dOCUMENTA, the biotope

From sculptures for dogs to voting rights for strawberries, dOCUMENTA's weird and wacky artworks are grabbing attention. Mid-way into the 100-day show, DW takes another look.

A lot of grass has grown in the past few weeks - not only over all the speculating ahead of this edition of dOCUMENTA, the international exhibition of modern and contemporary art that occurs every five years in Kassel, Germany.

Grass has also grown over the hill of Chinese artist Song Dong's artwork. It's a green hill covered with garden waste, and absolutely magnetizes visitors. Yucca plants are sprouting next to turnip cabbages and bright blue flowered vines are curling around yellow rapeseed. Chance has taken hold of the brush in this work.

Garten waste becomes art

One visitor points to all the "weeds" in distaste, speculating that the artwork is a warning to all potential gardeners. The little signs with "Doing" and "Nothing" printed on them are almost entirely hidden under all the greenery, but seem to confirm her suggestion. However, the artist had a different goal in mind: He wanted to prompt people to be more prudent in their use of resources, even when they appear as worthless as garden waste. The piece addresses one of the central questions this 13th edition of dOCUMENTA poses: how to deal with Planet Earth.

Love, freedom and butterflies

A group of first-graders squeezes up in front of a flowerbed that looks as though a painting of a lawn by Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer has turned reality. German artist Kristina Buch entitled her work "The Lover," and it's more like an island of plants than anything else.

The butterflies have artist Kristina Buch to thank for their sourroundings

Buch has been in Kassel since March, tending the garden and releasing butterflies there daily. The artist, who studied biology and theology in addition to art, sees the piece as an act of commitment to a work that is exceedingly ephemeral, like the brief life of a butterfly. Nonetheless, or precisely because of this, it's an ideal "symbol of freedom." Her garden of butterflies is not flush with the ground, but raised, bringing animals and plants to eye-level and prompting visitors to dispel with their anthropocentric views. A radical change in perspective is just one demand of this edition of dOCUMENTA, which also aims to broaden the scope of art in all directions.

Taking an umbrella to view the artworks is not such a bad idea

Over 160 artists were invited to contribute their works to the show in Kassel, and never have so many been outdoor works. Most of them are located across the majestic 125-hectare (more than 300-acre) Karlsaue Park. In such a pleasure garden, it's not hard to shake one's anxieties about contemporary art. Visitors can stroll along tree-lined paths, losing themselves in the labyrinth of art as if in a Grimm Brothers fairytale.

Spectators of life and death

A feminine figure surrounded by carnivorous plants lies between heaps of compost. Her head is a buzzing bee's nest.  A white dog with a pink leg guards the work by French artist Pierre Huyghe entitled "Untilled."

"Untilled" by Pierre Huyghe

It's a spectacle of growth and putrefaction, life and death. What the dog is about, nobody knows. But whatever it means, one thing is clear: this edition of dOCUMENTA is leaving its mark.

Other works are easier to comprehend. Sam Durant constructed a jungle gym that, upon closer inspection, turns out to be gigantic pieces of scaffolding. They are true-to-scale models of execution units significant in US history. There are the gallows used to execute Dakota Native Americans in 1862, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2006.

Sam Durant's work is not a jungle gym

The construction stands at the apex of the Karlsaue's main path, and is likewise a symbol of the Absolutist history of the grounds - and the era of guillotines in Europe. It's a strong comment on the death penalty, yet its platform provides a broad view of the English-style park and symbolizes a new perspective on human beings and nature. Durham's scaffold is one of many political artworks in Kassel that also point to the history of the dOCUMENTA location.

The healing power of art

This year's show is vested in the notion of the healing power of art, reflected in its motto "Collapse and Recovery." That can be viewed in terms of political-historical significance, or seen in the context of ill health and recovery.

Pedro Reyes's "Sanatorium"

A line has formed in front of Mexican artist Pedro Reyes's "Sanatorium," where visitors can "admit" themselves and select from 15 different types of therapy, from primal screaming to Fluxus events. Is it a lark, or esoteric thinking?

Reyes would like to treat urban illnesses such as stress, loneliness and fear. Visitors react to his work in a myriad of ways. Some crack jokes, while others reveal all the crooks and crannies of their inner lives to the young art students conducting the sessions.

A shared space

The nicest biotope at dOCUMENTA, though, lies beyond the Karlsaue at the Huguenots house. Once a residence of the bourgeoisie, it was then turned into a hotel before being severely destroyed in the war. Now, however, American installation artist, sculptor and activist Theaster Gates of Chicago has gutted and restored the building, filling it with new life as a residence for Chicago- and Kassel-based participants of employment incentive programs.

The Huguenots House as a Gesamtkunstwerk

"It could end up being the building with the greatest sex appeal in Kassel," Gates predicted. And it's proven to be true. Cool furniture designs and artworks have sprung forth from materials left over from buildings torn down in Chicago. In this place, the history of the house mixes with that of Black Power. Flat screens flash music performances onto faded floral wallpaper. Concerts take place here regularly, filling the house with music.

The bathroom is a little less appealing

Two elderly women move to and fro on an avant-garde Hollywood swing. A group of Japanese visitors peeks inside the bedrooms of the building's residents, while the latter sip ice tea in the kitchen. All in all, a place virtually anyone would want to move into - a new form of community where people live, work and play together.

