Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Public transit companies in Germany say more than 3 million people have already snapped up a new ticket being launched Monday that allows them to use all local and regional trains, buses and metros across the country for 49 euros ($53.90) a month.

The new Germany Ticket is intended to encourage people to ditch their cars in favor of more environmentally friendly forms of transportation. It follows on from an experimental 9-euro ‘all you can ride’ ticket that proved to be success last year, but which officials said wasn’t financially viable.

30 Apr 2023; MEMO: German authorities have been facing heavy criticism since a viral video showed a Muslim immigrant child forcefully being removed from his family in the city of Bremerhaven.

The video, widely shared on social media, showed police and child protection agency officers entering a house, and forcefully taking a little boy from his family, while the frightened child was crying for help and trying to resist the officers.

BERLIN (AP) — Some 3.4 million Turkish citizens living abroad began voting Thursday in national elections that will decide whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can continue governing Turkey after two decades in power.

The overseas balloting began amid concerns over Erdogan’s health after he was forced to cancel election rallies on Wednesday and Thursday. However, the 69-year-old leader was scheduled to attend a Thursday ceremony via video link to mark the inauguration of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.

BERLIN (AP) — A man arrested over last week’s stabbing attack at a gym in western Germany in which four people were wounded is now also a suspect in a fatal stabbing earlier this month, prosecutors said Thursday.

The 26-year-old Syrian, whom authorities are identifying only as M.D. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested at his apartment in Duisburg on Sunday in connection with the April 18 gym stabbing in the city. He is in custody on suspicion of attempted murder and other offenses.

BERLIN (AP) — German climate activists temporarily brought traffic to a standstill in some parts of Berlin on Monday by gluing themselves to streets all over the capital.

Members of the group Last Generation have repeatedly blocked roads across Germany in the past year in an effort to pressure the government to take more drastic action against climate change. On several occasions, they have glued themselves to the roads, enraging some motorists and prompting accusations of extremism from conservative politicians.

BERLIN (AP) — A train hit a car at a crossing in northern Germany early Sunday, killing all three people in the car, police said.

Police said that the regional train hit the car at full speed near Neustadt am Ruebenberge, outside the city of Hannover, German news agency dpa reported.

The car’s 22-year-old driver was killed along with two women who were with him in the vehicle, aged 21 and 22. There were 38 passengers and four railway employees on board the train, and one person was slightly injured.

BERLIN (AP) — A suspect has been arrested over last week’s stabbing attack at a gym in the western German city of Duisburg in which four people were seriously wounded, authorities said Sunday.

Prosecutor Jill Mc Culler said the man, a 26-year-old Syrian citizen, was arrested shortly after midnight, German news agency dpa reported. He was to be brought before a judge on Monday to determine whether he can be kept in custody pending possible charges.

Further details weren’t immediately available.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — The United States will begin training Ukrainian forces on how to use and maintain Abrams tanks in the coming weeks, as it continues to speed up its effort to get them onto the battlefield as quickly as possible, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday.

The decision comes as defense leaders from around Europe and the world are meeting at Ramstein Air Base, in the effort to coordinate the delivery of weapons and other equipment to Ukraine.

BERLIN, April 21 (Reuters) - Rail workers went on strike across Germany on Friday, mostly bringing national operator Deutsche Bahn's services (DBN.UL) to a halt in the morning hours, as protests over pay in Europe's largest economy widened.

Germany has witnessed some of its most disruptive strikes in decades since last year, when the war in Ukraine sent energy and food prices soaring, leading to union pressure for wages to rise in line with living costs.

RAMSTEIN, Germany, April 21 (Reuters) - All NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance but the main focus now is to ensure the country prevails against Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group at Ramstein air base in Germany, he also told reporters that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Kyiv must have "the deterrence to prevent new attacks".