The news of the day with Mitri Sirin. Good evening. Katja will be back with me later to discuss news from the DFB and other topics. So it is. Good evening.
Let's take a look at the headlines this Wednesday. Accusations, indiscretions, public disputes. "The public infighting in the coalition must stop," demands SPD leader Klingbeil.
Escalation in Reichsbürger raids. A policeman was injured in an exchange of fire. From abundance to scarcity: Water shortages are becoming a problem for more and more countries. The harmonious photos from Schloss Meseberg can not obscure the fact that many adjectives can be used to describe the governing coalition, but harmonious is not one of them. Their concepts of legislation are too dissimilar.
Green Party Vice Chancellor Habeck did not hold his tongue in an interview. The fragile peace was disrupted by an interview leading up to the coalition committee on Sunday. Andreas Maurer reports.
2,600 kilometres away from the political centre of Berlin, in Ankara, the SPD leader appealed to the coalition today to create policies rather than argue. We have to get into a different working mode. Every day can't be about arguing and accusations.
The latest accusations came from Vice Chancellor Habeck, who went on Tagesthemen yesterday to discuss criticisms of his plans to replace gas and oil heating systems. The BILD newspaper published the draft bill on oil and gas heating I have to presume this bill was deliberately leaked to damage confidence in the government. To some extent, all these conversations we've had about how to finance this plan, submitting a coordinated departmental plan, possible agreements with coalition partners... This might all be a moot point now. Habeck isn't naming the person he's levelling these accusations at. The SPD is insinuating that he is under severe pressure today. The SPD Construction Minister, with whom Habeck is working on the bill, doesn't understand his outrage.
You come to expect this in politics. It seems to occur every few weeks. I decided many years ago not to get upset about this. The mood is tense, especially between the FDP and the Greens.
The Greens accused the FDP of obstructionism while the FDP claims that the Greens are not open to technological ideas or debates. I think it's right that we have to move forward on the agenda we've set for ourselves. That includes the issue of climate change.
At the same time, if a draft bill is made public and it hasn't been voted on yet, then you have to be able to discuss it. The replacement of oil and gas heating is just one of many contentious issues for this coalition. The coalition committee will meet on Sunday, where they hope to work through the issues. Let's go to Berlin to Theo Koll. Theo, there have been rumblings in the coalition for some time.
Why are the disputes now out in the open? I think this time it was definitely triggered by the backlash that Robert Habeck received over his leaked plan to ban new oil and gas heating systems. The chancellor is holding back in public. He's making it clear that the SPD does not side with the Greens on many topics. There are at least two other important reasons for the FDP's resentment: With the recent losses in state elections looming over them, they have clearly identified cars as a winning issue for the party. This includes fighting for the continued use of internal combustion engines, keyword E-fuels, and the accelerated expansion of highways. And in a way, the traffic light coalition is only now entering its first real year in government.
After all, the past year was dominated by a need for immediate crisis management after the "watershed moment." That's why the full range of differences in content is becoming clear now. There is likely to be friction when the coalition committee meets on Sunday to reach an agreement. Should be exciting. Thanks for the assessment from Berlin, Theo.
In nationwide raids against Reichsbürger members today, a SEK officer was shot and injured in Baden-Württemberg. The seriousness of the situation became clear during raids last December. At that time, it became known that a group was planning to violently overthrow the government. Today's raid was directly related to the December incident. Nina Kurschilgen has more.
Several shots were fired here this morning in this apartment in Reutlingen. The situation escalated during the raid of the Reichsbürger milieu. As the police stormed the apartment, 46-year-old Markus L. already had a large-calibre weapon pointed at the officers. An exchange of gunfire ensued. The policeman was hit in the forearm and then passed out. This shows how dangerous this Reichsbürger group is.
They are obviously armed, and we will now have to check whether the perpetrator was in possession of legal firearm permits. According to ZDF's sources, the man had permits for weapons and explosives for sports purposes. A total of 20 properties were searched today in eight federal states and Switzerland in the large-scale raid. Five people are suspected of supporting a terrorist organization.
14 further homes will also be searched. The man in Reutlingen was also targeted by investigators for violating the constitutional order of Germany. At the beginning of December, there had been a large raid against the so-called Reichsbürger. Since then, 25 of them have been arrested. Among them is Frankfurt businessman Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, the presumed head of the network which is believed to have planned a violent political takeover. The shooter today is in custody.
He is now under investigation for multiple attempted murders. Now to our legal expert Sarah Tacke in Berlin. Sarah, where are the Federal Prosecutor's Office's investigations in this case at now? The Federal Prosecutor General's investigation is in full swing and will continue for some time. The major challenge for the investigators is that they are dealing with a suspected Reichsbürger terrorist network that is extremely diverse, That means that the suspected terrorists live all over Germany in different federal states and are also very different in terms of age. If you also look at the professions of the suspected terrorists, you can see that it includes soldiers, cops, doctors, judges, cooks and musicians. This shows how different they are.
