Berlin - Berlin's foreign ministry advised Germans on Wednesday to avoid Bangkok's international airport which is under siege by anti-government protesters.

A foreign ministry spokesman said it was difficult to predict how things would develop.

Two leading German travel agents, Meier's Weltreisen und Dertours, cancelled flights to or via Bangkok for Wednesday and Thursday, affecting about 200 passengers. Thailand is a popular holiday destination for Germans.

Berlin - The leaders of France and Germany called Wednesday for a relaxation of the European Union's stability and growth pact in order to cushion the effects of the global financial crisis.

Some countries might be forced to exceed the pact's tough fiscal rules which limit new borrowing to 3 per cent of GDP, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicholas Sarkozy said.

In a joint newspaper column for Germany' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the French daily Le Figaro, they said disputes over deficit criteria needed to be avoided in such "exceptional times."

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that 2009 would be a gloomy year for Europe's largest economy but predicted the situation would improve in 2010.

"Germany is very strong," she told parliament. It was in a position to overcome the current crisis, she said.

Merkel said an economic stimulus package announced by her government was intended to "build a bridge" for investment and employment "until an economic recovery happens."

Cologne- Bundesliga club Cologne confirmed on Tuesday night that they are plan to bring their long lost son Lukas Podolski back home to the club from Bayern Munich.

Club president Wolfgang Overath and general manager Michael Meier said that Cologne have talked with the relevant parties and now wait for a signal from Munich on the future of the Germany striker.

"We have done our homework and will do everything to bring Lukas back home," Overath told Cologne's annual members meeting amid thunderous applause.

Meier said: "Talks were held recently between Cologne and Bayern Munich and between Cologne and Lukas. Now we are waiting for a signal."

Berlin, Nov 26 : The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the image of a pair of stars that are two of our galaxy’s most massive stars.

They have, until recently, been shrouded in mystery, but the new image shows them in greater detail than ever before.

The image shows a pair of colossal stars, WR 25 and Tr16-244, located within the open cluster Trumpler 16. This cluster is embedded within the Carina Nebula, an immense cauldron of gas and dust that lies approximately 7500 light-years from Earth.

The Carina Nebula contains several ultra-hot stars, including these two star systems and the famous blue star Eta Carinae, which has the highest luminosity yet confirmed.

Berlin  - Car-buyers are being tugged two ways in a German debate over carbon-dioxide emissions: should they buy cars for the fast lane, or downsize to smaller cars more suited to the slow lane of German autobahns?

The dilemma came to a head when Chancellor Angela Merkel's government debated an economic stimulus package in October.

With global talks on a new climate-saving pact due next week in Poland, the dispute underlined the conflict between ecology and the economy.

Germany initially wanted to grant two-year vehicle tax rebates to buyers of all cars with sophisticated technology to reduce and purify emissions, but an outcry from environmentalists halted the plan.