Germany

27 Dec 2018; DW: The idea, similar to Germany's church tax, would aim to make mosques independent of foreign donors. Germany's government and progressive Muslim leaders have supported the idea.

Lawmakers from Germany's grand coalition government said on Wednesday that they were considering introducing a "mosque tax" for German Muslims, similar to the church taxes that German Christians pay.

BERLIN, December 26. /TASS/. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has spoken out against the deployment of US medium-range missiles with nuclear warheads in Europe in the event of Washington’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

"Europe should not turn into a platform for discussions on arms buildup under any circumstances," the minister said in an interview with the DPA news agency published on Wednesday.

"The deployment of new medium-range missiles in Germany would encounter huge dissatisfaction."

25 Dec 2018; DW: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged the people of Germany to address tensions in society by engaging with each other. The country must not be allowed to drift apart, he says in his annual Christmas speech.

TEHRAN, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Germany will ban flights of Iran's Mahan Air to its cities under the U.S. pressures, Tasnim news agency reported Saturday.

The German government has decided to stop Mahan Air from operating its flights to Dusseldorf and Munich after intensive deliberations on U.S. demands, according to the report.

Currently, Mahan Air operates flights to EU cities of Milan, Athens, Dusseldorf and Munich as well as countries such as Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and several other destinations in the Middle East and Asia.

17 Dec 2018; DW: A lawyer who represented victims of far-right violence had her daughter threatened, possibly by extremist police. The resulting investigation has revealed a neo-Nazi network within the Frankfurt police force.

State criminal police (LKA) are investigating an alleged right-wing extremist network in the Frankfurt police force, respected German newspaper Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported Sunday.

13 Dec 2018; DW: As carmakers wrestle for the emerging electric car market, a German company sealed a key deal to mine a massive lithium deposit under a salt flat in Bolivia. The metal is crucial for making car battery cells.

Lithium deposits hidden below Bolivia's Uyuni salt flat are believed to be the largest in the world. On Wednesday, Germany's privately owned ACI Systems agreed to a partnership with Bolivian state company YLB to exploit the element.

German rail workers went on a nationwide four-hour strike on Monday to protest for higher wage increases. Two of Germany's biggest rail unions plan to return to negotiations with Deutsche Bahn (DB) on Tuesday.

Long-distance rail travel came to a halt across Germany on Monday morning, with regional trains also heavily affected, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and the southwestern cities of Karlsruhe and Mannheim. There were also cancellations in Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania, Hamburg and Lower Saxony.

7 Dec 2018; DW: The explosion destroyed the toilet, demolished the stall and shattered windows. Police do not know where the boy got the explosives and say he's lucky to have escaped without seriously injuring himself or others.

A 10-year-old student in the western German city of Duisburg caused serious damage at his elementary school on Friday morning when he used an extremely powerful firecracker to blow up a toilet.

7 Dec 2018; AFP: Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a close ally of Angela Merkel, won a tight race to succeed her as party leader Friday, seeing off a longtime rival of the German chancellor.

The contest, which required a runoff vote to secure a 52-percent majority for AKK as she is known, is expected to increase the likelihood that Merkel will be able to see out her fourth term until 2021.

7 Dec 2018; DW: One in four of Europe's Jews have endured anti-Semitic abuse, some violent, in the past year, according to Germany's Bild newspaper. It follows a vow by EU interior ministers to boost security for Jewish communities.

The German mass daily Bild reported Friday that behind the EU ministers' declaration was "a large EU survey among 16,395 Jews in the whole of Europe," apparently still under wraps in Brussels.