Day: May 26, 2023

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EU and farmers at odds over law to stop ecosystem collapse

Farmers and conservative lawmakers in the European Union are up in arms over landmark nature legislation meant to bolster the bloc's green transition and prevent vital ecosystems and species from being wiped out due to climate change.

The Nature Restoration Law, first introduced by the European Commission in June 2022, has met political resistance over plans to restore drained peatlands. If passed, the bill would allow for 30% of all former peatlands currently exploited for agriculture to be restored and partially shifted to other use by the end of the decade, a figure rising to 70% by 2050.

But farmers' associations say they fear the widespread loss of valuable agricultural land. Supporters, meanwhile, see the new rules as crucial to meeting the EU's climate goals because peatlands help slow planetary heating.

Peatlands absorb more carbon than forests

Peatland, which is a type of wetland, forms over thousands of years from the remains of dead plants, storing more carbon than any other ecosystem.

Globally, peatlands take up some 3% of the planet's land area — and yet, they absorb nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as all the Earth's forests combined. But when damp peatlands are drained and used for other purposes, like agriculture or fertilizer, they go from being a CO2 sink to yet another potent source of greenhouse gas.

Across Europe, 7% of the continent's greenhouse gas emissions are the result of drained peatlands and wetlands. That's nearly as much CO2 as the emissions produced by the EU's entire industrial output.

More than half of Europe's peatlands lost

European peatlands, full of nutrients and especially important for biodiversity, make up a patch of land roughly the size of Germany. More than half have suffered permanent damage. In Germany, the amount of degraded peatlands is estimated to be as high as 90%.

Former peatlands in Scandinavia and the Baltic states are mainly used for forestry. But in the Netherlands, Poland and Germany, large swathes of these drained areas are now farmland. Former peatlands account for about 7% of Germany's agricultural land, and now generate 37% of all greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

Sophie Hirschelmann, an expert at the Greifswald Mire Centre, a research institute in northeastern Germany, said that when it comes to agriculture the continent needs a "paradigm shift" to meet the Paris climate goals. This means moving away from farming on drained peatlands and investing in paludiculture — agriculture on rewetted peat soil. The latter would stop carbon emissions while improving soil and water quality.

In the EU's proposed legislation, rewetting has been planned for half the former peatlands across Europe. For the other half, less effective measures would be used.

In Germany, a comparatively large amount of agricultural activity takes place on peat soils. For Hirschelmann, that means the proposed rewetting and conversion of agricultural land to paludiculture is "very comparable, in scope, to phasing out coal."

"We need policies designed to transform the use of these peatlands," she said.

Political pressure to water down green proposals

The European People's Party (EPP), the conservative group in the European Parliament, is seeking to drastically reduce the scope of these plans for wetland restoration. It is also against the conversion of agricultural land for other uses.

A recent claim that it "doesn't make sense to tear down villages built 100 years ago to create wetlands," boosted by the EPP and other groups on Twitter, caused an uproar.

In response to a question by DW as to exactly which villages this tweet was referring to, the EEP press office replied that it could not say whether any villages or infrastructure were actually in danger of being cleared. Jutta Paulus, a German Member of the European Parliament for the Green Party, called the dissemination of such misinformation "absurd" and "populist."

European farming group Copa-Cogeca, on the other hand, has warned of the economic and social fallout of the EU's green proposal. Rewetting, it says, could lead to a widespread drop in the productivity of large areas of agricultural land and even endanger food security.

Supporters of the law have pointed out that the new legislation would actually ensure Europe's long-term food security. In early May, Virginijus Sinkevicius, EU Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, tweeted that "despite the myths, the benefits for farmers are many: fertile soils, less impacts from droughts, water retention, pollination."

"[Farmers] will always be able to make a greater short-term profit from a drained peatland planted with a cash crop, than if it's managed in its rewetted form," said Green MEP Paulus. "And that's why, of course, they will need to be compensated."

Profitable agriculture, green solutions can coexist

Backers of the ambitious legislation have pointed out that profitable agriculture and the restoration of wetlands need not be at odds with each other.

The European Commission has calculated that every euro invested in restoring natural resources would result in at least eight times the economic return over the long term.

And while rewetted land wouldn't be able to support monocultures like grains or corn, it could support the growth of other crops, according to a position paper released in January by several scientific institutions and environmental organizations, including the Greifswald Mire Centre.

