German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition: source

BERLIN: Germany's military has approved plans to buy 45 to 60 new heavy-lift helicopters, kicking off a competition between the two largest US weapons makers for the contract worth nearly 4 billion euros , a military source said on Friday. Lockheed Martin Corp will bid with its massive CH-53K helicopter, while Boeing Co will seek to sell its smaller twin-rotor CH-47.

No support to Trump’s decision on Jerusalem: Merkel

Berlin, Dec 7 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that Germany does not support US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel. The Federal Government does not support this attitude because the status of Jerusalem is to be negotiated within the framework of a two-state solution, Xinhua news agency quoted spokesperson Steffen Seibert as saying on behalf of Merkel.

Ivanka isn’t a champion for women, and she can prove it

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is right to be irked that it is not him but first daughter Ivanka Trump who will lead the US delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India. The annual event is put on by the State Department and in the past has been attended by Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama.

Trump tweets he a took a passa at being named TIMEa s person of the year

President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he turned down a potential offer to be TIME Magazine's coveted "Person of the Year" after, Trump says, the magazine told him he would "probably" be given the honors. "Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named "Man of the Year" like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot," Trump tweeted from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where is spending his Thanksgiving holiday.

Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan: Respect existence or expect resistance

Last week in Bonn, Germany, thousands gathered at the heavily secured United Nations climate conference, dubbed “COP 23,” a Potemkin village of bureaucrats, politicians, environmentalists, journalists and local support staff. Sixty kilometers away, in the 12,000-year-old Hambach Forest, scores of activists, living in treehouses, defended the old growth woodland in an ongoing struggle to save the rare ecosystem from destruction and stop the expansion of Europe's largest open-pit mine, a sprawling hole in the earth where energy company RWE extracts lignite, or brown coal, the dirtiest coal on earth.

People Act Where US Fails On Climate

MARCH 10: Protesters march during a demonstration against the Dakota Access Pipeline on March 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters and members of Native nations marched in Washington DC to oppose the construction of the proposed 1,172 Dakota Access Pipeline that runs within a half-mile of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota.

Former Guantanamo Bay prisoners’ lives revealed

The men were found to be innocent of any wrong-doing against the United States, but were unable to return home after being released from Guantanamo after spending more than a decade there in some cases New-York based photographer Debi Cornwall visited the Guantanamo Bay detention center over the course of two years, chronicling the day-to-day life of military personnel stationed there. Afterwards, she tracked down some of the men spread across nine countries who had been released to discuss their adjustment to life after Gitmo.

Canada’s push to eliminate coal power takes on U.S. clean coal in Bonn

Climate change talks in Germany are headed for a collision course on coal this week - and Canada is right in the middle of it. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is arriving today in Bonn, Germany, to attend the second week of COP23, the annual United Nations climate change talks that two years ago led to the Paris climate change accord.

Canadaa s push to eliminate coal power takes on U.S. clean coal in Bonn

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons Friday June 16, 2017 in Ottawa. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna lands in Bonn, Germany today to attend the second week of COP23, the annual United Nations climate change talks that two years ago led to the Paris climate change accord.

California governor heads to Europe for climate talks

California Gov. Jerry Brown is continuing his international fight against climate change with an 11-day trip to Europe starting Saturday including stops at the Vatican and a United Nations conference in Germany. Brown is a chief adversary to Republican President Donald Trump in the battle over U.S. climate policy, promising to help the country reach its emissions reductions targets even as Trump withdraws from an international climate accord.

Germany: Trump’s Iran plans driving EU toward Russia and China

German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel delivers his speech during the opening of the Deutschland 8: Deutsche Kunst in China exhibition at the Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum in Beijing, China, 17 September 2017. [How Hwee Young/EPA/EFE] US President Donald Trump's expected move to "de-certify" the international nuclear deal with Iran is driving a wedge between Europe and the United States and bringing Europeans closer to Russia and China, Germany said on Thursday .

Austria Set for Rightward Political Turn After Sunday Vote

Ahead of Austrian national elections Sunday, the question is less whether the country will swing rightward under the next government and more about how sharp that turn will be, with voters set to reward two major parties that have exploited fears of immigration and Islam. Chancellor Christian Kern is vowing to take his center-left Social Democrats into the opposition if defeated and a handful of small parties are struggling to clear the 4 percent hurdle needed to get seats in parliament.

Trump, Merkel discuss Iran’s ‘malign’ activities (Eds: Updating with background) By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Sep 29 US President Donald Trump has called German Chancellor Angela Merkel to congratulate her on election victory and discussed how to counter Iran's nuclear ambitions and 'malign' activities in the Middle East. Trump during the call wished her well in the formation the government for the fourth time, the White House officials said.

Merkel wins fourth term, AfD makes gains: Exit poll

Berlin, Sep 25 The Christian Democratic Union led by German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday defended its dominant role in the Germany's federal elections with 32.5 per cent of the vote, according to the preliminary exit poll. The figure fell short of expectations and was nine percentage points lower than in the 2013 parliamentary election, Xinhua reported.