Here you will find the most important news of the day, the most popular stories of SPIEGEL + and tips for your end of workday.

THE THEME OF THE DAY

May fears the "backstop"

At a meeting with top politicians in Brussels, Theresa May tries to negotiate further concessions on the Brexit Treaty. The British Prime Minister is committed to ensuring that the emergency solution for the Irish border is temporary and can be unilaterally terminated by the British. Mayor's government fears Northern Ireland could virtually be separated from the UK by an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland - a so-called backstop.

However, some EU countries are bothered by May's wish to renegotiate. For example, in a draft Summit Declaration, which the SPIEGEL was able to see - even if the exact wording is still controversial - it says that the backstop should "only be used for a short duration and only as long as absolutely necessary". Even the word "necessarily" bothers some of the other 27 EU member states: they think May is too accommodating.

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The Prime Minister will present her point of view on Thursday at the summit dinner. After that, the 27 remaining EU countries will have to commit to their conclusions without May.

So-called advertising ban for abortions should be reformed

The Grand Coalition has proposed a solution to the dispute over the so-called advertising ban on abortions. The Ministers Horst Seehofer (CSU), Katarina Barley (SPD), Jens Spahn (CDU), Franziska Giffey (SPD) and Helge Braun (CDU) want to change the paragraph 219a so that doctors and doctors in the future may inform online that they Perform abortions.

In the SPD there are in the face of the new proposal demands to release a vote in the Bundestag as a matter of conscience, so that comrades could vote against the coalition partners CDU and CSU. The SPD, Left, Greens and FDP have a majority in the Bundestag for the abolition of the advertising ban. A decision will probably come only in January.

Our colleague Jan Fleischhauer comments: The dispute is not about the prohibition of advertising - but about the prohibition of abortions per se. Our colleague Valerie Höhne thinks that the compromise is not even bad.

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NEWS

What you need to know today

  • The alleged assassin of Strasbourg is still on the run: Also on Thursday, the police were looking for Chérif Chekatt. Meanwhile, the number of victims has increased: A fourth victim was declared brain dead.
  • The German broadcasting is legitimate - confirmed today the European Court of Justice. The contribution is not an unauthorized State aid, the judges ruled in Luxembourg.
  • No extra charge for online bookings: the Fernbus company Flixbus may not charge extra for paying with Paypal for online bookings. That was the verdict of the Munich district court.

OPINION

Most talked about comments, interviews, essays

Careful, deadly Christmas: The risk of heart attack is never greater than on Christmas Eve at 10 pm. Therefore avoid feelings - or celebrate in the parking lot of a hospital, says Harald Schmidt. Here is the video.

THE MIRROR

Short defeat: Only 18 supporters more and Friedrich Merz would have become the new CDU leader at the party congress. How did the mission fail - and what does that mean for the CDU? The analysis in the new episode of our podcast "Stimmenfang".

STORIES

The most read texts at SPIEGEL +

"Raw wine", "naked wine", living wine - there are currently many terms for a trend that has captured the wine scene. The drink is produced without artificial sprays in the vineyard, without chemicals in the tank. Critics see a provocation in natural wine, inedible, they say. What is there? By Christopher Piltz.

Ursula Bremer taught for almost 50 years at a school in Großenheidorn, Lower Saxony. "Migration was not an issue in teacher education," she says. In addition, she could only speculate on what the children had experienced in their homeland or on the run. But she realized that it was very important for these children to be believed in them.

Lars Koester

CHOICE

How do you recover from a crisis when thousands have seen you are at the bottom? A strange trend has emerged in the US: Strangers publish photos of people who are unconscious on the street after an overdose on social media. For the people in these pictures and videos, life is no longer the same because of public humiliation. Here is the search for the "New York Times" (English).

CARTOON OF THE DAY

Klaus Stuttmann

MY EVENING

The recommendations for your closing time

Tonight you could go to the movies and see a documentary about the woman who is called in the US just "RBG". The Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg is there as an icon of the Liberals. The face of the 85-year-olds adorns T-shirts and coffee cups. "RBG-A Life for Justice" portrays the super heroine of the women's movement. The movie is in cinemas since today.

Cooking Films

We wish you a nice evening.

warmly

Milena Hassenkamp and Vanessa Steinmetz of the Daily Team

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