Free Republic

Berlin - The United States opened a monumental new embassy in Berlin on Friday, returning the diplomats to their rightful place, 67 years after Washington declared war on the Nazis. Former US president George HW Bush, the ambassador to Germany William Timken, and his wife Sue Timken together cut a ribbon to symbolically let VIP guests enter the 130-million-dollar chancery. The multi-storey building occupies a commanding site between the Holocaust Memorial and Brandenburg Gate. US diplomats had left the site in 1941. During the decades of communism, the empty land had been part of a desolate no-man's land along the...

The economic wastelands of the former East Germany are becoming the focus for a rush for reserves of oil as world prices rise to unprecedented levels. Companies from across the globe, including Britain, have been competing to locate and tap oil fields once considered too small to be profitable. But with prices now flirting with a record $140 a barrel, and forecast to keep rising, an oil rush is on to recover every last drop of Germany's energy resources. "In 1990, all oil production was stopped in East Germany as it was not profitable," said Klaus Freytag, from the office...

The German government has shrugged off a verbal attack on Chancellor Angela Merkel by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez who called her a political descendant of Adolf Hitler and stopped just short of telling her to go to hell. The two leaders might meet at an upcoming summit in Peru. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined a long list of government leaders to receive a verbal savaging from Venezuela's outspoken President Hugo Chavez, but she appears to be intent on ignoring the abuse. Chavez, speaking on Sunday in his weekly TV and radio program, said of Merkel: "She is from the...

Angela Merkel shows she's keeping abreast of foreign affairs on a State visit last night - and teaching our Home Secretary Jacqui Smith a lesson into the bargain. Germany's Chancellor revealed her impressive decolletage while chatting to Norway's prime minister Jens Stoltenberg at the opening of Olso Opera House. And to his credit, Mr Stoltenberg maintained crucial, and diplomatic, eye contact with his guest at the inauguration of the cultural landmark.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Boeing Co. has announced another delay involving its 787 jetliner, pushing back its expected debut in commercial service to the third quarter of 2009. It's the fourth time Boeing has had to revise the schedule for the top-selling plane, which has been plagued by supply-chain problems. The latest setback had been expected by analysts as well as customers of the aircraft. It further undermines the company's credibility after failing to deliver on its previous three scheduled plans for the 787. Boeing says the plane's first flight now won't take place until the fourth quarter of this...

Manufacturing is the key AMID the heady decadence of the Roaring Twenties in Berlin there arrived a man carrying a suitcase containing everything he owned. In his pocket he had a few Reichsmarks but barely enough for a city revelling in extravagance and extremes. He looked provincial, which he was, and decidedly out of place. But Gustav Krone had not exchanged the blackened skyline and smokestacks of the Ruhr to abandon himself to the fleshpots of Berlin. He was the eldest of a family of 10 children from Remscheid and was out to make his fortune. Within a few short...

After decades of war-related silence and shame, Germany proudly celebrated a military hero last night, rolling out the red carpet for "Red" Baron von Richthofen. The new attitude was on display as stars and celebrities, including British actor Joseph Fiennes, were due to gather for the Berlin premiere of a new film about the Baron. It is set to mark a new departure for German war films, which usually reflect on the extremism, suffering and even lunacy of the Nazi era ­ if they get made at all. The Red Baron in contrast, portrays a brilliant and honourable military figure...

NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) probably won't deliver its first 787 Dreamliner until July next year at the earliest, a Goldman Sachs analyst said on Friday, potentially adding another six-month delay onto the troubled program, which is already nine months behind schedule. Airlines are still enthusiastic about Boeing's new carbon-composite plane, which promises to cut fuel costs by 20 percent, but some are starting to show impatience with slow progress on the aircraft, which was originally set to enter service in May this year. "We now think deliveries will start in the third...

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Details emerged on Monday about how dramatically Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and its European partner beat Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to win a $35 billion tanker aircraft competition, as furious Boeing supporters called the contract "a multibillion dollar gift to Europe." "This was not a close outcome in any sense of the term," defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute told Reuters, describing how Boeing failed to beat Northrop in any of the key criteria for the aerial refueling contract. "Northrop won decisively and completely," said Thompson, who has...

A late winter storm raged across much of western Europe overnight Friday and through much of Saturday, with winds measuring over 220 kilometres per hour in places, leaving several dead, uprooting trees, cutting off electricity and causing a train crash. In Germany, a high-speed ICE train crashed before dawn Saturday into a tree that fell on a track during a storm raging across Europe, and at least two motorists were killed in other storm-related accidents. The German railways said the engine driver was injured in the collision at Bruehl near Bonn, but the high-speed inter-city express train, bound for Vienna,...

