BERLIN (Reuters) – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano canceled a dinner with the German opposition’s chancellor candidate on Wednesday after he described Italian former premier Silvio Berlusconi and comic-turned-politician Beppe Grillo as “clowns”.

Peer Steinbrueck, a Social Democrat who will take on Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany’s next national election in September, has a reputation for gaffes and his remark created the first diplomatic incident of his accident-prone campaign.

BERLIN, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Germany sought on Wednesday to
make it easier for skilled workers from outside the European
Union to take a job in the country, trying to alleviate chronic
shortages in areas such as engineering, train driving and
plumbing.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet passed new immigration
rules which, pending approval by parliament’s upper house, aim
to cut red tape for people in target industries, allowing them
to get their qualifications recognised in Germany more easily.

BERLIN (Reuters) – They find the language difficult and the locals as chilly as the weather but for young Spaniards Berlin has become a popular spot to sit out the economic crisis at home.

The German capital’s celebrated cabaret scene made it a mecca for bohemians in the 1920s and ‘30s and in the Cold War the divided city became a magnet for alternative youth culture and rock stars.

BERLIN, Feb 21 (Reuters) – The Roman Catholic Church in
Germany said on Thursday it would permit certain types of
“morning-after pill” for raped women, after two hospitals
provoked an outcry for refusing to treat a rape victim.

The German Bishops’ Conference said church-run hospitals
would now ensure proper medical, psychological and emotional
care for rape victims – including administering pills that
prevent pregnancy without inducing an abortion.

BERLIN, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Germany’s Roman Catholic Church
said on Thursday it had decided to permit certain types of
“morning-after pill” for women who have been raped, after two
Catholic hospitals provoked an outcry last month for refusing to
treat a rape victim.

The German Bishops’ Conference said church-run hospitals
would now ensure proper medical, psychological and emotional
care for rape victims – including administering pills that
prevent pregnancy without inducing an abortion.

BERLIN, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Just past midnight behind a Berlin
supermarket, two youngsters with torches strapped to their
woollen hats sift through rubbish bins for food that is still
edible, load their bikes with bread, vegetables and chocolate
Santas and cycle off into the darkness.

It is not poverty that inspires a growing number of young
Germans like 21-year-old student Benjamin Schmitt to forage for
food in the garbage, but anger at loss and waste which the U.N.
Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates at one-third of all
food produced worldwide, every year, valued at about $1
trillion.

BERLIN, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar
Salehi said on Monday he saw U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden’s
offer this weekend of bilateral dialogue between their two
countries as a sign of a change in approach to Iran by the U.S.
administration.

“As I have said yesterday, I am optimistic, I feel this new
administration is really this time seeking to at least divert
from its previous traditional approach vis-a-vis my country,”
Salehi told the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin.

MUNICH, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Syria’s opposition leader flew
back to his Cairo headquarters from Germany on Sunday to explain
to sceptical allies his decision to talk with President Bashar
al-Assad’s main backers Russia and Iran, in hope of a
breakthrough in the crisis.

The Russian and Iranian foreign ministers, and U.S.
Vice-President Joe Biden, portrayed Syrian National Coalition
leader Moaz Alkhatib’s new willingness to talk with the Assad
regime as a major step towards resolving the two-year-old war.

MUNICH (Reuters) – The Syrian opposition leader met the foreign ministers of Russia and Iran on Saturday, opening a window to a possible breakthrough in efforts to broker an end to Syria’s civil war.

Russia and Iran have been the staunchest allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout an armed uprising, and any understandings they might reach with Assad’s foes could help overcome the two sides’ refusal to negotiate.