Germany

August 20, 2007 -- VÄXJÖ, SWEDEN - On the first day of her investment mission to Sweden and Germany, Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today met with executives from Trelleborg Automotive, and announced the company will invest $10.2 million in a new technical center in Northville Township to be used for advanced engineering and project development activities. The investment by Trelleborg Rubore, a division of Trelleborg Automotive, is expected to create 32 new jobs.    » read more »

August 17, 2007 -- LANSING - In her weekly radio address, Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today outlined her goals for next week's investment mission to Sweden and Germany. Granholm said she will focus on bringing high tech industries, like alternative energy, and good paying jobs to Michigan.    » read more »

14 August 2007 -- A court in western Germany has ruled that a teacher who converted to Islam must stop wearing a headscarf at her school.

The court in Dusseldorf ruled Tuesday that wearing the garment at schools violates state law prohibiting religious headwear.

The teacher who challenged the ban, Maryam Brigitte Weiss, started wearing a headscarf last year.

She argued her scarf was permissible because she wore it pushed back with hair showing at the front, in the style of American actress Grace Kelly. The court rejected her argument.    » read more »

Mission to focus on renewable energy, manufacturing investment

August 14, 2007 -- LANSING - Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm will begin an overseas investment mission on Saturday, August 18, to attract Swedish and German business investments to Michigan. Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) President and CEO James C. Epolito will accompany the governor on her fifth mission - her first to Sweden and third to Germany.    » read more »

31 July 2007 (By VOA Sports) -- The T-Mobile cycling team has fired German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz, following his positive drug test in June and his refusal to have his "B" sample tested.

T-Mobile spokesman Christian Frommert said when the 26-year-old Sinkewitz declined to have his backup sample tested, it counted as a positive doping test to the team.    » read more »

July 11, 2007 -- The Department of Defense announced today that the United States will cease operations at U.S. Army, Europe, locations in Buedingen, Gelnhausen, Darmstadt, Hanau and Turley Barracks in Mannheim, Germany.

Due to U.S. European Command force structure realignment and transformation, and the attendant reduction in installation and personnel support requirements that have occurred during the past several years, the Department of Defense has determined the following facilities are excess to its needs.    » read more »

11 July 2007 -- Germany's foreign minister says one of two German hostages held in Iraq since February has been freed.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin Wednesday that Hannelore Krause was released Tuesday.

Krause was kidnapped with her adult son in Baghdad on February 6. Steinmeier said Krause's son, an employee of the Iraqi foreign ministry, is still being held hostage.    » read more »

26 June 2007 -- German authorities say they have found bird flu in wild swans in a second German state.

Officials Tuesday confirm that the H5N1 strain killed three swans near the city of Leipzig in eastern Germany.

The virus was found in six swans last week in a pond in Nuremberg, about 200 kilometers to the south. These are Germany's first bird flu cases in more than a year.

Experts are investigating whether the cases are tied to recent bird flu outbreaks in Hungary and the Czech Republic.    » read more »

June 6, 2007 -- CHANCELLOR MERKEL: (As translated.) Ladies and gentlemen, this was our first meeting here during the G8 meeting with the President of the United States of America. And we wanted to use this meeting in order to prepare the agenda of all of the issues that we're going to discuss here during the summit meeting. And it was a very satisfactory meeting, indeed, although in some areas there remain a few things here and there that we still need to discuss.    » read more »

05 June 2007 -- Leaders of the G8 group of major industrial nations are gathering in Germany's Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm for three days of discussions to include climate change, economic issues and debt relief for Africa. But differences were evident before the summit began and security was extremely tight to keep protesters away from the meeting site, as VOA's Sonja Pace reports from Heiligendamm.    » read more »

07 June 2007 -- U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet Thursday in Germany amid renewed tensions between the two sides.

The presidents will hold talks on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit at the German Baltic Sea port of Heiligendamm.

Mr. Putin is angry at U.S. plans to install a missile defense system in Europe, calling it a threat to Russian security, and he vowed to aim his nation's missiles at the region if the system is built.    » read more »

05 June 2007 -- Protesters again have fought with police in Rostock, Germany, ahead of this week's Group of Eight summit at the nearby resort in Heiligendamm. Authorities say more than 8,000 anti-globalization protesters on Monday marched peacefully through Rostock. Stone and bottle-throwing incidents broke out when officers halted a group that violated a ban on wearing facemasks during the protests. The clashes were the second outbreak of violence ahead of the summit. VOA's Ivana Kuhar and Valer Gergely have more on the protesters.    » read more »

05 June 2007 -- A new United Nations report says melting glaciers and ice sheets caused by global warming could disrupt drinking and agricultural water supplies for up to 40 percent of the world's population.

The report released Monday said the depletion of ice caps could also contribute to global warming because the ice sheets reflect the sun's heat away from the Earth's surface.

It also warns that such low-lying countries as Bangladesh and Indonesia could face severe flooding by melting glaciers and rising sea levels.    » read more »

04 June 2007 -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set Wednesday to host the annual summit of the G8 leading industrial democracies plus Russia. VOA's Barry Wood reports a recent sharp deterioration in western relations with Moscow is casting a chill over the meeting that will take place at a Baltic Sea resort in eastern Germany.    » read more »

04 June 2007 -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she will not compromise in getting the world's top industrialized nations to agree to cut greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming.

Ms. Merkel said in an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine that the United Nations must take the lead in fighting climate change.

The chancellor said while she welcomes President Bush's new determination to fight global warming, she said it must be part of a U.N. framework.    » read more »