Berlin City

Robert Pattinson set for Berlin premiere

musiclover — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:46:43 +0000

Twilight actor Robert Pattinson is to walk the red carpet in Berlin later at the premiere of period drama Bel Ami. The 25-year-old will be joined by US co-star Christina Ricci at the event, one of the last major screenings of this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Competition entry Barbara is tipped to become the first More >

Berlin Film Festival Bets on Fresh Blood

musiclover — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:06:11 +0000

Hindered in the festival’s ability to draw star power, Dieter Kosslick, the head of the Berlin International Film Festival, is instead focusing on presenting new discoveries, including German films and the best from abroad. The biggest star in town this week is Angelina Jolie, but Kosslick is also set on creating new ones.

Group breaks into Syrian embassy in Berlin

musiclover — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:38:39 +0000

Berlin police say 20 people forced their way into Syria’s embassy in the German capital and damaged offices there.

Police say the men — all of them Syrian or of Syrian origin — destroyed furniture in the building Friday afternoon and sprayed slogans on the facade.

They were briefly detained as they left the embassy.

Berlin resists pressure to give Greece more

musiclover — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:57:30 +0000

Ahead of next week’s EU summit, pressure on Berlin is coming from all sides to dig deeper into its pockets to help Greece, but it is putting up fierce resistance.

Germany, the biggest and richest country in the euro zone, has provided the bulk of the funds for the bailouts of Ireland, Portugal and Greece. Now it is firmly rejecting calls to come up with yet more funds for Greece to compensate for any shortfalls in a debt relief deal with private creditors.

On Friday Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle defended Berlin’s tough stance. The Greeks, he insisted, should show that they are willing to implement reforms before getting more money.

“We Germans do not expect from anyone in Europe more than what we are asking from our own citizens. We cannot explain to taxpayers in Germany that they have to do things that others do not want to do while at the same time asking for their money,” Westerwelle said in Brussels.

He pointed out that Germany had already come up over 200 billion euros ($262 billion) for the bailout funds. “It makes no sense” he said, to give more money to Greece, “if we don’t know whether the reforms which have been agreed upon will be really implemented.” He argued that coming up with more money just lessened the pressure to reform.

Negotiations are continuing in Athens with private creditors to find a way of cutting the amount of private sector debt Greece has to pay back. Olli Rehn, the EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, said Friday that a deal was “very close.”

Paris and Berlin look to bring back tax

musiclover — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 07:00:00 +0000

France and Germany are both considering the reintroduction of stamp duty on stock exchange transactions – along the lines of the tax that already exists in the UK – as a first step towards a fully-fledged financial transaction tax in Europe.

Although Berlin and Paris insist that they are set on eventually introducing a tax covering a much wider range of financial trading, including derivatives and high-frequency trading, officials in both capitals confirmed on Friday that the levy on share trading alone might be a sensible first step.

Berlin theatre stages first live play on Facebook

musiclover — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 07:00:00 +0000

Pistol duelling in print and energetic postings of “applause” accompanied the Facebook premier of Theodor Fontane’s “Effi Briest”, which organisers said was the first live staging of a play on the social networking site. Fontane’s classic work, first published as a serial novel in 1894, was specially adapted to be performed on the Maxim Gorki More >

Merkel to hold talks with Monti in Berlin next week

musiclover — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:59:38 +0000

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti will travel to Berlin next Wednesday to hold talks on the euro zone crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German government announced.

“The talks will focus on bilateral and international themes, the situation in the euro zone as well as economic developments in Europe,” the government said in a statement.

Merkel is due to host French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday, two days before Monti, to prepare a European summit planned for the end of the month.

Cairo raids spark ire in Berlin

musiclover — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 07:00:00 +0000

Germany and the US have expressed great concern over Egyptian raids on non-government organizations. Human rights groups are describing the raids as a campaign against them by the country’s military rulers.

Berlin has summoned Egypt’s ambassador over raids carried out by Egyptian police on offices of pro-democracy and human rights groups in Cairo.

Paris and Berlin revisit tax base plan

musiclover — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 07:00:00 +0000

FRANCE AND Germany have revived their clamour for the alignment of Europe’s corporate tax systems, an initiative long resisted by Dublin. In a joint proposal for a toughening of Europe’s budget rules, the two countries called for the escalation of efforts to forge a common corporate tax base and other measures to deepen economic co-ordination More >

Mike Leigh to chair Berlin film festival jury

musiclover — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 07:00:00 +0000

British director Mike Leigh will chair the jury of next year’s 62nd Berlin film festival, one of Europe’s top cinema showcases, organisers said on Friday. The 68-year-old veteran film-maker, a master of bittersweet realism in hits such as “Secrets and Lies” and “Happy-Go-Lucky”, will lead a panel vetting contenders from around the world for the More >