It's just one of the many impressive works to be found at dOCUMENTA this time around, and you'd need days to cover the entire ground. Even then, you may not be able to discern an entirely clear concept of "Collapse and Recovery," but you can relish in the wildly sprawling cosmos of artistic expression. dOCUMENTA is sometimes esoteric, often political, but always linked to the demand that we ponder things - a demand visitors readily fulfill.

Author: Ulrike Sommer / als
Editor: Kate Bowen  

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No green light yet for clean coal technology

Carbon dioxide capture and storage is considered one of the key technologies to combat climate change. Germany’s recent decision to approve it has raised new concerns, while its future may depend more on EU-wide factors.

Just days after the German government enacted a controversial law regulating carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier seemed to renounce it.

A plan to store carbon dioxide (CO2) shouldn't be enforced against the will of the general public, said Altmaier. He didn't see one single German state with the necessary political support for a power plant using CCS technology.

The carbon dioxide Altmaier was referring to would be from power plants that emit fossil fuels. In an effort to offset these emissions, CCS gives these facilities an alternative way to dispose of CO2 by pumping underground.

Before Altmaier's comments, German states had already demanded that the government allow them to opt out of the law. The new CCS legislation contains an exit clause that allows states to ban CO2 storage within their borders.

While some German states have already embraced the new technology, other states will likely use the exit clause to prevent CCS in their own territories. Meanwhile, economic and European Union interests may override those of the states.

Pipelines get around the law

In June, EU energy commissioner Günter Oettinger advocated the construction of storage facilities beneath the North Sea. Offshore storage would be an option for all of Germany, according to Oettinger. But this alternative would require laying pipelines across state lines.

Northern German state Schleswig-Holstein, which lies on the shore of the North Sea, will likely ban CO2 storage in their territories, in light of popular protest. However, Schleswig-Holstein would have to live with pipelines onshore that would transport CO2 to offshore storage in the North Sea.

The CO2 pipelines themselves are even controversial among the public. Mike Kesse of the citizens' initiative “Stop CO2 storage” explained that underground storage of CO2 carries risks that the storage of other gases does not.

“If another gas escapes, then you can notice it. But if a CO2 pipeline breaks down, then the gas - which has no smell or taste - would spread unnoticed,” said Kesse. High concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air can be fatal.

And states would not be able to prohibit pipelines because they would be lain through a so-called regional planning procedure.

CCS involves depleted coal seams

Trailblazer Brandenburg

Germany's eastern state Brandenburg has welcomed the introduction of CCS technology, despite public protest.

Brandenburg's Governor Matthias Paltzeck spoke out publicly against the storage facilities under the pressure of its many opponents, but then rejected a legal ordinance banning it, calling such a step “too much trouble.”

Brandenburg would benefit from the new law. The energy sector, which relies heavily on brown, or soft coal, is the state's largest employer and tax revenue source.

It's important that the industrial state of Brandenburg play a role in CCS research so it can stay in the game, said Paltzeck. He said Brandenburg doesn't want to rule out any options.

CCS is being sold to the public, however, in terms less helpful the region, but more as part of Germany's “energy transition.”

CO2 storage continues to face public opposition

Kesse sees the situation in a similar light. He said the state's governor has an obligation to support CCS because of political promises.

“Brandenburg's state government is in the position of having to promote CCS because it promised not to build any new power plants without CCS technology,” said Kesse.

A second try

CCS research will advance in Brandenburg, said the state's finance minister Ralf Christoffers. Regardless of the end result, he doesn't want a second chance to go to waste, he said. Brandenburg recently lost a potential investor because of protests against CO2 storage.

The Swedish company Vattelfall had intended to build a CCS pilot plant in Brandenburg for 1.5 billion euros. Massive public protests derailed Vattelfall's plans. In December 2011, the Swedish company said goodbye to its planned reconstruction of the power plant because the political fight messed up the company's timeline, it said.

Vattelfall returned the180 million euros of already granted aid money to Brussels.

After the German government's recent CCS agreement, Vattenfall expressed interest in returning to the negotiating table.

Vattelfall's German director, Tuomo Hatakka, said the new law was a “positive signal for further research of the climate protection technology.” Although the agreement for Vattelfall's original project unfortunately came too late, he said, it opened the door for later uses as a setting a standard for power plants and a European transport infrastructure.

European master plan

Brandenburg leaders are supporting CCS despite popular protest

Regardless of whatever fight about CCS among the government, the states, and citizens' initiatives in Germany, the primary driving force behind the implementation of CCS is the European Union. The current German CCS law came about as a result of an EU guideline, and reflects what the EU hopes will become a Europe-wide technological network.

A consortium of companies under Dutch leadership described possible applications of CCS in a study called “CO2Europipe,”  which included participation by German firms Siemens and RWE.

According to CO2Europipe, CCS technology will be available on a large scale between 2020 and 2050. The trans-European network will require about 22,000 km of pipeline that would transport some 1.2 billion tons of CO2 per year to storage tanks.  The study projects a total cost of about 50 billion euros.

The study refers to the time period up to 2020 as the demonstration phase, after which CCS is to be used commercially. The study recommends a price increase for CO2 certificates in order to attract investors, together with long-term political protection and public promotion of the technology in order to minimize private investment risks.

Germany is named as a primary actor in the development of the European CCS network.

Whether the CCS issue will make it that far is not clear. The German government said in a statement regarding the new CCS law that it was aware of plans for the pipeline network.

Autor: Kay-Alexander Scholz / kms

Editor: Sonya Diehn

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Alliance against the metal thieves

Trains delayed for hours, telephone lines and internet connections down - large scale theft of metal affects consumers and businesses alike. Now big companies have teamed up to catch the criminals together.