The only thing that unites them is their goal. They want to overthrow the basic democracy in which we live. They want to overthrow the system. What makes them dangerous is that apparently some of them are said to have legal access to weapons and explosives. This means the new arrests and searches today will bring new intelligence. And it may also mean that in a few weeks or months, there will be further arrests.
The Federal Prosecutor General is currently in the process of completely exposing this network. Thank you for this background information, Sarah Tacke in Berlin. After the raid on the Reichsbürger, there are many questions. What makes them tick? Who has become radicalized? And how violent are the members? You can find out more about this on our ZDFheute app. The outlook for the German economy is improving. In a mild winter, the economy has shown resilience, say the so-called economic experts.
A minimal growth of 0.2 percent is expected in their economic forecast for this year. Six months ago, the council of experts was predicting a slight recession. For 2024, the growth forecast is 1.3 percent.
Warning strikes in the public sector have paralyzed traffic in many cities today. At stations, on the street, but also at the port of Hamburg, which was closed to large ships because the operators are on strike. Tens of thousands of employees put pressure on employers at rallies once again. There will be warning strikes in various areas tomorrow as well. The next round of negotiations are scheduled for Monday. Accelerated action in the expansion of wind power in Germany.
This is what the government wants, and led Economic Minister Habeck to invite policy makers and experts to a Wind Power Summit. The government has set a target of two percent of the country's land area to be designated for wind power by 2032. They have recently decided to simplify planning and approval procedures for this purpose. Nevertheless, the expansion is not picking up speed.
Andreas Huppert reports. Electricity from wind is the core element in Germany's energy transition. In order to achieve climate protection goals, green electricity must come as soon as possible.
But the necessary expansion is lagging behind the requirements. That's why the Minister of Economics called for a wind summit. It went on for two hours behind closed doors. An assessment of the situation resulted in the realisation that the main problem remains the slow approval procedures. We don't see the approval speeds that are needed, but in the discussions with the prime ministers and the responsible energy ministers, it is clear that they are saying yes, let's do this, so we are moving along now, I think we will see that in practice soon.
The wind energy industry is sceptical and sees itself as having a disadvantage within the approval process. We need the same willingness in the approval process for renewable energies that was shown with the LNG Terminals for fossil fuels. The willingness is obviously still lacking here. Another problem stopping the expansion is the wind power jobs lost in this country.
Development and production are moving abroad, as has already happened with photovoltaics. Currently, 70% of all modules come from China. We lost 40,000 employees in the crisis years of 2017 to 2019 alone. If you add it all up, almost 60,000. In this respect, there is also a significant political component to the labour market.
After the first wind summit, problems were recognized, but far from solved. The Russian war against Ukraine is not only causing immeasurable human suffering, but also enormous material damage. The UN, the World Bank and other organizations have calculated that it would cost nearly 400 billion euros to rebuild Ukraine.
Death and destruction go on and on. According to Ukrainian sources, Russian attacks have killed at least 14 people in total. Anne Brühl reports "Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes." In this place, these words have a very special meaning. Zelensky visited Bakhmut for the second time to distribute medals to those fighting on the front lines.
Today I have the honour of awarding the best of our heroes. I want to thank them and shake their hands for defending the state and its sovereignty in the East of Ukraine. Bakhmut, a symbol of the madness of this war.
For months, Ukrainians and Russians have been fighting for every inch of ground gained. Meanwhile, civilians face Russian airstrikes at any moment. Here's what a surveillance camera captured. A Russian missile hit an apartment building in Zaporizhia. South of Kyiv, a school with dormitories was hit.
At least four people died. We know most people went down to the basement. We evacuated more than 200 from the bunker, but some stayed upstairs.
Death, grief, and suffering are omnipresent in Ukraine. I'm really grateful to you. Each and everyone of you, take good care of yourselves. All the best.
As a gift, Zelensky gets a Ukrainian flag. The battle for Bakhmut has no winner yet. The French got to hear a clear order to stop today from their president in a television interview. He will remain steadfast on pension reform. Macron's eagerly awaited appearance is unlikely to impress opponents of raising the retirement age. They continued today with demos, blockades and strikes in large parts of the country.
Hannah Arendt from Paris. The anger at Macron seems tremendous. His opponents tossed a presidential dummy at the train station plaza in Nice.
Some called for a revolution shortly before the actual president, who has kept a low profile so far, defended the reform in a TV interview. Do you think this reform brings me pleasure? No. Do you think I could have followed my predecessors and ignored the pension problem? Yes, maybe. But in truth, the only thing I regret is that we have failed to convey the need for this reform.
From that, he will not back down from. To prevent a deficit in the pension fund, two screws must be tightened in the future. The minimum retirement age will rise from 62 to 64.
Only those who have paid into the pension fund for 43 years will receive full benefits. The fact that both requirements must be met is perceived as unfair. Especially among lower income earners. These are the voters right-wing populist Marine Le Pen wants to capture.
