Chancellor Angela Merkel and her fellow German politicians gathered in Berlin yesterday to kick off that city's beer festival. Beer lovers will tap Munich on Saturday, when Oktoberfest officially begins.
Guenther Beckstein, the governor of Bavaria, which includes Munich raised eyebrows recently when
he said, "If one drinks the two liters over six or seven hours at the Oktoberfest, it is still possible" to drive.

The G-8 Summit gets underway in Hakkaido, Japan today; a three-day meeting of the leaders of the eight countries invited, plus a representative of the European Union.
Grown from the concept of a forum of the major industrialized democracies after the 1973 oil crisis, more have been invited until 1997 when the last member, Russia, was invited at the initiative of then US President Bill Clinton.
The guest list is at the
edge of controversy this year, as major climate issues are at hand, and two of the worst polluters (China and India) aren't invited.