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Opinion: Obama Has Failed the World on Climate Change

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Christian Schwägerl - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - US President Barack Obama came to office promising hope and change. But on climate change, he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor George W. Bush. Now, should the climate summit in Copenhagen fail, the blame will lie squarely with Obama.

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'We Like Lists Because We Don't Want to Die'

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Umberto Eco, Susanne Beyer, Lothar Gorris - Nov. 12 (Interview) - Italian novelist and semiotician Umberto Eco, who is curating a new exhibition at the Louvre in Paris, talks to SPIEGEL about the place lists hold in the history of culture, the ways we try to avoid thinking about death and why Google is dangerous for young people

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The Story of 'Operation Orchard': How Israel Destroyed Syria's Al Kibar Nuclear Reactor - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:27:40 -0800

Der Spiegel - Nov. 04 -

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A World Without Nuclear Weapons: Six Wrong-Headed Cliches about Disarmament

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By Oliver Thränert - Oct. 21 (Opinion) - A world without nuclear weapons presupposes a new world order. It is a goal that will not be achieved overnight. However, we should begin. Sooner or later, the assumption that humanity can continue to live with nuclear weapons without deploying them will prove to be a misapprehension.

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Decentralizing Electricity: The Coming Energy Revolution

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By Stefan Schultz - Oct. 16 (Special Report) - Electric cars, intelligent washing machines, mini power plants in your basement: Germany is on the verge of an energy revolution. SPIEGEL ONLINE looks at the latest developments in the smart grid and how it will change the relationship between consumers and energy suppliers.

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Olympia-Entscheid: Republikaner feiern Obamas Chicago-Flop - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Sport

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By Gregor Peter Schmitz - Oct. 02 (News Report) - Er flog extra zum Werbeauftritt nach Kopenhagen, umwarb IOC-Delegierte - alles vergebens. Die überraschend deutliche Olympia-Niederlage Chicagos ist für Barack Obama eine Blamage, für seine Gegner ein Geschenk. Im Fernsehen und Internet leben sie ihre Schadenfreude aus.

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Coalition Talks: Merkel's New Government Unlikely to Pursue Radical Reforms

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - Sep. 28 (News Report) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and their new partners, the Free Democrats, could reach a coalition deal by the end of October. But it may not be easy. Tax cuts and burgeoning government debt could slow down the talks.

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Revenge on Ethnic Germans: Czech Town Divided over How to Commemorate 1945 Massacre - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - Sep. 26 (Investigative Report) - More than six decades after the end of World War II, long-suppressed information about a massacre of around 2,000 Sudeten Germans in June 1945 is dividing the Czech town of Postoloprty. Supporters of a memorial to the incident are clashing with those who want to forget all about the murders.

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Pittsburgh Summit: G-20 Relaunched as World's Top Forum

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By Gregor Peter Schmitz - Sep. 25 (News Analysis) - The winner of the Pittsburgh summit is already clear -- the G-20 itself. In the future the leading industrial nations want to meet with the most important emerging economies on a regular basis. The G-8 format appears to be history.

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The World from Berlin: 'Allies Can't Conceal Schadenfreude' at Botched Air Strike

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By Editors - Sep. 07 (News Report) - The air strike the German army ordered on two hijacked fuel tankers stuck in a river bed in the Kunduz region of northern Afghanistan in the early hours of last Friday appears to have claimed considerable civilian casualties and has led to criticism from Germany's NATO allies in Afghanistan.

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The World From Berlin: Americans Want 'Freedom to Pay Too Much for Inferior Health Care'

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By David Crossland - Aug. 18 (News Analysis) - This isn't about the uninsured anymore. They only amount to 15 percent of citizens and 10 percent of voters. The freedom to choose now takes precedence. Freedom as the Americans see it also includes the freedom to pay too much for health care that is inferior by comparison with other systems.

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'Aspirin for Us Muslims': Arab World Skeptical about Obama Overture

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By Bernhard Zand - Jun. 04 (News Report) - US President Barack Obama is eager to improve relations with the Muslim world. But many in the Middle East are skeptical that this week's presidential visit will be enough. While attitudes toward the US have improved since Bush left office, Israel remains a major hurdle.

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Amnesty International Human Rights Report: 'We Are Seeing a Catastrophe' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - May. 28 (Interview) - This is very worrying. Obama has been alarmingly ambiguous on the issue, hinting at some new legislation. But incarceration without a trial can never be within the rule of law. We are asking the government in Washington to release all innocent prisoners from Guantanamo and to try the rest in a US court. The government should show some confidence in its own justice system.

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EU Commissioner Calls for Summit to Save Opel

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - Mar. 05 (News Report) - European Union Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen is calling for a European summit to come up with a rescue plan for German car maker Opel, which is faced with collapse if it doesn't find an outside investor or get government aid. He suggested a meeting of ministers from the EU states with auto factories run by GM Europe's Opel and Vauxhall subsidiaries, which include Germany, Belgium, Britain and Spain. Meanwhile the German government, plainly irritated by what they see as a lack of transparency at Opel and GM, its American parent corporation, has invited corporate leaders to an emergency meeting with top economic officials at the offices of Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.