Rehabilitated land could also be used to grow timber, or plant grasses and reeds that could serve as insulation material for the construction sector or as raw material for organic plastic substitutes. And instead of cows, revitalized areas could one day become grazing grounds for water buffalo.

The one thing that is clear, however, is that land use must change over the long term, said Hirschelmann.

"At the moment, we still have the chicken-and-egg problem," she said. Many of these new products are ready for the market, but farmers are still waiting for long-term production commitments. Customers don't know enough about these products to give farmers those commitments.

In the coming weeks, the European Parliament plans to agree on a common position and negotiate a final version of the legislation with representatives from the 27 EU member states. The goal is to get the bill passed before the European elections next year.

That could be a challenge. On May 22, the bloc's green policy chief, Frans Timmermans, told lawmakers who have called for the plan to be scrapped that the Commission would not redraft the bill.

"We will not come up with another proposal. There simply isn't time," he said at a European Parliament committee meeting. Rejecting the proposal would put the EU's overall green agenda at risk, he added.

"As an interconnected package of solutions, if one piece falls, the other pieces fall," said Timmermans.

Source: Deutsche Welle

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Paris Modest Fashion Week: Spotlight on a booming business

Modest fashion is a way of dressing that respects specific clothing requirements for reasons of faith and also personal preference. The market for modest fashion is huge – and it's only getting bigger, with both designers and influencers keen to get in on the action. FRANCE 24 went to check out the second edition of Paris Modest Fashion Week.

Source: France24.com

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GM food: The best way for sustainable food production?

Producing food is terrible for the environment. According to the online scientific publication Our World in Data, agriculture is responsible for a quarter of the carbon emissions in the atmosphere and the vast majority of world's biodiversity losses.

And while environmental decline goes on, the world's population keeps growing. The UN predicts the world population will reach 10 billion in 2057. This raises the question: how do we increase food production by 50% while mitigating the catastrophes of biodiversity loss and the climate crisis?

"We've come to understand that using more land for agriculture is the biggest sin with respect to climate change and biodiversity. This means we need to produce food on less land so we can protect nature," said Matin Qaim, a specialist in food economics and director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn in Germany.

How do we feed 10 billion people?

Qaim explained that, broadly speaking, there are two different approaches for how to do this.

"One strand says we need dietary changes to make consumption more sustainable. That means less waste, less meat. The other strand argues we need better technologies to create more environmentally friendly methods of agriculture," he told DW.

Qaim thinks both approaches are necessary. For one, we need to change the way food is produced — in particular, reducing human consumption of proteins and nutrients from animal sources. But it's not enough. Like many experts, he thinks gene technologies are a crucial part of the strategy for a sustainable food system.

"Everyone wants to produce more food from less area and with less chemical pesticides, and with less fertilizer. If you're able to [use gene technologies to] develop plants that are more tolerant and more resistant, it's a good thing," said Qaim.

What really is GM food?

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have altered DNA to change their properties. Genetically modified crops can improve yield, build resistances to pests, frost or drought, or add nutrients. Crops can also be modified to reduce carbon emissions and boost the sustainability of food production. While widespread, GM crop production uses only about 10% of the land non-GM crop production uses.

"GM is nothing more than a breeding technique, much like crossing that we've been doing for thousands of years. But it's more sophisticated, so we can make very precise changes, very rapidly," said David Spencer, a phytopathologist and spokesperson for Replanet, an alliance of NGOs advocating for science-based solutions to climate change and the loos of biodiversity. It's campaign Reboot Foodfocuses on sustainable food production.

GMOs were first introduced in the US in 1994, with modified tomato plants that ripened more slowly to prolong their shelf life. Since then, a wide range of crops, such as soybeans, wheat and rice have been approved for agricultural use, along with GM bacteria grown to produce large amounts of protein.

Scientists in India have also developed strains of Sub-1 rice, which are much more resistant to flooding. Flooding is a major issue in rice-growing regions of northern India and Bangladesh, set to become worse as the climate crises develops, and now 6 million farmers in the region are using Sub-1 rice to safeguard their crops against inundation.

Golden rice, on the other hand, is a GM strain modified to contain vitamin A, designed to combat the shortage of dietary vitamin A in parts of Asia and Africa.

