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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Germany defensive on NATO, points to existing spending plans German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas sought to brush offdoubts from the United States over Germanyʼs commitment to NATOon Thursday, saying that Berlin is "determined to fulfil our commitments." "We will do our part to ensure that NATO can meet all the challenges of the future," Maas said in Washington ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. Back in Berlin, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen repeated the governmentʼs pledge to spend more on defense, albeit in smaller increments than Washington would like. Germany plans to increase its defense spending to 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2024 and will then try to hit NATOʼs 2 percent target at an unspecified point in the future. Speaking in the Bundestag, Germanyʼs lower house of parliament, she added that "we cannot allow any doubt to arise regarding our solidarity" from partners in North America to ones in Europe.

Ethiopia crash: Pilots followed procedures, first official report says Pilots of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger jetthat crashed on March 10followed recommended procedures to rectify the planeʼs continued nosediving but in vain, Ethiopiaʼs transport minister said on Thursday. "The crew [repeatedly] performed all the procedures [...] provided by the manufacturer but was not able to control the aircraft," Dagmawit Moges told reporters in Addis Ababa, citing a preliminary report. She said the report recommended that Boeing should review the aircraft flight control system.

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Suspected Christchurch gunman to face 50 murder charges He is due to appear in court on Friday

The man suspected of carrying out the Christchurch mosque shootings is to be charged with 50 counts of murder, New Zealand police say.

Levi Strauss returns to stock market The company makes a comeback on the public markets with a valuation of $6.5 billion. DW traces the history of the maker of the famous blue jeans and its German connection.

German roots The inventor of the quintessential American garment was German-born Levi Strauss, who moved to New York following the death of his father. Strauss later traveled to San Francisco on the US West Coast to capitalize on the gold rush.

Here he made a fortune not by panning gold, but by inventing the blue jeans. Leviʼs museum Levi Strauss

was born in Buttenheim in the southern German state of Bavaria. His birth house, which is more than 300 years old, has been converted into a museum dedicated to the timeless piece of fashion. Birth of blue jeans It was one of Levi Straussʼ customers, tailor Jacob Davis, who actually first put metal rivets in menʼs work pants to increase their durability. Davis shared his idea with Strauss and the two together obtained a US patent on the riveted pants in 1873. The blue denim jeans — then called waist overalls — became an instant hit among the gold miners.

Where persecuted writers find refuge Rabab Haidar is one of the countless people looking for a secure life in Germany. A writer, translator and journalist, she fled Damascus in October 2018. The Syrian civil war, which has been going on for eight years, expelled her from her homeland. Haidar found refuge in Langenbroich in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia. For the past three decades, authors who can not freely write in their homelands have been

given the opportunity to stay in the former home of German writer Heinrich Böll. As one of these authors, Haidar received a one-year scholarship that has allowed her to live in peace and work on her second novel. Her first novel Land of the Pomegranate was published in 2012 and she also translated a volume of poetry by the Bahraini poet Iman Aseeri, The Book of the Female, into English.

Dubliners cautious as Merkel jets into town amid Brexit impasse Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Dublin on Thursday to meet with Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar. Brexit and the effects on EU-member Ireland with its UKmember Northern Ireland were high on the agenda. "Let me say, we will simply have to be able to do this [both preserve the single market and avoid a border in Ireland]," Merkel said.

"We have to be successful. We hope for a solution. But we simply have to be successful." Merkel expressed a personal understanding of the presence of borders and walls: "I personally come from a country that was for many years divided by a wall. I know what happens once borders, once walls fall. A heavy death toll has happened here."

Libyaʼs military strongman orders forces ʼto advanceʼ on Tripoli Libyaʼs military strongman General Khalifa Hifter (also commonly spelled Haftar in English) on Thursday announced the launch of an operation to seize the capital Tripoli from a rival government backed by the United Nations. It comes amid rising tensions in the oil-rich country — without a stable government since Western military intervention in 2011 — and just hours after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged calm and restraint in Libya.

