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BERLIN – Horst Koehler, Germany’s president from 2004 to 2010 and a respected global policymaker with a particular interest in Africa, died on Saturday at the age of 81 after a short illness, the federal presidential office said in a statement. Born in 1943 in German-occupied Poland, Koehler spent most of his early years living in refugee camps with his family before settling in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Wuerttemberg. A trained economist and member of the Christian Democrats, Koehler rose to the position of deputy finance minister during the tenure of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, playing a key role in bringing the West German mark to East Germany after communist rule collapsed in 1990. Koehler became managing director of the International Monetary Fund in 2000, a post he held for four years before being nominated for president in 2004. As president, he was not afraid to defy the government, dissolving parliament in 2005 to call new elections and accusing then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2007 of not preparing the country sufficiently for globalization. But he stepped down a year into his second term after he was criticized for stating in a radio interview that foreign military action by the German army also served the country’s economic interests. Still, despite being a largely unknown figure before assuming the presidency, Koehler quickly proved himself in opinion polls to be one of Germany’s most popular political figures. “It was his belief in the strength of our country and in the energy and creativity of its people that allowed him to win so many hearts,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement on Saturday. Source link

BERLIN – The sliding center for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will be delivered on time, with the icing of the track to start next month, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday. With Feb. 6 marking one year to go until the Games, the sliding venue for the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitions remains on an extremely tight deadline. It has been on one ever since the construction started after Italy opted to build a new facility instead of using an existing one in a neighboring country. Source link

Yashio, Saitama Pref. – A slope was completed Saturday for using heavy machinery in the search for a male truck driver trapped in a sinkhole that appeared Tuesday in the city of Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. Firefighters will now launch a full-scale effort to find the 74-year-old driver as soon as preparations are made. The 4-meter-wide, 30-meter-long slope was constructed while spraying lime to solidify the soil as the ground at the site is soft. At around 9:50 a.m. on Tuesday, the surface of a prefectural road collapsed at an intersection, creating the sinkhole. Damage was found in the upper part of an underground sewer pipe with a diameter of 4.7 meters, while water began to flow from another pipe, used for rainwater, according to the Saitama prefectural government. After several subsequent collapses, the maximum width and depth of the hole reached about 40 meters and about 15 meters, respectively, according to local fire officials. To reduce the amount of sewage water, the prefectural government continues to ask a total of about 1.2 million residents in 12 municipalities to refrain from using sewage systems, including drainage for baths and laundry. It has also begun to discharge sewage water into the river, as well as water for dilution to prevent water quality deterioration. Source link

Ube, Yamaguchi Pref. – A memorial event for the 183 victims of the 1942 underwater coal mine disaster in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, was held on Saturday ahead of the 83rd anniversary of the tragedy. Organized by a civic group, the event was held near the former site of the Chosei coal mine and was attended by about 450 people, including bereaved families and government officials from South Korea, as many of the victims were from the Korean Peninsula. The 77-year-old head of a group of South Korean bereaved families said that this year is an important year marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and expressed hope that the Japanese government will collect the remains of the victims and send them back to their hometowns. Kang Ho-jeung, South Korea’s consul-general in Hiroshima Prefecture, east of Yamaguchi, said that he mourned the victims with special hope this year, which also marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea. On Feb. 3, 1942, the Chosei coal mine was submerged by an abnormal flood, killing 136 people from the Korean Peninsula and 47 Japanese who were working in the mine shaft. Last year, the civic group opened the entrance of the mine, which had been closed since the accident, and conducted a diving survey to recover the remains of the victims. Another round of such surveys started at the end of January this year. “We are getting closer (to recovering the remains) step by step,” said Yoko Inoue, a 74-year-old co-head of the civic group. Source link

As Germany ramps up spending on its military, a clash is brewing around what some politicians and defense executives say is one of the nation’s biggest untapped resources: public universities. The debate centers on so-called civil clauses — widely used policies at major research institutions that restrict collaboration with the defense industry. They date back to the Cold War, and now even some academics want to get rid of them. “At a time when security is more important than ever, we consider the civil clause to be a relic of the past,” said Klaus Kappen, chief technology officer of Rheinmetall, Germany’s biggest defense contractor. “Every university that gets rid of it is keeping with the times and sending a valuable signal for the joint protection of our society’s values.” Source link

Paris – Reigning champion Real Madrid will face 2023 winner Manchester City in the plum tie of the playoff round of this season’s Champions League, following Friday’s draw. It is the fourth year running in which the sides have been drawn against each other in a knockout tie, with Real emerging victorious in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals last season. City, which scraped through after finishing 22nd in the league phase in this first season of the new format for Europe’s elite club competition, knew it faced a tough draw with Bayern Munich being its other possible opponents. Source link

Japan may allow foreign nationals to work under its specified skilled worker program at restaurants in hotels licensed under the entertainment business law in response to severe labor shortages, sources said Friday. Specifically, the government is considering allowing foreign workers under the program to take orders and serve and cook food at restaurants at ryokan Japanese-style inns and hotels, while maintaining a ban on them pouring drinks for customers, the sources said. The government plans to soon present the idea to a panel of experts. If approved, the government aims to revise its field-specific implementation guidelines for the program based on the immigration control law as early as spring. The program allows foreign workers to stay in the country for the medium to long term. Type 1 workers with certain skills and experience can work in 16 fields for a stay of up to five years, while Type 2 workers with higher skill levels, who can work in 11 fields, can stay in Japan indefinitely. The restaurant industry is included in both types, but foreign nationals under the program are in principle not allowed to work at restaurants licensed under the entertainment business law, in order to ensure a safe working environment for them. Many inns and hotels have licenses under the law so that they can entertain guests, including with geisha dances and other performances. Amid a spike in visitors to Japan after the COVID-19 pandemic, staff shortages are growing at restaurants at inns and hotels. Against that background, the All Japan Ryokan Hotel Association and other organizations have called for easing regulations on foreign workers. Source link

WASHINGTON – Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials. Since taking office 11 days ago, President Donald Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists. Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner tasked by Trump to slash the size of the 2.2 million-strong civilian government workforce, has moved swiftly to install allies at the agency known as the Office of Personnel Management. Source link

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit him next week at the White House and he looks forward to the conversation. “They’re coming in to speak to me and I’m looking forward to it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The meeting is expected to take place on Friday, Feb. 7. the Asahi Shimbun reported on Thursday that the leaders of the two long-time allies will discuss strengthening economic and security cooperation. Source link

Paris – The Louvre in Paris opened its first-ever fashion exhibition on Friday, seeking to draw new, younger audiences amid national concern about conditions inside the landmark art destination. The show, called “Louvre Couture,” welcomed its first visitors a day after a shock memo from the museum’s director about water leaks, building problems and overcrowding made headlines internationally. The exhibition features around a hundred items of clothing by 45 top designers, placed alongside objects from the Louvre’s vast collection of decorative artworks, from chests of drawers to armor. Source link