GM disease resistance

Gene editing technology has also helped save crop production from blights. In the late 20th century, the papaya ringspot virus almost wiped-out papaya crops in Hawaii, but a local scientist developed a modified papaya that was resistant to the virus. Seeds were distributed to farmers, saving papaya production a decade later.

David Spencer has also worked on protecting soybeans from fungal diseases spreading through America.

"Currently there's no real solution except for massive fungicide applications. No one wants that, so we worked on adding genes or DNA changes from distantly related plants to achieve better resistances to the fungus," Spencer told DW.

GM controversy

And yet, many people find the idea of GM foods hard to swallow — a 2020 opinion poll found 50% of people in 20 surveyed countries perceived GM foods as unsafe.

When GM crops were first developed 30 years ago, uncertainty and concerns about safety were shared by scientists, but things are different now.

James Rhodes, a biosafety analyst at Biosafety South Africa, explained that 30 years of safety data and scientific insight show GM foods are as safe as non-GM foods.

"We have 30 years of safety information showing that GM food is completely safe to eat, and 30 years of information showing it's not dangerous for the environment," said Rhodes.

According to Rhodes, it's not possible in any country to start using GMOs without going through extensive regulatory requirements.

"By the time it's taken to the field and commercial approval, it's gone through a long history of development, especially looking at the risks," he said.

Monsanto ruined GM food's reputation

Matin Qaim thinks the controversy around GMOs has been muddled up with a debate about corporate industrial agriculture. The specter of Monsanto still hangs over the industry.

"There are concerns big corporate interests from companies like Monsanto, which promote more pesticides and monocultures and wrong forms of agriculture and seeds sold to farmers and expensive prices," said Qaim.

Qaim shares the concerns but argues the problems have more to do with how technology is regulated than gene editing itself.

"It's the wrong model to have corporate industrial agriculture dominated by a few. But this has nothing to do with gene technology. Banning GMOs would be like banning the internet because of the sale of bad drugs and pornography," he said.

GM food industry is changing

GM agriculture is moving on from the Monsanto big-dog corporate model. GM products are increasingly focused on social and public enterprise and the industry is looking at more local solutions that help smallholder farmers in developing countries.

Regulation and licensing are a huge part of this. Many, including Replanet, strongly advocate for open-source seeds and GM technologies.

"You can develop GMOs without patents developed by humanitarian public organizations. We need to regulate in a smart way and ensure there's competition in the market. Corporate industrial agriculture is the wrong model," said Qaim.

Ultimately, it's about creating a licensing landscape that empowers local farmers to adapt to the demands of sustainable agriculture, but quickly enough to meet rising populations and climate change.

But as Rhodes said, new GM technologies will be more accepted as their need becomes greater, like with the case of the papaya virus.

Source: Deutsche Welle

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Germany: Are falling butter prices a sign inflation is over?

Germans spend less of their income on food than most Europeans. Even the market distortions caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine haven't been able to fundamentally change this.

Poorer Germans, who spend a sizable chunk of their available income on food, have always had to pinch and scrape at the supermarket checkout. But in recent months, even the country's better-off couldn't help but cringe at the price of a 400-gram tub of their cherished Irish butter, which jumped to €4.99 ($5.38) at the height of inflation earlier this year.

For a few weeks now, however, German food prices have been falling again and butter from Ireland has dropped back down to €4.29 — almost what it cost before the pandemic. Homegrown German butter is considerably cheaper, with discount supermarket own brands priced at €1.59 for 250 grams.

Patience and confidence required

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) has also registered a turnaround in inflation in Germany: "We have probably reached the peak of inflation. The trend reversal has begun," researcher Kerstin Bernoth told the joint corporate newsroom of Germany's Madsack Media Group recently.

But people should not expect prices to fall everywhere, she added: "All it means is that prices will not continue to rise. We have to get used to the current prices." What's needed now is patience, Bernoth said, urging consumers to "trust that prices will settle back lower in the long run."

'Prices more likely to rise'

Kai Hudetz, managing director of the Institute for Retail Research in Cologne (IFH), sounded less euphoric. He cited the reasons for the price increases, which remain relevant.

"Skyrocketing energy, logistics and raw material costs have triggered a chain reaction," he told DW. "All companies along the value chain have had and continue to have to contend with rising costs."

