Europe

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Train and island ferry services in Greece were suspended Wednesday and most Athens public transport was idle as the country’s biggest labor union held a strike against persisting austerity measures.

The transport shutdown prompted Athenians to drive to work, causing major traffic jams in the capital whose center was shut down by two separate strike-related protest marches.

Police said that about 7,000 people in total took part in the peaceful demonstrations to parliament.

KATOWICE, Poland (AP) — Three years after sealing a landmark global climate deal in Paris, world leaders are gathering again to agree on the fine print.

The euphoria of 2015 has given way to sober realization that getting an agreement among almost 200 countries, each with their own political and economic demands, will be challenging — as evidenced by President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris accord, citing his “America First” mantra.

BERLIN, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- German auto parts manufacturer Webasto is entering into a long-term cooperation with Chinese Lithium-Ion producer Wanxiang A123 to pool their automotive industry expertise, the German firm announced on Tuesday.

The Munich-based company said that a first joint project would involve the development and production of a battery module for the Chinese market which will be integrated into its own battery system for commercial vehicles.

LONDON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in Edinburgh on Tuesday that the Brexit deal agreed by British Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU leaders will make Scotland poorer.

Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), published an analysis of the impact of May's deal on the people of Scotland, saying compared to staying in the EU, it will cost every resident of Scotland thousands of dollars.

27 Nov 2018; DW: Consumer groups from across the bloc have signaled their plans to file formal complaints against the tech giant. Google has been accused of secretly tracking users' movements even after they try to disable such features.

European consumer agencies on Tuesday said they will file complaints against Google for allegedly breaching the EU's data protection law GDPR by tracking the movements of users without their consent through features such as "location history" and "web and app activity."

27 Nov 2018; DW: Though he acknowledged the widespread anger over fuel taxes, the French president said he would not back down from his environmentally friendly policies. He also announced that France will delay capping nuclear power.

French President Emmanuel Macron stuck to his guns regarding France's fuel taxes on Tuesday, saying he won't "change course" amid the country-wide "yellow vest" protests.

People in Germany and the United States appear to have very different ideas about the state of relations between their countries. Germans see Berlin and Washington increasingly at odds, but Americans are more positive.

A study published on Monday by the Pew Research Center found that Americans and Germans were "worlds apart" in how they viewed their countries' relations with one another. 

While most Germans said current ties were at something of a low point, a comfortable majority of Americans viewed relations positively.

27 Nov 2018; DW: German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said Germany could mediate between Ukraine and Russia in the ongoing crisis in the Sea of Azov. But some critics in Germany are calling on Berlin to help Kyiv militarily.

Angela Merkel and various members of her Cabinet have appealed to both sides of the Ukraine-Russia conflict to de-escalate amid Ukraine's calls for more military support from Germany and NATO.

27 Nov 2018; AFP: A German man who launched a shrapnel bomb attack on the team bus of football club Borussia Dortmund in April 2017 to make money on the club's shares diving was on Tuesday sentenced to 14 years in jail.

A court in Dortmund found Sergej Wenergold, 29, guilty of 28 counts of attempted murder after he detonated three explosive devices while the team bus was en route to the stadium for a Champions League game last year.

27 Nov 2018; AFP: A court in Crimea on Tuesday ordered two months' detention for Ukrainian sailors captured in a confrontation at sea with Russia, in a move likely to further stoke tensions between Moscow and Kiev.

The 24 sailors have been held by Moscow since Sunday, after Russian forces seized three of Kiev's ships off the coast of Crimea, sparking the most dangerous crisis between the ex-Soviet neighbours in years.