of masculine gender nouns to stand in for an entire profession. Duden, which has been publishing dictionaries since the 19th century, will no longer use the term Arzt to mean ‘doctor’, for example, and instead includes two entries in its online edition - one for a male doctor (der Arzt) and another for a female (die Arztin). The firm started a process of updating the definitions of around 12,000 nouns referring to people
The Telegraph •

How European media is reacting to the Brexit deal

As Britain and the European Union reached a Brexit deal on Thursday, European newspapers reacted with a mixture of relief at the avoidance of no deal and disappointment at the imminent breakup. "White smoke after months of negotiations," said Sky TG24, a leading TV network, drawing on the metaphor of the white smoke that traditionally signifies that a Vatican conclave has chosen a new pope. The "nightmare" of a no deal has been averted. Ansa, the national news agency, cites Boris Johnson's twe
The Telegraph •

Germany synagogue attacker gets life for killing two people in attempted massacre

A German court on Monday sentenced a far-right terrorist to life in prison on a double murder charge after he attempted to storm a small town synagogue in a gun rampage on Yom Kippur last year. Reading out the verdict at the Magdeburg town court on Monday, judge Ursula Mertens described the crime as “an act of cowardice.” Court reporters described how the defendant, 28-year-old Stephan Balliet remained emotionless throughout. As well as two convictions for murder, Mr Balliet was found guilty o
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