THE COMEBACK OF THE GERMAN DINOSAURS Industry Returns as Economic Engine By Christian Reiermann The comeback of German manufacturing contradicts the notion that the future belongs to the service industry. Manufacturing firms are currently the engines of growth in the German economy, even for the service sector. These days Michael Walter, 43, often finds himself committing what would normally be considered sacrilege in the business world: He's turning customers away before they can even place an order with him. "I simply have to tell them that I won't be able to help them until later, says Walter, the CEO of...

A German utility giant plans to sink new oil wells in a location the federal government wants to see listed as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Environmentalists are opposed -- but even the WWF can't say for sure what the effects will be. Werner Schuhbauer's talents are in strong demand these days. Few other employees of RWE Dea, a German oil and gas exploration and production company, have his talent for playing the role of the bad guy. Whenever a puddle of oil is found on a North Sea beach, Schuhbauer swings into action. His company is pumping oil from the...

To judge from its state election campaigns, Germany's governing parties are flirting with recklessness. THE blows were struck in Bavaria but the impact was felt as far away as Hesse. On December 20th a young Greek and his Turkish companion answered a pensioner who told them to stop smoking on the Munich underground by beating him up. “We have too many young foreign criminals,” responded Roland Koch (above, with Angela Merkel). Mr Koch is fighting to be re-elected for a third term as Hesse's premier. Foreign miscreants, he declared, should be deported; young ones should be taught a lesson with...

I'm surprised nobody has posted this before, so here are the first exit polls / projections: Civic Platform - PO: 44.2% Law and Justice - PiS: 31.3% Left and Democrats - LiD: 12.2% Polish People's Party / Peasant Party - PSL: 7.9% Unfortunately, the link is in Polish, so only those who speak it need to click!

WARSAW, Poland (Reuters) -- Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he expected early elections in the autumn after his conservative party gave him the green light on Saturday to push for a snap vote to end weeks of political turmoil. Early elections have been on the cards in the biggest ex-communist EU member after bitter fighting within the coalition formed by the ruling Kaczynski twins, a far-right party and a rural leftist faction. "Elections could be on October 21," Kaczynski told a news conference. "In November at the latest."

GERMAN ARMY DIGESTS SATURDAY'S AFGHAN ATTACK Troops Keen to Return to Work, Despite Deadly Risk Despite the shock, the mourning and the rage, the German soldiers stationed in Kunduz have no doubts about their mission in Afghanistan. They know that its success hinges on their staying in touch with the local population. Despite Saturday's bomb blast that killed three of their comrades, they are willing to take the risk. Peer Luther smokes a lot, one cigarette after another. As soon as he's stubbed one out, his powerful hands roll another one from dark tobacco. Having something to do, not allowing...

Germany Raids Leftist 'Terrorists' Ahead of G-8 Summit Security officials have carried out a series of raids on left-wing organizations across Germany, saying radicals are plotting violent attacks during the upcoming G-8 summit. German security officials launched a series of raids Wednesday on suspicions that left-wing radicals are planning violent attacks when Germany hosts the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm this June. Nine hundred security officials searched some 40 sites in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen and other parts of northern Germany. It took twenty federal prosecutors to coordinate the raids. "The militant extreme left groups and their members are suspected of having...

The Club of Competitors EU members turn on one another, all for the better. By Stefan Theil Newsweek International May 14-21, 2007 issue - If the reports are on target, Europe will grow faster than America in 2007—for the first time in six years. European Union countries created 2 million new jobs last year, cutting unemployment to its lowest since 1991. Better, growth is no longer confined to outliers like Britain, Spain or the Baltic mini-states. Europe's resurgence is driven by the behemoth at the continent's heart, Germany. After 15 years of malaise, the EU's traditional locomotive grew at almost...

Germany's President Horst Köhler has refused clemency to the convicted RAF terrorist Christian Klar. German President Horst Köhler has refused to grant early release to convicted Red Army Faction terrorist Christian Klar. Köhler's office announced Monday that the president had turned down Klar's plea for clemency, as well as a similar plea from fellow RAF member Birgit Hogefeld. Both Klar and Hogefeld are serving life sentences for murder. The 54-year-old Klar has been in prison for 24 years and is two years away from being eligible for parole. He is serving a life sentence for his role in the murder...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reoriented Germany away from Russia and toward the United States. Expanded economic ties are just one area of renewed cooperation. But could Germany get burned like the British did? The gift brought by a guest says a lot about his or her intentions. The love-sick romantic shows up with a dozen red roses. A box of Cohiba cigars is the classic gift between men in the West. Purebred horses and trained falcons, on the other hand, are the gift of choice among men in the Arab world. When German chancellors travel, their hosts usually receive...