The 190th Oktoberfest has come to a close, wrapping up the world’s largest folk festival with the traditional Bavarian marksmen’s gun salute in Munich, after a bomb threat closed it for hours last week.

German police have completed a security sweep at the Oktoberfest fairgrounds and reopened the famed beer festival after an hourslong closure.

Germany's annual Oktoberfest festival is finally on again for this fall, following a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Bavarian officials have canceled Oktoberfest festivities for a second year in a row due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, saying that there are too many risks in hosting the celebrations, which traditionally bring in visitors from around the world, during a global pandemic.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has thrown her weight behind calls for a “short, uniform lockdown” as the country grapples with a high level of coronavirus cases fueled by the spread of a more contagious variant first detected in Britain.

Current lockdown rules were set to run through Sunday. Ad“These should be steps toward opening but at the same time steps that do not set us back,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin. After Germany initially limited the AstraZeneca vaccine — one of three cleared for use in the European Union — to people under 65, an independent expert committee is likely to recommend lifting that restrictions, Merkel said. The disease control center said Wednesday that 9,019 new coronavirus cases were reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the total so far to 2.46 million. Merkel and the governors will confer again on March 22 to discuss further possible steps toward opening up public life.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefs the media during a news conference after a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. "That's why we have to be so careful.”Still, officials agreed that states will be able to reopen schools and kindergartens sooner, with some, such as Berlin, announcing that they will gradually resume classes in elementary schools from Feb. 22. “Schools and kindergartens are unfortunately places where the virus is passed on,” DIVI President Gernot Marx told the Rheinische Post daily newspaper. Hairdressers will also be able to reopen on March 1, though with strict hygiene rules. On Wednesday, Germany's Robert Koch Institute reported the country had 8,072 new virus cases and 813 deaths in 24 hours.

BERLIN – Authorities, churches and Jewish communities in Germany's southern state of Bavaria have agreed that anti-Semitic statues and carvings dating back to the Middle Ages shouldn't be removed from churches, an official said Tuesday. The Bavarian government's point man against anti-Semitism, Ludwig Spaenle, said that relics such as the “Judensau,” or “Jew pig,” sculptures that still adorn some churches should be explained “visibly and easily recognizably” where they stand, the news agency dpa reported. Bavaria's association of Jewish communities agreed on the approach with representatives of Christian churches and state officials, according to dpa. There are around a dozen such relics in Bavaria, such as one on the cathedral in Regensburg. The Bavarian decision comes as a dispute about a “Jew pig” sculpture elsewhere in Germany makes its way through the court system.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Your pick for Jacksonville’s best locally brewed fall beer comes from a popular brewery in the San Marco neighborhood, Aardwolf Brewing Company. Not surprisingly, you picked an Oktoberfest-style brew known as the Aard-Toberfest. This year, the brewery could only do 15 barrels as opposed to last year’s 30 barrels, so grab a pint while they last! And don’t forget, Aardwolf says pork and German bier is the preferred Bavarian pairing. Head to Aardwolf’s website to see the upcoming food trucks that’ll be paying a visit!

Bavarian mountain farmer Petra drinks beer as she returns her cattle from summer pastures across lake Koenigssee near Berchtesgaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)SCHOENAU AM KOENIGSSEE – Each fall the Resch family bring their cows down from Alpine pastures before the cold weather sets in, and each year the crowd of tourists coming to watch the traditional Bavarian spectacle grows bigger. Pandemic travel restrictions meant the celebratory return of the herd Friday was more muted than usual, as visitors from Asia and the Americas stayed away. That didn't stop the Reschs from welcoming the 15 cows and herdswoman Petra, who had spent the summer in the mountains with the herd, with beer, schnapps and music. After leading the cows down from the pastures to the Koenigssee lake near Berchtesgaden, the well-fed animals were draped with flowers and loaded onto a ferry to take them back home to the farm for winter.

German authorities worked through the night to clear a backlog of coronavirus tests from travelers after it emerged 900 people who were positive for COVID-19 had yet to be informed. The state Health Ministry said there had been delays in releasing 44,000 test results to people who were checked on their way into Germany, primarily at highway rest stops, including 908 who had tested positive for COVID-19. The governor said state Health Minister Melanie Huml offered her resignation, but that he did not accept it and Humi still had his confidence. Soeder, who has national political aspirations, has been widely criticized for the failure to ensure people were promptly informed of the test results. As of Saturday, any travelers arriving anywhere in Germany from high-risk areas were required to take coronavirus tests.

BERLIN Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has fallen ill after his return from a trip to his native Bavaria to visit his brother, who died a month ago, a German newspaper reported Monday. Seewald, who has published several book-length interviews with Benedict, handed over a copy of the biography to the former pontiff on Saturday, the newspaper reported. He described Benedict as being optimistic and talking about possibly writing himself if his strength picks up, though he said that Benedict is physically very frail. It was his first trip out of Italy since he resigned as pope in 2013. Benedict has lived at a monastery in the Vatican City since shortly after his retirement.

Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who earned renown in his own right as a director of an acclaimed German boys choir, has died at age 96. The Regensburg diocese in Bavaria, where Ratzinger lived, said in a statement on his website that he died on Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who died Wednesday at the age of 96. The acclaimed boys choir Ratzinger headed for several decades will stage a farewell concert Sunday. Benedict made a four-day visit to Regensburg to be with his ailing brother just over a week before his death.

In this photo taken Thursday, May 7, 2020 brewery daughter Iris Detter pours a beer outside her 120 year old family brewery and traditional Bavarian restaurant in Altoetting, Germany. The 'Graminger Weissbraeu' brewery, which has been in the same family for a century, is preparing to welcome guests back to its restaurant for the first time in two months with new rules and fears for the future. Bavaria, one of the last German states to start reopening the hospitality sector as the country gradually eases its coronavirus restrictions, is letting restaurants serve guests outside starting Monday and inside a week later. The brewery produces 200,000 liters (52,800 gallons) of beer per year, but is suffering from the restaurant closure and the cancellation of a local festival in June. Its a relief to reopen the beer garden and then the restaurant for guests, but the new social distancing conditions are very difficult, she says.

A salty, mouthwatering pretzel doodle is how Google is welcoming Oktoberfest, a 16-day celebration known as the Bavarian fall festival. (Google)(CNN) - A salty, mouthwatering pretzel doodle is how Google is welcoming Oktoberfest, a 16-day celebration known as the Bavarian fall festival. Today's especially delicious doodle is a short video tribute showing pretzel dough being transformed into the golden knotted treats so many people know and love. "Today's Doodle, freshly baked by Esther's German Bakery, celebrates the one and only pretzel one of the world's most versatile and beloved foods!" "As Oktoberfest, the Bavarian fall festival, begins today, Brotfrauen (or bread ladies) will be carrying baskets of chewy Brezeln through Bierhallen (massive tents) in Germany, the center of Oktoberfest revelry."

"Castles are places were plots were hatched, marriages were consummated, murders carried out, royal babies born, and so on. Read on to find out more about 21 of the world's most beautiful castles, fortified homes that are both a feast for the eyes and a time trip back to the bygone age during which they were created. The castle's vivid red-and-yellow color pattern -- and its flashy clock tower -- endow Pena with a much more playful air than the somber castles found elsewhere in Europe. Bodiam Castle, EnglandEngland has far larger castles (Windsor) and others that are more steeped in history (Tower of London). Castillo de Chapultepec, MexicoThe only royal castle in the Western hemisphere hovers high above Mexico City.