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Post by Admin on Dec 10, 2015 19:57:41 GMT
The reaction in Germany to TIME’s choice of Chancellor Angela Merkel as 2015’s Person of the Year ranged from delight to disappointment on Wednesday. The Chancellor herself did not respond to the news but government spokesperson Steffen Siebert told the media she would surely welcome her selection as “encouragement for her political work for a good future for Germany and for Europe.”  Many in the media welcomed the choice too. The journalist and commentator Stephan Detjen, writing in the culture section of the German broadcaster Deutschlandradio’s website called the magazine’s article “just one among several panegyrics to Merkel that recently appeared in the Anglo-Saxon media.” Die Welt, a conservative Germany daily, called the selection proof that although she has “seldom faced as much criticism during her decade in office as she has over her refugee policy” at home, “internationally Angela Merkel is held in high esteem.” |
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Post by Admin on Dec 15, 2015 19:49:08 GMT
Germany has denied US requests to provide additional support for the US-led mission against Islamic State in Syria, with the federal chancellor stressing that “at the moment” Berlin is already doing enough for its part in the combined anti-terror effort. “I believe Germany is fulfilling its part and we don’t need to talk about new issues related to this question at the moment," Angela Merkel told the ZDF. Merkel’s reply came in response to a letter sent last week by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to his German counterpart, in which the Pentagon urged Germany to commit more fighting forces to the joint anti-Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) effort.  A German Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed their reception of the letter addressed to German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, Der Speigel reported Saturday, but no other details of its content were shared with the public. Similar letters were allegedly sent to other US-led coalition partners, the publication added. Germany approved the sending of up to 1,200 military personnel to Syria on December 4, and agreed to provide the coalition with six Tornado reconnaissance jets and a frigate to protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. |
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2016 19:19:54 GMT
 George Clooney has backed Germany’s open-door policy towards refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict after meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. Clooney and his human-rights lawyer wife, Amal, enjoyed a one-hour meeting with Merkel on Friday morning to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the political reaction to it in Europe and elsewhere. Merkel has led Germany’s approach to the greatest movement of refugees since the second world war, which has resulted in Europe’s most populous nation taking in nearly one in two of all asylum applications made by Syrians in EU member states last year.  The actor, director and humanitarian, who was also due to meet refugees in Berlin, earlier told reporters: “I absolutely agree with her”. The Clooneys were accompanied by David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary who is now head of the New York-based International Rescue Committee. Miliband told the BBC the meeting involved discussing solutions to the “global problem” and praised Merkel for “showing very strong leadership” during the crisis. |
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Post by Admin on Mar 28, 2017 19:00:30 GMT
 In the end, Angela Merkel couldn’t hide it. Seated next to Ivanka Trump at a White House meeting with business leaders on Friday, the German leader tilted her head in the first daughter’s direction as Ivanka spoke, a look of bewilderment tinged with disdain enveloping her face. “Why are you here,” Merkel, never a good pretender, seemed to be thinking. On a day filled with awkward moments, probably none was more cringe-worthy to German eyes than the picture of the president’s glamorous daughter, prim as an American Girl doll, perched next to no-nonsense Merkel as she praised her father’s commitment to job creation. “Ingenuity, creativity often comes from the determination of the private sector,” Ivanka, who hawks handbags and jewelry over the Internet, told the meeting of blue-chip CEOs. Whatever her true feelings, the world’s most powerful woman, relegated to a prop for Ivanka’s Twitter feed, did her best to play along. Too much was at stake. |
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Post by Admin on Mar 31, 2017 18:59:58 GMT
 Ivanka Trump will attend a summit on the economic empowerment of women in Germany, according to a report. German Chancellor Angela Merkel invited Ivanka to the W20 summit during her visit to Washington, D.C., a senior White House official told the Associated Press. Merkel reportedly met with Ivanka Trump during the German leader's White House visit. Trump helped to set up a gathering between German and American business leaders. The summit is a women-focused program that includes 20 countries and will be held in Berlin in April. The first daughter is planning to study successful apprenticeship programs at the summit, according to the report.  |
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