Germany-US-Obama
The Berlin visit of US presidential hopeful Barack Obama was overshadowed by two bomb warnings, the website of the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported Thursday.

Police was forced to evacuate the guests of the hotel where Obama is staying after discovering a suspicious package, police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski was quoted saying.

German security officials cleared the lobby of the Adlon Hotel as bomb-sniffing dogs were looking for possible explosives in the parcel.

Police lifted the bomb alert after they found out that the package was only a book, belonging to a hotel guest.

Meanwhile, a bomb threat at Berlin's Tegel Airport, only moments after Obama arrived in Berlin, turned out to be a hoax, police said.

Around 1,700 police have been deployed throughout the German capital for Obama's one-day visit.

The Democratic Senator from Illinois is also scheduled to hold a landmark speech on his foreign policy agenda at an open air location at Berlin's historic Victory Column.

Preparations for Obama's address were marred Wednesday evening after a 40-year man driving a mini-van broke through a cordoned off security zone where the American presidential contender is to speak and spray-painted the area with a red colour.

The driver from the south German state of Baden Wuerttemberg is now in police detention, awaiting an investigation.