CULTURE  BULGARIA

The secret of Bulgarian yogurt

Rayna Breuer

DW

Nov 8, 2023

Bacteria to optimize digestion and extend life? Here's the story of an ancient superfood and what makes it so special: Bulgarian yogurt.

Bulgarian cuisine is unthinkable without yogurt: Tarator is a cold yogurt soup with cucumbers, dill and a handful of walnuts

Oksana Shufrych/Zoonar/picture alliance

Narrow, winding roads pass through thick forests cloaked in heavy fog that is both cool and seemingly impenetrable. The drive to northwestern Bulgaria is not for those prone to carsickness. But though the area may be one of the economically poorest in the European Union, it's rich in stories, like that of goatherd Dimitar Vitanov.

"I'm actually a bookkeeper by trade, but I decided to help my father on our little goat farm here in the village. It's less stressful and hectic in the countryside than in the city, although the work is physically more demanding. But I have considerably fewer worries, I have peace and quiet, I feel better — I can't really describe it," says Vitanov, who is in his mid-40s. He says he and his father have 130 goats.

On the trail of an ancient superfood: Bulgarian yogurt 02:32

When Vitanov isn't making cheese and other goat milk products in his small dairy, he spends the day with the goats on surrounding meadows. "Sometimes I take a little radio along," he says. "But sometimes I forget to take it, and then I spend the hours alone with nature, the animals, and that's it."

On some days, a neighbor from the village takes the goats out to graze while Dimitar Vitanov and his father make cheese — a white feta-like variety called Sirene and a yellow cheese called Kaschkaval. "We have to carry out the process in a very precise manner," says Vitanov, explaining each step of cheesemaking in careful and minute detail.

Every Wednesday, he drives to the capital Sofia, where a farmers' market is held in the city center. It's an effort that's paying off. "We can't keep up with demand for our products," says Vitanov. "People even come out to the farm to buy our products!"

He says their goat-milk yogurt is especially popular. The reason for that is simple, says Vitanov: "It helps you live longer and cures illness," he claims. But is that really true?

Finding peace in the mountains of northern Bulgaria

Image: Rayna Breuer/DW

Bulgaria's bacterial cultures

So what makes Bulgarian yogurt so special? It lies in the tiny microorganisms, bacterial cultures, which occur naturally in milk and which are native, and specific, to Bulgaria.

In 1905, Bulgarian scientist Stamen Grigorov analyzed the composition of yogurt from his home country. He brought a traditional Bulgarian clay pot called rukatka, filled with homemade yogurt, from his village to his lab at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, to analyze it as part of his microbiology research. He soon isolated and identified the lactic acid bacterium responsible for allowing milk to ferment and become yogurt.

Dr Stamen Grigorov, the discoverer of microorganisms in yogurt

Grigorov's research into the exact composition of yogurt was continued by the Nobel Prize-winning biologist Elie Metchnikoff, who was born in Kharkiv Oblast in what is now Ukraine. In his book, "The Prolongation of Life," published in 1908, Metchnikoff established a connection: Bulgarian farmers who consumed large amounts of this yogurt also tended to live longer.

That sealed the reputation of Bulgarian yogurt, which in the following decades enjoyed great popularity and rivaled other well-known yogurts, such as the one from Greece.

There's a fundamental difference between Greek and Bulgarian yogurt. Greek yogurt is put through a sieve, resulting in its creamy, mild consistency. The Bulgarian variety is tart and somewhat firm because it is not strained. Thus the whey, which contains high-quality protein and minerals, is preserved.

Ilya Metschnikov made Bulgarian yogurt famous

Image: EW/dap/picture-alliance

The yogurt is called "sour milk" in Bulgarian and is used in a variety of dishes — like tarator, a cold soup of yogurt and cucumbers or snezhanka, a kind of tzatziki. It can also be consumed as a refreshing drink diluted with water and salt, or just as is, spooned straight from the pot.

Gripped perhaps by a bit too much national pride, some Bulgarians even assert that yogurt was invented in Bulgaria, a claim that can't yet be proven. Was it the Thracians in the Balkans or nomadic Turkic peoples in Central Asia or the Persians who first made yogurt? Where or who first fermented milk in this manner is not known. There's no patent on it either.

The Bulgarians are apparently content with the fact that the microorganisms in yogurt that are said to improve digestion and strengthen the immune systems have been named after their country: Lactobacillus bulgaricus.

You can find out more about Bulgarian yogurt and the history of humanity's millennia-long relationship with milk in the DW podcast "Don't Drink the Milk," hosted by Rachel Stewart. It can be found on all popular podcast platforms and on the YouTube channel DW Podcasts.

This article was originally written in German.

SOCCER

Shakhtar Donetsk hoping to 'bring joy to people' in Ukraine

Thomas Klein
11/07/2023November 7, 2023

Shakhtar Donetsk, a football club displaced from Ukraine's Donbas region since 2014, beat Barcelona in a shocking Champions League upset. For the players, it's not just about football but advocating for their country.

