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German Chancellor Starts Video Podcast
[June 07, 2006]

German Chancellor Starts Video Podcast


(AP) German Chancellor Starts Video Podcast
By Melissa Eddy
The Associated Press
BERLIN
U.S. presidents have their fireside chats and weekly radio addresses. Germany's chancellor will be debuting her video podcast.

Called "Die Kanzlerin direkt," or "The Chancellor Direct," the podcast will feature Angela Merkel's thoughts on mostly political topics, although the first video -- coming out Thursday -- will address the World Cup soccer tournament that opens Friday in Munich and runs through July 9.



Subsequent videos will be made available each Saturday from Merkel's Web site at http://www.bundeskanzlerin.de .

The idea is "to be true to the original democratic principle and make information available to everyone so that they can form their own opinions," government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters.


Since taking office in November, Merkel, a physicist by training, has worked to increase Germany's profile as a high-tech country, increasing funding for research and development.

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