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Germany Celebrates Fall of the Wall

 Germany Celebrates 
 Fall of the Wall  
SLIDESHOW

Germany Celebrates Fall of the Wall

Twenty years later, unified country celebrates togetherness

(Newser) - Fireworks illuminated the rainy skies above Berlin as Germans and high-profile visitors came together today to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall exactly 20 years ago. President Obama unexpectedly joined the festivities—in a video greeting introduced by Hillary Clinton. "There could be no clearer rebuke of tyranny,...

Germany Hails Anniversary of Berlin Wall's Fall
 Germany Hails 
 Anniversary of  
 Berlin Wall's Fall  
party like it's 1989

Germany Hails Anniversary of Berlin Wall's Fall

Dominoes, fireworks, music help mark 20 years

(Newser) - Hundreds of foam dominoes will fall today in Berlin, symbolizing the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has called Nov. 9, 1989, "the happiest day in recent German history," will lead the festivities....

Au Revoir, Paris Nightlife

 Au Revoir, Paris Nightlife 
CITY OF SLEEP?

Au Revoir, Paris Nightlife

Noise ordinances strangle once-legendary music and party scene

(Newser) - Paris, a city whose decadent nightlife was once the stuff of legend, is looking more like a museum these days: pretty, quiet, and closed at night. Gentrification of former party neighborhoods has brought an influx of residents unwilling to put up with noise; resulting noise ordinances have caused music venues...

U2's Berlin Show Walled Off
 U2's Berlin Show Walled Off 

U2's Berlin Show Walled Off

Ticketless fans will need to scale these city walls to peek

(Newser) - Outraged Berliners are complaining that building a new wall in the heart of their city is a less-than-ideal way of marking 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down. U2 will play a free concert in Berlin tonight as part of the weeklong anniversary celebrations, but organizer MTV has erected...

Obama Coming Up Short on Human Rights
Obama Coming Up Short
on Human Rights
OPINION

Obama Coming Up Short on Human Rights

President's actions don't match the promises that wowed Berliners

(Newser) - President Obama's decision to skip the celebrations of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall highlights the gap between his rhetoric on the campaign trail and the realities of his presidency, writes Bret Stephens. Obama hailed the "dream of freedom" in his big speech in Berlin last...

Brothel Goes 'Green' With Bike Discount

Public transit passengers get a price break, too

(Newser) - A Berlin brothel that offers a discount to patrons who arrive by bicycle or public transportation is touting itself as the first “green” sex stop. Clients simply present their helmet, bike lock, or bus ticket at the Maison d’Envie, which just happens to be in a district where...

Domino Wall to Fall on Berlin Anniversary

'Domino-Aktion' to mark 20 years since Berlin Wall toppled

(Newser) - Twenty years after a domino effect of resistance toppled Communist regimes across Europe and brought down the Berlin Wall, the Germans are trying it again with actual dominoes. Volunteers have crafted almost 1,000 8-foot-tall Styrofoam dominoes and plan to assemble them along the path of the old Wall through...

Ecstasy, Heroin Linked to German Therapy Deaths

Doc aimed to 'expand consciousness'

(Newser) - Ecstasy and heroin were among the substances supplied by a Berlin therapist who said he aimed to "expand consciousness" during a session that killed two patients, German papers are reporting. Another patient remains in a coma. All 12 participants were rushed to a hospital after they fell ill during...

Semenya Tests Reveal 'Triple Testosterone'

(Newser) - Pre-race World Championship blood tests on super South African runner Caster Semenya revealed testosterone levels three times typical female rates, a source tells the Telegraph. The results of the tests, carried out in South Africa, contributed to a decision by sports officials to call for "gender verification" tests on...

Lighting-Fast Bolt Smashes 100-Meter Record

(Newser) - Jamaica's Usain Bolt shattered the world record for the 100-meter race today, shearing more off the previous best time—his own—than anyone in recorded history, reports the Chicago Tribune. With a 2 mph tailwind, the 22-year-old clocked in at just 9.58 seconds—0.11 seconds faster than the...

20 Years Later, Berlin Starts Saving Wall

(Newser) - After many years of indifference, Berliners have started getting serious about saving what's left of the most famous symbol of the Cold War, Der Spiegel reports. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, locals viewed it as merely an unfortunate reminder of  a bad past and little thought was given...

Green Berlin Brothel Offers Cyclists Discount

(Newser) - A Berlin brothel is trying to boost business and make the red-light district a greener place with a new discount program, Reuters reports. Patrons who cycle to the brothel or who can prove they got there on public transport will get $7 off the usual $100 price, according to the...

Gay Penguins Raise Chick
 Gay Penguins Raise Chick 

Gay Penguins Raise Chick

(Newser) - A pair of homosexual male penguins is raising a chick together, the BBC reports. A zoo in Germany reports that one of its three pairs of gay males hatched the egg after it was rejected by its biological parents. "Since the chick arrived, they have been behaving just as...

Hitler Sells Again in Germany
 Hitler Sells Again in Germany 

Hitler Sells Again in Germany

(Newser) - The Broadway hit musical comedy The Producers finally opened in Berlin to boffo box office receipts—but not before in intense sales push to break through German reluctance to see an ersatz Hitler hamming it up on stage, reports the Los Angeles Times. "If you put it on most...

German Tempers Heat Up Over Cold War Tourist Traps

'Snackpoint Charlie,' actors in military uniforms labeled disrespectful to dead

(Newser) - The Disneyfication of Cold War landmarks in Berlin has irked people with bad memories of East Germany, the Independent reports. Critics, including former Allied officers and those who suffered under oppressive rule, argue that the atmosphere around places like Checkpoint Charlie—where actors in military uniforms hustle tourists for coins...

'Funny Fuhrer' Finally Hits Berlin

'The Producers' inspires uneasy laughs with its German debut

(Newser) - The Producers has goose-stepped its way onto a German stage 76 years after the springtime when Hitler took power, the New York Times reports. There were plenty of laughs—if sometimes uneasy ones—on opening night Sunday, but the Nazi-mocking musical and its swastika-laden ads prompted a fresh round of...

Corpses Having Sex Sparks Uproar

Popular traveling exhibit of bodies triggers new controversy

(Newser) - A controversial traveling exhibit of preserved bodies has sparked a storm of controversy with a new addition of corpses having sex, reports the Guardian. "It's not meant to be sexually stimulating," said creator Gunther von Hagens, who opens the Berlin exhibit to the public today. German politicians and...

Merkel in Her Undies Drives Berliners Wild

Berliners fascinated by provocative billboard

(Newser) - A striking new ad featuring a drawing of Angela Merkel wearing only underwear has attracted the fascination of Berlin residents, the Local reports. Placed prominently in a busy shopping district, the billboard depicts Merkel with other figures from German politics—also in their skivvies—looking on. "The chancellor's office...

Berlin Pols Target 'Disneyland' Soldiers

They're turning serious monument into 'Disneyland:' officials

(Newser) - German politicians want the fake Cold War soldiers who pose near Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate gone, because they’re turning a somber symbol of the nation’s unification into “Disneyland,” Der Spiegel reports. The performers don American, East German, and Soviet military gear and snap photos with tourists...

Nazi-Mocking Producers Coming to Berlin

(Newser) - This could be awkward. Mel Brooks’ The Producers has been a smash around the world, but will the Hitler-mocking musical play in Germany? The Admiralspalast theater in Berlin—which the real Führer once frequented—is betting Germans are ready to laugh at the blood-soaked past, the Daily Mail reports....

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