They usually come at night, when everybody else is sound asleep. At the darkest hour, they seek out railway property and tear the cables off power masts and signal poles. Elsewhere, the thieves may steal the cables from telecom providers. What they're after is copper, nonferrous heavy metal and scrap iron. Dealing in these raw materials has become a lucrative business; one ton of copper makes up to $10,000 (8,150 euros). At prices like these, it's no wonder that criminals are increasingly on the prowl for any raw materials they can lay their fingers on.

In most cases it's Deutsche Bahn, the company which provides almost all Germany's rail infrastructure, which feels the loss. In 2011 alone, 11,000 trains arrived late as a result of metal theft; altogether they accumulated 150,000 minutes of delays. Deutsche Bahn estimates the damage at around 15 million euros ($18.4 million). But it's not just the railways: the thieves also target telecommunication and electricity providers, as well as regular metal dealers. A number of the victims have decided that enough is enough, and they've joined forces to fight the threat. Earlier this month, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Telekom, the utility provider RWE and the Association of German Metal Dealers formed a security cooperation to confront the issue more effectively.

Early warning system for rapid information exchange

"During the past four or five years, theft has increased tremendously. And we've also seen that it's become more professional. It's now clearly moving in the direction of organized crime," said Philipp Blank of Deutsche Telekom. Over the past year, the company has registered 320 cases of theft, causing a loss of around 820,000 euros ($1 million), but more important is the interruption of customers' phone and data services. The hope is that the newly formed alliance will help: "Our aim is to set up an early warning system so that we can exchange information more quickly. After all, it's often the case that several thefts occur within the same region, and that not only one company is affected."

Another approach is to mark cables and the like with invisible, artificial DNA. Potential buyers would then be able to recognize stolen goods, and as the DNA easily attaches itself to anyone handling the materials, it's hoped that this will make it easer to catch the thieves. The companies also want to use helicopters to hunt them down, but efficient surveillance is a particular challenge to Deutsche Bahn, as its track network spans 34,000 kilometers (21,250 miles) all across Germany - a distance as long as one and a half times around the globe. "We employ 3,700 security personnel and we use infrared cameras to catch the criminals," said Jens-Oliver Voss, the company's head of corporate security.

Passengers not in danger

But Voss insists that there's no physical risk to passengers from metal theft. "If there is an incident, all signals turn red and all trains come to a stop," he says. Still, passengers do suffer, since their trains don't move, and they end up being late for work or their holiday flight. "That's particularly annoying," Voss said.

Deutsche Bahn has been using artificial DNA for some time - so far, mainly in eastern and northern Germany, as well as in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where thieves have been particularly active. Deutsche Telekom's Philipp Blank says that his company, too, is looking into whether to use the technology.

'Maximum security facilities'

A number of metal dealers have already increased their security to deal with the situation, according to the head of the Association of German Metal Dealers, Ralf Schmitz. "Our companies have invested a lot of money in new technology to improve security," he said. "By now, most company yards resemble maximum security facilities," with video surveillance, security personnel and fences.

But the crimes are now happening in broad daylight, too, according to Schmitz, and criminals don't hesitate to use violence. "Just recently, employees of one of our members were beaten up and robbed. In another case, armed robbers tied up the employees and made off with considerable amounts of copper," he said. It is assumed that most of the stolen goods end up in Eastern Europe or Asia.

Insurance fees going through the roof

The high number of thefts is making it more and more expensive for the companies to insure these metals. "Insurance fees have soared by 300 to 400 per cent," Schmitz said. And it remains a mystery how such large amounts of metal can simply disappear from such highly secured premises.

The new alliance also aims to inform potential buyers about what goods have been stolen, in an attempt to cut off the thieves from their market.

Police tied up in federal structure

The new security alliance is not meant to imply a criticism of police work, Schmitz said. "What is a problem, however, is the federal structure of the police in Germany. There is no central body that takes on these sorts of crimes. Instead," he said, "every state has a structure of its own."

Peter Hochscheidt of RWE said that, at his company, metal thefts have not yet led to any problems for the customers. And he has a special word of warning to the thieves: "If you're messing around with high voltage facilities, you're taking your life in your hands."

Author: Arne Lichtenberg / ag
Editor: Michael Lawton

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Mars rover landing 'seven minutes of terror'

NASA's Mars rover is on its final approach for the Red Planet. But whether it lands - or crashes and burns - depends on what will be a blind, seven minutes of terror on Earth.

The American space agency's Mars Science Laboratory - commonly called Curiosity - will face a critical seven minutes as it enters the atmosphere of Mars.

It will have just these seven minutes to decelerate from 13,000 miles per hour (21 kph) to zero.

This critical stage is known as the seven minutes of terror.

The seven minute landing is expected late in the evening of August 5 (Pacific Daylight Time or early in the morning on August 6 European Daylight Time).

But it will take twice that long (14 minutes) for signals from Curiosity to reach Earth. So by the time NASA gets word of the rover entering the Martian atmosphere, Curiosity will already have been on the surface for seven minutes - dead or alive.

Curiosity is heading for Gale Crater near the equator of Mars

Blind exploration

It has also been described as a blind landing because the satellite that NASA was counting on for real-time coverage of the Mars Science Laboratory's descent was sidelined by a maneuvering system glitch.

Doug McCuistion, NASA's Mars exploration program chief, said at the time that there would be "no impact to landing itself. It's simply how that data gets returned to us and how timely that data is."

