Arizona State University Choirs announces a varied season that includes traditional classical choral music as well as the performance of contemporary This season, the Choral program is excited to welcome Robert Bode as visiting professor and interim director of choral activities I am struck by the energy of the vocal program here,” Bode said “I can feel it in every rehearsal and as I walk by the practice rooms every day. It’s obvious to me that the students in our program love to sing and they love singing here We are eager to share that love of singing with the campus and community.” In addition to his extensive choral teaching career Bode is known nationally as a conducting pedagogue He is one of a few conductors to have performed for three national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Bode has led master classes in conducting for ACDA conferences in Missouri He is also known throughout the U.S. for his dedication to the commissioning and performance of new choral music and currently serves on the composition committee of ACDA he has written texts for over 100 choral works ASU Choirs also welcomes Kenyan choral director Henry Wanjala for a one-week residency in early October. Wanjala will work with the ASU Choir ensembles and will present a community sing on Oct The ASU Choirs includes six ensembles: Canticum Bassum 24 with the Canticum Bassum and the Sol Singers presents a variety of music a Scottish folk tune and traditional barbershop songs the Concert Choir celebrates music that inspires entertains and creates community with performances by the Chandler Children’s Chorus and the Dayspring Celebration Chorale Gospel Choir and student club ASU Mill Ave Jazz will present an evening of choral music ranging from jazz 17.  As part of that concert, the Barrett Symphonic Choir will present “Give Me a Song!” Tempe Union Elementary School District music teacher. On Nov conducted by Native Hawaiian conducting graduate student Megann Sala will present Hawaiian choral music by Dorothy Kahananui Gillett native Hawaiian educator and choral arranger that features a culture of music and a style of choral arranging that has rarely been shared outside of her home of Hawai'i “For the Barrett Symphonic Choir’s first concert in October, our diverse ensemble will explore the concept of freedom and what it means to different people,” said Joshua Palkki associate director of choral activities and assistant professor “We will close our October concert set with ‘Freedom Train’ by Rollo Dilworth which quotes several civil rights-era songs.” The final concert of the fall season features all ASU Choirs in a performance of festive choral music on Dec 5. A highlight of the program will be John Rutter’s “Gloria” for choir Audience members are asked to bring a canned good or nonperishable food item for donation to the ASU Pitchfork Pantry the Sol Singers and the Barrett Symphonic Choir in an engaging and uplifting program of choral music graduate conductor Jordan Rakita leads the Concert Choir in Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Romancero Gitano” for chorus and guitar The March 25 concert showcases the Barrett Symphonic Choir in an evening of pop the Concert Choir performs Adolphus Hailstork's cantata “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes,” and will be joined by the Concert Choir of Betty Fairfax High School for the program The season finale on April 29 features all ASU Choirs with a special presentation of Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem” performed by the Concert Choir the Choral Union and an instrumental ensemble Tickets are available for ticketed concerts at the Herberger Institute Box Office 7ASU Concert Choir“Let the Music Fill Your Soul”7:30 p.m. Barrett Symphonic Choir and Gospel Choir “Give Me a Song!”7:30 p.m. 5All ASU Choirs"A Season of Giving"7:30 p.m. March 25ASU Barrett Symphonic ChoirPops Concert7:30 p.m. He will graduate from Arizona State University in May with a Doctor of Musical Arts in wind band conducting and a graduate… In a digital world where stories are easily shared but not always protected Alycia de Mesa (Apache of Chihuahua) asked: How can Indigenous traditional knowledge be preserved without losing community… dancers with their faces wrapped in red fabric or a ceiling full of balloons Arizona State University student Valkyrie Yao brings stunning visuals to her… Events are from the websites pollstar.com; eventim.de; and euroteam.info Germany: Willingen (Festivalgelände) June 28 Germany: Cologne (Theater am Tanzbrunnen) July 18 Germany: Konstanz (Bodenseestadion) May 30-31 Germany: Kronach (Festung Rosenberg) May 31 Germany: Oberhausen (Turbinenhalle) March 22 Germany: Gelsenkirchen (Amphitheater) Sept Germany: Falkenfels (Festivalgelände) Sept Germany: Nuremberg (Zeppelinfeld) June 6-8 Germany: Oberhausen (Turbinenhalle) May 10 Germany: Nideggen (Schoenen Aussicht) July 11-12 U.K.: Munlochy (Wildwoodz Adventure Park) June 14 Germany: Stuttgart Theatre Centre holds auditions for “Puffs” 6:30 p.m Germany: Performing Arts Centre hosts Cosmic Bowling at 5 p.m Germany: KMC Onstage presents a dance