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'The Americans Don't Care about More European Troops'

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Gregor Peter Schmitz, Jeremy Shapiro - Mar. 01 (Interview) - In my view, there are four key problems in the country: The situation at the border with Pakistan where insurgent fighters find sanctuary, a deficit of international civilian assistance and inadequate coordination of what does exist, the shortcomings of the Afghan government, and the corrupting influence of narcotics. Clearly sending more troops will improve security in some local areas, but unless there is a plan to deal with these issues, more troops will only perpetuate the military stalemate in Afghanistan at higher levels of violence.

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What Are The Obama Administration's Options?

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Jane Sasseen - Jan. 29 (News Analysis) - The President's economic advisers believe it is time to hit the reset button on existing bailout programs, and think big. There's no choice given the deepening recession that's driving up jobless rates and home and credit-card defaults. All that in turn is contributing to multibillion-dollar quarterly losses at the likes of Citigroup and Bank of America. "Bad Bank" Could Cost $2 Trillion

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France Prepares for Massive General Strike

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Stefan Simons - Jan. 28 (News Report) - France's eight main trade unions and opposition parties ranging from the center to Socialists, communists and the far-left, are all regarding the general strike as a "cry of protest." "In the face of the crisis," says Francois Chereque, general secretary of the left-wing CFDT union, "the feeling of injustice has spread." The public malaise has been augmented by Sarkozy's bailout plans. Just 10 months after telling voters in January 2008 that the public "coffers are empty," the president turned around in October and bailed out banks with €320 billion ($424 billion) in loan guarantees. Two months later, in December, the government announced it would provide €22 billion in aid to small- and medium-sized businesses hit by the downturn and approved a €26 billion economic stimulus package focused mostly on infrastructural investments, while only devoting modest sums to encourage private consumption.

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A "Green Tsunami" in Brazil: The High Price of Clean, Cheap Ethanol

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Clemens Hoeges - Jan. 22 (News Report) - Brazil hopes to supply drivers worldwide with the fuel of the future -- cheap ethanol derived from sugarcane. It is considered an effective antidote to climate change, but hundreds of thousands of Brazilian plantation workers harvest the cane at slave wages.

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'Why Can't Guantanamo's Inmates Stay in America?'

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - Jan. 22 (News Analysis) - Since December, when President-elect Obama extened an olive branch to irritated European allies and asked them to absorb some of these prisoners -- on the condition that America would, too -- a debate has simmered in Germany. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in January that Munich might be a reasonable place for 17 Chinese Uighur minority prisoners to settle, since Munich has the largest Chinese Muslim community outside China. But a conservative rival, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, says the prisoners are America's problem -- any Guantanamo inmates who can't go home "out of human rights considerations" will simply "need to remain in the United States."

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German Offer May Help Pave Way for Cease-Fire

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Ralf Beste - Jan. 13 (News Report) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has offered Egypt his country's assistance in stopping arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. The proposal could help Israel eventually agree to a cease-fire. It could also boost Steinmeier's domestic standing ahead of a general election in September. At 5:28 p.m. on Saturday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier got a taste of the war raging in Gaza. He was standing on the terrace of the border crossing terminal at Rafah, less than 200 meters from Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.

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Fast-Forward Warming: Point of No Return for the Arctic Climate?

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Volker Mrasek - Dec. 06 (Special Report) - Temperatures in the Arctic are rising much faster than elsewhere in the world. Researchers now say it may be the result of a dramatic shift in global climate patterns. If they are right, ice at the North Pole may soon be a thing of the past.

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€130 Billion: EU Planning Giant Stimulus Package

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Christian Reiermann - Nov. 19 (Special Report) - A source familiar with efforts to develop the plan told SPIEGEL ONLINE that the European Commission under Commission President José Manuel Barroso is considering making the package worth up to 1 percent of the 27-member bloc's output.

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Germany, Industrialized World Enter Recession

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - Nov. 13 (News Report) - Everyone knew it was coming. But on Thursday, Germany's Federal Statistical Office made it official: the country is in a recession. In the third quarter, Germany's gross domestic product shrank by 0.5 percent relative to the previous quarter. Most economists define a recession as two quarters of negative growth in succession.

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America, Land of Extremes: An Enigmatic Country Elects a New President

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By Gerhard Spörl - Oct. 31 (Opinion) - Some find America fascinating, others abhor it, but virtually no one feels indifferent about the superpower. For months, the question of who will become the next president has riveted people around the globe. He will inherit responsibility for a country whose global reputation is battered.

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The World from Berlin: Bank Oversight 'Isn't a Side Job for the Clueless'

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - By Josh Ward - Oct. 23 (Special Report) - The bank's announcement signalled that it would be the first bank to draw on Berlin's bailout fund, the creation of which Huber himself was involved in. Many observers see bad things to come in the fact that Germany's second-largest regional bank was the first to stand up and ask for federal help. While some German commentators have harsh words for Huber, others see him as just another player in what has turned out to be a very dirty game.

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