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Germany—buoyed by its cadre of family-owned niche companies—appears to be weathering the global slowdown, countering fears that Europe's economic powerhouse faces a sharp downturn that could deepen the region's debt crisis. A pair of bullish reports, on German employment and manufacturing, were reassuring on Wednesday: Unemployment remained at its lowest level in nearly two decades last month, while July machine orders jumped 9% from a year earlier. The latest data suggest that Europe's largest economy, which is expected to grow 3% this year, remains resilient, even as evidence mounts that the U.S. and much of the rest of the world...

Isn't it fun to watch fat cats get fatter? On top of his $739,695 base salary, UCLA administrator David Feinberg -- who serves as both associate vice chancellor and CEO of the university's hospital system -- received a $218,728 "award" from the UC Regents this month for a job well done. That brings his yearly earnings to about $1 million. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the regents approved Feinberg's bonus, along with roughly $3 million more in "incentive pay and raises" for top UC medical officials, on January 21.

The chancellor of UC Berkeley is drawing criticism for sending a campuswide e-mail that linked a Tucson shooting rampage with Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants and the failure of the DREAM Act. In the e-mail, sent Monday, Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau condemned a "climate in which demonization of others goes unchallenged and hateful speech is tolerated." He continued, postulating on factors that may have motivated Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged gunman in Saturday's shootings, .. : "I believe that it is not a coincidence that this calamity has occurred in a state which has legislated discrimination against undocumented persons." ......

Unemployment in Germany fell below 3m in October for the first time in 18 years, according to unadjusted figures released by the federal labour office. The government in Berlin greeted the news with delight and saw it as confirmation that its measures to revive the economy from last year’s recession had been timely and effective. Seasonally adjusted jobless figures showed rather less improvement, with a decline of just 3,000 in registered unemployed for a total figure of 3.153m, or 7.5 per cent of the labour force. The figures were leaked on Wednesday, a day early, by Ursula von der Leyen,...

Pope Benedict has called on immigrants to respect the laws and national identity of their host countries. He said that every country had the right to regulate the flow of migration and immigrants had a duty to integrate.The Pope's comments are likely to add to the Europe-wide debate about integration of foreigners.The Vatican traditionally identifies with migrants and refugees and recently criticised France for deporting 1,000 Roma (gypsies) to Romania and Bulgaria.During the summer, about 200 camps were dismantled.The policy aroused a sharp response from the EU and prompted the Pope to tell French pilgrims they should "accept legitimate human...

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France plans to propose a new security and economic relationship between Europe and Russia when he meets with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany this month in Deauville, senior French officials said Friday.

There was some interesting news breaking when St. Louis got its new archbishop: he announced was bringing along a woman who'd worked with him in Saginaw to be his chancellor. That's not unprecedented -- lay people have been allowed to fill that role since the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law -- but it's still out-of-the-ordinary. And the local paper has taken the time to profile the new chancellor-to-be: Nancy J. Werner is the first lay person, as well as first woman, to hold the post in the diocese’s history, which goes back to 1826. Only since 1983...

Ex-CCSF Chancellor, 2 Aides Plead Not Guilty Lance Williams, Chronicle Staff Writer July 14, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO -- The former chancellor of City College of San Francisco and two of his aides pleaded not guilty today to charges that they steered more than $150,000 in college funds into political campaigns. Former Chancellor Philip Day, 63, who faces eight felony charges, Administrative Services Officer Stephen Herman, 61, accused of seven felonies, and Vice Chancellor James Blomquist, 62, charged with one felony, entered their pleas in San Francisco Superior Court. The three are accused of using taxpayers' money to finance donations to...

Muslim figures elsewhere also continued to assail the Pope's comments, with one Turkish politician quoted as comparing him to the World War II dictators of Germany and Italy, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. “How can (the Pope) imply that Muslims are the creators of terrorism in the world while it is the followers of Christianity who have aggressed against every country of the Islamic world?” prominent Saudi cleric Salman al-Odeh said. “Who attacked Afghanistan and who invaded Iraq? ... The Pope's statements are an attempt to put a religious cover on injustice and political aggression practised by the American administration...

