Munich - Two former executives at the German multinational Siemens were given prison terms Wednesday for assisting in a 1.3- billion-euro (1.6-billion-dollar) worldwide web of bribery.

The men, 58 and 69, had admitted being accessories to misappropriation and corruption at the two-day trial in Munich. Kickbacks were paid in various nations including Russia, the court in Munich, Germany heard.

Berlin - German football authorities Wednesday honoured goalkeeper legend Bernd Trautmann for his services to football at a ceremony ahead of an international between Germany and England.

Trautmann, 85, was awarded the German Football Federation pin with diamond - its highest award for a person outside the federation - for his "unique services" for German football.

Berlin - Berlin's Jewish community said Wednesday it is not interested in using the villa that once belonged to Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels.

Authorities in the capital had approached the Jewish community to see if it wanted to host exhibitions at the woodland property on the outskirts of the city.

Its members inspected the site at Bogensee during the summer. After that there had been no further contact with city officials, said Maya Zehden, a spokeswoman for the Jewish community.

Ludwigshafen,
Germany - Chemical giant BASF announced Wednesday that it was slashing
production worldwide because of a dramatic fall in demand.

The company said it was temporarily shutting down around 80 plants across the globe and reducing production in 100.

Some
20,000 employees would be affected, BASF said in a statement. Flexible
working time arrangements will be used wherever possible, it said.

"We
already drew attention to the difficult economic situation at the end
of October. Since then, customer demand in key markets has declined
significantly," board chairman Juergen Hambrecht said.

Frankfurt - Rose Kabuye, 47, a senior Rwandan politician, was extradited Wednesday from Germany to France, where she is wanted for questioning in connection with a 1994 assassination.

German federal police said she left on a flight from Frankfurt to Paris in the early afternoon.

Since arresting her on November 9 when she arrived by plane, Germany had been waiting for French police to pick her up. She was wanted under a European arrest warrant issued by the French.

Last week, Kabuye agreed to fast-track extradition and German judges approved her being handed over to France.

Hamburg - Laurent Nkunda, the rebel chief whose armies have swept aside Congolese government forces, aims to take over the whole of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said in an interview published Wednesday in Germany.

He told the weekly newspaper Die Zeit that under his leadership, the DR Congo would take over a seat representing Africa in the United Nations Security Council within five years.

His forces have won control in tracts of the east of the DR Congo.