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Franka Lu is a Chinese journalist and entrepreneur who works in China and Germany and reports on life and culture in China for ZEIT under a pseudonym.
Franka Lu is a Chinese journalist and entrepreneur. She works in China and Germany. In this ZEIT series she reports critically about life, culture and everyday life in China. In order to protect her professional and private environment, she writes under a pseudonym.
Recently, a young Chinese friend of mine who lives in Berlin had a panic attack. She and her younger sister in China were repeatedly pressured by their father to take out a loan of 25,000 euros from the bank for him. He explained that his business was not going well and that he needed the money to keep his creditors at bay.
The historic “Piet Henningsen” building was badly damaged in a major fire on the ship bridge in Flensburg. The upper floor was completely burned out and no one was injured. The police are investigating the cause.
The authorities in Bangkok have declared a state of emergency for all 50 districts of the Thai capital due to severe flooding. Almost 300 millimeters of rain has fallen since Thursday, streets and houses are under water, especially in the east of the city along the canals. There are warnings of further rainfall, flash floods and mudslides.
After the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese head of state Xi Jinping, Taiwan's government called for American arms deliveries to continue. Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Chih-chung stressed Taiwan's importance to the world and expects the US to implement a planned defense weapons package. The US is Taiwan's main ally despite the lack of official diplomatic relations, while China considers the island part of its territory and threatens military action.
A survey by the DAAD Center for German Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows that public opinion in Germany, France, Great Britain and Poland has shifted further to the disadvantage of Israel and in favor of the Palestinians since 2024. In Germany, the proportion of pro-Palestine respondents rose from 14 to 19 percent, while support for Israeli security as a German reason of state fell from 45 to 37 percent. At the same time, Israelis continue to see Germany as their most important European friend.
A UN list names at least 214 companies involved in building settlements in Israeli-occupied territories, including eight US companies such as Expedia and Airbnb as well as the German cement company Heidelberg Materials, which denies allegations of resource use; Israel criticizes the list as a smear campaign.
In the phone call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, the US President asked the Ukrainian President to refrain from attacks on Russian refineries in order to prevent diesel prices from rising further. Zelenskyj described the conversation as important and hinted at a possible meeting.