Frankfurt  - Commerzbank AG's shares surged Friday after Germany's second-biggest bank said it was fast-forwarding its bid for rival Dresdner Bank as a result of the more favourable terms for the purchase created by the world financial crisis.

Frankfurt-based Commerzbank said that it was planning to wind up its takeover about six months ahead of time with the financial crisis resulting in the offer for Dresdner being cut to 5.1 billion euros (6.6 billion dollars) from a previous 9.8 billion euros.

Berlin  - Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl has denied claiming that half the field in cycling is using CERA, the third generation of the blood booster EPO.

Kohl, who has been banned for two years for doping, said via his lawyers that he had never accused other riders of using the drug.

According to a Wiener Zeitung report, Kohl said in his hearing with the Austrian anti-doping agency that the drug was discussed in detail by riders and some thought that "probably half the riders were underway with CERA."

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government suffered a shock setback

Berlin, Nov. 28 : Counter-terrorism officials and experts said the scale, sophistication and targets involved in the Mumbai attacks were markedly different from previous terrorist plots in India and suggested the gunmen had received training from outside the country.

The Washington Post quotes officials in India, Europe and the United States as saying the likely culprits included Islamist networks based in Pakistan that have received support in the past from Pakistan''s intelligence agencies.

Berlin - Two German foreign officials as well as two employees of the German airline Lufthansa were freed Friday from a luxury hotel at the centre of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Both the German Foreign Office and Lufthansa confirmed that their employees had been released from the Oberoi Trident hotel.

"They could leave the hotel," a Lufthansa spokesman said, adding that all the airline's employees in Mumbai had now been brought to safety.

Frankfurt  - German bank Commerzbank announced late Thursday that it would accelerate its planned takeover of Dresdner Bank from the current parent, insurance group Allianz, at barely half the earlier price.

Under a revision of the deal first struck in August, Frankfurt- based Commerzbank, Germany's second largest bank, will complete the takeover in January, rather than in the second half of 2009 as originally agreed.