German prize withdrawn from Putin

16 July 2011 Last updated at 17:38 GMT Mr Putin is accused of overseeing oppressive government policies while Russia's president A prestigious German rights prize will not be awarded this year after organisers were heavily criticised for giving it to Russian PM Vladimir Putin.

The Quadriga Prize is given annually to "role models who are committed to enlightenment, commitment and welfare".

The decision to give it to Mr Putin was angrily received by his critics, who said it made a mockery of the award.

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel had threatened to return his own prize in protest at last week's announcement.

The Quadriga, named after the statue on top of Berlin's Brandenberg Gate, is awarded annually on the anniversary of German re-unification and is "dedicated to all those whose courage tears down walls and whose commitment builds bridges".

'Downright cynical' The award's organisers said they were retracting Mr Putin's award with "great regret," citing "massive criticism in the media and the political world" over their choice.

"The growing pressure was becoming increasingly unsustainable and risked escalating further," they said in a statement.

No awards will be given in 2011 and the panel said they would "see how it continues next year".

Mr Putin was to be recognised for his "service to the dependability and stability of German-Russian relations", but the move immediately came under fire both in Germany and abroad.

His critics say that while serving as president between 2000 and 2008, Mr Putin - a former KGB spy chief - oversaw oppressive government policies and curbs on civilian liberties.

Germany's human rights commissioner Markus Loening said it was "downright cynical" for Mr Putin to be put in the same group as previous winners Mikhail Gorbachev and Mr Havel.

"It devalues the prize," he said last week.

The prize is awarded on the anniversary of German re-unification

Last year's winner, Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, had already returned his award and Mr Havel threatened to do the same.

On Saturday, a spokeswoman for Mr Havel said he thought the panel were "very wise" to reconsider their choice.

The award should be given to people "who devoted their lives to protection of human rights and freedoms and promoting democracy," she said, naming Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, Russian rights campaigner Sergei Kovalov and Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in 2006.

A spokesman for Mr Putin said the row would have no effect on Russia-German ties and that Moscow would "treat with respect any decision by this organisation".

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German lenders 'join Greece plan'

30 June 2011 Last updated at 14:43 GMT There have been violent protests against the austerity measures in Greece German lenders and insurers have agreed to participate in a plan to continue lending to Greece, according to German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

He was speaking after a private meeting of the country's main banks.

Mr Schaeuble said German institutions would contribute 3.2bn euros ($4.6bn, ?2.9bn) to the plan, details of which have yet to be finalised.

It comes after French banks agreed to relend about half of Greek debts they own coming due by 2014.

"I'm happy that the representatives of the financial sector have said they are ready to participate in a European package for a second aid programme for Greece," said Mr Schaeuble.

He added that he was confident that a solution would be reached by the time of a planned meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Sunday, but that further work was needed on the plan over the coming weeks.

Bad banks

The chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, commented that the French plan could form a "basis" for a deal.

"We are of the opinion that Greece must be helped... we are ready to do so," he added.

The French plan is designed to make Greece's debtload more manageable in a way that would not be deemed a formal default.

If the deal is classified as a default by ratings agencies or credit derivatives traders, it could force European banks to recognise billions of euros in losses in Greek debts that they currently hold, putting their own solvency at risk.

German lenders were previously said to have resisted the long 30-year term of the new loans already backed by the French banks.

French banks have lent the Greek government some 15bn euros, according to data from the Bank of International Settlements, while German lenders hold more than 20bn euros of Greek sovereign debt.

However, unlike their French counterparts, the German lending is thought to be already mainly long-term.

The 3.2bn euros in funding to be reoffered to Greece by German creditors covers debts falling due by the end of 2014, Mr Schaeuble said.

Of this total, some 1.2bn euros was held by the "bad banks" - lenders that had failed during the financial crisis and been taken over by the government.

The news comes the same day that Greece's parliament passed a second vote on its austerity programme, which was needed to secure further financial support from other eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund.

Athens witnessed protests and riots when the first vote, agreeing the austerity package in principle, was passed on Wednesday.

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Too shy, won't fly - German police vulture is no ace cop

29 June 2011 Last updated at 15:28 GMT By Stephen Evans BBC News, Berlin The vultures' habits had seemed like a perfect fit for the job of detective Police in Lower Saxony, Germany, who decided to teach a vulture to sniff out corpses of missing people have run into difficulty two months into training.

Reasoning that it could fly over miles of wasteland, then descend where it found a missing person, they had wanted to fit it with a transmitter.

But it transpires that Sherlock, as the bird is known, is not very interested.

On top of that, it is shy, confuses human with animal remains and actually prefers to walk, Spiegel magazine says.

Sherlock has been in training in the Walsrode bird park on Lueneburg Heath near Hanover, along with two vulture side-kicks also named after famous fictional detectives, Columbo and Miss Marple.

Shy bird

It had seemed such a great idea. What if the police had sniffer dogs that could fly? Dogs do not have wings, they realised, but birds do.

But according to Spiegel: "Sherlock's success has been limited.

"While he can locate a stinking burial shroud which the police gave the bird park to use for training purposes and which is clearly marked with a yellow plastic cup, Sherlock doesn't approach the shroud by air.

