Berlin

For decades, the Berlin Wall stood as the symbol of the Cold War. Built in 1961, it was the line in the sand where western democracy ended and communi...

Gorbachev and other notable Soviet leaders. Photo: Flickr user hangele Today is the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s demise. World...

Stories compiled by Gizem Yarbil, Connie Kargbo, Channtal Fleischfresser, Christine Kiernan, Ivette Feliciano, and Mohammad al-Kassim, and edited by ...

German capital to celebrate 20th anniversary of collapse that led to reunification....

The fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 9, 1989, was one of history's truly epochal moments. During what became a revolutionary wave sweeping ac...

Richard Wagner's great-grandson, Gottfried Wagner, on Friday protested the choice of music at festivities 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, ...

Bush Sr, Gorbachev and Kohl reunite in Germany 20 years after the momentous event....

We wind our day down in the Ibiza of the East River, Roosevelt Island, and on its sorrowful and drab Main Street, which blogger Roosevelt Islander ...

— "Bowie: A Biography" (Crown, 448 pages, $26.99) by Marc Spitz: David Bowie knows what he's singing about when he performs "Changes." After making a big splash in the early 1970s as Ziggy Stardust, he went on to become the Thin White Duke, an artsy Berlin angst rocker, the "straight" Bowie of "Let's Dance" and more recently the distinguished rock elder who goes to fashion events with his model wife, Iman.

The career full of characters obscures the less fantastic, but very interesting, back story of David Jones, a British teen in the '60s who desperately wanted to make it big. He joins some R&B bands, dabbles in acting and mime, changes his last name to Bowie and records a painful-to-listen-to-now single titled "The Laughing Gnome" that seems to channel Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Nothing in particular sticks until he records the 1969 single "Space Oddity." Bowie later goes all-in with his pioneering glam character Ziggy, the one with the screwed up eyes and snow-white tan. Bowie never looks back, never stops changing.

Spitz, a music journalist, does a decent job of tracking Bowie's evolution through copious research and interviews with dozens of people who knew him.

Spitz clearly gets Bowie, and this is an unapologetic fan-boy biography. He is good at analyzing what Bowie accomplished, why it matters and what was likely influencing him at the time. He has insightful things to say about landmark Bowie songs "Life on Mars?" and "Heroes."

BERLIN — A debate over two different swine flu vaccines overshadowed Germany's launch of a public inoculation program against the pandemic on Monday.

Critics warned the vaccinations campaign could be a "million-euro flop" as many people might refuse to participate after learning they would receive a different shot, with possibly more side effects, than one being given to politicians, high-ranking government employees and soldiers.

German authorities ordered 50 million doses of swine flu vaccines, and began inoculating physicians, nurses, rescue workers and the chronically ill this week.

However, most Germans will be getting Pandemrix, a vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline PLC that contains an adjuvant, while Germany's politicians, government employees and troops will get Celvapan, made by Baxter International without an adjuvant.

Adjuvants – or chemical compounds that boost the human body's immune response and stretch the vaccine's active ingredient so more doses can be made – are relatively new in flu vaccines, and there is limited data on how safe they are in certain population groups, such as pregnant women and children. No flu vaccines with adjuvants are licensed in the U.S., though they are commonly used in Europe.

John le Carré called Bonn "a small town in Germany" when his Cold War thriller of the same name was published just seven years after the bu...

In the current global economy, things are hard all over -- even in Berlin's red-light district. With fewer travelers coming to town for conferences ...

The head of South African track will keep his job even though he admitted to lying about his role in gender tests done on runner Caster Semenya.

Athletics South Africa board member Chris Britz says Leonard Chuene retained his leadership position during a closed-door ASA council meeting on Thursday.

The move comes despite calls from the government sports ministry and several ASA opposition parties to fire Chuene.

Semenya won the 800-meter race at the world championships in Berlin in August. The IAAF said before the final they had ordered gender tests because of her muscular physique and stunning improvement in times.

Chuene repeatedly said Semenya's gender tests were done abroad. He later admitted knowing of tests conducted in South Africa.

The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued a safety warning for an instrument to measure air speed that is used on Airbus A330 and A340 jets.

The directive in effect from Wednesday says malfunctions have been reported in the instruments, known as pitot probes.

The Cologne-based agency says the problem may originate with manufacturer Goodrich and could cause an in-flight air leak that would cause incorrect pressure and airspeed readings. Goodrich is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The agency is calling on operators to test the devices.

Experts have suggested that pitot tubes may have contributed to the June crash of an Air France flight, killing 228 people.