WHO envoy says Germany needs ‘Klopp effect’ in COVID fight

Germany is Europe's economic powerhouse, with fantastic medical facilities and highly qualified professionals. But the fourth wave of the pandemic is threatening to bring the health care sector to its knees.

Russia's Supreme Court has ordered the closure of the human rights group Memorial International that documents Soviet-era repression. DW correspondent Juri Rescheto spoke to a woman whose family experienced persecution by the Stalin regime.

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Wednesday.⁣

Pfizer's anti-COVID treatment has already received emergency approval in the US. Now, Germany is hoping the drug will reduce the burden on intensive care units.

Children have been out of school for over a year, raising worries about students falling behind. In India this month, some states have started allowing schools to reopen. But in Delhi, many are choosing to stay away, over fears of a third wave.

The total number of omicron cases detected in Germany rose sharply with the latest figures, which were the first to provide testing results and data from a working day after the Christmas break.

German police are running "at full capacity all the time" and struggling to cope with stress as they deal with violent and aggressive protesters, the police union has said.

Although Germany isn't logging record cases like its neighbors, Health Minister Lauterbach said current figures don't show the whole picture. Data reporting has slowed over the holidays — but the omicron variant has not.

A resolution is imminent in the dispute over more than 1,000 bronzes stolen from the former Kingdom of Benin. Germany wants to return all the objects to Nigeria.

Wolfgang Preiser, the virologist who first discovered omicron, has spoken to DW about the rapid rise in cases. He predicts that most people will catch the new variant.

The year 2021 didn’t get off to a great start, to say the least. The Covid-19 pandemic had already brought the world as we knew it to a standstill, and this year – once again – fashion weeks from London to New York were struck from calendars in the same of social distancing. But nevertheless, fashion has always known how to adapt. A new-found focus on inclusive casting and sustainable processes has been the result. FRANCE 24 takes a look back at some of the year's fashion highlights.

Germany shuts down half of its six remaining nuclear power plants. The nuclear power plant in Gundremmingen, southern Germany — one of six still in operation in the country — is set to be shuttered Friday. ... The other two plants are Grohnde, about 25 miles south of Hannover, and Grundremmingen, 50 miles west of Munich.