"He prefers to travel by foot."

Furthermore, the bird is yet to perform outside the familiar confines of the zoo.

"The bird is naturally anxious, and he would hide in the woods or bolt," according to his trainer.

The vulture also finds it hard to distinguish between dead people and dead animals, which is a problem in the vast heathland of that part of Germany.

'Time-saver'

When the idea was unveiled two months ago, there was much fuss in the media.

The police explained they had got the idea from a documentary on birds - reportedly, a BBC wildlife documentary.

"It was a colleague of mine who got the idea from watching a nature programme," policeman Rainer Herrmann told the media proudly.

"If it works, time could be saved when looking for dead bodies because the birds can cover a much vaster area than sniffer dogs or humans."

Apparently, birds generally rely mostly on sight to locate food but vultures like Sherlock have a keen sense of smell.

The police decided on turkey vultures which are indigenous to the Americas but which lived also in the zoos of Europe.

They are not pretty with their bright bald heads but they do have an ability to locate carrion. If they want to.

Sherlock does not - or not if it involves too much effort.

At the time the scheme was launched, the idea was that Holmes would be the senior detective teaching Miss Marple and Columbo.

"But the young ones can't do anything besides fight with each other," Spiegel quoted a trainer as saying.

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German jail for Lady Gaga hacker

Lady Gaga was one of the artists who had details stolen. An 18-year-old computer hacker who stole songs from artists including Lady Gaga has been sentenced to 18 months detention in Germany.

The court heard how the teenager, who called himself DJ Stolen, earned more than 15,000 euros (?13,260) by breaking copyright laws and hacking personal information from a number of singers.

The hacker used phishing emails and Trojan horse software to steal unpublished songs and then offer them for sale on the internet.

Anti-piracy teams in the UK and Germany noticed a growing number of pre-release tracks being leaked much earlier than normal.

Tracks were stolen from Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Leona Lewis, Kesha and Mariah Carey in 2009 and 2010.

Singer Kesha had private photos stolen from her computer

The teenager, referred to in court as 'Deniz A' because of his age, was also found guilty of downloading explicit private photos from Kesha's computer.

Apology to Gaga

The court in the German city of Duisburg also heard how a letter of apology was published in Daily Bild, a German tabloid newspaper, from the teenager saying:

"Dear Lady Gaga, I am ashamed of what I have done. I did not think about the consequences."

The judge ruled that the teen was "driven more by a desire for recognition than by criminal intent".

The 18-year-old was also ordered to have therapy for an addiction to the internet.

Another hacker, 23, whose name wasn't released, was also given an 18 months suspended sentence.

Jeremy Banks, from the International Federation of the Phonograhic Industry (IFPI), which helped with the investigation said the sentences acted as a "deterrent" to others.

He said the crimes caused "huge damage to artists and record companies".

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German duelling clubs in race row

16 June 2011 Last updated at 13:49 GMT A row with uncomfortable echoes of the past is gripping the world of Germany's student duelling societies after a club admitted a non-European member.

Duellers in Munich objected to the fact a Mannheim club had allowed a member with an Asian background to join, despite his service in the German army.

Mannheim members stood by their decision, and called for a more liberal direction for the clubs.

The clubs' national association insisted they were not racist.

Stefan Dobner, its spokesman, said it was wrong to say the row was over an "Aryan" condition of membership for duelling societies.

The fraternities condemned racism, he said.

Under Hitler, Germany enacted race laws which stressed the superiority of the "Aryan race", as northern Europeans were defined by the Nazis.

About 1,300 Germans are active members of the 100 or so student duelling societies, or Burschenschaften, which also count some 10,000 past members.

Swords and scars

The current argument is over whether people with immigrant backgrounds can be true Germans, and part of what some see as a quintessentially German institution, the BBC's Stephen Evans reports from Berlin.

The row has thrown into disarray an arcane and secretive world of fraternities forged through duelling, he says.

Such societies are usually male and involve dressing up in traditional 19th Century outfits, as well as drinking and fighting with swords.

Real swords are used and the men who join often sport a scar on their cheeks to show they have fought a real duel.

The Mannheim issue was to be debated at the annual meeting of the societies to be held in the town of Eisenach this weekend.

There was a feeling from the more conservative elements in Bavaria that, according to internal documents, members with "non-European facial and bodily characteristics" did not qualify as Germans and so could not join what the objectors see as a bastion of true German identity, our correspondent says.

"Especially in times of rising immigration, it is not acceptable that people who are not from the German family tree should be admitted to the Burschenschaften," as one document puts it.

Different times

The threatened club responded with a statement on its website signed by its spokesman, Kai-Ming Au.

It said that the club would fight strongly against the attempt to expel it from the national association and would push for reform at national level.

A spokesman for the umbrella organisation of the fraternities in Germany said there had been long discussions and it had been decided not to expel the Mannheim club, though there would be further discussions.

The difficulty for the associations is that Germany has changed, our correspondent adds.

Citizenship used to be based on "blood lines" - in other words, immigrants were excluded - and the duelling clubs mirrored that idea.

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