audition workshop at 1 p.m.; “Ruthless – the Musical” 7 p.m Germany: Stuttgart Theatre Centre presents “The Gentlemen’s Guide to Murder” 7:30 p.m Photo Album from Vienna Torah Binder ("Wimpel") Zack Family Passport Jewish Orphanage in Dinslaken Lore Stern's Doll Choir Song Book Josephina Bähr's Letter Roberg Family Mezuzah Drawing by Ludwig Meidner Torah Finials Torah Scroll from Leipzig give him all the love that you saved for me… Forever your mother" Leopold and Josephina (née Roberg) Bähr lived in Bassum received the Iron Cross for his military service in World War I Ilse understood that her future did not lie in Germany she joined the Hachsharah (pioneer training scheme) in Westerbeck Ilse returned to Bassum and bade her parents farewell before immigrating to Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine) A document from 1937 cites Leopold Bähr as head of the Bassum Jewish community the windows and doors of the few Jewish houses remaining were smashed SA men dragged two Jewish women through the streets and sang antisemitic songs Leopold Bähr and two other Jewish men were arrested that night and sent from the Hanover prison to Buchenwald Josephina couldn't bear the humiliation and hatred looting and destruction that raged in the city were more than she could stand and she ended her life on 11 November 1938 she wrote to her son and daughter in Eretz Israel: Josephina's letter to her children is displayed in this exhibition Leopold was released from Buchenwald and returned to Bassum  three Jews were listed as living in Bassum In 1999 Ilse's daughter, Ruth Leshem submitted Pages of Testimony to Yad Vashem in memory of her grandmother Josephina and her grandfather Leopold she donated her grandmother's last letter to the Yad Vashem Archives for posterity As somebody used to regularly drive 940 kilometers to France a trip of 554 km to Germany’s para newcomer and renowned Hanoverian warmblood breeder Andrea Lahmeyer seemed child’s play on paper But then German motorways are infamous for being overcrowded and a lot of roadworks are ongoing as soon as I turn north of Heidelberg I was still in good spirits when I jumped out of bed at 5:30 am had a quick breakfast and dropped my dog at my parents  Them being retired for some time now could not understand their daughter’s enthusiasm to be up in the early hours for a yard visit and the emergency Redbull I drove off in thick fog which quickly lifted for gorgeous sunshine My spirits were soon dampened by a road blockage and the first 50 km off the motorway As my GPS has a dynamic mode I safely found backroads only to face the first bigger jam soon after A few more would follow and I felt like I had covered at least 800 km when shortly past 3 pm I finally arrived at Bassum where the Lahmeyer family runs their farm for generations Of course I did not find the well hidden property at first attempt and thanks to my GPS I landed on the far away neighbour’s driveway A quick phone call and Andrea guided me through a dark forest nearby on a muddy hidden path which showed me again that an SUV would’ve been the better purchase than my ordinary car Suddenly a glade opened up: Huge fields to the left and the farmyard on the right Andrea and her partner Anja prepare Follow Your Heart for lungingAndrea and her partner Anja Schneider welcomed me with their dogs Lilly (a Romanian rescue) and benevolent Labrador Lotte saying hello as well Secretly I sighed in relief that I had not brought my Dachshund along who barks at every dog bigger than her…so practically all this time via a more proper looking path towards the edge of Bassum Andrea and Anja had loaded two horses: Andrea’s international Grade V horse Quinsam L (by Quarterhall x Stedinger) and the youngster Follow Your Heart a recently broken in 5-year-old by Fürstenball daughter out of Quinsam’s dam Now Quinsam L is neither a spectacular looking - Andrea later admitted that without his funny blaze he would perhaps look ordinary -  nor moving horse but he is trained after principles which are the only ones to produce a naturally moving supple horse Just a horse with quality gaits that is balanced active and moving back to front from the first to the last minute Quinsam L is a homebred Hanoverian by Quarterhall - StedingerQuinsam is of course home-bred There is not one mean bone in this 173 cm big framed horse but you immediately can see he owns a certain sense of humour; attributes which fit his special looks with a striking blaze and a left eye in which some white shimmers after the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi who actually could’ve designed Quinsam’s face Quinsam is a cheerful horse and he’s a therapist He got Andrea to start riding seriously again after a motorbike accident she had not caused and which almost cost her the life in summer 2017 a lacerated lung and very serious leg injuries which forced surgeons to amputate her lower right leg Andrea now masters all the work on the farm with about 30 horses from foal to pensioners under more difficult circumstances in addition to having to adapt her riding to the new physical conditions Except for her leg