At NASA's request, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express will now be in position to observe the landing.

The Mars Express has remained in orbit of the planet since December 2003 when its Beagle 2 lander failed.

Mars Express spacecraft operations manager, Michel Denis, says the ESA will provide crucial back-up to NASA's own tracking systems if anything goes wrong.

"It will be a great day for space science," says Denis, who believes Curiosity's landing will be a success - although he admits there are no guarantees in space.

Ready to roll

During landing the rover will have to complete a sequence of highly complicated logistical maneuvers, controlled by its onboard computer.

First the atmosphere of Mars will help reduce Curiosity's speed by about 12,000 mph. Mars' atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth's and this will have a drag effect.

The landing parachute was tested in 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel

Then the craft will release a parachute. The 100 pound (45 kg) parachute will have to withstand 65,000 pounds of force. Once the craft's heat shield separates at 370 mph and the parachute is shed, reverse rockets will activate to stabilize it.

Decelerating from 70 mph to 2 mph, the capsule will lower the Mars rover onto a sky crane from 25 feet (7.62 meters) to wheels down on the surface.

It is hoped that all this will happen - without a hitch - while officials at NASA wait the seven grueling minutes for their first sign of success.

But the ESA's Michel Denis says that once Curiosity has successfully landed on the surface of Mars it will be ready to roll.

"It will be like getting a new car right from the dealer," says Denis.

Size matters

And the rover is almost literally the size of a sports utility vehicle - 7 feet tall, 9 feet wide, 10 feet long, and 2,000 pounds. Curiosity is the biggest and best equipped rover ever to head to another planet, taking the search for alien life to a new level.

Curiosity dwarfs its ancestor Sojourner, the 23-pound rover that was the first to move around Mars in 1997. It is bigger than the 400-pound Mars Exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which landed in 2004.

The new machine is also faster at 3.35 mph, compared with Opportunity's top speed of 0.1 mph.

The rover could be NASA's last Mars mission for a while

Speed is not everything - survival is. Opportunity continues to explore a massive crater called Endeavour. It has logged 21.4 miles and still sends valuable data.

Possible last landing

But with a price tag of $2.5 billion (2.1 billion euros), Curiosity is NASA's most expensive mission to Mars. And over budget at $1 billion, it could well be NASA's last landing on the Red Planet for the foreseeable future.

The goal of the two-year mission is to explore Gale Crater - which is near Mars' equator - and search for evidence of any life.

Curiosity is equipped to do just that. The six-wheeled robot can shoot lasers at rocks to measure their chemical compositions and take high-resolution video of the Martian landscape, which pending a successful landing will be relayed to Earth.

The rover is covered with sensors and cameras and has a long robotic arm equipped with a fistful of tools. It has a scooper to collect soil samples, a drill to bore into stone and a high-sensitivity lens to examine microscopic structures measuring only 12.5 microns.

"All Mars exploration helps the overall space community," says Peter Hulsroj, director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI). "Exploring Mars is a step-by-step endeavor and Curiosity is a wonderful step."

Since efforts to explore Mars started in 1960, the US, Europe, Russia and Japan have launched 40 missions. But more than half have crashed, malfunctioned or disappeared.

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A show trial like in the days of Stalin?

It is one of the most controversial cases in a long time: the Moscow trial against punk band Pussy Riot. The three young musicians face seven years in prison for staging an anti-Putin protest in a church.

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior is a massive building adorned with golden cupolas at the bank of the Moskva river not far from the Kremlin. It is the largest church in Russia, but was rebuilt only in the 1990s - the communists blew up the original 19th century church in 1931. For the Russian Orthodox Church, the cathedral is a symbol of its resurgence after the fall of the Soviet Union. It is here that the Patriarch holds his Christmas and Easter mass. President Vladimir Putin a regular guest.

But for about five months, the church has been at the heart of a scandal about church, politics and freedom of expression in Russia. The trial, which begins in Moscow on Monday, is seen as one of the most controversial in Russia in years. Some critics - like Moscow-based journalists Masha Gessen - compare it to the show trials of the Stalinist purges of the 1930s. All court sessions will be broadcast live on the Internet - a novelty in Russia.

The three women in their early 20s are accused of 'hooliganism'

Three women against Putin

On trial are Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich. All three are in their early 20s and members of the provocative punk band Pussy Riot, which spreads political songs with Internet videos.

Their most controversial performance was on February 21, 2012, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior just before the presidential election. An Internet video shows a group of women in short dresses and wearing colorful balaclavas, dancing in front of the altar and shaking their fists. The video is accompanied by a punk prayer, a song calling on Mary, mother of God, to chase away Putin. Authorities managed to identify three of the women and for five months they have been held in custody. They're accused of "hooliganism" - the prosecution is asking for a seven-year prison sentence.

In their controversial video, Pussy Riot call for Putin to go

Public divided

The trial is getting a lot of attention and causing heated discussions. Typing the term Pussy Riot into Russia's biggest search engine Yandex leads to a staggering nine million results. The video in question has 1.5 million hits on YouTube. The number of commentaries on the two-minute clip is growing by the day and currently is about 30,000. The opinions are evenly divided. "It is as if someone would smear my home with filth," an anonymous user complains. Another though says the case looks like an act of political revenge: "The three girls are being treated as if they'd prepared a terrorist attack."

Russian society seems to be divided. A recent poll suggests some 39 percent think that several years of prison would be just punishment for the young women. Almost the same number - 37 percent - are against a prison sentence.

