Berlin

Stories 121 - 140 | << Prev   Next >>

Brothel Battles Downturn with Flat-Rate Pass

Berlin club charges $90 for 'everything—ladies, drinks, and food'

(Newser) - A Berlin brothel is fighting world economic gloom with a special offer: a flat-rate, unlimited, all-access pass, Der Spiegel reports. For about $90, clients are free to get chummy with all the workers. Men can even bring their wives. “70 euros, that includes everything—ladies, drinks and food,”...

Grumpy Berliners Learn to Smile

Friendliness campaign gives city an image makeover

(Newser) - Berlin may not be a city of churlish insults and bad manners much longer. Long known for the rudeness of its residents, the German capital is on a “friendliness offensive,” Der Spiegel reports. Pegged to its annual tourism convention, Berlin’s campaign aims to boost the number of...

Berlin Protesters Torch Luxury Cars
Berlin Protesters Torch Luxury Cars
Feb 27, 2009 3:13 PM CST

Berlin Protesters Torch Luxury Cars

Sardonically named 'BMW' claims responsibility for arsons

(Newser) - As the financial crisis inflames class tensions, economic protest in Berlin has taken the form of arson attacks on luxury cars, Bloomberg reports. Activists have torched more than 2 dozen vehicles this year, and the pace is increasing. A group puckishly calling itself “BMW”—an acronym for "...

German Politician: Let the Poor Catch Rats

Advocates for poor squeal about Dickensian plan

(Newser) - One German politician has a solution to help Berlin's poor: let them catch the rats that are plaguing the city. "People who collect bottles could get one euro [$1.40] for every dead rat," he cheerfully explained. But the Dickensian plan, which may be officially introduced today, wasn't...

Berlin Divided Over Wild Boars
 Berlin Divided Over Wild Boars 
Dec 16, 2008 9:54 AM CST

Berlin Divided Over Wild Boars

Some locals call for extermination, shocking others

(Newser) - Berliners are sharing their city with thousands of wild boars—and citizens are split on how to treat the porkers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some prefer a more aggressive approach: Don’t feed them corn, says one licensed urban boar hunter, “feed them lead." But others are...

Bow WOW! Berlin Opens Soup Kitchen for Dogs

New leash on life for pets of struggling humans

(Newser) - Things are apparently woof all over—so Berliners have now opened a soup kitchen for dogs. Businesses have donated pet food and funds so that hounds belonging to homeless people and the unemployed can chow down. Organizers shrug off criticism that their efforts would be put to better use serving...

Artist to Smoke Kurt Cobain's Ashes

Nirvana frontman's supposed remains, stolen from wife, will star in Berlin exhibition

(Newser) - An Australian performance artist who claims to have obtained late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s ashes will smoke them at a Berlin exhibition, NME reports. Artist Natascha Stellmach says the lighting up will symbolize Cobain’s ultimate freedom from the media. As to how she came by the remains, which...

Heart Attack Killed Knut-Keeper
 Heart Attack Killed Knut-Keeper 
Sep 23, 2008 1:34 PM CDT

Heart Attack Killed Knut-Keeper

Autopsy rules out foul play

(Newser) - Berlin prosecutors said an autopsy today showed that Thomas Doerflein, the zookeeper who gained fame for hand-rearing the polar bear cub Knut, died of a heart attack. The city's mayor paid tribute to him for writing Berlin history. "Other causes of death, in particular involvement by another party, are...

Reject Obama and World Will Revolt
 Reject Obama 
 and World Will Revolt 
OPINION
Sep 10, 2008 1:48 PM CDT

Reject Obama and World Will Revolt

A McCain victory would be a clear message to the globe

(Newser) - Electing John McCain would be a little like giving the rest of the world the finger, writes Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland. Judging from international polls, “if the free world could choose its leader, it would be Barack Obama,” he writes. And if the US rejects a once-in-a-generation leader,...

Berlin Opens Hitler's 'Future City' Tunnels

Network provides glimpse of megalomaniac's plans for world capital

(Newser) - Berlin has opened three vast tunnels under the city built as part of Adolf Hitler's vision of a grandiose Nazi capital, Reuters reports. The tunnels were to house a transit system beneath planned boulevards, squares, and huge buildings, including a Great Hall with room for 180,000 people. The Albert...

Obama's 'One World' Vision Too 'Radical': Bolton

Ex-ambassador takes exceptions to Democrat's globalism

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s Berlin speech seemed short on content, but actually revealed the senator’s radical globalist thinking, ex-UN ambassador John Bolton writes in the Los Angeles Times. Obama called himself a “citizen of the world,” and said the Berlin Wall fell because “the world stood as...