prothesis and a magnetic stirrup which helps maintain the leg safely in position Andrea does not use any special tack If you didn't know her right lower leg was missing However in the Grade V group of riders she is probably one of the most disabled Only this spring in Mannheim Andrea and Quinsam L made her international debut and did the FEI officially classifiy her into this grade Outstanding balance and work ethics in the 5-year-old Follow Your HeartWhile Quinsam L is definitely her heart-horse Andrea of course rides several horses a day as her farm operates entirely on horse breeding and training with a few boarders She took over from her father who was already a very renowned Hanoverian breeder in which the quality of horses is not an inch short of that of the able bodied dressage riders is it of course an advantage to be a sport horse breeder Andrea cannot afford keeping all the talents and it is sometimes a bit heart wrenching for her to decide who might stay and who has to be sold Even though she also sells a foal occasionally usually the home-breds stay until they are broken in and have some competition experience to show for "My father was always proud to have a horse in the Verden stallion or auction lot it is a goal many Hanoverian breeders naturally have But I do not fancy it at any cost because it asks a lot of the young horses once they are start the preparations It also works very well if I sell my horses privately," Andrea stated Both emerged on the international para scene in 2021One of these home-breds is Follow Your Heart a 5-year-old mare in foal to Global Player "My father always had one mare ever since he retired and this year I gave him Follow Your Heart and he decided to cover her with Global Player," said Andrea that the black mare is by Fürstenball out of Quinsam’s dam she has only been broken in this spring and on this early September afternoon it is just the second time she saw the outdoor arena Being a bit excited for the first ten minutes when being prepared and lunged she then focused hard on Andrea and tried to please her all the time It is amazing that a young inexperienced horse can already move that balanced at such a stage of training: Talk about breeding progress which not only shows in outstanding gaits Andrea hopes Follow Your Heart might become a back-up to Quinsam in para competitions but of course also in the able bodied dressage sport where she continues to successfully take part in too Quinsam welcomes Follow Your Heart back after her work is finishedOnce the photos were taken of both horses they get loaded for the 5-minutes-drive home again the cute Fürstenball mare is totally inexperienced The more surprising it was that she behaved perfectly when getting untacked: Her eyes took in her surroundings pretty well In warmblood breeding much focus had been put on gaits and looks the past decades it is doubtful whether a healthy conformation and inner attributes have always been taken enough into equal consideration At Lahmeyers the character and temperament have always had importance and you will also not find a hypermobile horse coming from their breeding programme which aims for healthy and sane horses that move well and can also be handled by amateurs Back at "Lahhof" it is time for the yearlings and two year olds to come in from the endless fields They have huge loose boxes where the farrier is awaiting them to trim their hooves we wandered to the broodmares and their foals who are in the field next to the youngsters On the way there we passed a smaller field with two horses grazing peacefully "The one with the sweet itch blanket is Shiraz (by Sandro Hit / Rohdiamant) My trainer Ulf Wiltfang heard the owners were looking for a good place and I immediately decided he would come home Quinsam and the Appaloosa of a boarder spend their days out together in this field," Andrea explained Yearlings in the field at LahhofWe came closer to the field of broodmares and foals and I counted three foals but sometimes we also have up to 6," said Andrea The broodmares and foals were accompanied by the "uncle" with the striking name of Havasupai (by Havard x Rohdiamant) Multiple health problems forced the early retirement of this 21-year old to the field where he is an invaluable part of Lahmeyer’s fold: Havasupai takes care of the foals once they are separated from their mummies and is the perfect uncle for them And this day of goodbye is nearing now in late summer It does not take long when the herd discovered us and moved towards us They are out 24 hours a day over the summer with lush green grass and have an additional covered hayrack Still Andrea and Anja Schneider are looking for contact every single day to get the foals acquainted to humans One was rather timid and needed a lot of affection from Andrea to get over his natural shyness (which certainly worked as the little colt walked bravely towards my lens until he could sniff it) while the other was a born star with healthy self-confidence and a lot of natural presence The latter "will probably never leave our farm," said Andrea who is already very sure about the attractive long