Danylo Sikan's goal was all Shakhtar would need to hand Barcelona a stunning defeat in Hamburg

Image: Matthias Schrader/AP Photo/picture alliance

Ukraine: Matviienko aims to play in Donetsk 03:28

The wind whistles through the catacombs of the Volksparkstadion, the home ground of German second-division club Hamburger SV. Shakhtar Donetsk train under the floodlights – and the keen eye of their recently appointed head coach, Marino Pusic.

This is where the team from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region are playing their home Champions League matches this season, the latest being a sensational 1-0 victory over European giants Barcelona on November 7.

Playing home games on the road is nothing new for Shakhtar. Ever since Donetsk was occupied by pro-Russian separatists in 2014, Ukraine's most famous club has not been able to play in its home stadium, Donbass Arena.

Marino Pusic was an assistant coach at Feyenoord before taking the top job at Shakhtar

Image: Henning Rohlfs/Lobeca/IMAGO

"It's a lot of traveling and took us many hours to reach our destination," Pusic said, referring to the distance between Hamburg and the Ukrainian capital, where they faced Dynamo Kyiv in a league match last Friday.

"You can't call it a home game," he stressed.
'It was like a holiday'

Their real home, Donetsk, is even farther away from Hamburg – about 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) away. Despite the distance, the players feel that their hometown still identifies with their team.

"Although we haven't played in Donetsk since 2014, we are still a team from Donetsk, in other words, from Donbas. And we represent this region in Ukraine," midfielder Taras Stepanenko told DW.

"The spirit of this city, this region, is unbreakable. It lives in this team, even though the city and the region have been occupied by Russian troops since 2014."

At 34, Stepanenko is one of Shaktar's veterans, having joined the club in 2010.

"At the beginning, it was difficult to get used to playing without fans, without support. We were used to around 25,000 people attending Shakhtar matches in Donetsk. It was a like holiday for them," Stepanenko said.

Donbass Arena hasn't seen football since Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Since Russia's full-scale invasion last year, Shakhtar haven't been able to play European matches anywhere else in Ukraine either.

Shakhtar haven't been able to play at the Donbass Arena since 2014

Valentin Sprinchak/Tass/dpa/picture alliance

Russia's military aggression has turned Shaktar into a nomadic team. Until 2017, they played their home matches in Lviv, Ukraine, around 1,200 kilometers west of Donetsk, before moving to Kharkiv, around 300 kilometers away, before then relocating to Kyiv, where most of the players already lived and trained.

At first, they played their Europa League and Champions League matches in the Polish capital, Warsaw, before moving to Hamburg this year, their fifth "home ground."
Thoughts with people back home

While football remains important to Shakhtar's players, their thoughts are with people back home, where the war is ever-present.

"Sometimes you feel sad, sometimes desperate, sometimes you don't understand why it's happening in your own country. You just have to get used to it and be strong," Stepanenko said.

Many friends and relatives still live in the occupied regions of Ukraine. And the players are in constant contact with the people there.

"Sometimes you forget about football and which opponent is particularly strong with which foot. Because you don't care about that," Stepanenko explained. "It's more important what happens to the people in Ukraine."

Dealing with the current situation is also a challenge for their new coach, Marino Pusic, who has been particularly impressed by the cohesion of his team.

"It's not easy, but I see and feel a fighting spirit throughout the club, everyone is working hard and they're like a family. They support each other."
Raising awareness of Ukraine's plight

Despite the circumstances, the team is determined to perform at their best on the pitch.

Taras Stepanenko has made 80 appearances for Ukraine

Image: Vitalii Kliuiev/IMAGO

"It's our duty to play football and try to achieve good results. People in Europe and the world should remember that there is Ukraine, which needs help," Stepanenko stressed. "And we have to get this message across through sport."

His teammate, 21-year-old Georgiy Sudakov, told DW that thoughts of the war could actually be motivating because "when the whole country is watching you, many people are rooting for you, and through our game we can bring joy to people in this difficult time and convey positive feelings to them."

By beating Barcelona, Shakhtar not only improved their chances of making the knockout stages of the Champions League but took full advantage of the opportunity to raise awareness of Ukraine's plight.

This article was originally published in German.

Edited by: Jonathan Harding

100 years on, Germany looks back at Hitler's coup attempt


A decade before he successfully rose to power, Adolf Hitler failed to overthrow Germany's Weimar Republic. What became known as the "Beer Hall Putsch" put Hitler on the political map.

IN JAIL HE BECAME A WORLD INFAMOUS AUTHOR

Adolf Hitler (4th from the right) and Erich Ludendorff (5th from the right) led the "Beer Hall Putsch"

Image: United Archives/picture alliance

This week marks the 100th anniversary of a major turning point in the rise of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The events that took place in Munich on November 8 and 9, 1923, while unsuccessful in the immediate sense, went on to shape German history — and, with it, the course of the 20th century.

