Statement of the Middle East Quartet
The Quartet - the EU, the UN, the US and Russia - met on Wednesday in Berlin to discuss ways of promoting peace in the Middle East. German Foreign Minister Steinmeier also hosted bilateral talks on the fringes of the meeting.

The Transatlantic Marketplace: Single EU-US Market Could Boost World Trade
A single transatlantic market between the European Union and the United States could pave the way for a comprehensive opening of world trade.

Alternative Energy: German Companies World Leaders in Renewable Energies
Germany's renewable energy sector exported installations worth 6 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in 2006, up from 500 million euros in 2000. The sector is set to grow by 10 percent annually.

Steinmeier on Iran and other Security Issues
"The door to negotiations remains open", the German Foreign Minister said in an interview the Handelsblatt newspaper. Positive signs include the fact that Iran's chief negotiator outlined the country's position at the recent Munich Security Conference.

EU Environment Council Adopts Ambitious Climate Protection Goals
The bloc's 27 member states reached agreement on tough new targets up to 2020 and an EU negotiation package for a post-2012 climate protection agreement.

Volkswagen Seeks to Tempt US Buyers with Affordable Cars, Doubles Earnings in 2006
VW is seeking to return to its roots as "the people's car" in the US by cutting prices on certain models and launching a new advertising campaign.

China's "Tuya's Marriage" Wins Berlinale Film Festival
Director Wang Quan'an film, about a woman forced to find a new husband as caretaker in Mongolia, won the festival's coveted golden bear for best film.

Alaaf! Cologne Carnival Parade too Long to fit on Route
The mother of all German carnivals was too bit this year to fit along its own route - more fun for the giddy, costumed revelers in Cologne, who were treated to a cornucopia of fun and politically satirical floats, not to mention bands, clowns and candy galore.

Readings: TWIG Cannot Cover it All - But We Can Tell You Where to Find it!
This week, photographer Wolf Tillmans discusses the futile search for absolute truth, Signandsight waxes ho-hum on the Berlinale, the intellectual inferno regarding multiculturalism continues and Germany plans an EU-wide history book.

Basketball: Germany's Dirk Nowitzki is First European to Start in an All-Star Game
According to former tennis ace Boris Becker, the NBA brand in Germany "get more and more popular the better Nowitzki plays". Nowitzki has raised the profile of the sport as a "local hero" back home.

Germany's World Cup Baby Boom
The 2006 international soccer tournament showcasing the beautiful game's best players brought the host country more than a respectable third-place finish - it has also been attributed with a sudden spike in birth rates, nine months after the fact ...