legged filly (by Senecio x Quarterback) who dons a blaze very similar to Quinsam’s One doesn’t need to be a foal expert to quickly realize somebody very special is growing up here It was farrier time now and you could see that they have seen him before: Not only was the behaviour reasonable There is clearly no stone left unturned to give these horses the best start in their riding horse life and whatever is done is done with great calmness and consideration While Andrea's Lahhof has existed for centuries it is only over the last half century that Hanoverian warmbloods are being bred there Andrea’s father Heinrich started with a Velten xx-granddaughter and preferred to choose more mares descending directly from thoroughbreds This phenomenon was not at all unusual in the 1960s and 1970s in order to refine the warmblood breeding in Germany and all over Europe but has disappeared nowadays as the descendants from this crossings are already extremely noble horses Andrea with a broodmare and filly Paula (by Benicio)Readers may not know the name Lahmeyer but they all know one of their breeding products:  Rock’n Rose this dark brown mare by Rubin Royal x Feiner Stern who was a successful international dressage horse under Dorothee Schneider and who so tragically left her life this spring from an aortic rupture "Rock’n Rose was born here and I broke her in She was later sold via the Verden auction," Andrea reminisced Louisdor final participant Diva Noir (by Diamond Hit x Rubin Royal) of Louisa Lüttgen also saw first light at Lahhof just like the S successful horses Sunrise (by Donnerhall x Feiner Stern) First (by Florencio x Rohdiamant) and a few finalists at the Bundeschampionate While the focus is on dressage horse breeding Andrea is well aware that even with the best chosen parents and upbringing not every horse can reach such heights For that reason she also takes great care that the offspring of her broodmares have a very good character are well mannered and therefore can also be ridden by pleasure riders and amateurs Attributes which are also asked for in the para scene for which Lahhof could be a good place to look for future para stars Andrea is not specifically aiming to breed licensing candidates but of course is proud if one of the colts makes it The licensed premium stallion Harvard who us optically very much stamped by his Trakehner father Hohenstein (out of Carina by Cardinal xx) might be their best known home bred breeding stallion However also Davis Cup (by Dürkheim  x Cardinal xx) and Rodioso (by Rohdiamant x Furioso II) are licensed stallions from the Lahmeyer breeding program While Andrea has just started her international para career and is not yet in Germany's A-squad it wasn’t her successes that caught my attention It was the way she was presenting her horse at the CPEDI Mannheim in May 2021 It reflected classical dressage training and proved to me that somebody is not attempting to find a compromise between classical riding and competing but a rider who presents her way of training to the judges Breeding for the futureWhereas Andrea does this pretty successfully she isn’t entirely convinced that classical riding is always strictly appreciated by the judges "My experiences are that classical dressage training nowadays isn’t always what one wants to see at shows On the other hand I am hopeful that this will change There are horses who are not the huge movers and are only good because their training is correct and their movements got improved by it For 15 years Andrea has been regularly training with Ulf Wiltfang as well as with the assistant German para team trainer Rolf Grebe with whom she rides in clinics of the para team „Ulf pays extra attention that the basis is correct and the horses are always worked back to front and work over the back," Lahmeyer explained "It is already the most important thing for him with the youngsters: To ride the horse over the back and to develop and maintain impulsion from the hindquarters He always says that if the basis is correct and the horse moves through his body then you can ride everything with him and this is true." Text and Photos © Silke Rottermann for Eurodressage Stalls for Rent at Durondeau Dressage in Peer, Belgium Exceptionally Well Located Equestrian Facility in Wellington, Florida Well-built Equestrian Estate With Multiple Business Opportunities in Sweden Stable Units for Rent at Lotje Schoots' Equestrian Center in Houten (NED) For Rent: Several Apartments and Stable Wing at High-End Equestrian Facility Stable Wing Available at Reiterhof Wensing on Dutch/German border Real Estate: Well-Appointed Country House with Extensive Equestrian Facility in the U.K. Rémi Blot others jumped out of windows or took poison – but even today it is not clear how many Jews committed suicide in the wake of Kristallnacht 2018Get email notification for articles from Ofer Aderet FollowNov 9 God has decided that this should be our fate” – thus wrote Josephine Bähr from the city of Bassum in northwestern Germany who had immigrated to British-ruled Palestine two years earlier Jens Blume is regularly plagued by doubts as to whether