Merkel

Wednesday January 25, 2017

Germany Is Scrapping Law That Bans Insulting Foreign Leaders

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet says it is scrapping the controversial law against insulting foreign heads of state. Markus Schreiber/AP hide caption

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Markus Schreiber/AP

Germany Is Scrapping Law That Bans Insulting Foreign Leaders

January 25, 2017 • Justice Minister Heiko Mass called the law "obsolete and unnecessary." Last year, the law was invoked in a controversial case against a comedian because of a lewd poem criticizing Turkey's leader.

Wednesday August 26, 2015

'Merkel' Has Become A Verb In German Youth Vernacular

Germany's prime-time television news show quotes Merkel's silence over the weekend. ARD hide caption

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ARD

'Merkel' Has Become A Verb In German Youth Vernacular

August 26, 2015 • The German chancellor's last name is used locally as a word of action that ironically means to not act at all.

Wednesday January 8, 2014

Germany's Merkel To Visit U.S. Amid Anger Over NSA Spying

President Obama walks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sept. 6, 2013. Relations between the two allies are strained after documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, suggested the agency had spied on Merkel and other world leaders. Ivan Sekretarev/AP hide caption

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Ivan Sekretarev/AP

The Two-Way

Germany's Merkel To Visit U.S. Amid Anger Over NSA Spying

January 8, 2014 • The trip would mark a thawing of relations between the allies that were strained by reports the National Security Agency spied on the German chancellor. A German government spokesman said Wednesday Angela Merkel would visit Washington in the coming months.

Wednesday June 13, 2012

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Planet Money

Why Germany Keeps Saying No

June 13, 2012 • It's not just money. Germany fears a lack of control. German leaders think if they intertwine themselves more closely with the rest of Europe — without having some control over the actions of other countries — they will once again be on the hook for bailing out their neighbors.