BERLIN (Reuters) – President Barack Obama defended U.S. intelligence methods on a visit to Berlin on Wednesday, telling Chancellor Angela Merkel and wary Germans that Washington was not monitoring the emails of ordinary citizens or damaging civil liberties.

Obama is popular in Germany but revelations before the trip that the United States has a covert Internet surveillance programme, codenamed Prism, have caused outrage in a country where memories of the eavesdropping East German Stasi secret police are still fresh.

BERLIN (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday Afghans must talk to each other to resolve the conflict in their country even though huge mistrust exists between the government and its Taliban foes.

Obama was speaking in Berlin a day after the United States said it would begin talks with the Taliban on Thursday to try to seek a negotiated peace to 12 years of war – a move that has deeply upset President Hamid Karzai’s U.S.-backed government.

BERLIN (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday Afghans must talk to each other to resolve the conflict in their country even though huge mistrust exists between the government and its Taliban foes.

Obama was speaking in Berlin a day after the United States said it would begin talks with the Taliban on Thursday to try to seek a negotiated peace to 12 years of war – a move that has deeply upset President Hamid Karzai’s U.S.-backed government.

BERLIN (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will unveil plans for a sharp reduction in nuclear warheads in a landmark speech at the Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday that comes 50 years after John F. Kennedy declared “Ich bin ein Berliner” in a defiant Cold War address.

A senior U.S. administration official said Obama, on his first visit to the German capital as president, would signal his desire to cut deployed atomic weapons by up to one third below the level achieved in the last “New START” treaty with Russia.

BERLIN (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will say on Wednesday he will pursue a new reduction in deployed nuclear weapons by up to a third below the level achieved in the “New START” treaty with Russia, a senior administration official said.

“The President will also articulate the goal of reducing U.S. and Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, pledging to work with NATO allies to develop proposals that can be explored with Russia to achieve this goal,” the official said.

BERLIN (Reuters) – In the city where John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan gave defiant Cold War speeches, President Barack Obama will call on Wednesday for a renewed spirit of activism by the West in tackling 21st century challenges from nuclear proliferation to climate change.

Fresh from a two day summit with Group of Eight leaders in Northern Ireland, Obama concludes his short European sojourn with a trip to Berlin, the German capital that he last visited as a presidential candidate in 2008.

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (Reuters) – The world’s rich economies said they would take a tougher stance on fighting money laundering and tax evasion but promised little in the way of specific new action at the end of a two-day summit on Tuesday.

Group of Eight leaders signed up for a list of aims including improving the transparency of who owns shell companies and deepening information-sharing between tax authorities. They also said they wanted companies to provide greater information to tax authorities on their profits.

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (Reuters) – The United States pledged on Tuesday to keep on pressing for legislation to cut down on the criminal use of shell companies but did not take firmer action for now as part of a Group of Eight push to tighten rules on tax evasion and money laundering.

A frequent critic of tax havens, the United States has come under fire from campaigners for the low transparency requirements around ownership of corporate entities registered in some U.S. states such as Delaware.