1. Cuddling with the Chancellor
Federal Chancellor Scholz flew to Tallinn today. The capital of Estonia has palpable Rotenburg-ob-der-Tauber vibes: city walls, cobblestones, the thick defensive tower »Kiek in de Koek« (15th century) with four-meter walls in which cannonballs are still inserted. After all, the talks between the heads of government are supposed to be primarily about protecting NATO's eastern flank from the Russian threat.
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Federal Chancellor Scholz is accompanied at every turn by BKA bodyguards
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
I spent a semester abroad in the Baltic States during my studies (21st century) and immediately fell in love with the region, was in Kaunas in Lithuania, Riga in Latvia and, of course, in Tallinn. Just like many Finns who take the ferry over from Helsinki to stock up on the excellent Estonian beer, which they then bring home by the pallet. The mood on these crossings was, well, exuberant, strangers were in each other's arms. I am therefore curious to see what Scholz will experience in Tallinn: Most recently, a man hugged him on the tarmac of Frankfurt Airport, "surprisingly intimately," according to the Chancellery. The 48-year-old was apparently under the influence of drugs.
My colleague Sebastian Fischer accompanies Scholz on his trip: "Although who knows what could have happened on the tarmac in Frankfurt, Scholz is unimpressed by yesterday's incident here on the trip," says Sebastian. The city is small, short distances, and the convoy has run smoothly, he says. "Some members of the delegation thought that the BKA was a little closer to the chancellor than usual."
Read more here: "Chancellor hugger" was apparently under the influence of drugs
And here are more news and background information on the war in Ukraine:
Indications of Ukrainian perpetrators are increasing: Who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines? Investigators are pursuing new clues – according to SPIEGEL information, they are not only pointing in one direction for Western intelligence services.
Majority of Germans are in favour of sanctions against Russia: Most citizens continue to support the punitive measures for Russia. This is the result of a representative survey available to SPIEGEL. Only the majority of the supporters of one party are against it.
Court declares searches of oligarch Usmanov illegal: According to SPIEGEL information, investigators were not allowed to search the yacht and villas of Russian entrepreneur Alisher Usmanov on suspicion of money laundering. This was decided by a court.
Here you will find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine: The news update
2. Career with a four-day week?
"We won't break ourselves anymore!" is the title of the new SPIEGEL. You can get the issue here digitally and from Saturday at the newsstand.
Sebastian is 23, works for the consulting firm McKinsey and reports from New York for a video interview. What is he doing? A bit of a museum, a bit of Broadway, having breakfast with friends. Definitely not: work. Sebastian is currently taking a take-time, i.e. a break that his company offers employees between two projects. He belongs to Generation Z, i.e. those born between 1995 and 2010. Sebastian's central question when he started his career two years ago was: Can I still somehow be "me" despite my full-time job? And does the job leave enough room for leisure time?
"It was important to us to let many young people have their say and not just to spread clichés about laziness and refusal," says my colleague Sophia Schirmer, who, together with many other colleagues, wrote the current SPIEGEL cover story about the working ideas of the younger generations. What do 18- to 29-year-olds really want? Our survey shows: a high salary (55 percent), a good work-life balance (48 percent) and a meaningful job (44 percent). Doesn't sound particularly exotic at first – but rather healthy. "Because of the shortage of skilled workers, young people now have the power to demand a lot. And in the end, that benefits society as a whole," says Sophia. And because life has a refreshing sense of irony: When Sophia wrote the story, she was free, actually. »You write about a better work-life balance and sit at your desk on Sunday afternoons instead of outside in the sun.«
Click here for the current cover story: »We don't break ourselves anymore!«
3. Dam it!
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Shell construction with insulating materials
Photo: Jochen Tack / IMAGO
My colleague Susanne Götze first has to take off her protective mask when I call her. "We are renovating an old half-timbered house in Saxony-Anhalt," she says. She is currently tearing out the old polystyrene roof insulation. "It wasn't exactly professionally installed in the early nineties, and it's probably also contaminated with toxic flame retardants." So Susanne knows what she's writing about: Her story about the plans of Building Minister Geywitz is about how sensible it is to pack up older houses in order to save energy. Across the EU, there are an estimated 35 million buildings that have uninsulated exterior walls and old windows and doors. So there's a lot to do, you think as a layman. However, Minister Geywitz is now wondering whether the insulation could also "have a counterproductive effect" – because it is too expensive and the construction industry is under pressure anyway.