At the time, Hitler was just one of several extremist leaders in Germany, or the Weimar Republic as it was known then. Few could foresee that, within a decade, he and the Nazi party he led would take over the country. They would lead Europe into another world war that included Germany's extermination of millions of Jews and members of other groups in the Holocaust.

A fateful day in Munich

Hitler had at least some of those ambitions in mind in 1923. On the evening of November 8, he led around 2,000 supporters to the Bürgerbräukeller, a beer hall in central Munich. Members of the Bavarian government and other prominent public figures had gathered there to mark the anniversary of the 1918 revolution, which ended the German empire under the Kaiser and led to the Weimar Republic.

The Bürgerbräukeller became site of the coup attempt as members of the Bavarian government were meeting there

Image: TM/AP Images/picture alliance

Hitler hoped to pressure the leaders there into fulfilling their own coup desires. Bavaria was already at odds with national authorities. A state of emergency was in place and the state leader, Gustav Ritter von Kahr, acted with absolute power. If Hitler succeeded, he could have mustered the support to march on Berlin and replace the fledgling parliamentary democracy with a far-right dictatorship.

His would-be co-conspirators, however, started to back out and "nothing went as planned," Wolfgang Niess, a historian and author of a new book about the events, told public broadcaster, DLF.

Following the overnight occupation of the beer hall, Hitler led the putschists to the Feldherrnhalle, an 18th-century memorial honoring the Bavarian army, but they "didn't have concrete goals," Niess said.

As they moved through central Munich, they met Bavarian police and military forces. An exchange of gunfire led to the deaths of at least 14 Nazis and four police officers. The coup was over. Hitler was lightly injured and arrested a few days later. Though sentenced to five years in prison for high treason, he was released on probation barely more than a year after the coup attempt.

Hitler's co-conspirator, General Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff, was acquitted. The former general had a history of challenging Weimar's fragile rule of law and spreading the antisemitic lie that Jews and Marxists were responsible for Germany's defeat in World War I.

World War II: How Germany deals with its past  07:51

Perfect conditions for the putsch

Hitler did not take over Germany that day, but the failure succeeded in emboldening him. During his short time in prison, he began writing "Mein Kampf," an autobiography that laid out his fascist vision. The book became a rallying cry for his burgeoning party, which shifted tactics from trying to seize power illegally to taking it legitimately from within. In the years following the putsch effort, the Nazis gained support at the ballot box across the country.

The coup attempt came at a time of crushing instability in Germany. The central Weimar government was weak. Officials were assassinated and state authority was threatened by violent forces on the left and right. Hyperinflation ravaged the economy and unemployment was widespread, especially among war veterans who knew how to fight.

Germany's capitulation to Allied forces in World War I was a fresh memory and a national humiliation. The Treaty of Versailles, which compelled Germany to pay war reparations, was salt in that wound and added pressure on the country's prospects.

It was a powder keg that Hitler and his Nazis were able to light. Though hardly the only domestic threat that Weimar faced, their coup attempt and subsequent rise to power was no accident of history.

"Without the 'helping hands' of numerous monarchists, reactionary veterans, influential nationalist voices and political terrorists in the Bavarian metropolis, Hitler's rise through 1923 would have been impossible," Daniel Siemens, a historian, wrote in the FAZ, a German newspaper, reviewing Niess' book.

November 9: A fateful day for Germany

The date of November 9 occupies a unique and significant place in modern German history

.


1918


On November 9 1918, Philipp Scheidemann, Social Democrat politician and later chancellor of the Weimar Republic, proclaimed an end to the monarchy of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the beginning of a new democracy in a historic speech from a balcony of the Reichstag in Berlin.

Image: picture-alliance/United Archiv

1923

The young democracy in Germany had a difficult beginning. Both left- and right-wingers wanted to eliminate it immediately. And on November 9, 1923, the Nazis marched on Munich's Feldherrnhalle under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, who would take power 10 years later and bring about one of the world's greatest catastrophes ever: World War II

.Image: picture-alliance/IMAGNO/Austrian Archives


1938

The disenfranchisement of Jews in Germany began long before they were systematically murdered from 1942 onwards. Before World War II started, on November 9, 1938, synagogues across the German Reich were torched. Jewish-owned businesses were plundered. Around 100 Jews were murdered that day in the pogrom cynically called Kristallnacht, "Night of Broken Glass," and was a precursor to the Holocaust.

United Archives International/imago images

1989

The fall of the Berlin Wall brought an end to the second dictatorship on German soil, the end of the German Democratic Republic. People stormed the inner-city border crossings in divided Berlin. The jubilation was, in the truest sense of the word, borderless. For the fourth time, November 9 went down in history. This time in absolute joy.