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel has overtaken US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the world's most powerful woman, according to a Forbes Magazine list published today. This time last year, Germany's first female chancellor was riding high in opinion polls as leader of the then-opposition conservative Christian Union but did not even feature in the ranks of Forbes's top 100 most powerful women. And besides Chinese Vice President Wu Yi, who slid one place this year to number three, the rest of the top 10 are business executives, topped by the chief executive-designate of PepsiCo, Indian born and educated Indra...

University of California, Berkeley, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau is creating a top-level post to focus on keeping the campus fair and welcoming. Birgeneau said he wants to make sure there is equal opportunity for students, faculty and staff regardless of religion, sexual orientation, race, gender or whether someone has a disability or not. "I very strongly believe that every single person (should) feel that this is a place where they belong, where they are respected for their individuality, for what they represent and their background," Birgeneau said Wednesday in announcing the new position at a back-to-school briefing. A national search is...

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday forcefully rejected a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeking cooperation with Germany, saying it did not even deserve an answer. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki delivered the letter to the German embassy in Tehran earlier this week. A German government official who saw the letter told Reuters it criticised Israel and said Germany and Iran should cooperate in dealing with Zionism and solving the Palestinian problem. "He's repeating the old thinking, which is totally unacceptable to us," Merkel told ZDF state television. "Israel's right to exist is a key part...

President Bush points out a member of the audience alongside Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) at the American Jewish Committee's Centennial dinner in Washington, May 4, 2006. REUTERS/Jason Reed NEW YORK (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Thursday for a united front to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, with no repeat of the European disunity that preceded the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. European powers were split in the months ahead of the invasion, with Britain, Italy and Spain lining up behind U.S. President George W. Bush, while France and Germany refused to support the war....

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2006 – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Bush pushed for U.N. sanctions against Iran in a news conference today at the White House. Bush said Iran's desire to develop a nuclear weapons program posed a "grave threat to the security of the world." "I'm not going to prejudge what the United Nations Security Council should do. But I recognize that it's logical that a country which has rejected diplomatic entreaties be sent to the United Nations Security Council," Bush said. The so-called "EU-3" --Britain, France and Germany -- have tried unsuccessfully to convince Iran to quit...

ANGELA Merkel will become Germany's first woman chancellor on Tuesday with the broadest parliamentary mandate in decades to pursue overdue economic reforms. Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) will form Germany's first "grand coalition" since 1969, commanding a crushing majority of 448 of the 614 seats in parliament's lower house. The two main parties also dominate the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, giving the new government an opportunity to implement reforms of the federal structure, pensions and taxes without fear of a veto. "The election taught me that Germans are hesitant to accept reforms," said...

By Noah Barkin and Claudia Kade BERLIN, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Conservative leader Angela Merkel will become Germany's first woman chancellor under a deal with Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) to break a post-election deadlock, sources said on Monday. Three weeks after voters gave Merkel's conservatives an unexpectedly narrow win over Schroeder's SPD in a federal election, senior sources from both parties said an agreement had been struck that should pave the way for a power-sharing cabinet. According to a senior SPD source, the SPD is poised to get the foreign, finance, justice and labour ministries in a new coalition...

Conservative leader Angela Merkel and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder failed to resolve their battle over who should lead Germany's new government but agreed to meet again to explore forming a right-left coalition to steer efforts to revive Europe's largest economy. Both Merkel and Schroeder have laid claim to building Germany's next government after neither party won a clear majority in parliamentary elections Sunday, leaving the country, the world's third-largest economy, in political crisis. The deadlock means Germany could spend weeks without leadership at a time when it desperately needs clear direction to push through badly needed economic reforms. Germany also wants...

Voting began in Germany's closely fought election today with millions of undecided voters holding the key to a result that will have major implications for economic reform in Europe. Angela Merkel, a Christian Democrat (CDU) chancellor, is expected to emerge as Germany's first woman chancellor, displacing Gerhard Schroeder who has led Germany for the past seven years at the head of a centre-left government of Social Democrats and Greens. A provisional result is expected to be announced in the early hours of Monday morning. The final opinion polls published on Friday gave Merkel's centre-right coalition with the liberal Free Democrats...