Is Geywitz trying to distract attention from the fact that she will fall far short of her goal of creating 400,000 new homes per year? (In 2022, there were just 295,000). In any case, Susanne's conclusion is clear: "Germany does not have an over-insulation problem. Quite the opposite.«
Read more here: Controversy over climate-friendly refurbishment
What else is important today
Did Hamburg high school graduates cheat on exams with AI? Some Hamburg high school graduates have probably written exams with the help of artificial intelligence: According to a media report, there are several suspected cases. What consequences this will have, however, remains to be seen.
Berlin State Security investigates Roger Waters: The accusation of anti-Semitism characterizes Roger Waters' tour of Germany. Now the Berlin police have opened a case: Does the musician's stage clothing, reminiscent of an SS uniform, glorify the Nazi era?
Neuralink claims to have received approval for brain-computer chip study: Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, has received the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first human clinical trial. Initially, an application had been rejected.
»Last Generation« records flood of donations after raid: After the authorities' crackdown on the climate activists, thousands of people are showing their solidarity with the group – at demonstrations, but also in the form of a hefty financial injection.
Foreign missions of the Bundeswehr significantly more expensive than planned: According to SPIEGEL information, the costs for foreign missions of the Bundeswehr in 2022 were almost 114 million euros above budget. According to the troops, high inflation is only one reason for this.
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+
"I hope that the cooler heads in Tehran will prevail": U.S. lawyer Jason Poblete is fighting for the release of Jamshid Sharmahd. Here he describes how difficult this task is – and what chances he still sees to save the life of the 68-year-old German-Iranian.
A German armaments company and its sticky foreign business: Hensoldt AG is a beacon of hope for Olaf Scholz's turning point. Now, the company's internal documents point to questionable payments in deals in Qatar and Uganda.
"If I hated the police, I wouldn't have taught them." Because of a tweet about "brown dirt" in the police, she is harshly attacked and loses a teaching position. Here, the Gelsenkirchen teacher Bahar Aslan talks about the fear of many people of officials in uniform.
»For Uli I am a red rag«: The serial champion from Munich is threatened with a season without a title. For Bayern legend Lothar Matthäus, this is the result of a failed personnel policy. Is the old club patriarch Uli Hoeneß coming back?
What is less important today
Enlarge imagePhoto: BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS
Dr. Forrest Gump: Tom Hanks (66) has received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University. In Germany, the aura of a doctorate has suffered somewhat in recent years: Guttenberg, Giffey, Koch-Mehrin, now the work of ex-state secretary Patrick Graichen is also being checked for plagiarism. It is fitting that Hanks (even without a deep knowledge of German domestic politics) called on 9000,<> graduates to defend the truth and oppose those who twist the truth to their advantage. Summa laude.
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And on weekends?
I started watching the movie »Legend« last night. Tom Hardy plays the Kray twins »Reggie« and »Ronnie«, British criminals who ruled London's East End in the fifties and sixties, in a remarkable double role.
Hardy mumbles in his creaky East End idiom, cursing, charming, thrashing, delightful. I already liked Hardy in the long-seller gangster series »Peaky Blinders«, where he played Jewish mafia boss Alfie Solomons: tough but warm. After about three-quarters of an hour of »Legend«, however, my five-year-old stumbled into the living room (as it turned out today: scarlet fever), so the evening was over for Tom and me for the time being. So, please no spoilers, I'm going to finish watching the movie today (runs on the Amazon Arthaus Channel, Google Play Movies or Magenta TV), maybe you've got the desire now. And have symptom-free children.
Have a nice long Pentecost weekend, enjoy it!
Yours, Jens Radü, Chief of Staff