Spain holds a trump card in bank bailout talks
BERLIN — The bargaining has begun over a deal to rescue Spain’s ailing banks, confronting Europe with urgent choices about whether to try to enforce onerous bailout terms on Madrid as the crisis spreads to the region’s largest economies.
Greek turmoil may spur new bargaining in eurozone
BERLIN — As gridlock among Greece’s political parties made new elections and another month of uncertainty there all but inevitable, European markets dropped significantly Monday amid concerns that Greece’s departure from the euro was near, and right behind it a new round of financial instability for Europe and the outside world.
Europe focuses on growth, but is divided on path ahead
BERLIN — In the volatile aftermath of raucous elections, which nearly destroyed the political establishment in Greece and ended 17 years of conservative reign in France, the emphasis across Europe, even in the austerity heartland of Germany, has shifted to the very real problem of growth for the stagnant Continent.
Germans’ anti-Israel whispers grow louder over poem
BERLIN — To judge by the outpouring of comments from politicians and writers and from the newspaper and magazine articles in response to the Nobel laureate Gunter Grass’ poem criticizing Israel’s aggressive posture toward Iran, it would appear that the public had resoundingly rejected his work.
Germany backs $175 billion aid plan for Greece
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany managed to keep her strategy for attacking Greece’s debt problems on track with a victory in Parliament Monday, but was able to win the vote only with the help of opposition parties.
Top european clerics defend Pope Benedict abuse decision
ESSEN, Germany — The case that has raised questions about the future pope’s handling of a pedophile priest in Germany came to light three decades after it occurred, and then almost by chance. It happened when Wilfried Fesselmann, an early victim, said he stumbled on Internet photographs of the priest who sexually abused him, still working with children.
Priest close to Pope is suspended in child molestation case
MUNICH — The priest at the center of a German sex-abuse scandal that embroiled Pope Benedict XVI continued working with children for more than 30 years, even though the pope was personally involved in his case and a German court convicted the priest of molesting boys.
Leaders in Berlin Retrace The Walk West
Chancellor Angela Merkel led a gathering of world leaders in Germany’s capital Monday for a celebration of the night 20 years earlier when the Berlin Wall fell.
Engaging in War Is Now Part Of Germany’s Afghan Mission
Forced to confront the rising insurgency in once peaceful northern Afghanistan, the German army is engaged in sustained and bloody ground combat for the first time since World War II.
In Vatican Controversies, Questions of Pope’s Focus
Close on the heels of the pope’s rehabilitation of a group of schismatic bishops, including one who denied the Holocaust, a second scandal has compounded a searching debate within the church over whether Pope Benedict XVI’s focus on doctrine and perceived insensitivity to political tone are alienating mainstream Catholics and undermining the church’s moral authority.
World Powers Agree on Sanctions Against Iranian Nuclear Program
The world’s leading powers agreed Tuesday on a new set of sanctions against Iran to present as a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council, but they did not announce details of the sanctions, which are intended to induce Tehran to give up its nuclear program.