Karl-heinz hofmann kehlbach- their services are hardly noticed, but if something was missing during the service, every person attending the service would notice: in the marienkirche in kehlbach, a trio of women has been volunteering for decades. Regina welscher and her daughter marion buttner have been volunteering for the church in kehlbach for 50 years. Andrea kraus has been the altar server for two decades.

Long before the parish priest

What motivates mothers and grandmothers to get involved in the church?? The widowed regina welscher (mother of three children and grandmother of four grandchildren) has served as a sacristan in the marienkirche for over 20 years. Their daughter, marion buttner, has been a volunteer lector in the catholic church for over 30 years. The trio has one thing in common. It is busy in the sacristy and in the sanctuary with the preparations of the holy mass long before the beginning of the service and before the arrival of the pastor. Then regina welscher has to get the chasuble for the priest out of the closet and get it ready to wear. She also opens the gospel and the readings in the missal lectionary according to the liturgical cycle of the year and marks them with a bookmark.

The next task is to light several candles around the altar, to check the floral decorations and to agree on the sequence of songs with the organist. Without regina welscher’s care, the chalice, holy water bowl, and hostess bowl would remain empty.

Marion buttner (mother of two children and professionally employed as a pharmaceutical sales representative) is entrusted with the readings during the service. Her focus is on the meetings and the tasks of the parish council. The easter breakfast is planned, the corpus christi procession (who makes which flower carpet?)?), the christmas party for seniors, for thanksgiving the auction of the harvest, for certain festive occasions a champagne reception has to be prepared, as examples she mentions the first communion and the church consecration.

She would like to thank the many hard-working helpers who throughout the year take on other tasks at the cemetery, the flower decorations inside and outside the church, the lector service, and the preparation for first communion. Currently, the disinfection team has a special responsibility because of the corona pandemic. A special praise from the parish council chairwoman goes to organist leo froba, who reliably and punctually comes from the neighboring village of buchbach.

Variety in demand

The altar server andrea kraus is also the mother of two children and grandmother of two grandchildren. She is responsible for organizing the altar servers for the respective service. She also organizes the carol singers, the stations of the cross and a christmas bazaar. In addition, handicraft lessons, visits to the cinema and excursions are held. You always have to come up with something to motivate the boys and girls to serve at the altar, she says.

And what motivates the trio of women, what is their intention to get involved in the church community?? In unison they say: "our small church community should remain lively, the children and young people should also find fun and joy in the church and the faith, we are working on this together but also with other helpers, because church lives from mutual helpfulness!" And all three women are sure to continue their valuable service before, during and after church services for a long time to come.

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When the police officers of bad kissingen cleared out their desks in november 1995 and moved into the new office building in the former U.S. Barracks, there was not much nostalgia involved. It was easy to say goodbye, because the old building on the corner of erhardstrabe and landwehrstrabe was not only very cramped, but also in a structurally desolate condition. And so the police officers at that time were happy to finally receive more contemporary working conditions. Today, 25 years later, the head of the bad kissingen police department, stefan haschke, speaks of the forward-looking decision not to renovate the police building in the city, but to move it to the former barracks.

Bursting at the seams

Stefan haschke remembers the old police station building well from his time as a young police officer in the 1980s. The roof was leaking. "The roof trusses began to rot", it was also stated in a newspaper report in the saale newspaper in november 1995, shortly before the move to the new office building. The technology was from the old days "the wind whistles through the window cracks" wrote the newspaper at that time.

Looking back, stefan haschke also reports on the cramped conditions that prevailed in the building’s outer area. The service cars had to be parked one behind the other. The former station was bursting at the seams.

25 years ago, the conversion of the former u.S. Non-commissioned officers’ home into a modern police station cost 1.8 million marks. The money was well invested, even though the police had to make do with their proximity to the city center. In return, they got a faster connection to the traffic network of the inspection area and significantly more space, no less than 40 percent more.

Thanks to its coarseness, the building of the bad kissingen police department has a lot to offer that other departments do not have. Inside there is a small gym and also outside there is a sports area that the americans had already installed. Ideal conditions for on-duty sports, which are, after all, important, says stefan haschke. "Not every office has that.

