Germany in Brief

Germans firms failing workers with children

German minister for family affairs Renate Schmidt harshly criticized German firms on Tuesday for not doing enough for employees who have children. Speaking at a Hertie Foundation awards ceremony in Düsseldorf honoring family-friendly firms, Schmidt said, "it must be made cool for firms to be more family and women-friendly." Since the initiative's start in 1999, a mere 70 firms out of the 3 million nationwide have been singled out for doing enough to warrant a "career and family" certificate, which is handed out by the foundation to firms with family-friendly policies. According to an extensive study undertaken by the Hertie Foundation, which was founded in 1974 by the children of the Hertie department store founder Georg Karg, 90 percent of German firms did not believe they could offer workers with children a better deal at work with the introduction of office crèches or flexible working hours.

Hamburg customs blunder

Customs at the Hamburg harbor admitted on Tuesday they auctioned a car without realising it also contained 10 kgs (22 lbs) of cocaine. The Customs Investigation Authority (ZFA) in the northern German city said x-rays used to scan the car -- which was originally imported from Mexico and impounded in 1997 -- had missed the stash, despite picking up on a further 54 kgs (120 lbs). "The software used to scan the car in 1997 was not sophisticated enough to pick up the other 10 kilograms," said Hamburg ZFA spokesman Robert Duetsch. The car had been in storage until it was sold off last month, whereupon the new owner discovered the 11 bags of the white powder, each weighing 900 grams hiddden in the trunk of the car. The man returned immediately to customs with the drugs, which the ZFA said would have had a street value of 500,000 euro ($563,800) in 1997.

New hope for Spina Bifida babies

German scientists have developed a new technique for operating on unborn babies who develop the crippling birth defect, Spina Bifida. Doctors at Bonn's University hospital say the minimally invasive endoscopic operation on the baby's malformed spine whilst still in the womb has been carried out on three occasions, twice successfully. Until now, babies who suffer the permanently disabling defect, which occurs when the base of the spine does not close properly during the first month of pregnancy, are operated on within 24 hours of birth. Bonn university hospital pediatrician Thomas Kohl said the babies who have undergone the new procedure were born with only minimal crippling damage to their legs and reported their bladder and bowels functioned almost normally. Kohl cautioned that the long term effect of the new technique would only be determinable two years after birth, however.

Germany's software piracy king jailed

Germany's most prolific software pirate was sentenced to three years behind bars on Tuesday. In the largest-known case of its kind in Germany, the 42-year-old illegally downloaded PC programs, films and music worth more than €1 million before selling them on. His 37-year-old girlfriend, who collected money from her boyfriend's customers, was ordered to pay a fine of €2700.

Complied by DW staff from wire services