Norbert Michalke/imageBROKER/picture alliance

 44 images

Though the Nazi party was banned immediately following the coup attempt, a like-minded party popped up in its place. It won 30% of the vote in Bavarian state elections the following year, and it wouldn't be long before the Nazis themselves were back with Hitler at the helm.
Lessons for today

The putsch, and the broader Nazi experience it is part of, strongly impacts the country, its laws and its institutions until today. Yet dangers remain. The right-wing populist party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), is enjoying record support in polls. It placed a distant second in last month's state elections in Hesse, in western Germany, and may do even better when eastern states hold elections next year.

In Bavaria, which Hitler called home and used as a staging ground for his eventual rise to national power, more than 30% of voters last month went for the AfD or the Free Voters — another populist, right-wing party. While the former remains a political pariah that other parties say they refuse to work with, the latter supports the ruling conservative Christian Social Union in the Bavarian state government.

For some historians and political observers, that kind of cooperation carries echoes of the past, and with them a dispiriting sense of deja vu.

"If you know what led Germany to ruin a hundred years ago, then you can strengthen Europe and prevent new disasters," Jutta Hoffritz, a journalist who has also written about Hitler's coup attempt, told DLF. "That's why it pays to take a closer look at 1923."

Edited by: Rina Goldenberg

Germany designates AfD regional party 'extremist'

The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is the second state association of the party to be categorized as an extremist group, following that of the neighboring Thuringia.

The agency said it assessed numerous statements as anti-Muslim, antisemitic, and racist

Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) on Tuesday announced that it had classified the regional association of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party in the state of Saxony-Anhalt as a proven extremist group.

The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is the second state association of the party to be categorized in this way.

What we know so far

The agency said it had assessed numerous statements from functionaries and elected officials of the far-right party, as anti-Muslim, antisemitic, and racist before making the assessment.

The AfD's Saxony-Anhalt branch has been under formal suspicion of far-right extremism since 2021.

BfV head Jochen Hollmann said his organization had gathered extensive information that showed the association's values were incompatible with human dignity, democracy, and the rule of law.

"The regional association not only continues to hold anti-constitutional positions that led to its classification as a suspected case, but has also become radicalized to such an extent since the coronavirus pandemic that systematic observation using intelligence service means is justified."

The designation gives the BfV broader authority when it comes to surveilling the party at the state level. Hollmann said it also allows the agency to systematically collect related personal data.

The classification takes all restrictions off the BfV when it comes to collecting intelligence on extremists within the AfD. It also lowers the threshold for the use of undercover agents and phone surveillance.

How much do neo-Nazi views influence Germany's AfD? 11:41

The AfD dream of a 'homogenous ethnocultural nation'

The Saxony-Anhalt AfD aspires to create a "homogenous ethnocultural national population" and exclude others on the basis of race or religion, according to the BfV.

The party also aspires to, "do away with parliamentary democracy in its current form."

BfV boss Hollmann explained that the party actively applies itself to making politics and civic institutions appear ridiculous in a ploy to erode confidence in them. After achieving that aim, investigators say the party wants to, "take away the rights of entire social groups and subject them to despotism."

The AfD wants "to destroy our trust in democracy and its institutions," said state SPD parliamentarian Rüdiger Erben, adding, "The state must be capable of identifying the threat and protecting us from it — that is exactly what this designation enables."

"There is no doubt that the Saxony-Anhalt AfD is a right-wing extremist organization — it's good that it has now been officially stated," said state Green Sebastian Siegel.

Not an isolated case

In March 2021, the regional party in the neighboring state of Thuringia was designated a far-right extremist group, along with its notorious firebrand leader Björn Höcke.

At the national level, the BfV classifies the AfD as being suspected of far-right extremism although the youth wing, Young Alternative for Germany, is classified as extremist.

Created in 2013, the AfD began as an anti-euro party in the midst of the euro crisis, before becoming a staunchly anti-immigrant outfit in the midst of the 2015 refugee crisis.

It also latched on to frustrations brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and has regularly stoked fear and spread conspiracy theories. Its leaders routinely make headlines using Nazi language, trafficking in antisemitic tropes, denying the Holocaust and trivializing Germany's Nazi past.

Both Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt are in eastern Germany, where the AfD has garnered its most steadfast support. Recently, however, the party won a substantial portion of the vote in western German state elections.

In nationwide polling the AfD is currently the second-strongest party in Germany — outpacing all three of the parties in the country's governing coalition.

Racism and discrimination in Germany exposed in new survey

Black, Asian and Muslim people reveal the extent of discrimination they experience in Germany on a daily basis in a new national discrimination monitor.

Marcel Fürstenau
November 7, 2023

Racism and discrimination are daily occurrences for people of color in Germany

Christoph Soeder/dpa/picture alliance


Disparaging looks or insults are daily occurrences in Germany for people with dark skin, Muslim women who wear a headscarf and people who speak German badly or not at all. Discrimination in Germany has many ugly faces and is widespread throughout society.

These findings are neither entirely new nor completely surprising but have rarely been determined as precisely as in the report of the National Discrimination and Racism Monitor (NaRiDa) by the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM), which was presented in Berlin on November 7. Around 21,000 people were surveyed from June to November 2022.