Parking spaces a plus

"We are in the fortunate position of having a large space in relation to the number of employees", according to the head of inspection. The advantage is now becoming apparent in the corona pandemic. It is easier to keep a distance due to the coarser buros.

Space is also there to have the regional police recruitment advice on site. There are also training rooms.

Another advantage of the location in kasernenstrabe: parking spaces. The service vehicles have sufficient parking space. There is also plenty of parking space available for employees and visitors in the area around the barracks. This amenity female stefan haschke to appreciate.

Digitization a major topic

All this is still contemporary after 25 years. But in order to keep up with the times, something always has to be done in the old building. The police station in bad kissingen is no exception to this rule. "We have already completed the energy renovation", explains stefan haschke. Among other things, the windows were replaced and the roof was dammed. A rough topic already in the 2000s was the reconstruction of the adjoining building. So it’s no wonder that another 2.5 million euros have been invested in the property since the police station moved in 25 years ago.

Currently, digitalization is a major topic. Office by office must be brought up to date for this purpose. The squad area is also to be renovated, explains stefan haschke. Functional areas of the building also need to be adapted. The changing and sanitary area for the women has become too small. 25 years ago, when the inspection department moved to the barracks, there were far fewer women in the police force than there are today. Correspondingly little space was planned for female employees. That is why urgent improvements are now needed.

Infection control has been an issue for months because of corona. Plexiglass partition walls were installed where necessary to protect employees and visitors. Stefan haschke’s verdict is therefore positive all round. He speaks of a building with charm in which his colleagues also feel at home. "As the chief, I am pleased that we have a good working environment here.".

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No summer bullfighting in pamplona: because of the corona crisis is on tuesday (21. April 2020) the "sanfermines" festival planned for july in the northern spanish city was cancelled. Since almost all other major events in 2020 have fallen victim to the virus, "of course, our beloved fiesta can not be an exception," shared the acting mayor ana elizalde. Part of the three million euros budgeted for the spectacle will now be used in the fight against the virus.

The folk festival made famous by the bullfighting fan ernest hemingway in his novel "fiesta" (1926) was to be celebrated by the 6. To 14. July will take place. The cancellation was a "difficult and sad decision," he said. Elizalde, however, did not want to exclude that the bull hunt could possibly be made up in september.

Despite all the protests from animal welfare activists, the spectacle, in which bulls are driven over an 800-meter course into the arena, continues to enjoy great popularity – even among tourists. Many runners also take part in the race to test their courage. Again and again, participants are seriously injured. The last death occurred in 2009.

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After weeks of forced pause in the corona crisis, the european union and great britain are finally moving forward with clarifying their future trade relationship.

Both sides launched the first of three week-long rounds of negotiations via videoconference. Time is running out, as the brexit transition period ends at the end of the year. If no agreement is reached by then, there is a risk of a hard break with severe turbulence for the economy.

Great britain had left the EU at the end of january. But little has changed in the transition phase. Great britain will remain part of the EU single market and customs union, abide by EU rules and pay into the budget. It is now to be clarified how closely both sides will cooperate in the future, whether there will be customs and goods controls, whether fishermen will still be allowed to fish in each other’s waters, and many other questions.

After a first round of negotiations at the beginning of march, both sides had determined that their ideas were far apart. On 19. March, eu negotiator michel barnier announced an infection with coronavirus, and his british counterpart david frost also went into quarantine. Recently, only experts have been talking about possible contract texts. Tangible progress now needed to be made by june, barnier reiterated on twitter. He will inform about the results on friday.

The federation of german industry warned that the brexit would hit companies in addition to the corona crisis. "The effects of ending the transition phase without a follow-up agreement would be even more fatal," BDI chief executive joachim lang told the deutsche presse-agentur. "Time is more than short."The negotiators had to look carefully at all the options in the withdrawal agreement "to avoid a hard break of unknown proportions."".

The exit contract stipulates that the transition period can be extended by one or two years if both sides agree by june. But grob britain says no. The british government wants to finally leave EU rules behind and avoid contribution payments that came its way with a longer transition period.

On the new round of negotiations, a british government spokeswoman said only: "we continue to expect constructive talks with the aim of making progress before june."It should be built on the previous languages. It was possible to identify where there was agreement and where there were still differences.

