Germany

Berlin, Jan 15 (AFP) Germany on Tuesday detained a German-Afghan man on suspicion he was spying for Iran while working for the German army as a linguistic and cultural adviser.

The 50-year-old identified as Abdul Hamid S. was arrested in western Germany, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

"The accused was a language evaluator and cultural issues adviser of the German armed forces. In this capacity, he is believed to have passed on information to an Iranian intelligence service," they added.

15 Jan 2019; AFP: Hundreds of flights will be cancelled at eight German airports Tuesday, including at the nation's busiest travel hub Frankfurt, as security staff walk off the job in a deepening row over pay.

Germany's powerful Verdi union said the strike would last from 02:00 am until 8:00 pm (0100-1900 GMT) at the airports of Frankfurt, Munich, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dresden and Erfurt.

15 Jan 2019; DW: Staff responsible for checking passengers and cargo have started an 18-hour warning strike at Germany's biggest airports. An estimated 220,000 passengers are affected.

German airport association ADV warned that the strike action would "paralyze" the German flight network all day Tuesday. Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport canceled half of its 1,200 flights.

BERLIN (AP) — A German labor union has expanded a planned strike by security staff at Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday to include several other airports, including Hamburg.

News agency dpa reported that the ver.di union on Sunday announced the one-day walkout at Hamburg, two days after calling the strike at Frankfurt, Germany’s busiest hub.

Walkouts are also expected Tuesday at the smaller Hannover, Bremen, Leipzig-Halle, Dresden and Erfurt airports.

10 Jan 2019; AFP: Almost 640 flights were cancelled in Germany Thursday as security staff went on strike at three airports, meaning disruption for around 100,000 passengers.

The number of flights blocked was more than half the 1,050 planned for Duesseldorf, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart.

Duesseldorf -- the country's third-largest airport -- said in a statement that 370 of Thursday's 580 planned departures had to be cancelled.

08 Jan 2019; DW: A 20-year-old has been arrested in Germany after a massive political data leak revealed personal information about leading politicians. The BKA police are to present further information.

The man was arrested in Hesse on Tuesday in preliminary proceedings on suspicion of spying and the unauthorized disclosure of personal data. 

07 Jan 2019; DW: Police have raided the home of a 19-year-old man as part of the investigation into a data breach affecting German politicians. The teenager has said he had been in contact with the hacker responsible for some time.

German police raided the home of a 19-year-old IT worker on Sunday as part of an investigation into a massive data breach affecting hundreds of German politicians, public broadcasters ARD and rbb reported on Monday.

05 Jan 2019; DW: Germany's largest trade union has called for industrial action following a failed round of wage negotiations. The affected airports have warned of "severe disruption" for passengers on Monday.

Security personnel at Berlin's Tegel and Schönefeld airports are to go on a nearly four-hour strike on Monday, following a fourth round of failed wage negotiations between Germany's largest trade union, Ver.di, and the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS).

BERLIN (AP) — Data and documents belonging to hundreds of German politicians have been hacked and posted online via Twitter, a German broadcaster reported Friday.

The leak, which saw the data posted in daily batches before Christmas on a Twitter account that has been active since mid-2017, affects all parties in parliament except the far-right Alternative for Germany, public broadcaster RBB reported.

03 Jan 2019; DW: Up to 270 containers had fallen off the Panamanian-flagged MSC ZOE, one of the world's biggest cargo ships, in rough weather near the German island of Borkum in the North Sea, the Dutch Coast Guard said on Wednesday.

The containers floated southwest toward Dutch waters and by mid-afternoon on Wednesday, more than 20 containers had washed up on the Dutch islands of Terschelling, Ameland and Vlieland.