According to the findings, more than half of Black people in Germany (54%) have experienced racism at least once. Almost one in five women from this population group said they were threatened or harassed several times a year. Among the respondents, 14% of Muslim women and 13% of Asian women reported such problems.

How big a problem is racism in Germany?  02:42

"Repeated experiences of discrimination and racism have consequences for health and are demonstrably linked to a loss of trust in state institutions — this can weaken and threaten democracy," said DeZIM Director Naika Foroutan, who wants to establish a permanent monitoring system in Germany.

Forty-one percent of Black men and 39% of Muslim men reported having encountered racist discrimination when dealing with the police. These groups also experienced racism and discrimination in public offices.

They also experience racism when it comes to healthcare. People of color have more difficulty getting a doctor's appointment and are less likely to feel their problems are taken seriously. Black, Muslim and Asian respondents stated that they had delayed or avoided medical treatment for fear of being treated badly or changed doctors frequently.

"Our data shows that experiences of discrimination and racism are also very clearly linked to anxiety disorders or depressive symptoms," said DeZIM co-director Frank Kalter.

His recommendation to politicians and society: Develop preventative measures to better support those affected and civil society organizations "that work daily for a democratic, free and peaceful society."

Naika Foroutan, Familiy Minister Lisa Paus und Frank Kalter presented the first National Discrimination and Racism Monitor

 Frederic Kern/Geisler-Fotopress/picture alliance

Skin color or surname should never be the deciding factor in the quality of medical care, who gets a doctor's appointment or can start therapy, warned Reem Alabali-Radovan, the Federal Government Commissioner for Integration. Doctors, nursing staff and hospitals need "tailor-made anti-racism training and concepts," she said.

Similar demands have long been made with regard to staff working in public offices.
Sexism and age discrimination

White people also reported having experienced discrimination. According to the study, women complained about sexist attitudes, and men because of age discrimination.

This study is to be followed by others. DW has learned that, in light of the Israel-Hamas war, the next report will focus more on antisemitism. The German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM), which is financially supported by the Ministry of Family Affairs, has expressly been asked to do so.

"In order to be able to take even more targeted and effective measures against discrimination and racism, we need more scientific findings and regular data," wrote Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) in response to a DW inquiry.

This article was originally written in German.

Iran: No headscarf, no job for protesting actresses

Iranian actresses who defy Iran's so-called morality police and go out in public without a headscarf have been banned from working. Many remain defiant, even as locals pay an increasingly high price for protest.

Iran's Culture Ministry has banned Iranian actresses who have publicly defied the hijab mandate

Image: Dimitris Lampropoulos/AA/picture alliance

Shabnam von Hein

DW
November 6, 2023

In late October, Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance published a list of actresses barred from their profession for appearing in public without a headscarf. Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili said it was not possible to work with those who did not observe the mandatory hijab law.

For now, the list contains some 20 names, including world-famous artists like Taraneh Alidoosti. Now 39, she starred in the internationally acclaimed drama "The Salesman" in 2016. The film won director Asghar Farhadi an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2017.

Actress arrested for social media post

Alidoosti used to wear a headscarf in public even when she was abroad. But that changed in November 2022 as Iran was rocked by protests following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old was arrested by the so-called morality police for violating the country's Islamic dress code and later died in police custody.

On Instagram, Alidoosti posted a picture of herself without a headscarf. Her account has over 8 million followers. The image shows her holding a slip of paper that reads "women, life, freedom” to show support for the Iranian women's rights movement and anti-government protests.

Shortly after posting the image, Alidoosti was arrested and only released two weeks later after friends and family posted bail. On social media, she responded to her employment ban: "I will not comply with your headscarf that is still dripping with the blood of my sisters."

Failure to cover one's head in public can be deadly for women in Iran as the recent death of 17-year-old Armita Geravand unfortunately proves. In early October, the teenager was on her way to school without a headscarf. After an alleged assault by the so-called morality police on the Tehran metro, the teenager fell unconscious and was hospitalized with severe head trauma. There she remained in a coma until she was declared brain dead. She was buried October 29.
Young Iranian women outraged

An Iranian student from the capital Tehran told DW, "we risk our lives every day because we are outside without our headscarves. It is sad to see that many actresses still wear one." She pointed to the recent gathering of film industry insiders at the funeral of murdered Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, screenwriter Vahideh Mohammadifar, on October 18.

Mona Mehrjui, daughter of two prominent filmmakers, speaking at her parents' burial on October 18

Image: Rouzbeh Fouladi/Zumapress/picture alliance

Mid-October, both had been found dead in their home with knife wounds. The movie industry and wider public was shocked to learn of the couple's murder. Authorities spoke of a robbery at the hands of a former gardener. But many remained skeptical.

Like many other filmmakers in Iran, Mehrjui was often at loggerheads with state authorities. In March 2022, when his last film "La Minor" was censored, the 83-year-old posted an angry message to the Iran culture ministry on social media, stating: "Kill me, do whatever you want with me … destroy me, but I want my rights."