Human rights groups and artists demand release

Human rights activists for months have been calling for the release of the three Pussy Riot members. Amnesty International describes the women as "political prisoners." Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Watch group says it is a "political trial." What is undisputed is that the trial is conducted in the midst of a tightening of laws that observers see as an attempt to curb political protests in Russia.

Even the Russian art scene is united over the case. Writers, musicians and actors might have different opinions on the whether the punk prayer in the cathedral was a good or a bad idea. But most of them reject a severe punishment. In an open letter to the highest court of Russia, more than 100 prominent Russian artists have called for the band members to be released.

Solidarity from Germany

German and US punk bands are staging a benefit gig for Pussy Riot

There is also growing support for Pussy Riot among western artists. Anthony Kiedis, singer of US rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers wore a shirt with the name of the Russian band at a concert in Russia. British singer Sting addressed the crowd at a Moscow gig calling for a release of the three women. German punk icon Nina Hagen told DW that she hoped there would not be a tough sentence. "I call upon the Russian government and my Orthodox brothers and sisters to show mercy." She said she still believed in the "Russian heart."

Younger German artists have also demonstrated solidarity with Pussy Riot. Berlin punk bands Radio Havanna and Smile and Burn are joining forces with US band Anti-Flag and set up a benefit gig in Berlin on July 31. "For me, the trial is a clear sign of the government's oppression of its own people," Oliver Arnold of Radio Havanna told DW. The proceeds from the gig will be sent to the incarcerated band members.

A few days before the trial, the Pussy Riot members sought to calm the situation. "Maybe some think our behavior is shameless. But that is not the case," they said in an open letter to the media. They expressed thanks for the support they'd received and called upon their supporters to seek dialog with their critics.

Author: Roman Goncharenko / ai
Editor: Simon Bone

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Second Olympian banned for offensive tweet

Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella has been booted off his team for an offensive tweet he posted after Switzerland's group stage defeat against South Korea.

Swiss Olympic team chief Gian Gilli said on Monday that Morganella will be stripped of his accreditation two days ahead of the team's final group match with Mexico.

At a press conference on Monday, Gilli said Morganella had "discriminated against, insulted and violated the dignity of the South Korea football team as well as the South Korean people."

On Sunday, Switzerland lost to South Korea 2-1. After the match, he said he'd "batter the Koreans, burn them all" and referred to them using an insulting French word for people with Down's Syndrome.

His Twitter account, @morgastoss, has been shut down, a spokeswoman for the team said. She also said Morganella had apologized. The Swiss 23-year-old right back plays his club football with Palermo in Italy.

Morganella is the second person to be banned from the Olympics because of a tweet. Two days before the opening ceremony, Greek triple-jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was expelled from Greece's team for tweeting "statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement," as the Hellenic Olympic Committee put it.

Papachristou had already drawn attention with links to videos and websites of the extreme-right Golden Dawn political party. But it was a tweet she posted the week of the opening ceremony that outraged the committee.

Commenting on recent cases of mosquitoes carrying the Nile virus appearing in Athens, she tweeted "With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!"

Isidoros Kouvelos, the head of the committee, appeared on the TV station Skai and said, "We are not here just to get medals, but to promote the Olympic ideals, to show our character."

Papachristou also issued apologies.

mz/msh (Reuters, AP)

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Colorado cinema suspect charged with multiple murders

James Holmes has been charged with 24 counts of murder and 116 counts of attempted murder in a Colorado courtroom. He is accused of opening fire at a cinema near Denver 10 days ago, killing 12 people.

Prosecutors formally charged Holmes on Monday with 24 counts of first degree murder, 116 counts of attempted murder, and one charge of possessing an explosive device.

The 24-year-old faces two murder charges for each of the 12 people he is said to have killed – one for their deliberate killing and another for killing with "depraved indifference" to the lives of his victims.

Prosecutors said they would not decide for several weeks whether they would seek the death penalty, which can be used in the state of Colorado.

A further 58 people were injured in the shooting at a cinema in Aurora, near Denver on July 20. Ten of them are still in hospital, four in critical condition. The shooting took place at a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie.

District Chief Judge William Sylvester barred video and still cameras from Monday's hearing in the city of Centennial. He has since ordered that all details pertaining to the case be sealed and kept private - an apparent bid to ensure a fair trial amid the vast attention paid to the shooting. Several media outlets have challenged this court order for privacy.

msh/mz (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

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Northern India hit by worst blackout in a decade

Northern India is beginning to return to normal after the country's worst power outage in 10 years. Analysts say it points to the need for major investment in India's infrastructure.

Officials with India's Central Electricity Authority struggled to cope with a major blackout on Monday that left more than 300 million people without power.

Officials said about 60 percent of the usual power output in the eight northern states affected had been restored by mid-morning, largely by drawing electricity from the eastern and western grids. Full capacity was expected by sometime later on Monday.

The northern power grid had crashed in the middle of the night for reasons that remain unclear. While officials in the sate of Uttar Pradesh blamed the blackout on increased demand due to high summer temperatures, India's power minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde said he had launched an investigation to determine the cause.

The power outage played havoc with the morning commute, as New Delhi's Metro transit system, which transports nearly two million passengers daily, ground to a halt for several hours. The capital's always-busy roads were jammed, as some passengers took their cars to work.

Electrically powered trains were stopped in their tracks or only reached their destinations several hours late. At least 200 scheduled trains were cancelled outright.

Infrastructure investment needed

Many major factories and other offices continued to operate though, using their own dedicated power plants or generators.

