East Germany

The Ukraine and Russian conflict has increased the price of energy, both oil and natural gas. That will hit Europe especially hard. Here’s why.

Germany marked the 30th anniversary Saturday of the opening of the Berlin Wall, a pivotal moment in the events that brought down Communism in eastern Europe. Leaders from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic attended a ceremony at Bernauer Strasse — where one of the last parts of the Berlin Wall remains — before placing roses in the...

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump shook hands with former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama after the Trumps arrived at George H.W. Bush’s funeral at the National Cathedral.

The nation’s most exclusive fraternity — the presidents club — assembled Wednesday to mourn George H.W. Bush, putting on public display its uneasy relationship with the current occupant of the Oval Office. The uncomfortable reunion brought President Donald Trump together in the same pew with past White House residents who have given him decidedly critical reviews. The late Bush was...

Former President George H.W. Bush’s state funeral encompasses four days of events, from his arrival in Washington to his burial in Texas on Thursday. The guidelines for state funerals date back to the mid-1800s and have been shaped over time. Seating arrangements, for example, are detailed with precision, with the presidential party followed by chiefs of state, arranged alphabetically by...

George H.W. Bush’s casket travelled from Houston to Washington, D.C., where he will lie in state at the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol before a service at the Washington National Cathedral.

Former President George H.W. Bush teamed up with the man who ousted him from the White House to help victims of natural disasters. He created a program that has honored thousands of American volunteers. He also sent U.S. troops to Africa to help starving Somalis. It was all part of Bush’s vision for creating what he called a “kinder, gentler...

The nation’s capital embraced George H.W. Bush in death Monday with solemn ceremony and high tributes to his service and decency, as the remains of the 41st president took their place in the Capitol rotunda for three days of mourning and praise by the political elite and everyday citizens alike. With Bush’s casket atop the Lincoln Catafalque, first used for...

Former President George H.W. Bush is returning to Washington as a revered political statesman, hailed by leaders across the political spectrum and around the world as a man not only of greatness but also of uncommon decency and kindness. Bush, who died late Friday at his Houston home at age 94, is to be honored with a state funeral at...

In a chaotic 28 hours at NATO, President Donald Trump disparaged longtime allies, cast doubt on his commitment to the mutual-defense organization and sent the 29-member pact into frenzied emergency session. Then, in a head-snapping pivot at the end, on Thursday he declared the alliance a “fine-tuned machine” that had acceded to his demands to speed up increases in military...

As the sun beats down on a small vineyard by the rippling waters of Grossraeschen Lake, there’s little sign of the vast wound that lies beneath. Meuro, the brown-black mine that once dominated the landscape, providing jobs to thousands of workers who toiled in clouds of lignite coal dust, has vanished. Only a floating excavator plucking sunken trees out of...

As the sun beats down on a small vineyard by the rippling waters of Grossraeschen Lake, there’s little sign of the vast wound that lies beneath. Meuro, the brown-black mine that once dominated the landscape, providing jobs to thousands of workers who toiled in clouds of lignite coal dust, has vanished. Only a floating excavator plucking sunken trees out of...

Kim Jong Un wants to turn his country into an international sports power — think East Germany in the 1970s and 80s. The North Korean leader is pouring resources into training and infrastructure, athletes are getting more recognition than ever and the country now even has an all-sports television channel, though it’s not clear how many citizens are able to...

Show us a sport and we’ll show you a scandal. There is no such thing as competition without controversy, and when you add millions of dollars; massive egos; years of blood, sweat and tears; and international tension, sometimes between countries that don’t much like each other even on a good day, you’ve got controversy on steroids. Sometimes literally. And though...

There’s some sort of mystical power when it comes to Germany and luge. Germany has more sliding tracks than any other nation, plus always seems to be ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to technology and any other innovation that can be used to get a sled down the ice faster than anyone else. Nowhere has...

Germany has more sliding tracks than any other nation, plus always seems to be ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to technology and any other innovation that can be used to get a sled down the ice faster than anyone else.

Before you watch luge during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Erin Hamlin will teach you how it works with a bunch of Legos.

With little time to spare, North and South Korea are preparing to hash out Kim Jong Un’s offer to send a delegation to next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Skeptics are calling the offer, floated by Kim during his annual televised New Year’s address, a cynical tactic to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul, while optimists see it as a...

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley recently said it was an “open question” if U.S. athletes would compete in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics because of concerns over North Korea. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to comment.

As a kid in a dismal Soviet communal apartment, Vladimir Putin was a scrapper who dreamed of being an operator — diligently training in martial arts and boldly walking into a KGB office to inquire about how to become a spy. As Russia’s leader in the 21st century, he’s been the epitome of both traits — fighting Chechen rebels, directing...