Germans have really figured out what the yellow sack is for An integral part of the country's recycling efforts aluminum and the Tetra Pak cartons that are ubiquitous in the country his employees at a sorting facility in Bassum find all kinds of things that don't belong they discovered a rocket-propelled grenade on the conveyor belt Blume has been facing an additional challenge: The compound is in danger of drowning in plastic waste 380 tons of plastic waste arrive at the Bassum facility which is then sorted by shaking belts and infrared scanners before being compressed into bales But during the height of the coronavirus crisis We could no longer sort fast enough," he says It wasn't just that people used their time in lockdown to clean out their basements - resulting in an uptick in scrap iron at the facility and even an electric motor on one occasion But the heaps of waste quickly became a mirror of the hygiene strategies being used to confront the pandemic: disposable gloves carryout packaging and empty disinfectant bottles Coronavirus has helped plastic make a problematic comeback over 7 percent more plastic waste than last year has been landing in the recycling bins of private households Even if less garbage is being produced by the commercial sector the total amount of plastic waste has risen says the recycling company Der Grüne Punkt the crisis has managed to do something that no PR company could ever manage: It has improved plastic's image While it was disdained not that long ago as being a major threat to the world's oceans many now see it as a helpful tool in protecting against coronavirus contamination which has long been repudiated and will be illegal in the EU as of next year Because of their deleterious environmental effects sales had "fallen through the floor," but now some producers are once again ramping up production The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 35/2020 (August 22 Seven Decades of Quality Journalism: The History of DER SPIEGEL  Reprints: How To License SPIEGEL Articles  The company sells such things as salt and sugar in paper sticks or portions of honey in small plastic containers since shared dispensers are now seen as a possible source of contagion Recyclers should actually be pleased with the new plastic boom Their facilities treat all the used-up shampoo bottles yoghurt containers and everything else made from the oil-based polymers which are then transformed into small pellets called recyclate the raw material for items made out of recycled plastics This recycling economy is one of the more sustainable legacies of Helmut Kohl's tenure as German chancellor The 1991 Packaging Ordinance transformed waste into a raw material and the Germans into zealous waste separators Yet despite the fact that the country's population has become extremely conscientious about waste sorting The relatively high recycling quote of 50 percent hides the fact that in Germany only very little of the recyclate thus produced is ever actually used Of the 14 million tons of plastic produced in 2019 just 1.9 million tons came from recycled material Almost half of that is from industry leftovers meaning that just one million tons of packaging waste in Germany is reintroduced into the plastic life cycle The vast majority of granulate is newly produced That is primarily a function of the low price of new plastic produced from oil which has dropped even further as a result of corona A ton of recycled PET granulate costs just over 900 euros whereas newly produced granulate from oil costs just 680 euros despite government insistence that environmental protection is a priority the low price of new granulate is partially the result of government subsidies The oil used to manufacture plastic is exempt from the mineral oil tax and from costs associated with the Renewable Energy Sources Act environmentally friendly production is thus too expensive they shy away from the grayish veneer that the use of recyclate can produce The Packaging Ordnance that has been in place since 2019 - one which Environment Minister Svenja Schulze praised for its far-reaching implications – is designed to improve the recycling quota It requires producers to make packaging that is easier to recycle The law also requires 58.5 percent of plastic waste from German households be reused The implementation of the law is the responsibility of companies belonging to the so-called Duales System essentially a collection of recycling companies like the Grüne Punkt Every company that puts packaging into circulation – from grocery store chains to online retailers – must license the amount of plastic used with a Duales System company and pay a fee Duales System companies then use the money from that fee to collect recyclable waste and deliver it to a recycling facility But the circulation concept has a significant shortcoming If recyclers are unable to sell plastic at competitive prices it doesn't really matter what percentage of plastic waste is separated for recycling the head of the Central Agency Packaging Register warning that legally mandated recycling quotas would not be met without