Hudetz noted, however, that many additional costs have already been passed on to consumers, which is why "inflation rates are currently lower and at least selective price reductions are possible."

The IFH director is far from declaring an "end to inflation", after all, prices are still rising in more product categories than they are falling. "Some manufacturers have announced price increases, which retailers will have pass on in view of their low margins. Comparatively high wage settlements are also flowing into prices, encouraging the tendency to rise."

Discount power

One reason for comparatively low food prices in Germany is fierce competition between some of the biggest retailers in Europe. Brands such as Rewe, Edeka, Aldi and Lidl fight for market share and their purchasing power enables them to keep supplier prices down.

In the era of inflation, discount retailers such as Lidl have been able to boost their market share, as rising living costs have led more customers to shun the higher-priced offerings of conventional grocery chains. But with prices rising everywhere in Germany, even tough negotiators like Lidl Germany CEO Christian Härtnagel are finding it difficult to drive a hard bargain.

"We know the development in the raw material markets. We know approximately how much personnel and energy costs go into the individual products. And we do everything we can to achieve negotiating success so that we can pass on the best possible price to customers," he told German news agency dpa recently.

Nevertheless, he said, current price wars being waged against suppliers such as Procter and Gamble, PepsiCo, Unilever and others could even lead to some product ranges being removed from supermarket shelves.

No quick turnaround

According to Härtnagel, the German discounter would be negotiating "intensively" to keep price hikes "within limits", thereby defending its customers against "unreasonable" demands.

Lidl wants to "react quickly" when food markets ease, said Härtnagel, referring to past reductions relating to the price of butter, pasta, or cheese. But he dampened hopes for a rapid and comprehensive price turnaround.

IFH Managing Director Kai Hudetz confirmed that currently prices "are only falling in isolated cases, and that too only slightly." What German consumers are seeing are "mainly promotional prices" and reductions in vegetables and fruit "due to seasonal factors."

The golden days are over

Market analysts believe a return to pre-pandemic food price levels will be a long time coming, if at all. The market power of Germany's Big Four discount retailers might ensure that purchase prices rise less significantly than in other European countries, but even these low-cost champions cannot avoid higher prices, both within their own companies and on the part of their suppliers.

Inflation is here to stay, says Kai Hudetz. He is convinced that prices won't fall back to pre-pandemic levels. "We will have to get used to higher food prices, at least in the short and medium term."

Source: Deutsche Welle

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Fact check: False claims about plans for coup in Belarus

Whenever the war in Ukraine is in the news, there are often also headlines about neighboring Belarus: For example, official reports that Russian tactical nuclear weapons are being deployed there, as well as rumors about the health of the 68-year-old Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.

Now Russian state media has gone a step further: "Information about the preparation of a coup in Belarus by the West has been confirmed in Poland" reported the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Wednesday, May 24.

The allegation was quickly picked up, substantially altered, and circulated by other Russian and Belarusian media. So it was that, shortly afterwards, a Russian newspaper headline announced: "Polish general plans to organize and support armed coup in Belarus."

One Twitter user went even further, writing in English: "The West is preparing an armed coup in Belarus with the support of the Polish army." These supposed plans would also support Lukashenko's warning, in a speech this March, that the West wants to invade Belarus and wipe it out.

Lukashenko and Peskov respond to alleged coup plans

Even Alexander Lukashenko himself and Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov went along with the media storm, and reacted to the supposed remarks from Poland. The Belarusian ruler saw them as confirmation of his earlier comments about the danger from the West, describing the Polish general as "sick," and saying he was ready for a possible uprising in Belarus. For his part, Peskov called Poland an "enemy state," accused Warsaw of hysterical Russophobia and intentional interference, and asserted that Russia would protect Belarus from "such a blatant threat."

So what is the truth about the claim that the West is preparing an uprising in Belarus? And what role does a supposed Polish general have to play in all this? The DW Fact Check team has examined the claim.

Claim:

"The Polish General Skrzypczak confirmed the information about the preparation of a coup in Belarus by the West," reported RIA Novosti, citing comments supposedly made by a Polish general called Waldemar Skrzypczak in an interview with the Polish broadcaster Polsat News. Skrzypczak allegedly said: "Poland is preparing for an armed coup in Belarus, and to participate in supporting this by military means."

