Today in Germany: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Flight cancellations due to heavy snow, hospitals set to be reformed, and more news from around Germany on Wednesday.
Flight cancellations amid heavy snow
People in Germany must be prepared for heavy snowfall and black ice today - and for traffic problems, and plane and train cancellations. According to the German Weather Service (DWD), extremely icy conditions are expected, especially in the centre and south of the country.
Heavy snowfall was also forecast for the west and centre of Germany. Meteorologists warned of an extreme risk of black ice in the southwest half of the country.
Frankfurt Airport is expecting numerous flight cancellations due to the forecast snowfall. According to the operating company Fraport, only a very limited number of flights will be able to operate until Thursday.
According to a spokeswoman, 570 of 1,047 planned flights have already been cancelled in advance.
READ ALSO: 'Full-blown storm': Germany hit by heavy snow and icy conditions
Reform planned for hospital emergency departments
Patients with acute complaints are to be treated far less frequently in hospital emergency departments in future. The aim of a large-scale emergency reform by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is to ensure that patients seeking help on the phone or at the hospital are increasingly sent to a nearby practice. Insured persons are also to receive much more direct tele-medical care than before.
Overall, a "major reform" is planned with "incredible potential to save money and improve care at the same time", said Lauterbach in Berlin on Tuesday.
Today, emergency outpatient clinics are often overcrowded - doctors' organisations have been complaining for years that many people with minor ailments also go there, especially at weekends. Lauterbach explained that 25 to 30 percent of cases from emergency outpatient clinics could also be treated in doctors' surgeries.
In future, emergency departments are to be merged into new integrated emergency centres. Lauterbach announced that there would be one centre for every 400,000 inhabitants.
Man jailed in Germany for synagogue attack
A German court on Tuesday sentenced a Turkish man to two years and nine months in prison for attempting to set fire to a synagogue in the southern city of Ulm.
The 47-year-old was found guilty of serious arson and damage to property for the incident in June 2021, described by judges at the court in Ulm as an "anti-Semitism motivated attack".
The accused is said to have poured petrol on a wall of the synagogue and set fire to the fuel.
A police officer intervened before the flames spread, putting the fire out with an extinguisher.
The attack left burn marks on the building and one of its windows covered in soot.
The accused, who lived in Ulm before the attack, fled to Turkey but returned to Germany in July 2023, where he was arrested. The ruling can still
be appealed.
German woman on trial over doppelganger murder
A woman went on trial in Germany on Tuesday for allegedly murdering a lookalike she found on social media to fake her own death.
The German-Iraqi woman and a male accomplice are accused of luring the 23-year-old victim from her home, driving her to a wooded area and killing her with multiple stab wounds.
They then allegedly planted the body in the German-Iraqi woman's car to make it look as though she was the one who had been killed.
The woman's defence lawyers on Tuesday requested that the trial be suspended because they had received the documents too late, a spokeswoman for the court in the Bavarian town of Ingolstadt said.
The case first came to light in August 2022 when the body was found.
Police initially said they believed the victim was the owner of the car, but the next day identified her as someone else who looked "remarkably
similar".
With reporting from AFP.
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Flight cancellations amid heavy snow
People in Germany must be prepared for heavy snowfall and black ice today - and for traffic problems, and plane and train cancellations. According to the German Weather Service (DWD), extremely icy conditions are expected, especially in the centre and south of the country.
Heavy snowfall was also forecast for the west and centre of Germany. Meteorologists warned of an extreme risk of black ice in the southwest half of the country.
Frankfurt Airport is expecting numerous flight cancellations due to the forecast snowfall. According to the operating company Fraport, only a very limited number of flights will be able to operate until Thursday.
According to a spokeswoman, 570 of 1,047 planned flights have already been cancelled in advance.
READ ALSO: 'Full-blown storm': Germany hit by heavy snow and icy conditions
Reform planned for hospital emergency departments
Patients with acute complaints are to be treated far less frequently in hospital emergency departments in future. The aim of a large-scale emergency reform by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is to ensure that patients seeking help on the phone or at the hospital are increasingly sent to a nearby practice. Insured persons are also to receive much more direct tele-medical care than before.
Overall, a "major reform" is planned with "incredible potential to save money and improve care at the same time", said Lauterbach in Berlin on Tuesday.
Today, emergency outpatient clinics are often overcrowded - doctors' organisations have been complaining for years that many people with minor ailments also go there, especially at weekends. Lauterbach explained that 25 to 30 percent of cases from emergency outpatient clinics could also be treated in doctors' surgeries.
In future, emergency departments are to be merged into new integrated emergency centres. Lauterbach announced that there would be one centre for every 400,000 inhabitants.
Man jailed in Germany for synagogue attack
A German court on Tuesday sentenced a Turkish man to two years and nine months in prison for attempting to set fire to a synagogue in the southern city of Ulm.
The 47-year-old was found guilty of serious arson and damage to property for the incident in June 2021, described by judges at the court in Ulm as an "anti-Semitism motivated attack".
The accused is said to have poured petrol on a wall of the synagogue and set fire to the fuel.
A police officer intervened before the flames spread, putting the fire out with an extinguisher.
The attack left burn marks on the building and one of its windows covered in soot.
The accused, who lived in Ulm before the attack, fled to Turkey but returned to Germany in July 2023, where he was arrested. The ruling can still
be appealed.
German woman on trial over doppelganger murder
A woman went on trial in Germany on Tuesday for allegedly murdering a lookalike she found on social media to fake her own death.
The German-Iraqi woman and a male accomplice are accused of luring the 23-year-old victim from her home, driving her to a wooded area and killing her with multiple stab wounds.
They then allegedly planted the body in the German-Iraqi woman's car to make it look as though she was the one who had been killed.
The woman's defence lawyers on Tuesday requested that the trial be suspended because they had received the documents too late, a spokeswoman for the court in the Bavarian town of Ingolstadt said.
The case first came to light in August 2022 when the body was found.
Police initially said they believed the victim was the owner of the car, but the next day identified her as someone else who looked "remarkably
similar".
With reporting from AFP.
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