Taking reporters' questions with Bush after a White House meeting, Schröder endorsed the president's message about Iran. "We're going to continue being tough and firm," he said. "The message must stay very clear." But the two leaders did not make it entirely clear whether last week's election of a deeply conservative Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had opened any gap between European and American expectations of the talks aimed at halting any Iranian nuclear weapons work. Ahmadinejad has vowed to restart the country's uranium-enrichment program, suspended since November, for what he contends would be peaceful ends but which the White House...

WASHINGTON, June 27 - After a meeting with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany, President Bush said Monday that it was "unacceptable" for Iran to continue pursuing a nuclear program and strongly embraced European efforts to negotiate a deal to halt it. President Bush said on Monday that he and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany had agreed on a firm line on Iran. After an election in Iran that the administration dismissed as a sham, Mr. Bush said Monday that the United States and Europe were sending the country a "focused, concerted, unified message." Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, vowed after...

SUBJECT: CHANCELLOR'S EMAIL TO PREVIOUS WRITERS FROM: Office of the Chancellor SENDER: Collect@Colorado.edu DATE: March 24, 2005 Dear Friend: You were one of many citizens who wrote or called the University of Colorado at Boulder concerning the controversial essay about 9/11 written by Professor Ward Churchill. Because of your interest, I am writing to share with you the outcome of our review of allegations concerning Professor Churchill's conduct and scholarship. In short, our review team found that Professor Churchill's controversial essay on 9/11 and other public comments are protected by the First Amendment, but that other allegations of plagiarism, misuse...

05. März 2005 Printer Friendly Vrrsion Chancellor CandidatePoll Confirms Wulff's chances against SchröderGerhard Schröder must come to grips with a new opponent. According to a poll, Lower Saxony's Governor Christian Wulff would have considerable chances in a head to head election for the Federal Chancellor against the incumbent. DPA Christian Wulff: Challenger in the wings Bielefeld -- In a survey by the polling institute TNS Emnid for the news agency ddp 39 per cent of the people asked spoke for the 45-year-old CDU man Wulff. Chancellor Schröder is only five percentage points in front. In a direct election 44...

Bogotá. The supposed assistance given by Colombian guerrillas to the kidnappers of the daughter of the Paraguayan ex-president is further proof of the international tentacles of the rebels who finance themselves through criminal activities, said Colombia’s Minister of Defense, Jorge Alberto Uribe. "This only confirms the fact that Colombian narcoterrorist groups are not merely Colombians, they have roots and presence in every country", warned Uribe, who was visiting Holland, according to AP. "I was just with the people at Europol – the European police- and I saw four or five cases which involved people from these groups, especially" from the...

26 January 2005 Chancellor orders asset freezing against terror funders Chancellor Gordon Brown today instructed the Bank of England, as agent for Her Majesty’s Treasury, to direct financial institutions that any funds which they hold for or on behalf of Sulayman DARWISH must be frozen immediately. The action has been taken because HM Treasury has reasonable grounds for suspecting that Sulayman DARWISH meets the test under the Al Qa’ida and the Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2002 and the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2001. Notes to editors The Chancellor has instructed the Bank of England to direct all UK...

London 14.01.05 | Hugo Chavez, the greatest pariah ever to govern our nation, has just frozen diplomatic and trade relations with Colombia. The embarrassing thing for us decent Venezuelans is the reason for this breakage, i.e. the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Rodrigo Granda, FARC leader, was captured in Caracas by bounty hunters, when he was attending, as guest of honour, a Bolivarian celebration organized by the government of Venezuela. The Chavez regime then incurred in a series of mishaps, distortions and outright lies to cover its cosy relationship with the terrorist, who happened to have been naturalized in...

Noe Pernia is a reporter for Channel 2 News in Caracas, known as "El Observador". Because of the muzzle Bill he was not able to report correctly the news on the Granda case. He writes this in today's Tal Cual: Jesse did not say the truth, neither did I By Noé Pernía I tried to construct a story, a simple story that would help TV viewers of El Observador understand the labyrinth of the Minister of The Interior and Justice since on Thursday the 6th., the day of the wise men, he replied to the lawyers of Rodrigo Granda in...

Stop the squabbling, MPs tell Blair and BrownBy George Jones and Toby Helm (Filed: 11/01/2005) Labour MPs delivered a stinging rebuke to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown last night for a new outbreak of feuding that has threatened to derail the start of the party's election campaign. A direct challenge was made to the Chancellor to deny or withdraw his reported claim that he no longer trusted a word the Prime Minister said - an accusation the Tories are preparing to use in their election material. Others called for party officials and ministers who were stoking the personal rivalry to...