DW Fact Check: False In fact, Skrzypczak, who is actually a retired general, spoke on May 23 in the Polsat News programme Gosc Wydarzen about events in the Russian city of Belgorod. He said that he saw them as a first sign, and expressed hope this would spread to other parts of Russian territory. "And hopefully also to part of the territory of Belarus," he added. So by this he meant that he personally hoped the partisans would advance further into Russia, and also into Belarus.

Skrzypczak also made a prediction about what will happen if a Ukrainian counteroffensive, which has been much talked about recently, is successful. He predicted that Belarusians in the Ukrainian army who have been fighting against the Russians would not lay down their weapons, but would go to Belarus. He added: "I hope that this will trigger an uprising in Belarus." Skrzypczak was presumably referring to the hundreds of Belarusian volunteers in the Kastus Kalinouski regiment, who are fighting on the side of Ukraine. These Belarusians fled their homeland after mass protests were quashed by the Lukashenko regime.

'Skrzypczak is expressing his personal opinion'

When asked by the interviewer what the response should be should such an "internal war" break out in Belarus, Skrzypczak replied: "We should prepare for it now! […] I think it's now time to prepare for it. It will happen."

He was therefore not saying that Poland or the West were preparing an armed coup in Belarus, nor was he calling for this to be initiated. Skrzypczak merely stressed that, in his opinion, there would be an uprising in Belarus for which Poland needed to prepare.

In the rest of the TV program, Skrzypczak did not explain what he specifically meant by preparation. For example, he only said that the partisans who fought in Belgorod were equipped and trained. At the same time, he cited reasons why Poland should be prepared "to support the troops that will conduct operations against Lukashenko." Skrzypczak referred to the state of emergency on the Polish-Belarusian border in the summer and autumn of 2021. After the West tightened sanctions against Belarus, Lukashenko announced in May 2021 that he would no longer prevent migrants from continuing their journey into the EU. This led to thousands trying to cross the border from Belarus into Poland, which is part of the EU.

And in response to a question of what effect such an uprising in Belarus might have in Poland, Skrzypczak spoke of Belarusians fleeing to Poland as a result: "If there is an uprising in Belarus, and we have to prepare for that, there will be an exodus of people from Belarus to northern Poland."

Responding to an enquiry from DW, a Polish defense ministry spokesperson emphasized that Skrzypczak's remarks were "merely the private opinion" of the retired general. The press office also pointed out that General Skrzyczak was not an advisor to the ministry of defense and did not hold any positions there.

Source: Deutsche Welle

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German government gets heated over heating law

On Friday, German Economy and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck, had to admit defeat: The Green Party politician's Building Energy Law would not, as planned, be making its way into the parliament this week for debate.

There were, according to neoliberal coalition partners the Free Democrats (FDP), too many questions left unanswered: 113 to be exact. Thirty-six of these had already been handed in, with a further 77 landing in Habeck's inbox this week. "These questions will be worked through and of course answered," the ministry promised in a statement on Thursday.

The government is determined to keep pushing: Habeck has invited parliamentarians from all three governing parties for a meeting at his ministry on Tuesday, to work through the objections, "to discuss questions and potential follow-up questions."

The law has become a running source of strife in the government coalition for months, even though its basic outline had already been agreed in April: From 2024, all new heating systems installed in German buildings would have to use 65% renewable energyinstead of, as now, oil and gas. That deal was made after the Greens agreed to support the FDP's plans to extend the highway network in exchange.

But the FDP's blockade appear to have hurt relations between the parties rather badly: Green Party parliamentary leader Britta Hasselmann said the FDP's actions had damaged the government's "ability to act and function." Other Bundestag members were less diplomatic: Marcel Emmerich, Green parliamentarian from Baden-Württemberg, called the FDP an "unreliable and destructive clique that does not feel bound to agreements. Even the word of the party leader doesn't count. Christian Lindner has become a king without a country."

New problems, old tech

The FDP, and indeed Chancellor Olaf Scholz, were keen to frame the obstructions this week as a routine political exchange of views. The questions that have been made public all relate to the details of costs and practical implementation of the new law, and how the government planned to integrate potential new CO2-saving technologies apart from the heat pumps, which already exist.

But for many observers, it's hard to escape the impression that the FDP's objections are more political than practical: With Habeck's law facing daily attacks by the conservative media, the FDP has seen a chance to win political capital by presenting itself as the party that can stop his regulations.

