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AP Photo SOB102, SOB101 BERLIN (AP) Environmental activists have hung a giant banner from a prominent Berlin landmark, the Victory Column, urging Germany's leader to take the lead in combatting climate change.

A group of Greenpeace activists descended on ropes from the landmark's viewing platform to put in place the nearly 50-foot (15-meter) banner Friday. It urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to "make history save the climate" at talks on a new global climate accord in Copenhagen in December.

The 226-foot (69-meter) column was built to commemorate PRussian victories and inaugurated in 1873. It has been the backdrop to events such as the Love Parade techno party and a speech last year by Barack Obama, a U.S. presidential candidate at the time.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 10-16-09 1001CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list