Berlin
Dr. Cheat: German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg gave up his Ph.D. this week after newspapers revealed he had plagiarized much of his 2006 doctoral thesis. Guttenberg, a conservative Bavarian aristocrat married to a direct descendent of Otto von Bismarck, is a star in German politics and has been tipped as a possible future chancellor. The scandal, dubbed “Copygate,” has dominated headlines in Germany, where academic titles are highly respected. Chancellor Angela Merkel has a doctorate in physics, and 11 of her 15 Cabinet members also have doctorates. Guttenberg said he was giving up the title “temporarily” while university authorities looked into the sourcing of his dissertation on constitutional law. “I made mistakes,” he said. “But I didn’t do them on purpose.”
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Squatters face eviction: One of Europe’s oldest squats could be razed following a court decision in Denmark last week. Christiania was founded in 1971 by a group of hippies who took over an abandoned naval base in Copenhagen, building makeshift houses painted in psychedelic colors and filling the air with hashish smoke. Authorities allowed them to live rent-free, paying just a nominal sum for utilities, and over the decades the “free city” became a tourist attraction. But after the center-right took power in 2001, the government launched a legal battle to “normalize” Christiania, and it won a final verdict last week. The 900 residents said they would resist attempts to evict them. “We have a battle we must fight and some rights to fight for,” said resident Allan Lausten.
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