Obama opens 24-hour trip to Germany

BERLIN — President Barack Obama is opening a 24-hour visit to Germany, the culmination of which will be a speech Wednesday at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate.

Obama will also hold meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other government officials. He arrived in Berlin following a two-day summit of the Group of 8 industrial nations in Northern Ireland.

The president's visit comes nearly 50 years to the day after John F. Kennedy's famous Cold War address in Berlin.

Obama's trip is sure to draw comparisons to his 2008 visit to the once-divided city as a candidate for the White House. He received a rock star welcome, with 200,000 people gathering to hear him deliver remarks at Berlin's Victory Column.