Monday's top story: Violent offenders should no longer be allowed to see their children
Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig wants to further restrict the custody and visitation rights of violent offenders. “Anyone who hits their partner must expect to no longer be allowed to see their child—or only in the presence of an accompanying person,” the SPD politician told newspapers belonging to the Funke Media Group.
Until now, a parent's custody and visitation rights could only be restricted if the child itself was subjected to violence – but not if the partner was abused.
"We must clearly stipulate in law that in cases of violence against the other parent, contact with the child can also be restricted or even excluded. After all, the child suffers when the father beats the mother,“ said Hubig.
The Minister of Justice had already informed the Bundestag that she wants to push for several reforms to strengthen protection against domestic violence.
Hubig is also considering making changes to tenancy laws in Germany to better protect women from violence.
“Anyone affected by domestic violence must be able to get out of a joint tenancy agreement as quickly as possible – even if their ex-partner is stubborn,” said the minister.
Fighting tax fraud: receipts to be kept longer
In order to reduce bureaucracy, the traffic light coalition under former Finance Minister Lindner shortened the deadlines for keeping receipts to eight years in Germany.
Now, current Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil wants to extend them again to ten years as a measure against tax fraud.
“This will allow investigations to be conducted for longer,” said Klingbeil. In addition, his ministry wants to create “further investigative tools”, including the use of automated data analysis to detect undeclared work, in the fight against tax evasion, money laundering, and financial crime.
According to Klingbeil, the planned extension will also make it easier to combat so-called cum-cum transactions, in which foreign actors falsely claim capital gains tax refunds in Germany.
Five swimmers bitten: Police officer shoots two-meter fish
A giant catfish over two meters long injured at least five swimmers in Lake Brombach in Middle Franconia, before a police officer killed the 90-kilogram fish with his service pistol, according to police reports.
The swimmers' bite wounds were treated by Red Cross emergency personnel at the scene.
The fish repeatedly attacked people near a floating island. A police officer shot and killed the fish once it had been identified as a safety risk to swimmers and visitors at a music festival taking place at the lake. Two anglers were called in to recover the fish before the swimming area was reopened.
“This was completely atypical behaviour for this fish,” said police spokesman Michael Petzold, adding that catfish aren't normally aggressive.
It is thought the animal may have had a nest near the swimmers and was trying to defend its young.Â
Catfish can live for several decades and grow extremely large. In Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, a fish named “Kuno, the killer catfish”, who was said to have swallowed a young dachshund, achieved international media fame more than 20 years ago.
Hurricane Festival evacuated because of thunderstorms
Tens of thousands of music fans sought safety in their cars for two hours while a thunderstorm hammered the site of the Hurricane Festival in ScheeĂźel, Lower Saxony, on Sunday evening.
The weather was monitored constantly during the festival. “We are well prepared,” said a spokeswoman for the organizer, FKP Scorpio Konzertproduktionen GmbH. The police were present at the festival site with hundreds of officers and a mobile station.
Around 65,000 people were on the festival grounds each day. According to the spokeswoman, it was a peaceful gathering with music fans coping relatively well with first the heat (including temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius), and then the brief evacuation.Â
Germany calls on Iran to 'immediately' resume negotiations with US
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday called for a swift return to diplomacy after the US struck three nuclear sites in Iran overnight, his spokesman said.
Iran must "immediately enter into negotiations with the US and Israel and to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict", Merz said, according to his spokesman Stefan Kornelius.
The German government believes "large parts of Iran's nuclear programme have been damaged by the airstrikes", Kornelius said.
After the heat: more thunderstorms and wind on the way
After the hottest weekend of the year, the start of the new week is expected to be “turbulent in terms of weather,” according to meteorologist Thore Hansen from the German Weather Service (DWD).
On Monday the DWD expects severe thunderstorms in the southeast. “From early afternoon, new local storms with heavy rain, large hailstones, and severe gusts will develop southeast of a line from Lake Constance to the Ore Mountains,” Hansen announced. "Thunderstorms will also develop in the northern half of the country from midday onwards, which may merge into a line and move quickly across parts of the north to eastern Germany.“
The thunderstorms are expected to bring severe gusts of wind of up to 100 kilometres per hour.
“The weather will then calm down on Tuesday,” added Hansen. It will remain cloudy in the north, with rain in some areas, with a forecast for dry and pleasant conditions in the south.
With reporting by DPA.
Comments