Blackouts are frequent in some parts of India, but this was the worst the country has seen in a decade. The Central Electricity Authority has reported power deficits of around eight percent in recent months.

Analysts said Monday's blackout highlighted the need for major investment in India's infrastructure.

"This kind of breakdown shows that the system needs some big overhaul to increase credibility and increase the confidence in the system of India," Jagannadhan Thunuguntla, equity head at Delhi-based brokerage SMC Capital told the Reuters news agency. "More homework needs to be done."

However, economic growth in India has slowed to its lowest level in almost a decade and the government recently scaled back plans to invest around $1 trillion in infrastructure projects over the next five years.

pfd/ncy (Reuters, AP)

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No silver lining to clouds in airline business

While Ryanair saw profits slump by a third, Air France-KLM posted a huge loss in the second quarter of 2012. High fuel costs, low consumer spending and the euro crisis are compounding the woes of Europe's carriers.

Ryanair posted a net profit of 99 million euros ($121 million) in the months April through June, which was 29 percent less than in the same quarter a year ago.

Europe's biggest budget airline said Monday that passenger numbers had climbed six percent to 22.5 million, which had boosted second quarter revenues 11 percent to 1.28 billion euros.

However, the result was weighed on heavily by rising fuel and oil costs, which had soared 27 percent to 543.8 million euros.

In addition, the weak economic outlook for Europe had restrained growth.

"There is no sign of a European-wide economic recovery, … and no light at the end of the tunnel," Ryanair's chief financial officer, Howard Millar, told Reuters Insider TV.

Millar also announced that Ryanair would ground 80 of its 270 planes over the winter, adding that in view of oil prices at $100 per barrel "it really doesn't make sense to fly these aircraft."

Despite the problems, Ryanair said that it would maintain its profit outlook of between 400 million euros to 440 million for 2012.

Air France-KLM flies into the red

Even worse hit by the crisis in the airline business is Franco-Dutch airline operator Air France-KLM which reported a steep loss of 895 million euros ($1.1 billion) in the second quarter of 2012.

The result compares unfavorably with a loss of 197 million euros a year earlier, but was primarily the result of "restructuring provisions" to the tune of 368 million euros, the airline said Monday.

In January, Air France-KLM announced a three-year restructuring plan, seeking to eliminate 5,122 jobs with the aim of saving 2 billion euros by 2015.

Group chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta said that uncertainty in the global economy, coupled with oil prices and exchange rate volatility, would make improving the group's productivity "even more necessary."

Air France-KLM's revenue rose 4.5 percent to 6.5 billion euros, lifted by a 2.4 percent increase in passenger numbers to 55.4 million in the second quarter. But cargo was down 6.9 percent in the three months.

Germany's national carrier Lufthansa will release its results for the second quarter on Thursday.

Analysts are eager to learn how Europe's biggest airline is faring after announcing it would cut 3,500 jobs in view of a record loss of 425 million euros in the first quarter of 2012.

uhe/slk (AFP, AP, Reuters)

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16132004,00.html

Anti-Putin punk rockers plead not guilty

Three members of a Russian band have pleaded not guilty to charges related to a protest against President Vladimir Putin. The case has been widely criticized outside of Russia but split opinion inside the country.

Three members of a punk rock band have pleaded not guilty to charges of hooliganism related to a high-profile protest against the Russian presidential election last March. At the same time, though, they expressed regret for any offense they may have caused to Orthodox Christians.

In February, the three Pussy Riot members, wearing masks, entered the Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, went to the altar and conducted a "punk prayer" in which they called on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Vladimir Putin. A number of other people took part in the protest but escaped arrest.

The protest came just ahead of the election, in which Putin won a third term as president.

One of the defendants, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, said the protest was "a desperate attempt to change the political system. We had no intention of insulting people. We did not expect our punk appearance would cause offense."

"The fact we do not accept guilt in the charges does not mean we are not ready to admit our mistakes. If someone was insulted then I am prepared to accept that we made an ethical mistake," her statement said.

Another of the accused, Yekaterina Samutsevich, stressed that the target of their protest was not the Orthodox church, but the "illegitimacy of the elections" and "the calls (by the Patriarch) to vote for Putin and not go to the protest rallies."

Those two, along with the third defendant, Maria Alyokhina, have been in custody since their arrest shortly after conducting the protest. They appeared inside an enclosed defendant's box on Monday, and their statements were read out in the courtroom by a defence lawyer.

Earlier, the three women, all of whom are in their twenties, responded to a series of formal questions from the judge about things like their citizenship, education and whether they had ever been convicted of a crime.

This is the most closely watched criminal case in Russia since the second trial of former oil magnate Mikhail Khordorkovsky in 2010, and it's also being heard in the same Moscow courtroom.

Criticism at home and abroad

The case has split public opinion in Russia, with Orthodox Church officials condemning the protest as being part of a campaign by "anti-Russian forces."

However, the three women, all in their 20s, also have a lot of supporters, some of whom cheered them as they were led in handcuffs from a police van into the courthouse.

"This has nothing to do with the law, it is a political reprisal," opposition parliamentarian Gennady Gudkov said.

The case has also been criticized by international human rights groups such as Amnesty Interational, which has called for their release.

The charges are not a "justifiable response to the peaceful - if, to many, offensive - expression of their political beliefs," Amnesty said in a statement.

Russian Prime Ministry Dimitry Medvedev, though, dismissed criticism of the case, saying in an interview with the Times of London that there would always be "different perceptions about what is acceptable and not acceptable from a moral point of view and where moral misbehavior becomes a criminal action."