EU parliament’s brexit commissioner david mcallister regretted that time had been lost because of the pandemic. Experience has also shown that digital negotiations are more difficult than face-to-face negotiations. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that both sides arrived at acceptable results, the CDU politician explained.

The green european deputy anna cavazzini warned: "the already extremely tight schedule is almost impossible to keep. It is an impossibility to reach a negotiated result by the end of the year, when other trade agreements take years to negotiate."The eu must therefore work to extend the negotiations.

The SPD’s european politician katarina barley, however, considers an extension of the deadline unlikely, as she told the SWR radio station. Prime minister boris johnson and his government are eager to complete the brexit. But the time pressure does not improve the position. Chief negotiator barnier will not do anything unreasonable.

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The plane that vfl wolfsburg never actually wanted to board took off for kiev on tuesday afternoon.

A european league game during the corona pandemic in ukraine: "I have no understanding for that," said midfielder maximilian arnold two days before the eighth-final rematch with shakhtjor donetsk, in which the vfl will play on wednesday (18.55 o’clock/DAZN) wants to make up for an almost five-month-old 1:2 deficit from the first game.

UEFA, the european football association, overrode all wolfsburg’s concerns in making this appointment. A transfer of the game to one of the locations of the european league final tournament in north rhine-westphalia was also rejected. The only concession to the corona crisis is to have both teams play in the ukrainian capital of kiev and not also travel on to the actual donezk venue in kharkov, almost 500 kilometers away.

Vfl coach oliver glasner does not jump for joy about this development, but takes it professionally. "No player has approached me with any concerns. And I don’t have a bad feeling either," said the austrian. "Because to keep distance, to disinfect, to observe hygiene – we are used to that by now. I have no doubts at all that this will go well on the stage."

The first leg was won by the ukrainian champions on 12 december. Marz in wolfsburg with 2:1. One day later, the soccer season was interrupted for a long time in large parts of europe. Five months later the corona crisis is still omnipresent for the vfl.

His swiss defender kevin mbabu tested positive for the virus after returning from vacation and is therefore also absent for the return match against donezk. In the ukrainian league, there were several corona traps after the season resumed; at the traditional club karpati lviv alone, the virus was detected in 25 players and staff at once in june. "We continue to warn against non-essential tourist travel to ukraine", it says on the website of the german foreign office. This is a so-called "partial travel warning".

Now the wolfsburg team is not flying to kiev for tourism, but to take part in the final tournament of the best eight teams in the european league next week. "This is a tournament in germany, it’s something special," said glasner. "There are probably very prestigious names like manchester united or inter milan in it. Therefore we also want to go there."

It will not be easy after the defeat in the first leg, but the chances are perhaps a little rougher this wednesday than they had been in a ruckspiel mid marz. Because donezk has twelve brazilians in its european league squad, this team was superior to the lower saxons in the first game, especially technically and in terms of play. However, at that time shakhtyor was in rhythm, the game was flowing, the ball was running. And this rhythm is perhaps after two long breaks in the game gone for the time being. "The first leg showed everything that made up donezk," said glasner. "They are a very good team in terms of football and have played on the international stage much more often than we have. But they are seizure."

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Amazon has continued to benefit from the internet shopping boom in the midst of the pandemic. In the second quarter, sales shot up by 40 percent to 88.9 billion dollars (75.1 billion euros) compared to the previous year’s figure, as the group announced in seattle after the close of the US stock exchange.

The profit of the world’s largest online retailer was 5.2 billion dollars, roughly double the previous year’s figure. The results were considerably higher than the analysts’ forecasts, and the share price initially reacted with strong price increases. The fact that amazon, with its delivery services, is one of the major beneficiaries of the corona crisis had already become apparent in the previous quarter. In addition, the cloud business with IT services and storage space in the network continues to flourish, even if amazon’s flagship AWS has recently not quite been able to meet the high expectations.

The web platform used by many companies increased sales by 29 percent to 10.8 billion dollars in the past quarter, but growth slowed noticeably compared to the previous quarter. However, this also corresponds to the long-term trend. In general, the cloud business also benefits in the pandemic, as increased home work, for example, causes demand to rise. For amazon, the division is very lucrative because of its high profit margins; in the most recent quarter, operating profit was 3.4 billion dollars.