Obama Speech Plays Well With Euro Pundits
Obama Speech Plays Well With Euro Pundits
OPINION
Jul 25, 2008 12:28 PM CDT

Obama Speech Plays Well With Euro Pundits

Most praise it, with reservations

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s speech in Germany is drawing the full complement of responses in Europe, from glowing to scowling. Here are a few:
  • He’s “an idealist in the true spirit of the American success story,” writes Gerhard Spohl in Der Spiegel, and aspires to be "something
...

Obama's Empty Rhetoric Starting to Wear Thin
Obama's Empty Rhetoric Starting to Wear Thin
Opinion
Jul 25, 2008 9:59 AM CDT

Obama's Empty Rhetoric Starting to Wear Thin

Optimism needs substance, Brooks says

(Newser) - Say this for Barack Obama: He’s optimistic. Yesterday in Berlin he promised to “remake the world,” envisioned a “new dawn in the Middle East” and mentioned walls tumbling down no fewer than 11 times. It was trademark Obama rhetoric, writes David Brooks of the New York ...

Gimmickry Makes McCain the Howard Dean of 2008
Gimmickry Makes McCain
the Howard Dean of 2008
OPINION
Jul 25, 2008 1:00 AM CDT

Gimmickry Makes McCain the Howard Dean of 2008

His Berlins ad blast calls to mind antics Dem used in '03-04—when he didn't win, either

(Newser) - What’s the most apt parallel for John McCain’s underdog White House run? It’s Howard Dean’s gimmick-loving, maturity-lacking 2004 run, Ezra Klein writes in the American Prospect. McCain’s “whimsy” shone yesterday with ads in Berlin, NH; Berlin, Penn.; and Berlin, Wis. (with Barack Obama in...

Not Exactly JFK, But Obama Leaves Crowd Happy
Not Exactly JFK, But Obama Leaves Crowd Happy
opinion
Jul 24, 2008 6:23 PM CDT

Not Exactly JFK, But Obama Leaves Crowd Happy

His speech in Berlin is rather ordinary

(Newser) - Make no mistake, Barack Obama gave a fine speech in Berlin today, writes Shane Danielsen in the Guardian. But any comparisons to JFK can stop right there. His speech hit all the right notes but shaded more toward the ordinary than the memorable. The mood of the mostly young crowd...

Obama, in Berlin: There Are More Walls to Tear Down

Estimated 100K see Dem give long-awaited speech to Europe

(Newser) - Barack Obama told an estimated 100,000 in Berlin today that “America has no better partner than Europe.” Touching on climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, genocide, and human rights, the Democrat referenced Ronald Reagan’s famous plea to the Soviet Union—saying there are new “walls we must...

Free of History and Politics, Berlin Is Perfect for Obama

Even 'Victory Column' is associated now with a music festival

(Newser) - Forget the chatter about whether Barack Obama should be stopping in Brussels or giving Germany pride of place over France and Britain. Berlin is “quite an appropriate setting” for the candidate's big European speech, Cameron Abadi writes for the New Republic. The “existential angst of the Cold War”...

Obama in Berlin Ahead of Speech

Candidate meets Angela Merkel before public address

(Newser) - Barack Obama arrived in Berlin this morning, where he met Angela Merkel at the German chancellery ahead of a major speech this evening. The Europe leg of the candidate's tour followed an early-morning stop at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Obama will speak to the chancellor and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, her...

Obama Prays at Wailing Wall
 Obama Prays at Wailing Wall 
Jul 24, 2008 3:18 AM CDT

Obama Prays at Wailing Wall

Candidate wraps up Middle East tour with trip to one of Judaism's holiest sites

(Newser) - Barack Obama finished his Israel trip with a pre-dawn visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall this morning, Reuters reports. The candidate, wearing a skullcap, placed a prayer he had written in the wall as a rabbi read from a psalm. A heckler shouted "Jerusalem is not for sale"—but...

European Demands Vex Obama Camp
European Demands Vex Obama Camp
ANALYSIS
Jul 23, 2008 3:30 PM CDT

European Demands Vex Obama Camp

Suggestions tour lacks substance add sour note to fawning press

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s campaign is frustrated that his Berlin visit tomorrow is being over-analyzed, Der Spiegel reports—with Europeans complaining that he’s giving a mere stump speech, or that his address might lack substance. Obama is dropping in to outline his vision for trans-Atlantic alliances—he’s expected to...

Stories 121 - 140 | << Prev   Next >>