The court, he said, would decide "whether that is the case here."

If convicted, the three women, two of whom have young children, could face up to seven years in prison. At an initial hearing earlier this month, the court ordered them to be held in custody until at least next January.

pfd/mz (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16131056,00.html

Inquiry: Japan nuclear disaster 'man-made'

An independent Japanese commission that investigated last year's nuclear disaster at Fukushima released its findings on Thursday, leveling harsh criticism at the Japanese government and the plant's operator.

The panel, called the National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC), found that shortcomings in the Japanese government as well as the Toyko Electric Co (TEPCO), which ran the plant, contributed to the disaster that followed an earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011.

"The TEPCO Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident was the result of collusion between the government, the regulators and TEPCO, and the lack of governance by said parties," the report said, adding that the direct causes of the accident were foreseeable and that the plant was incapable of withstanding the forces of nature that hit it that day.

"We believe that the root causes were the organizational and regulatory systems that supported faulty rationales for decisions and actions, rather than issues relating to the competency of any specific individual."

"They effectively betrayed the nation's right to be safe from nuclear accidents. Therefore, we conclude that the accident was clearly 'man-made'," said the commission.

Earthquake may have played a role

The NAIIC said it could not rule out that initial damage from the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that preceded the tsunami's arrival had caused damage to the plant.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that a small-scale LOCA (loss-of-collant accident) occurred at the reactor No. 1 in particular."

The government and TEPCO had previously been reluctant to admit the earthquake may have contributed to the disaster, sticking to the belief that rising waters from the tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the plant and triggered reactor meltdowns.

Japan had long boasted of how its nuclear facilities had many safeguards against damage from earthquakes.

In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, all of Japan's nuclear reactors were eventually shut down pending safety checks. The first of the country's 50 reactors was started up again on Thursday at a plant in Ohi.

mz/ipj (AFP, dpa)
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16073511,00.html

Air France crash blamed on faulty sensors, pilot error

French investigators say faulty sensors and inadequate pilot training caused Air France's Rio-to-Paris flight to crash into the Atlantic in 2009. Their final report caps a bitter row between the airline and Airbus.

In its report, the French aviation safety authority, BEA, made 25 new safety recommendations on Thursday, including better cockpit design and better training for pilots.

Chief investigator Alain Bouillard said the two co-pilots - left at the controls while the captain rested - never understood that their plane was in a stall and "were in a situation of near total loss of control" in darkness during the final four minutes before the plane slammed into the ocean 1,500 kilometers off Brazil's coast.

Only a well-experienced crew with a clear understanding of the situation would have stabilized the plane in those conditions, Bouillard said.

The report also found that the co-pilots had also lacked instruments to help them identify and manage unusual situations.

The Airbus A330-200 at Houston before its crash in 2009

"This accident results from an airplane being taken out of its normal operating environment by a crew that had not understood the situation," said BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec.

Nosed up, instead of downward

One of the bereaved relatives briefed earlier on Thursday, Robert Soulas told Associated Press that the pilot nosed the A330 up during the stall, instead of downward, and also gave more throttle, because of false date from speed sensors.

Soulas, who lost his daughter and son-in-law, said pilots had reacted to "erroneous information," believing that their plane was diving despite dozens of stall warnings in the cockpit.

Flight 447, an Airbus A330, vanished from radar at high altitude during an Atlantic storm on June 1, 2009. All 228 on board were killed. It took days before debris was located. Robotic submarines found its black boxes 23 months later.

Wreckage was found by Brazil's navy in the mid-Atlantic

When the BEA issued its interim report last year, Air France insisted that its co-pilots were not to blame, claiming that the stall alarm had malfunctioned.

After the crash, the airline replaced speed sensors known as Pitots on its Airbus planes with a new model manufactured by the French company Thales.

Pilots' trade unions had also been at loggerheads with Airbus over who or what was to blame for the airline's worst loss.

Both Air France and Airbus are under investigation for manslaughter in a separate French judicial investigation. The judge will present her findings on July 10.

ipj/sej (AP, dpa, AFP, Reuters)
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16074526,00.html

Volkswagen to profit heavily from Porsche takeover

German car maker Volkswagen has said its August 1 takeover of luxury sports vehicle producer Porsche will enable the company to save costs and open up new strategic markets for the company.

Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn told reporters on Thursday that his company's takeover of Porsche on August 1 will save the company up to 700 million euros ($877 million) annually.

"The unique Porsche brand will now become an integral part of the Volkswagen Group," Winterkorn said in Hanover. "That's good for VW, good for Porsche and good for Germany as an industrial location."

Winterkorn's statements came hours after Europe's biggest automaker wrapped up the Porsche takeover two years earlier than originally planned in order to unlock hitherto untapped economies of scale.

Stock market repercussions

The premier of Volkswagen's home state of Lower Saxony, David McAllister welcomed the quicker takeover. "VW and Porsche will in future be able to cooperate without any barriers, implement joint strategies and save money by doing so," McAllister maintained.

The company announcement saw VW shares jumping by more than 4.0 percent in early trading on Thursday, making them the biggest gainers on the blue-chip DAX-30 index at the Frankfurt stock exchange.

VW had agreed to pay Porsche's current holding company 4.46 billion euros plus one VW share for the 50.1 percent it does not already own in the sports carmaker.

hg/mz   (dapd, AFP)
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16073727,00.html

Sanctions hit Iranian population hard

The European Union's extensive oil embargo against Iran has been in place since July 1. The trade and financial sanctions are aimed at Iran's nuclear program, but the population is affected more directly.

