Free Republic

KRÜN, Germany — It is a tale of beer summitry gone awry. The day after President Obama clinked glasses of Bavarian ale with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in a picturesque village square at the foot of the Alps, the town’s mayor confirmed that his beverage had been nonalcoholic. Mr. Obama’s carefully choreographed sausage-and-beer moment with Ms. Merkel – complete with townspeople in traditional dress and long alphorns serenading them – was intended in part to showcase the leaders’ warm bond after a period of recent strains in their relationship. “It was a very fine beer,” Mr. Obama told reporters...

Berlin dig finds city older than thought By DAVID RISING, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 30, 1:59 PM ET BERLIN - An archaeological dig in downtown Berlin has uncovered evidence that the German capital is at least 45 years older than had previously been established, authorities said Wednesday. During excavation work last week in the Mitte district, archaeologists uncovered a wooden beam from an ancient earthen cellar, said Karin Wagner of the city-state's office for historical preservation. It was in exceptionally good condition, having lain under the water table for centuries, and scientists were able to determine from a sample...

Video at site.

LONDON, May 16 (IranMania) - Iran is working to obtain long-range missiles which could threaten the whole of Europe, the former head of Israel's military intelligence said, AFP reported. "Iran already has surface-to-surface missiles capable of being equipped with nuclear warheads with a 1,500 (930 miles) kilometer range but it will in the future have missiles with a range of 5,000 kilometers, which will threaten the whole of Europe," Aharon Zeevi told a conference in Tel Aviv. Iranian President Mahmoud "Ahmadinejad is promising the end of history in two or three years' time and I suggest that we believe him,"...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the Group of Seven wealthy democracies have agreed that the world should phase out the use of fossil fuels by the end of this century. Merkel said Monday that the G-7 leaders committed themselves to the need to “decarbonize the global economy in the course of this century.” That is a technical term for ending the use of oil, gas and coal – but not nuclear power – and replacing them with alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar power.

Live FoxNews Video Presser.

One is the plight of Greece, with the nation's leftist government and its creditors engaged in the latest round of brinksmanship over its debt. Greece is running out of cash, but international creditors are refusing to release bailout money unless the government makes concessions. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected on a platform of fighting back against European-imposed austerity, has refused to budge. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, had expected to have a proposal from Tsipras several days ago, but he was "visibly angry," according to The Guardian... A Greek exit would pose a challenge to a beleaguered...

President Barack Obama is aiming to show unity with Western allies on global challenges during an overnight trip to Germany, especially Chancellor Angela Merkel amid enduring anti-Americanism in her country over U.S. spying programs. Obama and Merkel plan to open his visit Sunday with a public display of friendliness, delivering remarks about the U.S.-German alliance before taking a walk through the picturesque alpine village of Kruen to sample the Bavarian food and sights. Then the two plan to meet privately at the nearby site of the two-day summit of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations to coordinate their agenda...

June 6 will forever be the anniversary of one of the most fateful days in modern history: the Allied D-Day invasion of Normandy. By day’s end American, British, and Canadian troops had breached Germany’s Atlantic Wall defenses and established a foothold in Western Europe. With Soviet armies rolling in from the east Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime was caught in a gigantic vise. Its defeat was now only a matter of time. Considering the pivotal nature of June 6, 1944, how did Hitler react to the attack? Did he rant, did he rail? Did he move with focused calm to try...

President Obama's stunning declaration that the global image of the United States has greatly improved under his administration is another example of his ideology and narcissism's blinding him to his many policy failures. During a White House event with the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, he managed to turn the subject to himself, saying, "People don't remember -- when I came into office, the United States in world opinion ranked below China and just barely above Russia. And today, once again, the United States is the most respected country on earth." As evidence, the White House cited a Gallup poll,...

German factory orders rose in April for the second straight month in a positive sign for Europe's largest economy, government data showed Friday, while the country's central bank revised up its growth forecasts for this year and next. ... Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said that domestic economic activity in Germany is benefiting from low unemployment and "substantial income increases."

