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2010 Our Choices Matter Campus Weeks Winners Announced
The winners for the three nationwide Our Choices Matter campus week contests were selected by a jury at the German Embassy. The University of Pittsburgh swept Green Shot and Change in Your Neighborhood, while Rutgers University took home the prize for the Green Energy Alternatives Debate.
Iranian Filmmaker Wins Berlinale Golden Bear
This year’s Golden Bear for Best Film went to Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi for Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader And Simin, A Separation). The film’s actress-ensemble also won the Silver Bear for Best Actor.
In 1849, James W. C. Pennington, abolitionist and former slave, became the first African American to be awarded an honorary degree from a European University when Heidelberg University conferred on him the honorary doctorate of divinity.
“The Art of the Book” – An Exhibit from the Collections of the Leo Baeck Institute
“The Art of the Book,” in cooperation with the Leo Baeck Institute and on display in the Ambassador's Residence, is devoted to the rich contributions Jewish writers, illustrators, designers, publishers and collectors have made to literature, learning and literacy in Germany.
Google Plans Internet Institute for Berlin
Though Google has often been at the center of controversy in Germany—most recently in relation to their service Street View—the U.S. company has announced plans to build an institute for internet and society in Berlin.
Frülingsgefühle. Large parts of the country are still be covered in snow, but in some areas people have already had the pleasure of taking the first stroll of the year outside without a jacket. The first sign of Spring has been sighted!
Current Affairs
Foreign Minister Westerwelle has spoken out clearly in response to the violence being used against demonstrators in Libya: “A ruling family which threatens its own people with civil war (...) has reached the end of its run.”
“A movement for freedom has started here, and we intend to do our bit to help ensure that it brings success for the people,” Foreign Minister Westerwelle said in Cairo.
Anti-Discrimination Networks
A society free of discrimination is not only a better place to live but also more productive. For this reason, the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (FADA) is launching the "Campaign for a Discrimination-Free Society." The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency will support local advisory networks and will strengthen their ties to the ADS as well as intensify networking among the counselling centres.
Business, Technology and the Environment
Ifo Business Climate Index Continues its Ascent
The Ifo Business Climate for German industry and trade improved in February for the ninth time in succession. More firms have reported a better business situation than in the previous month. With regard to their business prospects for the coming half year, they continue to be optimistic. The upswing in the German economy is robust.
German Government Expects Smooth Transition to New Standard for Internet Addresses
In view of the global growth of the internet, the world is running out of vacant internet addresses based on the current IPv4 standard. At the beginning of February, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology held a workshop on the current status of the move to the new standard (IPv6).
Internet Address Transition
Welcome to the first edition of CONNECTED – a newsletter discussing climate and energy from a transatlantic perspective. CONNECTED aims to showcase and review policy and research initiatives that are aimed at low-emissions development.
http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/__pr/TCB/2011/02/11__TCB_20Newsletter1__S.html
Culture and Lifestyle
German Dream Factory
Hollywood star Liam Neeson takes a spectacular dip: during action shots for his latest thriller “Unknown”, which is set in Berlin and opens at German cinemas in March, the famous actor took the plunge at Babelsberg film studios – in 500,000 litres of water. Germany’s largest water tank for filming complex water scenes provided the setting as the taxi carrying Neeson plummeted from a Berlin bridge into the River Spree.
Planet Germany is a year’s worth of vignettes about daily expatriate life in Germany—a whimsical handbook of cultural quirks that it would take years of experience and embarrassing mistakes to discover on your own.
About "The Week in Germany"
A Publication of Germany.info and the German Information Center, USA
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| Stuttgart Bayern Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hessen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Niedersachsen Nordrhein-Westfalen Rheinland-Pfalz Saarland Sachsen Sachsen-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein Thüringen |
State System Democratic parliamentary federal democracy since 1949
Administration 16 federal states
Capital City Berlin, about 3.4 million inhabitants
National Flag Three horizontal stripes in black, red, gold
Emblem Stylized Eagle
Anthem Third verse of August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben’s ”Das Lied der Deutschen” to a melody by Joseph Haydn “Kaiserhymne“
State Holiday October 3, Day of German Unity
Parliament Bundestag
Time Zone CET/CEST
Currency Germany is a member of the Eurozone, EUR 1 = 100 cents
Phone Dial Code +49
Internet TLD .de (one of the ten most frequent top-level domains)
Official Language German. German is the mother tongue of 100 million people and is the mother tongue spoken most frequently in the European Union
Location Central Europe
Size 357,021 km² (137,847 mi²)
Inhabitants About 82 million (Germany has the largest population of any EU member state)
Largest Cities Berlin (3.4 million inhabitants), Hamburg (1.8m), Munich (1.3m), Cologne (1.0m), Frankfurt/Main (662,000)
Neighboring States Germany is located in the heart of Europe and has nine neighbors: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland
Borders 3,757 km (2,334 mi)
Coastline 2,389 km (1,484 mi)
Highest Mountain Zugspitze 2963 m (9,718 ft)
Longest Rivers Rhine 865 km (537 mi), Elbe 700 km (435 mi), Danube 647 km (402 mi) in Germany
Football.
German Bundesliga, the clubs
• FC Kaiserslautern
• FC Köln
• FC Nürnberg
• FSV Mainz 05
•1899 Hoffenheim
•Bayer Leverkusen
•Bayern München
•Borussia Dortmund
•Borussia Mönchengladbach
•Eintracht Frankfurt
•FC Schalke 04
•FC St Pauli
•Hamburger SV
•Hannover 96
•SC Freiburg
•VfB Stuttgart
•VfL Wolfsburg
•Werder Bremen
German Federal Government
Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel since 2005 Party CDU
Federal Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Guido Westerwelle 2009 FDP
Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Norbert Röttgen 2009 CDU
Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Rainer Brüderle 2009 FDP
Federal Minister of Defence Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg 2009 CSU
Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth Kristina Schröder 2009 CDU
Federal Minister for Special Tasks and Head of the Chancellery Ronald Pofalla 2009 CDU
Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière 2009 CDU
Federal Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan 2005 CDU
Federal Minister of Health Philipp Rösler 2009 FDP
Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Ilse Aigner 2008 CSU
Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble 2009 CDU
Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Ursula von der Leyen 2009 CDU
Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs Peter Ramsauer 2009 CSU
Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Dirk Niebel 2009 FDP
Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger 2009 FDP
