German parliament commemorates fall of the Berlin Wall

November 7th, 2009 Giant dominoes form tribute to Berlin Wall's fallBERLIN — Massive colorful dominoes painted by German students were placed Saturday along the former path of the Berlin Wall to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the barrier that divided the city for nearly three decades. Many of the upright 7.5-foot-high (2.3-meter-high) plastic foam dominoes carried messages, including "We are one people." The approximately 1,000 dominoes stretching for 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) will be toppled Monday as part of wider celebrations of the wall's fall.

November 6th, 2009 Berlin inaugurates repainted Wall sectionBERLIN — The Berlin Wall's longest remaining stretch has been restored to its state of nearly two decades ago after artists repainted the colorful murals they created in the aftermath of the notorious barrier's opening. Berlin on Friday inaugurated the restored section of the concrete wall, which is known as the East Side Gallery and snakes along the bank of the Spree river for three quarters of a mile (1.3 kilometers).

November 6th, 2009 more images more imagesHillary Clinton will represent US at Berlin WallWASHINGTON — The White House says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will lead a U.S. delegation to Germany for the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

November 6th, 2009 BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has revealed that she was not part of the frenzied East German crowd that poured through the newly opened border to witness the historic fall of the Berlin wall, instead she was taking her scheduled sauna bath. On the night of 9 November 1989, after work, Merkel headed to the sauna with a female friend, as she did every Thursday.

November 4th, 2009 LONDON - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has revealed that the Kremlin could have triggered off the Third World War in 1989 had it used force to prevent the Berlin Wall from falling. Gorbachev, who is hailed in the West for ignoring hardliners who advised him to guarantee the Soviet Union's future by crushing a growing protest by Eastern Bloc countries, has revealed that the move would have sparked-off a world war.

November 2nd, 2009 LONDON - A series of French diplomatic files have revealed that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher considered the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 as part of a German threat to peace and stability led by then German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. "France and Great Britain should pull together today in the face of the German threat," The Telegraph quoted Thatcher as having told to the French ambassador to London in March 1990.

October 30th, 2009 more images Germany's Merkel to meet Obama, address Congress BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet President Barack Obama and address the U.S. Congress on Tuesday before ceremonies in Berlin marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

October 5th, 2009 German Chancellor Merkel to address CongressBERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel will address the U.S. Congress in early November, ahead of ceremonies in Berlin marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

September 10th, 2009 City of Berlin wins Spanish peace prizeMADRID — Berlin, reunited as one city after decades of division during the Cold War, won Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias prize on Thursday for its contribution to promoting peace and harmony. Organizers said the German capital had earned the "concord" prize for improving world relations following the fall of the Berlin Wall some 20 years ago.

September 10th, 2009 LONDON - Britain and France feared the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 would return Nazi-era ambitions to Germany. East German border guards demolished a section of the wall on November 11, 1989 Secret British government documents to be published on Friday reveal the deep anxieties felt by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Frangois Mitterrand, following the fall of the wall.

August 12th, 2009 Satirical party campaigns to rebuild Berlin WallBERLIN — A satirical political party that calls for rebuilding the Berlin Wall has launched a campaign fronting a chancellor candidate chosen at a casting call to add pizzaz and humor to Germany's largely predictable parliamentary election. Called simply The Party, the group is so small — in 2004 they won only 0.4 percent of the vote — it has been barred from appearing on the Sept.

June 9th, 2009 Berlin Wall murals inspire fashion collectionBERLIN — Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall some of its enduring murals, like one depicting East Germany's Erich Honecker engaged in a fraternal kiss with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, are inspiring a different sort of art. Images from the East Side Gallery — a surviving stretch of the wall that artists decorated with colorful paintings after the 1989 opening of the border — are the inspiration for a fashion collection unveiled Tuesday called Mauerkleider, or "Wall Clothes." Daniel Rodan has reproduced some of the images from the East Side Gallery on leather clothes ranging from evening gowns and trench coats to T-shirts and jackets.

May 6th, 2009 German court rejects Demjanjuk appealBERLIN — A Berlin court has rejected an attempt by suspected Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk to block his deportation from the United States. Berlin administrative court spokesman Stephan Groscurth says the court ruled Wednesday there was no case for Demjanjuk to make in Germany.

April 26th, 2009 'Producers' co-author has old memories of BerlinAs a Berlin theater prepared to open its production of "The Producers," Mel Brooks, the actor, comedian and director behind the show, reminisced to The Associated Press about past visits to Germany and reflected on the symbolism of playing the Third Reich for laughs in the German capital. Brooks, 82, was a U.S.

April 24th, 2009 Apparent suicide at US Embassy in BerlinBERLIN — The U.S. Embassy in Berlin says a German contractor apparently has committed suicide inside the embassy building.