Germany (German: Deutschland IPA: ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (, IPA: ), is a country in central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Within its borders are a portion of the Alps mountains, the famous Rhine and Danube rivers, and the Black Forest.

Germany is a democratic parliamentary federal republic, made up of 16 states (Bundesländer), which in certain spheres act independently of the federation. Historically consisting of several sovereign nations with their own history, language (distinct dialects), culture and religion, Germany was unified as a nation state during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/1871.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Union. It is the European Union's most populous and most economically powerful member state.

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Germany News

Hitler back in Berlin - this time in wax
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:02:08 -0000
Adolf Hitler is back in Berlin. But this time he's a wax figure depicted hunkering down in his bunker in the German capital in the final days of the Second World War.
Kissinger to present elder Bush with award in Berlin
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:26:45 -0000
MR Henry Kissinger will honor former US President George H.W. Bush on Thursday for his commitment to Germany amid the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification.
Bush's final G-8 summit may be harmonious
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:59:25 -0000
The issues are as difficult as ever, but the conditions are likely to be more conducive to agreement as President Bush attends his eighth and final economic summit of industrial democracies.The annual Group of Eight meeting, which begins Monday on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, comes amid economic turmoil in most of the member nations, as well as political uncertainty for many of the leaders. Oil prices are hitting new record highs and worries about inflation are mounting. Like the United States, most of the nation's major trading partners are experiencing slow growth and market declines.
Torture: Abducted women raped, kept in dog kennel
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:16:33 -0000
A GERMAN court has sentenced a pair of middle-aged men to more than 12 years in prison for sexually abusing and torturing two young women they held captive for several weeks - part of the time in a dog kennel.
Potato-laden tractor rolls down hill, crushes car
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:33:00 -0000
A farmer in Germany has learned a harsh lesson about the dangers of smoking. While he ducked into a convenience store to buy cigarettes, his parked tractor and its load of 25 tons of potatoes went rolling down ...
Army: No standard for checking absent soldiers
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:44:39 -0000
An Army spokesman says there is no standard procedure for units to keep up with absent soldiers, as officers investigate the death of a Fort Bragg soldier.

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