Dave Braneck

2 days ago | dw.com | Dave Braneck

04/22/2025April 22, 2025Housing costs all over the world are skyrocketing, and climate change-driven disasters are only making it worse. Could city planning and risk reduction help? https://p.dw.com/p/4t0ZrMonths after Los Angeles' deadly wildfires, price gouging in the wake of the disaster has led to officials in California cracking down on landlords. But skyrocketing housing prices in cities recovering from crippling climate catastrophe has become a pattern.

2 weeks ago | jacobin.com | Dave Braneck

Germany’s political and media elite surely haven’t shied away from criticizing Donald Trump’s authoritarianism. There have been countless scathing op-eds, alongside Green Party minister Cem Özdemir denouncing “threats and challenges to the very values that make the West and democracy what they are.”But for all the handwringing about the erosion of democratic norms across the ocean, there’s little outcry over Germany’s own rapid authoritarian turn against those who stand up for Palestinians.

3 weeks ago | courthousenews.com | Dave Braneck

BERLIN (CN) — Germany's oldest political party is in crisis. The incumbent Social Democrats' 16.4% showing in February federal elections was its worst ever, 20 points lower than its postwar average. Reinventing the party and reclaiming a frustrated voter base is bound to be a difficult project. Doing so while becoming junior partners in a coalition with cantankerous, conservative Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats will be an even bigger challenge.

4 weeks ago | courthousenews.com | Dave Braneck

BERLIN (CN) — From the collapse of one of Dresden's most important bridges in 2024 to a yawning crack recently forcing one of Berlin's vital ring highways to shut for years of repair, much of Germany's infrastructure is literally crumbling. Though he has yet to take office, likely chancellor Friedrich Merz has made repairing the country's ailing infrastructure a priority, creating a €500 billion ($546 billion) special fund for infrastructure with the outgoing parliament.

1 month ago | courthousenews.com | Dave Braneck

BERLIN (CN) — Friedrich Merz hasn't even been sworn in as chancellor and he's already waging potentially legacy-defining policy battles. The recently elected Christian Democrat and his likely future coalition partner the Social Democrats have been racing to pass up to €1 trillion ($1.09 trillion) in new investment, but the plan requires amending Germany's constitutional spending limit. The Bundestag votes on the package Tuesday, while the upper house Bundesrat votes Friday.