BERLIN (Reuters) – Scandals over money, power and political favors surrounding Germany’s head of state are turning him into an object of derision and could harm Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in two elections this year.

President Christian Wulff, installed by Merkel in the largely ceremonial office in 2010, has brushed off calls to resign over some of the affairs state prosecutors are now investigating. But opinion polls suggest most Germans want him removed.

BERLIN, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Germany’s Greens said on
Tuesday they planned to run independently in next year’s
election, but were open to new coalition options with Chancellor
Angela Merkel’s conservatives who will likely remain the
strongest party.

Cem Oezdemir, co-chairman of Germany’s third largest party
with about 16 percent backing in recent opinion polls, said that
their centre-left allies the Social Democrats (SPD) would
probably not win enough to form a SPD-Greens coalition.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif (Reuters) – Juergen Klinsmann is determined to carry off a style revolution for the U.S. national team while urging patience from the country’s fans.

In an interview with Reuters, the former Germany coach and striker said it could still be a long journey before Americans saw the desired results.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Juergen
Klinsmann is determined to carry off a style revolution for the
U.S. national team while urging patience from the country’s
fans.

In an interview with Reuters, the former Germany coach and
striker said it could still be a long journey before Americans
saw the desired results.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Reuters) – Juergen Klinsmann remains an unabashed Tottenham Hotspur fan more than a decade after leaving the north London club and the new United States coach even has his cell phone programmed to sound an alert every time a Spurs result is published.

Klinsmann told Reuters in an interview he is delighted his former team are challenging near the top of the Premier League because the right ingredients have come together – a strong squad, stability, consistency and patience.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, Jan 2 (Reuters) -
Juergen Klinsmann remains an unabashed Tottenham Hotspur fan
more than a decade after leaving the north London club and the
new United States coach even has his cell phone programmed to
sound an alert every time a Spurs result is published.

Klinsmann told Reuters in an interview he is delighted his
former team are challenging near the top of the Premier League
because the right ingredients have come together – a strong
squad, stability, consistency and patience.

BERLIN, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel
got unexpected support on Monday in her battle to keep her
beleaguered president in office with an improbable endorsement
from the leader of Germany’s opposition Social Democrats (SPD).

SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel, who may run against Merkel in
the 2013 election, said he did not want Merkel ally Christian
Wulff to resign over a banking scandal because it could spark a
national crisis if a second head of state quit within two years.

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble vowed in an interview published on Sunday to push ahead for a financial transaction tax in the European Union in 2012 despite objections from Britain that it could harm London as a global financial centre.

Schaeuble also told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis would not trigger a financial market crash in 2012.

BERLIN, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel
gave her full backing to German President Christian Wulff on
Monday, after fresh revelations about his links to wealthy
businessmen emerged over the weekend.

Wulff acknowledged on Sunday that he had used the villas of
business friends for private holidays on six occasions while he
was premier of Lower Saxony, following an earlier admission he
accepted a half-million euro home loan from a businessman.

BERLIN, Dec 14 (Reuters) – A senior leader of
Germany’s Free Democrats resigned unexpectedly on Wednesday in
the latest sign of turmoil in the party that shares power with
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

Christian Lindner, general secretary of the beleaguered FDP
and a rising star who many wanted to see take over as chairman,
stepped down in a move which appeared to be linked to the poor
turnout in a party referendum on euro zone rescue moves.