At the burial, many noteworthy actresses wore headscarves. The only woman to defy the obligatory hijab mandate was 16-year-old Mona Mehrjui, the murdered couple's daughter.

'The price of resistance is high'

"I understand that the younger generation is angry with us. My generation is conservative and cautious," Shole Pakravan told DW. The stage actress and author has been living in Germany since 2017. Three years prior, her daughter Reyhaneh Jabbari was executed in Iran for killing the man who tried to rape her. Pakravan fought long and hard to save her daughter's life but was unsuccessful. Now she raises her voice for others.

"I know that right now the price of resistance in Iran is very high," she said. "If you don't want to vanish out of sight, you must reluctantly wear a headscarf."

She added that she did not believe that resistance in Iran had ended though. "It has changed and will reappear in new forms. Those in power can never undo what happened last year in Iran. They are now facing a young and courageous generation of women who know what they want: Freedom and the end of oppression."

This article was originally written in German.

Germany: Court denies patients right to suicide drug

One of Germany's top courts has denied two seriously ill men direct access to a lethal dose of a drug. Both plaintiffs had wanted to end their lives at home, without the help of a doctor.

November 7, 2023

Germany's Federal Administrative Court on Tuesday ruled that individuals who wish to end their lives have no right to acquire a deadly dose of narcotics to administer themselves.

German law on assisted dying is a gray area, and the two men had asked to acquire lethal doses of sodium-pentobarbital to be used at their homes.
What the men wanted

The two plaintiffs — one seriously ill with the after-effects of cancer and the other with multiple sclerosis — had applied to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) for permission to buy sodium pentobarbital.

The drug is a powerful sedative and it can be lethal in high doses, being the preferred drug for judicial executions in many US states.

Both men had said they wanted to be able to end their lives at home, with their families, and without the help of a doctor.

However, the BfArM rejected the application, and both men unsuccessfully challenged the ruling in lower courts.

What the court ruled

In the legal decision on Tuesday, the court in Leipzig agreed with the earlier rulings.

It agreed that denying the men access to the drug interfered with their right to a self-determined death, which includes the freedom to take one's own life as well as the right to seek and use voluntarily offered help to do so.

While that right is enshrined in German law, the judges said the other public interests such as safety outweighed it. The court added that there was a "realistic possibility" of obtaining lethal doses of drugs via a doctor willing to help of their own volition and not on a business basis.

Assisted suicide debate in Germany 02:09

"For people who have made a self-determined decision to end their life, there are other reasonable options for realizing their wish to die," the court said in a statement.

"The dangers that can arise from the purchase of sodium pentobarbital and the storage of the drug by those wishing to die are great. In view of these dangers and the existing alternatives to using the desired means, there is no objection to the fact that the law does not allow its acquisition for the purpose of suicide."
Plaintiffs plan for appeal

The two men's lawyer, Robert Rossruch, said they would appeal the ruling to Germany's Federal Constitutional Court.

"This is a black day for the two plaintiffs and a black day for all people in Germany who had hoped to be able to commit suicide with sodium pentobarbital to end their suffering," he said.

Active assistance — physically taking an individual's life for them — is banned in Germany, but the law is less clear around supplying passive help, such as providing deadly medication for them to take themselves.

The issue raises particular sensitivities in the country, where more than 200,000 people with disabilities were murdered by the Nazis under a program of euthanasia.

rc/jcg (dpa, AP)

Spain's amnesty plan for Catalan separatists sparks backlash
Thousands of far-right demonstrators protested against acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez offer of amnesty for those involved in Catalonia's 2017 independence bid

Around 7,000 people gathered peacefully before a small group of protesters tried to break the police line set next to the socialist headquarters

Image: Paul White/AP/dpa/picture alliance

Protest in Madrid against negotiations between Spain’s acting government and Catalan separatist parties over a possible amnesty for thousands involved in Catalonia’s independence movement turned violent on Tuesday night.

Police fired tear gas and used batons against some of the protesters they said threw stones and other objects at them.

Television footage showed some demonstrators giving the Nazi salute and waving flags of the Franco dictatorship.

According to the government around 7,000 people attended Tuesday's protest near the national headquarters of Spain's Socialist Party in and the Parliament,

Highly contentious amnesty agreement

Spain's caretaker government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists (PSOE), aims to secure another term by gaining the support of Catalonia's separatist parties through an amnesty law and more concessions.

The largest opposition party, the conservative People's Party (PP) and the right-wing populist Vox oppose the concessions.

The PSOE have already reached an agreement with the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).

Approval from the Junts party, led by exiled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, is still needed to approve the draft amnesty law.

Catalan independence - Society divided by a dream  28:36

Sanchez under pressure

A spokeswoman of the far-right Vox party, said the party did not back the violence seen at the gatherings but that it supports the anti-government protest.