sufficient use of recyclate "many producers ceased production over the course of several months," says Rachut whose agency is charged with monitoring compliance with the Packaging Ordnance If industry doesn't begin using significantly greater quantities of recycled material Thomas Fischer expressed surprise at the sudden warning An expert on plastic circulation with the German environmental NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe he has been demanding stricter norms for some time He believes it was a mistake to place responsibility for environmentally friendly packaging in the hand of the companies belonging to the Duales System "Their competition has thus far resulted in ruinous discounts for packaging producers It allows for no leeway for rewarding environmentally friendly activity," Fischer says "Minimum use quotas for recyclate should have been mandated long ago," he believes His company also operates two recycling facilities He says it is misleading to simply look at the amount of plastic waste that is turned into recyclate It is the use of that recyclate that must be promoted while newly produced plastic granulate must be made more expensive He says he doesn't have a problem with the new European Commission plastic tax which will enter into force in 2021 and will require European Union member states to send 80 cents to Brussels for every kilogram of plastic that isn't recycled the only way to compete against the low price of oil the revenues from that tax should be used for recycling research and development Thomas Fischer believes a plastic tax of up to 2 euros per kilogram makes sense "Unnecessary plastic packaging must hit the producers where it hurts Only then can the marketing department no longer demand glossy multilayered materials that no sorting facility can deal with and which lands in the incinerator." If you ask around at companies about recycling they like to talk about alliances that fight against the flood of plastic and from "ocean plastic," new packaging that is allegedly produced from plastic collected on beaches But they are less interested in talking about their own plastic usage the German chemical and consumer goods company used a whopping 453,000 tons of plastic for its products in 2017 though that number had dropped by 20 percent by 2019 The use of recyclate at Henkel still appears to be a problem that even "small impurities" would disrupt the production process of thin bags of laundry detergent Henkel's concerns center on printability of the packaging all of which can apparently only be guaranteed by newly produced plastics which produced frozen foods and not washing powder also performed a number of functionality tests - and then decided to switch entirely away from plastic German discount supermarkets may ultimately be responsible for a bit more progress when it comes to plastic recycling Waste is seen by the company as a new key area of investment the company has bought up two waste management companies thus acquiring the ability to reprocess packaging waste itself it hopes to make the packaging used for its house brands maximally recyclable the company has asked its suppliers to reduce the weight of its packaging to use at least 30 percent recyclate in its packaging or guarantee 80 percent recyclability the two recycling facilities operated by Schwarz which otherwise produce 95,000 tons of recyclate per year ceased production for several weeks during the height of the coronavirus lockdown The resulting plastic backup was felt throughout the country including in the sorting facility in Bassum Because hardly anyone is picking up their sorted and baled plastic The Tetra Pak bales have begun emitting the sweet smell of rot "Lactic acid bacteria," says facility head Blume Because of high recent temperatures and the numerous insects he has begun having his bales disinfected by exterminators At the plastic recycling company of APK near Leipzig they discovered cockroaches in a plastic delivery "We had to send the entire truckload back," says CEO Klaus Wohnig His company is also suffering from the low prices of newly produced granulate And this despite the fact that his company can do more than many recyclers A solvent-based procedure makes it possible for APK to break down multi-layer packaging and the company is also able to decolor plastics resulting in particularly bright recyclate The degree to which quality has suffered at the overflowing waste sorting facilities can be seen by the example of a delivery of bales from Hamburg on August 11 the bales contained foils of decent quality Wohnig and his employees discovered all kinds of foreign objects when they began taking the bales apart "The number of foreign objects is on the rise to the degree that processing has become almost impossible," he says APK receives around 100 euros from the Duales System for the difficult processing of such bales a waste company sought to push him down to 90 euros noting that the load would otherwise be sent to Turkey "Turkey seems to have become the new Malaysia," says the APK CEO Malaysia became the savior for many countries drowning in mountains