Pieter de Pous, of climate change think tank E3G, says the German government's legislation is no more than the current international standard: "Germany is one of many countries in Europe doing this," he told DW. "What is unique about Germany is that there is a party in government that is actively sabotaging it. There is not really any other way of describing it."

Nor does de Pous think much of the FDP's argument that the law needs to be more open to future technological innovation: "Technological neutrality has become a bit of a slogan than having any actual standard meaning," he said. "If you look at the substance of the laws that have been brought in, they've always been technology neutral."

A previous example of this is the legislation around electric cars. The EU has agreed that all new cars built from 2035 will not come with gas or diesel combustion engines. "The only technology that is able to deliver that by that date is the electric vehicle," said de Pous. "If, however, the claims of the fuel industry are true that they are able to deliver this, then they are welcome to do it. It's technology neutral."

Similarly, heat pump technology has been used for decades, whereas alternatives to reducing CO2 emissions in heating have not yet been developed.

Social justice objections

But this isn't the only objection to the new law being raised. The left-wing sections of Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) have repeatedly insisted that the legislation ensure that new heating systems are affordable for people on low incomes.

But this too is a source of contention in the government. Habeck's original plan was for the relevant subsidies and tax credits for exchanging heating systems to be weighted by income. This again met opposition from the FDP, who insisted that subsidies be shared equally among homeowners, rich or poor.

Andreas Löschel, professor for Environmental/Resource Economics and Sustainability at the Ruhr University Bochum, thinks the political row has contributed to the confusion and mistrust in the population — particularly when it comes to how subsidies and costs should be distributed.

"Of course the law does mean large burdens for people, and there is a lack of clarity in the implementation," he told DW. "It's not clear what the burdens on the one side, or the subsidies on the other, will look like. What should people expect?"

But Löschel is also relatively confident that these issues can and will be resolved among the parties. "I think they'll have to settle their differences," he said. "The replacement of heating systems will be a process that will take the next one or two decades. It will be slow, and in parallel the regulations will have to be made stricter."

Source: Deutsche Welle

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Number of the week: 2.6 million

'Clothing production is increasing, water levels are falling': the video explains the environmental impact of the textile industry in Bangladesh. In the area surrounding Dhaka, which has a high number of factories, the water level has dropped by 100 percent in the last ten years. The Facebook post with the video generated 124,000 interactions.

Source: Deutsche Welle

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Bundesliga: Marco Reus’ date with Dortmund destiny

With just under half-an-hour played in the first Revierderby of the season back in October, the raucous Westfalenstadion crowd suddenly fell silent.

After an innocuous challenge with Schalke midfielder Florian Flick, Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus collapsed to the turf, clutching his left ankle with his right hand whilst punching the grass in pain and frustration with his left.

The Dortmund faithful had seen this film before; Reus' injury record over the last decade is as long and arduous as the Black and Yellows' ten-year wait for a Bundesliga title.

Since his 2012 move from Borussia Mönchengladbach to Dortmund — his home-town club and, at the time, German champions for the second consecutive year — Reus' career has been plagued by injury after injury, while Dortmund have played a consistent second fiddle to Bayern Munich.

Reus missed Germany's triumphant 2014 World Cup campaign with an ankle ligament tear, Euro 2016 with a pubic bone injury and the 2017 Confederations Cup after rupturing his cruciate ligament. Now, after another a ligament strain in his 250th Bundesliga appearance, he was about to miss the 2022 World Cup too, and was stretchered off in tears.

Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as first feared and, seven months later, the 33-year-old could be seen darting through the Augsburg defense and into the penalty area.

His shot was parried into the path of teammate Sébastien Haller and the Ivorian striker tapped home Dortmund's second of three goals to bring the Bundesliga trophy, the Meisterschale, within touching distance.

The M-word

Reus and Dortmund have come close before.

In December 2018, Lucien Favre's side found themselves nine points clear of Bayern after 15 games, only to collapse in February, with Reus absent for two damaging draws against Hoffenheim and Nuremberg with a groin injury.

They ultimately surrendered top spot after a 5-0 thrashing in Munich, the fifth of nine straight defeats in Bavaria by an aggregate score of 37-8 and counting, before Schalke put the nail in the coffin with a 4-2 derby win. Reus was sent off and Bayern won their seventh consecutive title.