The regime in Tehran has had to admit that the sanctions are painful. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the measures "the most severe and strictest sanctions ever imposed on a country."

Ahmadinejad added that the sanctions gave the country an "opportunity to eliminate the country's current reliance on oil revenue." The regime has called on the population to be patient. Vice president Reza Rahimi appealed to the Iranian people to support the government in fighting the impact of the sanctions.

The costs for basic foods such as bread, milk and meat have increased sharply since the beginning of the year. At the same time, the Iranian currency is losing value. One US dollar is currently trading at some 20,000 Rial on the black market. Just one-and-a-half years ago, it was half that figure.

Meat prices in Iran have doubled over the past few months

"The Iranians are well aware that the high prices are tied to the sanctions," a retiree from the province Khuzestan told DW. "We have to do without expensive food and cook fish or legumes, which are cheaper, instead of meat." Another Iranian woman even sees a direct connection between international diplomacy and the increase in costs in Iran.

"Following the inconclusive nuclear talks between the 5-plus-1 group of countries and Iran, the people immediately see the impact in the price hikes, which sometimes increase further with each hour that passes," she said. The 5-plus-1 group is made up of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany.

Insufficient support

The owner of a foundry in Tehran, who had to shut down his business because of the economic crisis, refuses to blame the West and views the situation realistically.

"If our income does not match our expenditures, then of course we have to go without many things we are used to having," he said. "In order to save, a lot of Iranians don't go shopping as much as they used to. Some normal products have become luxury goods. Many restaurants, which used to be full all the time, hardly have customers anymore."

Iran's currency Rial is being eroded by inflation

The Iranian government has established a nationwide basic income scheme to help its citizens cover their food costs. But the Paris-based economist and analyst Fereydoun Khavand said this cash subsidy was not sufficient for members of the middle class.

"For these people, the exchange value is relevant," Khavand said. "The Iranian currency has lost almost half of its value since the beginning of the year. That means that the citizen's income it receives from the government has also in comparison lost half of its value since the beginning of the year."

The population is suffering under the inflation and the cash subsidy is not sufficient. So how do Iranians deal with the high prices? A teacher from Tehran told DW that she hardly buys shoes and clothing anymore.

"I don't buy things as often as I used to so that enough money is left over for my children," said the mother of two. "They have to eat healthily. I don't want to do without that."

Reducing needs

Hawkers try to sell their wares in the port city of Bandar Abbas

Khavand said the Iranians have developed a strategy for survival.

"Most people have to take on several jobs," he said. "The black market and bartering are becoming more important. As a whole, they have to reduce their quality of life and their needs in order to get by." Some Iranians are considering gaining additional income by hoarding government-subsidized goods in order to sell them at a later date on the free market for hard currency.

Another option for those who have some money left over is to invest the funds in private banks, which pay higher interest rates than government institutions. In the meantime, pressure is growing on the economically weaker majority in the population.

Author: Kaveh Bahrami / sac
Editor: Rob Mudge
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16073718,00.html

Opinion: Don't draw hasty conclusions!

How could a murderous neo-Nazi trio remain undetected for years? Germans want an answer. But before jumping to conclusions, warns DW’s Peter Stützle, it's best to wait for the results of the investigation.

Some of the facts that have emerged since two neo-Nazis died in a campervan in Zwickau late last year seem simply outrageous. For instance, the two men and their female companion from the National Socialist Underground group were able to go into hiding even though the police were searching for them. And then, for an entire decade, the trio went around robbing and killing people. Tip-offs given by the public always ran into the sand.

All of this makes it tempting for some people to allege that German authorities turned a blind eye to the threat from radical groups on the far right of the political spectrum. Some even see it as proof that Germany's security agencies and right-wing extremists are deeply intertwined.

And yet, while indignation is a matter of an instant, it takes rather longer to find out what really happened. Germany has just taken another small step in the long process of gaining a clearer understanding of the events and their background: a special commission of inquiry appointed by the German Parliament has questioned a staff member of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, who is known to have destroyed files after news broke about the neo-Nazi case. The committee also questioned his boss, the agency's outgoing president, Heinz Fromm. But it will probably take the committee until late next year to shed light on all aspects of the case.

DW's politics correspondent Peter Stützle

Many German politicians are already jumping to conclusions. Some members of the Left and the Green Parties have been calling for the abolition of the agency altogether. But the co-chair of the Greens' parliamentary group, Renate Künast, has opposed this idea publicly - and rightly so. She told a news agency that such a step would "cancel the principle of separation between the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the police, which is based on reasons of history. And it would give the latter an incredible amount of power." After its experience with Adolf Hitler's secret police, the Gestapo, Germany opted for a strict separation between the two services.

Other politicians are claiming that the disastrous failure of collaboration between state security agencies and the federal agencies is proof enough that Germany needs less federalism. In fact, centralized structures would probably (but by no means definitely) be more effective. But efficiency in security agencies is a double-edged sword. That's not just true for dictatorships - just think of the domestic secret service in the McCarthy era. Separation of powers is vital, to make sure those powers are not abused.

Of course, all the mistakes which were made in connection with the neo-Nazi murders have to have consequences. Germany has to learn from its errors and ensure that they aren't repeated. But in order to do that, you have to know first of all what errors were actually committed.

Author: Peter Stützle / nh
Editor: Michael Lawton
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16074942,00.html