BELGRADE – The Serbs are among the rare nations that were completely on the right side in World War II, and Serbia has nothing to be ashamed of regarding the fight against Nazism, says Israeli Ambassador to Serbia Yossef Levy.Yossef Levy, Israeli Ambassador to Serbia In a statement published in Wednesday’s issue of Vecernje novosti, he said that the Serbs are among the rare nations that had the courage to fight against Nazi Germany without hesitation or fear. Levy declined to comment on the debate in the Serbian public and the region on the recent rehabilitation of General Dragoljub Mihailovic,...

The Obama administration is weighing a range of aggressive responses to Russia’s alleged violation of a Cold War-era nuclear treaty, including deploying land-based missiles in Europe that could pre-emptively destroy the Russian weapons. This “counterforce” option is among possibilities the administration is considering as it reviews its entire policy toward Russia in light of Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, its annexation of Crimea and other actions the U.S. deems confrontational in Europe and beyond.

German and French politicians are calling for a quantum leap in how the EU’s single currency is run, proposing an embryo eurozone treasury equipped with a eurozone finance chief, single budget, tax-raising powers, pooled debt liabilities, a common monetary fund, and separate organization and representation within the European parliament. They also propose that all teenagers in the EU be given the chance to spend a subsidized six months in another European country. In an article published in the Guardian and other European newspapers, Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s social democratic leader and vice-chancellor in Angela Merkel’s coalition government, and Emmanuel Macron, France’s...

'True, football, or soccer as it is known here, is not as central to American as it is to European, African or South and Central American life. Nowhere near. Up until recently, the game has been unloved by the major US television networks, which have long bemoaned the lack of breaks in play, the paucity of goals and the glut of draws. Absent from the US game are big-name male stars and big-name clubs. The New York Red Bulls will never rival the New York Yankees. Real Salt Lake pales, rather risibly, alongside Real Madrid. However, football is no longer...

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi travels to Berlin on Tuesday, where German leaders are ready to roll out the red carpet for the ex-general despite his government’s abysmal human rights record. The trip, a first state visit long desired by the former army chief, will see him meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck, who as an activist played a prominent role in ending repressive Communist rule in East Germany. El-Sissi will also meet corporate leaders at a business conference Thursday. El-Sissi’s office said he seeks to boost economic, military and security cooperation, and highlighted €4.4 billion ($4.8 billion) in...

Germany received more than 200,000 requests for asylum in 2014, with the country taking in nearly 800,000 migrants. The number is expected to be even more this year. Speaking to citizens in a conference on the quality of life in Germany on Monday, the Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would like to work for a culture that would be more welcoming towards refugees.

Germany’s birth rate has collapsed to the lowest level in the world and its workforce will start plunging at a faster rate than Japan's by the early 2020s, seriously threatening the long-term viability of Europe’s leading economy. A study by the World Economy Institute in Hamburg (HWWI) found that the average number of births per 1,000 population dropped to 8.2 over the five years from 2008 to 2013, further compounding a demographic crisis already in the pipeline. Even Japan did slightly better at 8.4. “No other industrial country is deteriorating at this speed despite the strong influx of young migrant...

The impoverished Gaza Strip is a “powder keg” at risk of exploding, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday during a visit to the war-torn territory. […] “We shall only be able to decisively reduce the risks of a fresh escalation if we allow economic development in the Gaza Strip in addition to humanitarian aid and reconstruction,” he said on a visit to Gaza City’s fishing port. That would only be possible “with open borders”—a reference to the tough restrictions on the movement of goods and people that have been imposed by Israel and Egypt. “But none of this will...

German Social Democratic Party (SPD) MEP Jo Leinen told The Local on Monday he was unhappy with comments from European Parliament (EP) President Martin Schulz, who suggested that Britain should be allowed to opt out of the call to work towards “ever closer union” among EU countries. “The only country that has opted out of European integration with special rules in the past decades has been Great Britain,” Schulz told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. “We would only be recognizing what has been true for London for a long time.” But Social Democratic MEP Jo Leinen told The Local that Schulz’s...