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In spain and italy, winegrowers are expecting a drop of between five and twelve percent compared to last year, the german wine institute announced in mainz on wednesday. French vineyards were hit by frost and hail in many places. According to earlier statements by french agriculture minister stephane le foll, the leanest grape harvest in more than two decades is expected.

According to the wine institute, austria, hungary, bulgaria and luxembourg are each currently forecasting a drop of more than one-fifth compared to 2011. The vines had suffered from extremes such as heat, drought and storms. Only portuguese wine producers are expecting a slight increase in volume of five percent. In germany, winegrowers expect a harvest slightly below the long-term average. The wine institute expects that the 2012 EU wine harvest will not reach the five-year average of 173 million hectoliters or the previous year’s harvest of 164 million hectoliters.

"The shortcomings that have now emerged show that there is an urgent need for reform in our constitutional protection agency," friedrich told the newspaper "bild am sonntag". The minister did not announce concrete steps for a reorganization.

He is "stunned" by the destruction of files following the exposure of the zwickau terror cell. "Where there has been deliberate misconduct, tough consequences will be drawn," friedrich said. However, the interrogations in the investigative committee of the bundestag have so far not revealed any evidence that the files were destroyed last november in order to conceal something.

The CSU politician did not rule out further resignations or dismissals in the wake of the scandals in the security services. The president of the federal office for the protection of the constitution, heinz fromm, resigns as a consequence of the scandal. Thuringia sends head of state domestic intelligence agency thomas sippel into early retirement.

When you drive past it in the car, you really have to look very closely. Only then you have the chance to discover the not so small stele right next to bundesstrabe 4. But the shadowy existence of the work of art halay up between the siemen traffic circle and the haarbrucken exit was soon to come to an end. Martin stingl (SPD), the third mayor of the city of neustadt, who is responsible for cultural affairs, assured the tageblatt: "we are looking for a reasonable and adequate place for the stele."

The work of art, which shows a puppet on a broken bridge, caught the eye of two political pioneers in the coburg region at almost the same time: jurgen W. Heike (CSU) and peter jacobi (FDP). Within a few weeks, heike even wrote to the city asking them to remove the stele from the muddy spot next to the truck stop on the B4.

The former secretary of state heike openly admits: "we know that we know nothing." When and how the artwork was erected, not even neustadt's local historian isolde kalter can determine with one hundred percent certainty.

With its multibillion-dollar takeover bid, the british group secured a comfortable majority of at least 75 percent in the leading cable network operator kabel deutschland. Now all that’s missing is the green light from the competition watchdogs. Consumer users take a relaxed view of the fusion.

"That was certainly the biggest hurdle we had to take," a vodafone germany spokesman said in dusseldorf on friday, referring to the shareholder vote. However, the antitrust clearance is still pending. The state is the european commission in brussel. Until next friday (20.09.) it must decide whether to approve the cable takeover – if necessary also subject to conditions – or whether to carry out an in-depth assessment. The federal cartel office had signaled in the past that it had no massive concerns in the case.

If the european competition watchdogs in brussel approve the planned takeover of kabel deutschland by vodafone in the first go-round without any conditions, the merger could go ahead within a few weeks, as is being estimated in industry circles.

Gerda hartner, chairwoman of the bund naturschutz volkach, was pleased with the response to her invitation to get to know the BN properties around volkach by bicycle. From the meeting point at the bus station in volkach, the tour continued in the direction of eichfeld to the orchard meadows of the bund naturschutz volkach, according to a press release of the bund naturschutz. Honorary chairman hans schneider explained to local nature enthusiasts the characteristics of each plot of land, how to care for it to preserve biodiversity, and the history of its acquisition. "Whether the soil is dry or wet, loamy or sandy – every meadow orchard provides a unique habitat for numerous animal and plant species," stressed the conservationist, on whose initiative many BN properties were acquired in the 1970s and 1980s. The prerequisite for the development of an insect world that has become rare in the meantime is to know and take into account the needs of the species. With beautiful butterflies, many people are excited, he said. But with the caterpillars, which depend on different food plants, enthusiasm often wanes. The butterfly and the caterpillar are the same animal. Gerda hartner took the opportunity to inform guests about the possibilities of contributing to the preservation of biodiversity in the orchard meadows.