of plastic after China closed its borders to waste plastics in 2018 sent 130,000 tons of the stuff - more or less well sorted – to the country last year alone Sending waste plastic to such countries isn't illegal as long as the facilities there are certified appropriately the BBC reported that British waste that was supposed to be recycled in Turkey was actually buried or incinerated there but they import far more than they can process," says Nihan Temiz Ataş of Greenpeace Turkey the Environment Ministry in Ankara imposed a fine of half a million euros on eight such facilities and revoked their licenses "A country that can't even manage its own waste shouldn't bring in even more," says Ataş Gunda Rahut of the Central Agency Packaging Register confirms that there is a problem with questionable facilities and that reports have been compiled on the issue the amount exported from German households remains relatively small according to the Federal Statistical Office Germany sent 64,000 tons of plastic waste to Turkey in 2019 Except that bales of plastic recently turned up on the side of the road in the city of Andana as can be seen in video footage that residents sent Greenpeace in July the labels of numerous German brands can be seen including that of the cleaning products company Frosch – which prides itself on sustainability You never know when you might stumble across a priceless painting or a 40-carat diamond We've all been there — a week until payday and you're rummaging in your parents' attic to find Dad's Mickey Mantle rookie card here are six stories of people who found a fortune when — and where — they least expected it a farmer living near the village of Hoxne in Suffolk so he asked Eric Lawes to use his metal detector to search for it Lawes happened upon something else of interest — 24 bronze coins From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox the so-called "Hoxne Hoard" was reported to the local authorities who declared it a "Treasure Trove," meaning it was now legally the property of Britain the government is required to pay fair market value for a treasure trove meaning the farmer and Lawes split a cool £1.75 million The Hoxne Hoard is now on permanent display at the British Museum there is no word on whether or not the hammer was ever found Bassum found a giant of a gemstone in 1924 — a 40.23 carat diamond It might surprise you to hear that he wasn't digging in one of the famous South African diamond mines at the time at a site that is now the Crater of Diamonds State Park Sitting on top of a volcanic pipe (a geologic tube formed by an ancient underground volcanic explosion) the park is the only diamond site in the world that is open to the public A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com Bassum's big find — nicknamed "The Uncle Sam Diamond," the largest diamond ever discovered in North America — was later cut down to 12.42 carat and sold for $150,000 in 1971 (About $800,000 today) But his wasn't the last valuable rock dug out of that Arkansas soil "The Star of Murfreesboro" was discovered at the same site came the 16.37-carat "Amarillo Starlight Diamond." The 6.35-carat "Roden Diamond" was found in 2006 And the crown jewel of the park has been the "Strawn-Wagner Diamond" (pictured) the Strawn-Wagner stands out because it was given a "Perfect" rating by the American Gem Society — the first diamond to ever receive such a high grade But don't think this list of big gems means the site has been tapped out two diamonds are found every day at Crater of Diamonds They're not all as big as The Uncle Sam Diamond If getting your hands dirty isn't your idea of fun maybe you should start hitting garage sales and thrift stores to find valuables buried among the castoff bread machines and Members Only jackets one man's trash really is another man's treasure The declaration of (financial) independence We've all heard of the man who bought a $4 painting at a garage sale found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence inside Michael Sparks was visiting a Nashville thrift store and a yellowed print of the Declaration of Independence Sparks figured the document was a worthless so he paid the asking price — $2.48 — and headed home After looking over the document for a few days he wondered if it might be older than he initially thought So he hopped on the internet to do some research and soon realized he had purchased one of only 200 official copies of the Declaration of Independence commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820 35 had been found intact; he had number 36 It took a year for Sparks to have the print authenticated and preserved an employee at a tool-and-die company in Indiana spent $30 for a few pieces of used furniture and an old painting of some flowers he decided to strategically hang the picture to cover up a hole in the wall that had been bugging him Some years later he was playing a board game called Masterpiece in which players attempt to outbid one another for artwork at an auction one of the cards in the game featured a painting of flowers that looked a lot like the one he had on his wall