Germany

21 Nov 2018; DW: A German teenager has managed to gain and lose his driving license in less than one hour after police caught him speeding near the city of Dortmund. The 18-year-old was going 95 kilometers per hour in a 50 zone.

Easy come, easy go — a new driver was forced to give up his license less than one hour after securing it, German police said Tuesday.

A police speed trap detected a car going 95 kilometers per hour (59 mph) through the western town of Iserlohn, near Dortmund. The trouble is that the limit was just 50.

BERLIN (AP) — Budget airline Eurowings says 14 flights were canceled at Duesseldorf airport in western Germany after flight attendants started a temporary strike over working conditions.

German news agency dpa reported that flights were canceled Tuesday for eight hours until 12:30 p.m. local time (1130 GMT). Flight attendants are demanding, among other things, more reliable work schedules.

The ver.di union says the strike is a reaction to Eurowings’ refusal to further negotiate working conditions.

18 Nov 2018; DW: In a speech to Germany's parliament French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a new Franco-German alliance to equip Europe for future challenges. His visit came on Germany's annual war remembrance day.

French President Emmanuel Macron told German lawmakers on Sunday that it was up to France and Germany to build a modern, efficient, democratic Europe fit for the future.

BERLIN (AP) — Artists and intellectuals across Europe are calling for the founding of a continentwide republic to replace its many nation states.

Activists planned to proclaim a “European Republic” in dozens of cities at 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) Saturday, almost exactly 100 years after the end of World War I.

The event is being organized by a group calling itself the European Balcony Project. Its listed supporters include political scientists, philosophers and writers such as Austrian literature Nobel prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek.

BERLIN; 89 Nov 2018; AA: Government and opposition lawmakers urged China on Thursday to end repressive policies against Uighur Muslims in northwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region of the country.

The opposition Green Party accused Chinese authorities of severe human rights violations, forced political indoctrination and massive surveillance in the region.

9 Nov 2018; DW: A Berlin court overturned a ban on a far-right rally. The state Interior Ministry had said the candle-lit march would negate the meaning of memorials on the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom.

Berlin's Administrative Court has lifted a ban on a far-right rally, which is planned to take place in the German capital on Friday evening – the 80th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom against Jews.

The march, organized by extreme right-wing movement We are for Germany (WfD), had been called off on Wednesday by Berlin's interior minister, Andreas Geisel.

9 Nov 2018; DW: Germany's health minister has called for people without children to pay significantly more into the pension scheme. But others in the government have dismissed the idea as an attempt to punish childless residents.

Childless people should be paying much more towards care and pension insurance than those who have started a family, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday.

In a guest commentary for the daily Südwest Presse newspaper, Spahn appealed for a fundamental rethink of the system, describing it as a question of fairness.

8 Nov 2018; DW: The refugee abuse scandal sent shock waves through Germany when it became public nearly four years ago. Now, 30 guards and workers at the asylum center face a host of charges.

The trial of 30 people accused of abusing refugees at an asylum center in Germany started on Thursday in the western town of Siegen.

It has been nearly four years since shocking images of abuse against refugees in the small western town of Burbach triggered widespread outrage.

8 Nov 2018; DW: France is leading a 10-country defense initiative in a bid to "face new threats" outside existing structures. Germany is wary that the project could entangle its military in foreign interventions and undermine the EU.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s outgoing domestic intelligence chief won’t be given a new government job after lashing out at one of the governing parties, the interior minister said Monday. It was a late twist to a saga that has contributed to the administration’s unpopularity.

The center-left Social Democrats, part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition, demanded Hans-Georg Maassen’s removal from the BfV spy agency in September after he appeared to downplay far-right violence against migrants in the eastern city of Chemnitz.