Faced with a hiring drive and heavy investments to cope with the customer rush in the corona crisis, amazon’s costs also increased sharply. However, this had already been announced by CEO jeff bezos. Three months ago, he warned investors: "if you own amazon stock, you’d better sit down now, because we’re not thinking small". The group had initially been somewhat overwhelmed by the high volume of the pandemic, so 175.000 additional employees hired. Amazon now pays among the roughest employers in the U.S.

For the current third quarter, the company projected sales of between $87 billion and $93 billion, which would result in strong year-over-year growth of 24 to 33 percent. Amazon expects operating profit of 2.0 billion to 5.0 billion dollars. In the corresponding period of the previous year, the company had earned 3.2 billion dollars. This was also well received by the market: investors love the stock, which rose by over five percent at the end of the day. With a share price increase of around 65 percent since the beginning of the year, the bezos group is one of the biggest winners on the financial market anyway.

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One year is still voluntary. From 2021, the cultivation of intercrops will also be compulsory in the district of kitzingen. This is what the new dung ordinance provides for. A certain uncertainty in the profession is therefore undeniable, confirms thomas karl from the office for agriculture, food and forestry (AELF) in kitzingen. But the insecurity is not necessary. The advantages, he said, far outweigh the disadvantages.

Konstantin rother agrees. Since 2017, the schwarzenau state farm has been a demonstration farm for the water framework directive. Sounds unwieldy, but it means that this is a particularly water-saving area of operation. "And this also includes the cultivation of catch crops," explains the administrator in charge of crop cultivation.

Before summer crops, intercropping must be compulsory from next year, with a few exceptions. There will be random checks, announces the head of the AELF, gerd dull. In four to five years, satellite surveillance will be standard practice.

The best time for sowing is now, end of august, beginning of september. Konstantin rother has already applied his own seed mixture to his demonstration field in the schwarzenau area. Almost ten different grains are contained in it – mustard, phacelia and legumes, for example. The advantage: the plants develop different roots, thus loosening the soil. "This makes it easier for surface water to penetrate the deeper soil layers," explains anton lesch, water advisor at the AELF. A weighty argument, especially on the dry francophone plateau.

Ideally, the intercrops die with the winter frosts. "The organic matter in the fields is slowly building up the humus," explains konstantin rother. Of the 300 hectares that the state farm cultivates, one third has been planted with catch crops for years. Roder has identified more earthworms in the soil kingdom, better soil structure. "The soil can be worked better," he says, and anton lesch nods. The stocks of the main crops are long grass, the growth is protracted.

In addition to drought, climate change is also making special weather events, such as heavy rain or storms, more frequent. The important upper soil layers are then often washed away. The cultivation of catch crops is also a protection against erosion," emphasizes anton lesch and underlines this statement with a saying: "every stalk is a dam"."And there is another advantage to growing intercrops such as mustard, ragweed, olives or clover: nitrogen is bound and made available to the subsequent crops. "Legumes as intercrops also bind nitrogen from the air," adds thomas karl.

"The cultivation of intercrops is also a protection against erosion" anton lesch, water consultant

Why some farmers still have concerns? "The seed has to come up," says konstantin rother. A few heavy rains in the autumn are necessary for this. However, the warmer winters in the frankenland are by far the bigger problem. Intercrops do not always die naturally. "And then it naturally becomes a financial risk if the farmer has to machine hoe the crop in january or february," female thomas karl. Especially since no farmer likes to drive around on his fields when it is damp. Anton lesch advises colleagues to be patient. In nine out of ten cases, the cultivation of intercrops is proving successful. "The soil warms up later because of the organic mass and therefore can be worked a little later in the spring"."

Several mixtures have been on the market for a long time. Each location, each type of cultivation requires a different seed. "That’s a science in itself," says konstantin rother and laughs. He is hoping for as much rain as possible in the next few days and weeks so that the seeds in his demonstration field will grow well. Interested farmers can see the progress on site at any time. "Because of corona, we can’t offer a public event on site," gerd dull asks for understanding. And names a completely different beneficiary of the cultivation of catch crops: the local wildlife. Small game also finds cover in winter, insects find food.

Cultivation is also worthwhile for the home kitchen garden. "Intercrops achieve the same positive effects there as in agriculture," assures dull. For anton lesch, they are the only proven way to keep the soil healthy in the long term. Uncertainty is therefore not appropriate.

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