So he went online and found that his painting was similar in style to the work of Martin Johnson Heade an American still-life artist best known for landscapes and flower arrangements Through his research he found the Kennedy Galleries in Manhattan and asked them to take a look at his painting They agreed and were able to verify that the piece of artwork covering the hole in his wall was a previously unknown Heade painting since named Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston purchased the painting for $1.2 million I emailed the museum to ask if the painting was covering a hole in the wall keep in mind the old adage: "It's only worth what the market will bear." Sometimes finding treasure is the easy part; finding someone willing to buy it can be the real challenge Every Sunday afternoon for the last seven years Mary Hannaby had gone for a walk with her metal detector She'd never really found anything of value and she bent down to dig up what she thought was going to be another common coin or old nail she uncovered a postage stamp-sized gold pendant featuring an intricate carving of the crucifixion of Jesus the pendant was described as "an important find," and they estimated the market value to be around £4,000 they decided not to purchase it for their collection The experts at the auction house felt the piece was much more valuable because it was believed to be one of only three similar items known to exist but said it could easily sell for as much as £2.5 million thanks to its resemblance to another English treasure also found with a metal detector "Never count your millions until the auctioneer bangs his gavel." Sotheby's put the pendant up for auction on July 9 making it the highlight of a large lot of antique sculptures the best offer was only £38,000 — far below the reserve price to make a sale went to her local thrift store to buy a depressed friend a gag gift She found a rather large painting — 66" x 47" — that she thought was pretty amusing because it was When she asked the thrift store employee the price plus it wouldn't fit through the door of her trailer) so Teri took it home and tried to unload it at her garage sale A local art teacher saw the painting and suggested it could very well be a Jackson Pollock Teri Horton has been struggling to prove that her thrift store treasure is a lost piece of artwork potentially worth well over $100 million due to the painting's lack of verifiable history of ownership (called "provenance") the piece is disputed by many fine arts experts as simply another artist's work inspired by Pollock Teri had the work examined by a forensic specialist who claims to have found a fingerprint that matches one in Pollock's studio But even the fingerprint evidence has been disputed by the art world and her battle with the art world elite became the subject of a 2006 documentary called — Rob Lammie Germany: Frankfurt (Jahrhunderthalle) June 25 Germany: KMC Onstage holds auditions for “Ruthless – the Musical” 7 p.m 7; “Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon“ 4:30 p.m Germany: Razz Ma Tazz Theatre holds auditions for “Stepsisters” 6 p.m Germany: Stuttgart Theatre Centre holds auditions for “The Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder” 6:30 p.m Italy: Soldiers’ Theatre holds auditions for “Radium Girls” 6 p.m 13 and 14 at Soldiers’ Theatre.” DSN 634-7281 Germany: Stuttgart Theatre Centre presents “Silver’s Secret By Charlotte Nixon” at 2 p.m Dorina (by Drosselklang II x Grannus) has been named the Hanoverian Mare of the Year at the 2018 Hanoverian stallion licensing in Verden Under Canada‘s Eric Lamaze her daughter Fine Lady is one of the best show jumpers in the world Dorina's breeder Wilhelm Leymann from Bassum was honoured in the sold out Niedersachsenhalle the representative of the dam line of Flindra has powerful genes in her pedigree One of the best Hanoverian show-jumping sires of his time can be found twice in the second and fourth generation the breeder had acquired her dam Golden Lady She is very sensitive and a bit "electric" Dorina has produced a total of 13 foals in 18 breeding years Now she is in foal to Hannover's show-jumping sire legend Stakkato Dorina's first foal was already a direct hit: Within a very short time Fine Lady by Forsyth catapulted herself to the top of the world with Canadian Eric Lamaze Two years ago the pair won the individual Olympic bronze medal in Rio Numerous victories and top placings followed on the world's major show jumping arenas But she is not the only one who turned her dam into the Hanoverian Mare of the Year Fine Lady's three years younger full brother Fighter competes for Russia with rider Anna Shatunova and has currently collected his first World Cup points at the CSI-W in Moscow/RUS he was one of the diamonds of the show-jumping collection at the Verden Elite- Auction These two show-jumping athletes once again have Don Carlos and Grannus in their pedigree via their sire Forsyth Third in the group is the seven-year-old Landstreicher daughter Lilly Le who is at the beginning of her international career with the rider Angelos Touloupis from Greece