In Dortmund, criticism was mounting and questions were beginning to be asked – but there was one accusation that captain Reus would not accept, a topic which has since become known around the club as the M-word.

"You're really getting on my nerves now with your ‘mentality' s***!" Reus snapped at a reporter after Dortmund had conceded a last-minute equalizer away at Eintracht Frankfurt the following season. "Are you serious? You think that goal was down to a mentality problem?"

Dortmund went on to finish the coronavirus-interrupted season 13 points behind Bayern, but given what Reus and his teammates had been through over the previous two years, the captain's aversion to suggestions that they somehow lacked mental strength was understandable.

Vice-captain Reus stands up

On April 11, 2017, Reus' latest injury potentially saved his life.

Having been out for a month, Reus wasn't in the Dortmund squad for the Champions League quarterfinal first leg at home to Monaco, and therefore wasn't on board the team bus when its windows were shattered by deadly projectiles from three roadside explosions ahead of kick-off.

The decision by UEFA to play the game the next day — with the acquiescence of the BVB hierarchy — contributed to an irreparable break in the relationship between chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke and head coach Thomas Tuchel, with Watzke refuting Tuchel's claims that the team was effectively forced to play.

Reus, it emerged, had also played a key role, with German broadsheet Die Zeit reporting that the then vice-captain had stood up at the team meeting and informed Watzke on behalf of the team: "I think it's wrong that we're playing tonight."

While Watzke insisted that the players had been given until the afternoon of the game to raise their objections, but that none had, Reus stuck to his claim that he had spoken out in favor of an alternative date — but denied any dispute with Watzke.

Dortmund played and lost 3-2. But the sporting defeat paled into insignificance compared to the human cost. Spanish defender Marc Bartra had a broken arm, goalkeeper Roman Bürki said a week later that he was "still waking up at night" while captain Marcel Schmelzer said that "the feeling has not got a lot better."

But Reus was one of the people they could turn to. "I've tried to help the younger players since the attack, asking them if they want to talk about anything," said the then 27-year-old, fit again ahead of the second leg, where he captained the team and scored in a 3-1 defeat.

A week later, he scored one and set up another as Dortmund knocked Bayern out of the German Cup en route to lifting the trophy in Berlin. After what they'd been through, no-one could accuse Reus and his teammates of lacking the right mentality.

But the other issue remained, as Reus hobbled up to the podium with his right knee in a yellow bandage: cruciate ligament. He would be out for another 220 days.

Dortmund through and through

"Wir sind alle Dortmunder Jungs!" sing Borussia Dortmund's supporters to players they feel a particular connection with: "We are all Dortmund lads."

That applies more than most to Reus, the boyhood BVB fan who grew up in the suburbs of Körne and Wickede to the east of Dortmund city center, spent five years in the club's youth academy and has gone on to score 161 competitive goals for the club — only 16 shy of club legend Adi Preissler.

And yet, as bizarre as it will seem if Reus does hold the Bundesliga trophy aloft on Saturday, his association with Borussia Dortmund was in the balance just one month ago, as negotiations over a contract extension briefly stalled and an end-of-career move to Saudi Arabia was even mooted.

In the end, Reus reportedly accepted a €5m pay cut and stayed on for one more year — a decision which made not only emotional but also sporting sense given his return to form in recent years. Remaining comparatively injury-free, Reus starred as Dortmund won the German Cup again in 2021 and produced two impressive performances — and a key goal — as Edin Terzic's team were narrowly beaten by Manchester City in the Champions League. Last season, he upped his output to nine Bundesliga goals and 16 more assists.

On Saturday, Reus will lead his team back out at the Westfalenstadion knowing that victory over Mainz will end ten years of hurt — both for Borussia Dortmund and for himself. And the crowd will be anything but silent.

Source: Deutsche Welle

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Madeleine McCann: Holes in the ground in Portugal as search ends

A fresh search linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal has ended.

Portuguese authorities said material recovered during the three-day operation around the Arade reservoir in the Algarve would now be analysed.

The German police-led operation was looking for evidence to link the British toddler's disappearance to Christian Brueckner, a German national.

He was made a formal suspect by Portuguese prosecutors in 2022.

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford visited the search site in Portugal.

Source: BBC