Germans love a good political controversy. In fact, they often get so excited about disagreement and debate that they sometimes invent crises where none actually exist. Every time, for example, the junior coalition partner, the Green Party, dares to criticize Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD), reporters across the country write the obituary of a coalition that has been in power for seven years. Reading the political pages is often quite a bit like Groundhog Day.

Over the last ten days, though, the wolf-crying has reached a fever pitch. The SPD-Green coalition, it has been repeated over and over again, is dead. Evidence is everywhere: Many in the Green Party were blindsided by Schroeder's May 22 call for general elections to be moved up by a year. The two parties have said they are going to campaign separately this time around. They also have differing conceptions for tax reform. Schroeder spent the weekend saying he was only going to inform his party about his strategy for the no-confidence vote that will pave the way for new elections in September.

Just days ago, the German political world seemed to be coming to an end. And yet on Wednesday, the wolf once again retreated. "Misunderstandings" have been "smoothed over" and the SPD and the Greens are best buddies again. What, please, is a poor citizen to believe?

Actually, this time, believe the doomsayers. Despite Schroeder's avowed love for Tuscany, the 61-year-old isn't yet ready to retire. In other words, with his party way behind in the opinion polls and with widespread disgust for his social reforms and the economy, he is fighting for his political life. The Greens, on the other hand, are facing a major crisis of identity. During the last seven years, the party transformed from being enviro-idealists into governing-realists. It's not clear where they will stand once they are no longer part of a ruling coalition. They are fighting for their political identity.

In other words, anything goes. And to top it all off, most of the country is assuming that the coming election is the end of the road for this government. Despite a grocery list of bills Schroeder and co. still want to push through, he is the lamest of lame duck chancellors. And this coalition is now a partnership in name only. (2:25 p.m. CET)

EU versus USA at the WTO

The war between Airbus and Boeing has been a cold one for months. Both the Europeans and the Americans, peering over endless columns of numbers, sat sullenly at the negotiating table in a doomed effort to end a trade war that has each accusing the other of receiving hefty state subsidies in the race to build the world's next best-selling passenger jumbo. The negotiations failed and on Tuesday, the war became hot as the US formally brought its case before the World Trade Organization. It is claiming that EU governments are planning to provide up to $1.7 billion in low interest loans to help Airbus get its newest plane, the A350, off the ground. The EU, for its part, immediately took the bait and filed a counter claim accusing Boeing of receiving more than $7 billion in tax incentives and support for its development of the 787 Dreamliner -- a new, fuel-efficient jet liner that Airbus wants to counter with the A350.

The move has been brewing for years; the US has long been critical of the EU's support of the Airbus super-jumbo A380. But it throws a dramatic crimp in relations between the EU and the US when both are trying to work together to combat a flood of Chinese textile exports and on intellectual property issues. But despite the seriousness of the conflict, it appears that a negotiated solution is now out of the question. "The time for negotiations has been closed," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told the AP.

The issue promises to be one of the biggest ever to come before the WTO and will be a test for the world trade body. US officials have not ruled out continuing face-to-face negotiations as the case works its way through the WTO. (1:10 p.m. CET)

Thrice Mugged

Ananova may not rank up there with the Associated Press when it comes to journalistic gravitas, but they're awfully good at dredging up the bizarre. On Wednesday, the Web site is reporting that a man in Germany -- not exactly known as being a hotbed of petty criminals -- was mugged three times within one hour. Apparently, the guy, 27-year-old Reiner Hamer, was at a local night club when he was attacked by three men and fleeced of over €150 and his cell phone. He called the police from a friend's mobile and, while waiting for them to show up, was mugged two more times -- once losing his watch and cigarettes, and finally he was relieved of his jacket and what remained of his pocket change. (11:35 a.m. CET)

Every Sperm Is Sacred

The pope is, to be sure, an elected position. But the newly installed master-of-the-Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI, seems to have lost sight of exactly who cast the votes that elevated him to his current position. He is now wading into Italian politics.

At issue is a referendum to be held in Italy in the middle of June. No, it's not a vote on the European Constitution. Rather, the referendum would gut a 2003 law passed by Prime Minister Silvio Belusconi's government imposing restrictions on artificial insemination and embryonic research. The law gave embryos the same rights as children and outlawed the use of sperm and eggs from donors. It also banned women beyond their childbearing years, lesbian couples and single women from access to in vitro fertilization and ordered that no more than three eggs could be harvested at once. All then had to be fertilized directly -- instead of being frozen for future use -- and then placed in a woman's womb. The Church was happy.

Now, fearing the law could be overturned, Italian bishops are urging the good citizens of Italy to take a stand. Or rather, they are asking them to stay away from the polls in an effort to block the referendum, which needs at least a 50 percent turnout to be valid. Speaking before a bishops' conference in Rome on Monday, Pope Benedict XVI said, "I am close to you in word and prayer." Those in favor of passing the referendum -- and who have collected almost four million signatures in support -- are outraged. "This interference is serious and dangerous," said Gloria Buffo, a member of parliament from the opposition Democratic Left party to the Italian news agency Ansa. "The active, militant and hammering participation of the Italian bishops regarding the referendum campaign is ... harmful to the freedom of popular choice."