Word: berlins
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...whose new-age beliefs are sometimes as quirky as his movies, is touring Europe to help establish a network of so-called "invincible universities" to teach the philosophy of transcendental meditation. The idea is to engender world peace. But at a meeting this week at a culture center in Berlin, Lynch triggered a less than peaceful exchange with German onlookers when Emanuel Schiffgens, his partner for establishing such a "university" in the German capital, suddenly veered into dangerous waters...
When German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy met in Berlin on Monday, a major issue on their agenda was European immigration. While Sarkozy and Merkel were facing some critical questions from students of a local high school - one 18-year old girl, for instance, questioned the German Chancellor about the absence of immigrants in her cabinet - German foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier and his French counterpart Bernhard Kouchner turned the official occasion into a multicultural house party...
...small backyard recording studio in the Berlin neighborhood of Neukölln, known for its large, mainly Turkish, immigrant population, the two ministers joined forces with 23-year-old German Turkish singer Muhabbet to record the pro-immigration hymn Deutschland. Senior politicians rarely visit the troubled neighborhood, much less show up to sing a duet. But if the two men in suits were feeling awkward, they certainly didn't let it show. Steinmeier smiled and grooved to the music - a mixture of Turkish folk and R&B which Muhabbet calls "R 'n' Besk" - while Kouchner rhythmically snapped his fingers...
...Analysts in Berlin said that Müntefering's departure will make it more difficult for Merkel's CDU to find common ground with its governing partners. The SPD has suffered more than its conservative partner as a result of the partnership, seeing its support sink even as Merkel's personal popularity has risen. In an attempt to win back voters, the SPD 's party chief Kurt Beck moved the party towards the left, arguing, for example, for increases in welfare spending - over Müntefering's strenuous objections. Business leaders in Germany have also complained that the government...
...With Müntefering gone, Steinmeier, Beck and Merkel herself are expected to pay more attention to the coming elections than to securing Germany's economic well-being. "With this event, the centrifugal forces that will tear this coalition apart have come into full view," wrote the left-wing Berlin daily Tageszeitung. "Müntefering's retreat from politics is coming at a particularly bad time," added Die Welt, a center-right daily. "Müntefering was the most effective anchor keeping the SPD from drifting to the left. Now the Grand Coalition will no longer concentrate on their similarities...