The demonstrations as well as the strikes are lawfully constitutional. And I mean that sincerely and truly. You are part of a peaceful and democratic resistance against the arrogance and violence of the government.
Words that only fuel the turmoil. In the face of such images, it seems difficult to imagine how political dialogue can get back on track. France remains in troubled times. Water, or more specifically, clean water, is becoming increasingly scarce around the world. For the first time in decades, a UN conference now wants to work on solutions to related problems. Currently, one in four people lack sufficient access to drinking water, and every two minutes, a child dies from diseases caused by polluted water.
Global demands continue to grow, while at the same time droughts are spreading even in regions that were previously considered safe. Measures are also needed in Europe, including Germany. Christina Iglseder reports.
The Grane Dam has not been full for a long time. 13 percent of the drinking water in Lower Saxony comes from the Harz reservoir. Rain in the past weeks has eased the situation for the time being.
We have water accumulation here in the northern Harz that we would like to store, but are currently unable to store due to our limited storage volume. This means that we are already losing water. That we may need in long, droughty periods.
The reservoirs are obviously not large enough. These photos of the Harz reservoirs from last year show how important it is to avoid wasting water supplies, that are shrinking due to the dry summer months. So the point here is that we save water for summer when we have an abundance in the winter. At the same time, however, it has to be said that we should not give the impression that unlimited water will be available in the future.
Part of the water strategy is also to ensure that water is not wasted. Sustainable water management is becoming increasingly important for Germany. In Lower Saxony, more is being renaturalized. For several years now, water from rivers has been used to replenish groundwater levels to better supply fields and forests.
In Germany, we're in a good situation of being adaptable to changes in the water balance. That is what sets us apart from the Mediterranean region. There, the winters are also increasingly dry. In order to better store the rich winter rains in this country, the walls of the Grane Dam are to be raised by about ten meters. Adapting to climate change is possible, but it will be expensive.
Now to sports with Katja. The DFB has decided that the captain's armband will be black, red and gold again. Is that the right way? Let's say there is at least one person who is causing these discussions again. But the DFB says it should only be about football from now on.
Sincere hopes to wear the armband for the first time Saturday in the test match against Peru. Rudi Völler's proposal will be implemented. The controversial One Love armband is a thing of the past, and the DFB hopes that discussion surrounding it will be as well. The captain of the national team will wear black-red-gold again in the future. It is very important that we learn from this situation. Our focus is exclusively on football.
And this, among other things, also puts Hansi Flick's game strategy into question. Niclas Füllkrug, one of the bright spots at the World Cup, prefers two forwards. I believe that we have many players on the national team who embody this extremely well, who can already put the opponent in a very dangerous situation. This might be put to the test this Saturday when they play Peru. FC Bayern Munich won yesterday 1:0 against Arsenal FC in the Champions League quarterfinals.
Player of the match was Lea Schüller. She provided the winning goal with her head in the 39th minute and made two strong saves on Bayern's goal line. The second game is next week in London. After almost 17 years in the game, Mesut Özil ends his successful career.
World champion with Germany, multiple-cup winner in Spain and England, but in recent years, often injured and controversial. The botched World Cup 2018 was a deep wound for the brilliant player, not so much because of the failures of the game, but because he had firmly put himself on the sidelines beforehand after his photo-op with Turkish President Erdogan. His departure from the national team with accusations of racism against the DFB also tore open deep rifts.
This, after the former Schalke player had risen to become a world star at Real Madrid and Arsenal London. The peak of his career was a 2014 World Cup win with Germany. His last few years at Fenerbahçe and Başakşehir Istanbul offered few highlights. Time to say goodbye. He said it himself now at 34 years old. Thank you very much, Katja. We have the lottery numbers for you.
They are 19, 28, 33, 35, 38, 40 and the bonus number is three. More winning numbers on lotto.zdf.de and on the ZDF text page 557. The weather brings showers, thunderstorms and storms. More on this soon with Özden Terli.
At 9:45 PM, we'll have the "heute journal" with Christian Sievers. Barbara Hahlweg will join us tomorrow at 7:00 PM. Take care of yourself and have a nice evening. Good evening and welcome to the weather.
Our rainfall map shows the total rainfall until Sunday. By Sunday, we see the blue is getting more intense. In the lower western mountain ranges, there are up to 40 litres per square meter.
If you look at the south side of the Alps, hardly any rain worth mentioning. Here, the drought continues. In the night, rain comes up from the southwest. Shifting to the northeast where it will be dry.
Temperatures in the south drop to three degrees in the Alps and eleven degrees in the far west. Tomorrow morning in the north, storm gusts, plus rain. In the south, it will gradually become drier, The sun will make an appearance in the afternoon and remain sunny. The north could see showers and thunderstorms. Highest temperatures up to 21 degrees. Towards the southeast, eleven degrees in Schleswig-Holstein. The next days look rough near the North Sea with showers and thunderstorms ten to 18 degrees.
Saturday, stormy everywhere, and around eight to 14 degrees. Sunday will be cooler. Have a nice evening.
2023-03-24