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EURO 2012

GERMANY

UEFA ‘faked’ tears for German team

UEFA has admitted manipulating supposedly "live" images to include previously filmed footage for the second time during the Euro 2012 football tournament, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

UEFA 'faked' tears for German team
Photo: DPA

From the television footage, it looked like a spontaneous display of emotion from a German fan as Italy scored their second, winning goal against Germany in Thursday’s match.

Yet the pictures of a woman crying shown immediately after Mario Balotelli’s goal had been filmed before the match even began, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Saturday.

When Italy scored a second goal in the 36 minute of the game, millions of viewers across Germany were shown a picture of a German fan in the stadium who had apparently spontaneously been reduced to tears.

But as the fan herself told the paper, and UEFA later confirmed, she had really been overcome with emotion during the national anthem prior to kick-off.

This is the second time UEFA has been accused of having manipulated images transmitted to Germany during a live game in this tournament, and had already admitted slotting previously filmed pictures of German coach Joachim Löw into footage of the Germany vs Netherlands game on June 13th.

“We are surprised and irritated. The pictures are unacceptable,” ARD team leader Jörg Schönenborn told the paper.

Whilst UEFA admitted having cut the pictures into the live footage, it denied all accusations of manipulation. They used the footage to “show the emotion and excitement of the German fans at the game,” according to the article.

German broadcasters ARD and ZDF have complained to UEFA, demanding that viewers be alerted when previously filmed pictures are being shown during live transmissions.

The Local/jlb

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GERMANY

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents

German police have set up a special team to fight a growing number of forged vaccine certificates being sold in the black market

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents
People who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Police in Cologne have warned of a group of fraudsters selling fake vaccination certificates, a growing problem the scale of which is still unclear.

The police said the fraudsters worked in encrypted Telegram chats, making investigations difficult, and were selling fake documents with all the stamps and signatures, including a mark about vaccination with BioNTech or AstraZeneca.

READ ALSO: Germany probes Covid-19 testing centres for fraud

The fraud involved both real traffic in fake documents as well as scams luring customers into paying €100.

People in Germany who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Those who don’t have a booklet get a piece of paper.

Covid health passes are currently being rolled out across the EU, with a European health passport expected to be available from mid-June.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passports’ will work for travellers?

Over 44% of the adult population in Germany has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than 18% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

German police have said forged coronavirus vaccine documents are becoming an increasing problem.

Last month, a couple in Baden-Württemberg was accused of selling fake coronavirus vaccination certificates.

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