Meanwhile, Sanchez denounced the protests, saying they were being led by "reactionaries."

"(I extend) all my warmth and support for the Socialist Party members who are suffering harassment by reactionaries at their local headquarters," he wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

"To attack the headquarters of Spain's Socialist Party is to attack democracy."

The bill is crucial for Sanchez.

If he does not form a new government by November 27, a new election would have to be held on January 14.

The legislation would help him in getting the support of pro-independence party lawmakers, essential for forming a government.

dvv/lo (AFP, AP, dpa)

Private schools rethink China future after flunking growth test


FILE PHOTO: Students stand at a school during a flag-lowering ceremony on the first day of the new academic year in Shanghai, China, September 1, 2021.

 REUTERS/Aly Song© Thomson Reuters

By Farah Master and Kane Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Some shareholders of Dulwich College are in talks for a sale of the British school's China-heavy Asia operations, two sources said, in the latest indication of how turmoil in China's $570 billion education industry is forcing overhauls at institutions.

Dozens of international and private schools in China are closing or merging, industry executives said, weighed down by tighter regulation, a slowing economy and dwindling foreign student numbers.

A rapid expansion prior to the COVID-19 pandemic drove a surge of privately run bilingual schools in China offering a western exam curriculum. But the business stumbled as Beijing imposed new rules in 2021 and cracked down on the private tutoring business, aimed at easing pressure on children and lowering family costs.

Three years of the pandemic and slowing economic growth have exacerbated the challenges, said Julian Fisher, managing director of Venture Education, a Beijing-based market intelligence consultancy specialising in China's education sector.

"The cynic would say the sector is in terminal decline, the average Chinese investor simply that it's going through growing pains," said Fisher.

Dulwich College operates nine schools in China including bilingual schools catering to Chinese nationals that have been hit hardest by regulatory changes. Besides China, Dulwich also has schools in Singapore and South Korea.

Strategic plans for growth of its high schools in China were "scaled back in light of changing government regulations", Dulwich said in its 2022 annual report.

In a response to Reuters about a potential sale of its Asia business, Education in Motion (EiM), which owns and operates the Dulwich brand globally, said it was "in the process of bringing in a new strategic financial partner", adding the process would also allow partners to exit their investments in the group.

It did not give details on the deal or the partners.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

China's schools, which are categorised into public, private and those for foreign passport holders, are crucial to leader Xi Jinping's strategy to use education to improve the country's self-sufficiency in science and technology and advance the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts."

In 2020 there were around 180,000 private education institutions nationwide, accounting for more than a third of all education institutions in China, with 55.6 million enrolled students, according to the British Council.

However, international schools, which can only enrol students with foreign passports, have mostly seen student numbers decline due to expatriates from countries including the U.S., Britain and Canada leaving after the pandemic and amid rising geopolitical tensions.

Beijing's crackdown amplified the pressure.

It mandated that Chinese compulsory education be taught in private schools, aligning the curriculum more closely to public schools and making parents question the need to pay private school fees when their children can attend free government schools.

Annual international school tuition fees in Shanghai, for instance, can exceed 300,000 yuan ($41,195).

Authorities have also moved to control the number of private schools.

And just last month, China's legislature passed a law to strengthen patriotic education in schools that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

"For private primary and high schools, there is tighter regulation. It's also very difficult for some schools to get their licenses due to tighter control," said Frank Feng, deputy principal at Lucton, an international high school in Shanghai.

Dozens of schools, from kindergartens to high schools, have shut or stalled in the past two years.

In China's southern Greater Bay Area, shuttered schools include Dulwich's Early Years Centre in Shenzhen, Eton-House international kindergarten and Victoria Kid House in Guangzhou. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

At Western International School of Shanghai, 20 staff were laid off in August due to an unexpected number of children not returning for the new school year, a direct source said. It did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Many private education companies, including bilingual and international school operators, have been considering selling their China-based assets, said Jimmy Chin, director at Chinese buyout fund Everpine Capital, which has invested in the education business.

“There are likely more sellers than buyers of education assets in China right now."

GEOPOLITICS

Universities are also increasingly relaxing requirements on English language, thereby reducing the need for foreign talent to push Xi's agenda of developing China into a science and technology powerhouse.

A notice from Xi'an Jiaotong University in September said that starting from that month it would not use English proficiency test results for graduation requirements. The University of Science and Technology of China in Anhui announced it was cancelling six undergraduate majors, including English, from October.

Geopolitical tensions have also added to concerns of an English language vacuum, making China more inward-looking.

Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China, told an Oct. 11 town hall that the number of American students in China had dropped to as low as 350 from 15,000 in 2015, although that had started to tick up again this year.

A growing positive trend, however, has been the rise of students from Belt and Road countries, said Mathias Boyer, chief financial officer at the International School of Beijing, which is upgrading its facilities to include amenities like a multi-faith prayer room.

"We have to completely rethink what type of expatriates we are going to be having here in the next five to ten years. And it's going to be less of the traditional Western kind."

