There is talk of humiliation in the British media: when Thursday's dinner was served for European Union leaders at the summit in Brussels , Theresa May was asked outside. Alone, May waited in the delegation room until her 27 counterparts had addressed her concerns. After all, it is said that they have also given her the menu on a silver platter: lentil soup with langoustines, duck, chocolate variations.

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Issue 12/2019

Animal mad

Why so many people in everyday life lose their nerves and freak out

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After the dessert they were told: Their request for a Brexit postponement until the end of June is not met. Instead, the EU May dictates a different timetable that at least prevents the big mess on March 29, the originally agreed exit date.

If the British Parliament agrees to the negotiated exit agreement next week, then Brexit may take place on 22 May, before the start of the European elections.

If Parliament does not agree , London must declare by 12 April how it wants to continue. Either it comes on this day for "hard Brexit". Or Britain requests to postpone getting out on Santa's Day. Then it would grotesquely participate in the European elections. Or you pull the exit request right back.

Complicated? So again in the concise short form: The British ...

  • ... will not be out on March 29th.
  • ... may be leaving on April 12th.
  • ... may come out on May 22nd.
  • ... may eventually come out later.
  • ... may not work out.

The tragedy goes into extra time. May has to work now, but still get a majority for the Brexit contract , which has twice rushed through the lower house. Was it wise to blame the deputies for the situation?

The still-EU partners are already annoyed anyway. May's request for petition at the summit was - judging by the seriousness of the situation - apparently quite pathetic: many words, no plan. "90 minutes of nothing" , quoted the "Guardian" a listener.

It is not as if there were not other topics that the Union could talk about. So you wanted to talk about China at dinner on Friday actually. Maybe it's time for it on Friday when the summit is in its second day.

Incidentally, because the whole thing is so sad, the colleagues from the Panorama Department have collected the best Brexit gags. Here's something to laugh about.

Trump's election campaign gift for Netanyahu

ABIR SULTAN / EPA-EFE / REX

Israel's prime minister seemed completely overjoyed on Thursday. "President Trump, you wrote history!" Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted. Shortly before he had already called the White House and personally thanked Donald Trump .

The reason: The American President has made a pretty election campaign gift to the Prime Minister. Israeli elections will be held on April 9, and "Bibi" Netanyahu has a good chance of entering the history books as the longest serving Israeli prime minister of all time, despite impending charges of bribery, embezzlement and fraud.

Netanyahu's challenger Benny Gantz suddenly finds himself at the center of an Iranian hacker affair - and now Trump is getting involved too, in favor of Netanyahu. Shortly before his visit to Washington next week, the US President via Twitter just announced to recognize the sovereignty of Israel over the since 1967 occupied in the Six-Day War and later annexed Golan Heights.

Trump's promise Netanyahu should be a great help in the election campaign , says my colleague and Middle East expert Dominik Peters: "Now he can present himself to the local voters as a sophisticated statesman who has not only the ear of the most powerful man in the world, but him also to ignore international international law. "

New Zealand mourns

Jorge Silva / REUTERS

From 1.32 pm to 1.34 pm local time (1.32 am to 1.34 am German time), public life was at a standstill throughout New Zealand . With the two nationwide silence minutes at the time of Friday prayers, the people of the victims of right-wing extremism commemorated exactly one week ago in Christchurch.

The country's unity in mourning has been impressive and exemplary these days, as has the government's ability to act, which immediately launched a ban on assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons.

In the Dutch city of Utrecht , a silent march will be held on Friday for the alleged terrorist acts of last Monday, in which three people died.

Loser of the day ...

FILIP SINGER / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock

... is Michael Kretschmer. Desperately, Saxony's prime minister and CDU head of state has been trying to convince people for months that the traditionally conservative Saxonia Union will not marry the - presumably strong - AFD after the state election.

Stupid only that in the ranks of his party does not want to exclude all. The "Saxon newspaper" now wants to have learned of specific considerations in CDU circles for a "Plan B", which should provide for inviting the right-wing populists after the election on 1 September for exploratory talks. Kretschmer hurried with his denial: "Always calm, my word applies." But the debate is - again - in full swing.

That not all Kretschmer reject the rejection of the right-wing populists, he has to attribute himself. Most recently, he brought the Dresdner policy professor Werner Patzelt into the campaign team. He had earlier brought a cooperation of the CDU with the AfD in the game, the right-wing party also advised. In the meantime he claims that he no longer wants to know about a possible coalition.

The compact news overview in the morning: current and opinionated. Every morning (weekdays) at 6 o'clock. Order directly here:

The latest news from the night

  • Great Britain: EU takes over direction in Brexit drama
  • New Zealand after the Christchurch assassination: United in mourning
  • Bundeswehr: Bundestag extends mandate for deployment in Afghanistan
  • "Maybrit Illner" to Brexit: always back to zero
  • USA: Alleged sender of letter bombs pleads guilty
  • NRW: Man drives 13-year-olds, gives him money and drives away
  • Eastern China: At least 47 dead after explosion in chemical plant
  • Video on illegal ship graveyard in Greece: The fight against the wrecks

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

  • In the secret lab of Stiftung Warentest: That's how the testers of the nation work
  • If a Syrian comes to Rotenburg (Wümme): What I like better on Arabian TV than on German
  • In the conservative south of the US: The last abortion doctors in Oklahoma City
  • Missing case Rebecca: How reliable is the nose of police dogs?

Come well through the day.

warmly
Yours, Philipp Wittrock