Bernd Schmidbauer News Today

Helmut Kohl demonstrated a commitment to peacefully resolving the endlessly complex Middle East diplomatic landscape.

Ex-premier acknowledges having performed ambiguous advisory work for Intellexa, one of the firms behind Predator, but says he recently stopped

Fereydoun Farrokhzad, an exiled entertainer and scathing critic of Iran’s Islamic leaders, was murdered in 1992 in his Bonn apartment -- a crime that remains unsolved. An RFE/RL investigation sheds light on his bloody demise and uncovers evidence pointing toward Tehran’s hand in the killing.

Iran is the one sore spot in an otherwise highly cooperative German-American relationship. The United States has sought to punish the Islamic state for sponsoring terrorism. Germany has tried to maintain a "critical dialogue" of limited diplomacy and commerce, much as its Ostpolitik tried to engage Soviet bloc nations during the Cold War. U.S. officials decry Germany's shady dealings and billions of dollars in loans and credits to Iran. When challenged, German officials charge the...