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Auschwitz Museum asks visitors not to balance on train tracks The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museumimplored visitors to respect the memories of the 1.1 million people who were killed at the concentration camp — and not to balance on the train tracks that brought Holocaust victims to the site. "There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths," the museum wrote on Twitter. They also posted several pictures visitors had taken of themselves walking on the tracks. In recent years, numerous visitors to concentration camp museumsand other Holocaust memorialshave beencriticized for taking selfiesand other seemingly jovial pictures at the sites that remember the victims of Nazi genocide. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi death camp, where 1.1 million victims, including some 1 million Jewish prisoners, were killed. Last year,the Auschwitz Museum saw a record number of visitors, with 2.1 million people coming to visit the site.

F1 2019 — the runners and riders

Ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn rearrested in Tokyo The former Nissan chairman has reportedly been served a fourth arrest warrant based on a new financial misconduct accusation. He had been out on bail awaiting trial for reportedly misusing the carmakerʼs funds.

Japanese prosecutors have rearrested Carlos Ghosn, Nissanʼs former chairman, on new accusations of financial misconduct, according to local media reports. Ghosn, 65, had been out on bail awaiting trial for reportedly misappropriating funds while he was in charge of the Japanese automaker.

Read more: Whoʼs the man who could bring down Japanʼs auto industry?

What we know so far Japanese pub-

lic broadcaster NHK showed Japanese prosecutors entering Ghosnʼs temporary accommodation in Tokyo early Thursday morning and a car later going to the prosecutorsʼ office.Prosecutors have issued a fresh arrest warrant against the former Nissan executive.The arrest was based on suspicion that he diverted $5 million (€4.45 million) to a company linked to him.

Unconscious bias in NASAʼs spacewalk wardrobe fail?

A much hyped "all-female" spacewalk by two American astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain has been cancelled because they donʼt have the right-sized suits.

It was billed as "historic" — a world exclusive: the first ever "all-female" spacewalk at the International Space Station. And the two lucky gals were American astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch. But they fell, as so many others before them, because of an embarrassing wardrobe mal-

function. It wasnʼt their fault, but it was still almost as revealing as a redcarpet fail. Kochhas a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Physics, and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. McClainis a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army, with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering, and a Master of Science in International Relations. They are both ambassadors for science and humanity on the whole.

Itʼs all change in the Formula 1 paddock ahead of the 2019 campaign. Three familiar teams are likely to fight it out at the front, but two of them have fresh faces behind the wheel. Mercedes seeking sixth season in charge Defending champions Mercedes are one of just two teams with an unchanged driver roster this season. Five-time champ Lewis Hamilton and his Finnish wingman Valtteri Bottas will try to maintain the teamʼs perfect record in the turbohybrid engine era. Ever since the major engine overhaul of 2014, Mercedes have won everything in sight. Is it time for a change?

Múzeum+ February at Museum of Fine Arts The February edition of monthly event series Múzeum+ is being held on the 14th at the Museum of Fine Arts. For each of these events, besides interactive workshops and concerts, an English-language guided tour also features. This time the theme is German Renaissance Art, starting at 7pm. For the complete schedule, check the museum website.

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Germanyʼs FlixBus in talks to buy intercity competitor Eurolines FlixBus, which offers low-cost intercity bus travel across Europe, is negotiating to buy its smaller competitor Eurolines. French transport group Transdev, which owns Eurolines, and the Munich-based Flixbus confirmed on Monday that exclusive talks were underway, without disclosing the financial details. Eurolines, whose network spans 25 countries, operates French domestic routes under the Isilines brand, which would be part of the possible deal. "With this merger, FlixBus would have an even more comprehensive and more diverse offer to attract even more passengers.

We want to be the first choice for travelers across Europe," Flixbus managing director Jochen Engert said.

Airbnb cuts listings in Israeli West Bank settlements Home-rental platform Airbnb announced Monday it would no longer offer its service in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, drawing an angry response from Israel. Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, but most countries consider the Jewish settlements there to be illegal. The company said in a statement the decision would affect about 200 properties "in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians." "Our hope is that someday sooner rather than later, a framework is put in place where the entire global community is aligned so there will be a resolution to this historic conflict and a clear path forward for everybody to follow," it added. Palestinian and human rights groups had long called on Airbnb to remove the settlement listings from its site. Waleed Assraf, head of a Palestinian anti-settlement group welcomed the development, saying if more companies followed it would "contribute to achieving peace." Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin condemned the move as "the most wretched of wretched capitulations to the boycott efforts."