What Putin has to say this time
Russian President Vladimir Putin will give his annual State of the Union address today, a good two years after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Unfortunately, you never know exactly what you're going to get with these speeches, says my colleague and Russia expert Ann-Dorit Boy.
"It's not uncommon for them to disappoint and for former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to fall asleep because Putin is just repeating the old tale of the evil West and promising better social benefits and support for families."
Last year, however, Putin's speech ended with a message to the West: He announced that he would suspend the "New Start" agreement - the last major disarmament treaty with the USA.
It served to limit the two states' nuclear arsenals.
The step had a high symbolic significance.
Does Putin have anything really new to say this year?
Hard to say.
“He may have a few gifts up his sleeve for the voters,” says Ann-Dorit.
The timing for this – a good two weeks before the presidential election – would be good.
However, Putin doesn't need the persuasion.
The name of the new president is already clear: Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin Leaks: Putin's Script for the Election
Showdown in the South
US President Joe Biden is traveling to the border with Mexico today - it is only the second time since he began his term in office a good three years ago.
The trip alone would be worth news.
But today of all days his rival Donald Trump also wants to visit a city on the Texas-Mexico border.
Trump travels to the region regularly.
The ex-president has made the fight against illegal migration the central theme of his campaign.
It's Biden's Achilles heel: Illegal border crossings from Mexico have skyrocketed during his term in office.
The travel destinations of the two opponents were not chosen by chance.
Trump visits Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande.
The small Texas town with a population of around 28,000 has become a hotspot in the migration debate - and the ideal place for Republicans to expose Biden.
Biden, on the other hand, is visiting Brownsville in the Rio Grande Valley, hundreds of kilometers away, and wants to meet with border police, among other things.
Illegal border crossings have recently fallen here.
The right backdrop for Biden to explain how he wants to get the problem under control.
Migration and border debate in the USA: Showdown on the Rio Grande
The video messages from the comrades
“Chancellor compact” is the name of the video format that Olaf Scholz regularly uses to convey his messages to the people.
In his most recent clip, the Chancellor looks firmly into the camera and says: "NATO is not and will not be a war party." He reiterates his red line: "To put it bluntly: As German Chancellor, I will not send any soldiers from our Bundeswehr into the war Ukraine send.
(…) That's something you can rely on."
Shortly after publication, the SPD parliamentary group posted a video of its chairman Rolf Mützenich last night.
In it he explains that it is good that the Chancellor has decided not to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Mützenich speaks of “prudent decisions against the background of the possibility that this war will expand.”
The fact that these two videos appear so quickly after each other is not a coincidence, but rather a strategy.
Some in the SPD are currently spreading the narrative that without the level-headed Chancellor, Germany would already be at war with Russia.
It is an attempt to turn the hesitant Scholz into a determined Scholz and to present the SPD as a peace party.
Can this work?
My colleague Sebastian Fischer is not convinced.
»The story of the SPD peace party may have a warming effect, especially in times of crisis like now.
But it stands on a crumbling foundation,” he writes in his commentary.
You can read how he came to the verdict here:
SPIEGEL commentary: The myth of the SPD peace party
Read the current SPIEGEL editorial here
Habeck's fight against those with concerns:
The economics minister wants to store carbon dioxide under the North Sea.
The usual critics immediately come forward.
The step is overdue.
Click here for the current daily quiz
The starting question today: When were the so-called Nuremberg Laws passed?
Winner of the day…
... is also a social democrat: Sören Bartol.
After the crushing defeat of the Hessian SPD in the state elections, he wants to replace Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser as state party leader.
He will be officially elected at the state party conference next week.
Many people didn't have the 49-year-old member of the Bundestag on their list.
Bartol is known in Berlin: He is Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Construction.
Kaweh Mansoori, deputy prime minister in Hesse, was actually considered the likely candidate for state chairmanship.
The SPD, which governs as a junior partner of the CDU under Prime Minister Boris Rhein, wants to broaden the party's leadership.
This means she can also leave it open as to who will lead her in the election campaign in the next state election.
“It is not automatic that the state chairman becomes the next top candidate,” Bartol told my colleague Christian Teevs.
But is the comrades' strategy wise?
Sharing the top positions definitely has advantages, says Christian Teevs.
However, there is a risk that ultimately none of the Hessian Social Democrats will make enough of a name for themselves to beat Boris Rhein in the next state election.
Reorganization after election defeat in 2023: Bartol would like to replace Faeser at the head of the Hesse SPD
The latest reports from the night
US Supreme Court deals with Trump's immunity:
Former President Donald Trump wants to stop a trial for attempted election fraud in Washington.
He relies on the Supreme Court. It is now taking up the matter.
Execution of serial killer canceled in the USA:
The planned execution of a convicted murderer has been stopped in the US state of Idaho.
The medical team was unable to provide the 73-year-old with the access necessary for the lethal injection.
Actor Richard Lewis is dead:
In “Robin Hood – Heroes in Tights” he appeared as Prince John. Richard Lewis most recently shone in the sitcom “Curb Your Enthusiasm”: Now the comedian has died at the age of 76.
I would particularly like to recommend this story to you today:
Historical fact check:
The film “The Zone of Interest” tells about everyday life under German fascism, in places where everyday life would not even be considered possible.
The German Oscar hope Sandra Hülser plays the wife of the concentration camp commander Rudolf Höß, who builds a family idyll right next to the concentration camp, including a pool.
In Cannes, director Jonathan Glazer's work was hailed as a masterpiece.
Anna-Raphaela Schmitz, who studied history and political science, watched the film and says how close the plot is to historical reality.
I wish you a good start to the day.
Yours, Maria Fiedler, deputy head of the SPIEGEL capital office