Berlin among first states affected by weeklong transport strikes, senior doctors seek to stop the approved law that partially legalises cannabis, and other news from around Germany.
Berlin among first cities affected by local transport strikes
Trade union Verdi has called on around 90,000 employees in local transport companies to strike on various days from Monday until next Saturday. Actions are planned throughout Germany with the exception of Bavaria - and in waves.
Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein are already affected by strike actionson Monday. Further strikes have also been announced in Saarland and the Trier region (in Rhineland-Palatinate) at the beginning of the week.
READ ALSO: More local public transport strikes called across Germany
In Berlin the trade unions NahVG, gkl, dbb Beamtenbund and Tarifunion have called a warning strike, which started at 3 am and is scheduled to last until 2 pm.
However, as the BVG transport association announced on Monday morning, the majority of buses and trains are running as planned.
There will be longer waiting times than usual on some bus routes, and some U-Bahn and tram services will be cancelled.
German Medical Association calls on states to stop controversial cannabis law
The German Bundestag’s approval of a law partially legalising cannabis has met with criticism from the Bundesärztekammer (German Medical Association).
The association’s president Klaus Reinhardt has asked the federal states to stop the controversial law in the Bundesrat and call upon the mediation committee to address significant cross-party concerns. This follows on from warnings from the medical profession, police, teachers and lawyers.
Reinhardt told the German Editorial Network that the Bundestag and Bundesrat mediation committee was the right place to articulate these concerns.
READ ALSO: What the partial legalisation of cannabis could mean for Germany
“This law must be fundamentally reconsidered here, free from party political constraints,” the senior doctor said.
On Friday, the German Bundestag voted in favour of the law, which allows for the partial legalisation of cannabis under a strict set of rules.
Under the legislation, possession and personal cultivation of certain quantities will be permitted for adults starting April 1st.
The states can delay the law through the Bundesrat, but they cannot prevent it.
‘Dahomey’ doc on looted African art wins Golden Bear at Berlinale film festival
“Dahomey", a documentary by Franco-Senegalese director Mati Diop probing the thorny issues surrounding Europe's return of looted antiquities to Africa, won the Berlin film festival's top prize on Saturday, AFP reported.
Kenyan-Mexican Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, the first black jury president at the 74th annual event, announced the seven-member panel's choice among 20 contenders for the Golden Bear award at a gala ceremony.
Diop said the prize "not only honours me but the entire visible and invisible community that the film represents.
Other prize winners included German writer-director Matthias Glasner, who took the Silver Bear for best screenplay for his semi-autobiographical tragicomedy "Dying", a three-hour tour de force by some of the country's top actors depicting a dysfunctional family.
Rostock remembers Mehmet Turgut
A
demonstration was organised in Rostock on Sunday in memory of Mehmet Turgut, the 25-year-old Turk who was murdered by militant neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Underground (NSU) in the northeastern city on February 25th in 2004.
Around 400 people attended the peaceful event, which was organised by the alliance In Memory Mehmet Turgut.
Turgut’s family are still calling for the street where he was shot dead to be named after him.
“It’s very important, because it’s something that would remain. He may have died, but his name would live on,” said Mustafa, Turgut’s younger brother.
Turgut was shot multiple times in the throat, neck and head shortly after opening up at the kebab shop he was working at.
FDP and CDU against lowering voting age
Bundestag president Baerbel Bas has proposed lowering the voting age to 16 for German federal and state elections, eliciting mixed reactions from the coalition parties.
The Green Party support this move, but both the FDP and the CDU want to see the voting age remain at 18.
“In my view, the voting age should be linked to the age of majority,” Bundestag Vice President and FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki told the
Funke newspaper group.
Deputy chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group Thorsten Frei agreed: “It’s hard to justify why someone should have a say in the fate of our country who we don’t consider to be mature enough in other areas to regulate their affairs without the consent of their parents,” the CDU politician told the news association.
Dozens of farmers protest at Green Party event
Dozens of farmers protested at an internal Green Party event in Magdeburg on Saturday.
Police said around 90 tractors and other vehicles had blocked the main road in the Buckau district by the time the event began in the late afternoon.
Some 200 participants were at the protest with some lighting fires close to the venue.
A chorus of ‘boos’ and honking greeted the arrival of party co-leader Ricardo Lang arrived with some heard shouting "We've had enough!"
German actor Horst Naumann dies at 98
German TV, film, radio and stage actor Horst Naumann has died at the age of 98, a spokesman from broadcaster ZDF confirmed to German news agency DPA.
Naumann will be best remembered for his role as the friendly doctor on board ’
Das Traumschiff’ (the dream ship) in the popular ZDF drama of the same name.
The Duisburg resident died last Monday.
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