($1 = 7.2824 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Additional reporting by Casey Hall in Shanghai, Roxanne Liu in Beijing and Dorothy Kam in Hong Kong; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Americans divided over Israel response to Hamas attacks, AP-NORC poll shows

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans have become more likely to describe Israel as an ally that shares U.S. interests and values since the war with Hamas began, but they’re divided over whether Israel has gone too far in its response to last month’s attack, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The survey, which was conducted from Nov. 2 to 6, also reveals skepticism among Democrats toward Israel, which could present a challenge for President Joe Biden as he tries to balance support for the country’s defense and his party’s shifting priorities.

The result is a rather muddled picture that presents few easy options for the White House as it keeps one eye on public opinion with an election year on the horizon.

“It’s just so complicated," said Carolyn Reyes, a 36-year-old Democrat in New York. "And I will not even pretend to understand the complicated nature of the relationship between the United States and Israel.”

During an August poll, only 32% of Americans described Israel as an ally that shares U.S. interests and values. But that figure increased to 44% in the latest survey, which was conducted after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas that killed 1,400 Israelis

However, only 36% said it's extremely or very important to provide aid to Israel's military to fight Hamas. And 40% of Americans said Israel's military response in the Gaza Strip has gone too far. The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, which is run by Hamas, said 10,000 Palestinians have died from weeks of Israeli bombardment and a recent ground invasion.

Reyes recalled hearing about the death toll on the news and thinking "it seems so high, I thought that can’t be right.”

Four thousand children have died in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there, and Reyes said "that’s the line that’s too far.”

It's a sentiment more common among Democrats, 58% of whom view Israel's counterattack as excessive.

Overall, 38% of Americans said Israel's response has been about right, and just 18% said it has not gone far enough.

Complicating the situation is Americans’ interest in balancing several foreign policy goals simultaneously. About 6 in 10 believe it’s extremely important or very important for the U.S. to help recover hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, while roughly half said the same thing about preventing harm to Palestinian civilians or providing humanitarian relief in the territory.

Nearly two thirds of Americans (63%) disapprove of how Biden is handling the conflict between Israel and Hamas, while only one-third approve. That's in line with his overall job approval: 60% of US adults disapprove of the way Biden is handling his job as president, while 38% approve.

Robert Byrd, a 50-year-old Democrat in Virginia, said he’s glad to see Biden supporting Israel.

Back in World War II, when the Holocaust occurred, “the United States waited too long to help out the Jewish community," he said. “I think we’ve learned from our mistakes of our past. It’s wonderful that we have a president that’s willing to step up and do the right thing.”

Byrd said he’ll remain satisfied with Biden’s handling of the situation “as long as we don’t have boots on the ground over there,” and he’s comfortable with Israel’s response to Hamas’ attack.

“Israel is trying to keep its independence,” he said. “They’re doing what they should probably do to keep their independence.”

Such sentiments are less common among younger voters like Sean O’Hara, an 18-year-old in California. He said he’s registered to vote but not with a political party.

“Funding a war like this isn’t really in line with my beliefs,” he said. “I think staying out of it is the better option.”

O’Hara was concerned about supporting Israel because “they’re colonizing all of Palestine and they have been for many years.”

Although there was initially sympathy among people he knows for Israel after the Hamas attacks, O’Hara said, that shifted once “people were like, there’s a history here.”

Israel gained control of the Palestinian territories of West Bank and Gaza during the Six Days War in 1967.

The West Bank remains under military occupation. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but instituted a blockade when Hamas took control, and there has been sporadic fighting for years.

Americans pin blame for the current conflict on Hamas, which the U.S. government considers to be a terrorist organization. About two-thirds of Americans (66%) said Hamas has a lot of responsibility for the war, while 35% said the same about Israel.

Aaron Philipson, a 64-year-old Republican in Florida, said he's disappointed by Biden's approach to the war.

“He's not taking a proper stand,” he said. ”He seems to be trying to dictate policy to Netanyahu, and Netanyahu doesn’t seem to be having any of it," he said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I’ve never seen the anti-Israeli sentiment so high," Philipson said. "It’s awful what’s going on right now.”

About half of Americans (52%) say they are extremely or very concerned that the recent war between Israel and Hamas will increase prejudice against Jewish people in the United States. About 4 in 10 share the same concern about prejudice against Muslim people (43%).

Majorities of Democrats are similarly concerned about prejudice against Jews (57%) and Muslims (58%). A slight majority of Republicans are worried about prejudice against Jews (54%) with fewer being concerned about Muslims (28%).

Philipson said he didn't want to vote for Donald Trump again, but would consider backing the former president in a potential contest with Biden next year.

Under Biden's leadership, he said, “it’s all falling apart right now,” and "this war is sort of like the icing on the cake.”

___

The poll of 1,239 adults was conducted Nov. 2-6, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Chris Megerian And Linley Sanders, The Associated Press