London 04.01.05 | My astonishment with respect to the arrest of FARC leader Ricardo Granda in Caracas continues to grow, not because Granda was in Caracas as a guest of honour of Hugo Chavez but rather due to the outlandish nerve of the FARC in condemning Chavez via public communiqués. Mind you what sort of moral stance a bunch of assassins have to be claiming anything to anyone? Their rights to claim were forfeited the moment they decided to start killing innocent peasants to achieve whatever goal they set out to reach. What's more, according to UN reports 1 million...

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) confirmed that Rodrigo Granda Escobar, known as "the Chancellor" was kidnapped in Venezuela, while attending the Second Bolivarian Peoples Conference. In a statement published on their web page, the Central Command of this organization blamed the kidnapping of "Ricardo", as he is known within FARC, on "the Colombian intelligence services" and blamed his deportation on "gringo advisors and the complicit support of corrupt elements of the Venezuelan police". In the statement they went on to ask that the government of Venezuela make "its position clear regarding guarantees to the other bolivarian organizations that...

London 03.01.05 | Undoubtedly internet is the true revolution, so much so that a bunch of assassins, otherwise known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), have their own website where they post communiqués and other stuff. During last December's meeting in Caracas of guerrilla fighters, leftist talebans and revolutionaries, Ricardo Granda a.k.a FARC's 'foreign secretary' was arrested by Colombian police forces and whisked to Colombia. FARC leaders weren't amused by the operation and have released a communiqué criticising comrade Hugo for lack of protective measures towards such honourable guests. These guerrilla fighters must truly enjoy to crack bad...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles said the campus may need to more than double its undergraduate tuition to remain a top-rate, research university. UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said Thursday that such a hike is years away, and he promised to boost financial aid if a fee increase were approved. But his statement may serve as a harbinger of the UC system's move away from its founding mission of a providing tuition-free university. The UC's seven undergraduate programs all charge roughly the same fees. Carnesale said that it might be appropriate for some...

Texas Tech coach Bob Knight has been suspended for five days, a result of his verbal confrontation with university chancellor David Smith on Monday at a grocery store in Lubbock, ESPN's Dick Vitale reports. Pat Knight will replace his father as coach of the Red Raiders for their home game Tuesday night against Baylor, ESPN.com's Andy Katz reports. Pat Knight, aware of the five-day action, also assumes he will coach the team Saturday when the Red Raiders visit Kansas in Lawrence. However, neither Pat Knight or the rest of the Texas Tech coaching staff had been told definitely that Bob...

Schröders SPD party lost two elections in German major states of Hesse and (Schröders home state) Lower Saxony. The conservative CDU party now has a comfortable majority with 41 seats of 69 in the German Federal Council - that means that Schröder cannot pass important laws without the approval of the oppositional CDU/CSU. The SPD lost up to 15% compared to the last elections and giving the CDU nearly absolute majority in both states. The result is also interesting because Schröder made these elections with an anti-war-campaign again. This is the first answer of the voters after September elections and...

The Schröder government is facing what is likely to be its toughest test yet, as it battles against the tide of economic doom and gloom. As yet, there is little cause for hope. Gerhard Schröder and his cabinet will breathe a sigh of relief that this week is over. And the German chancellor and his government coalition of Social Democrats and Greens will hope that the weekend offers a little respite. On Friday at least there was a slight sense of achievement, after the government's first major reform package targeting the labor market was passed in parliament. The reform, based...

WEB EXTRA School-sponsored 9-11 The "Star Spangled Banner" is too patriotic, divisive and political, so organizers of UC Berkeley's day-long tribute to the victims and heroes of 9-11 are excluding it. "God Bless America" is doubly excluded. Not only is it patriotic, but it also mentions God, something else that is taboo next Wednesday.The Sept. 11 Day of Remembrance, sponsored by the Chancellor's office, the student body government and the Graduate Assembly, will also feature student leaders distributing white ribbons, instead of the red, white and blue ones they had originally planned."We thought that may be just too political, too...