Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier plans to visit a World War II-era concentration camp on an upcoming visit to Italy, his office announced Saturday.

The move could be seen as an effort to mend fences with Italy. Some acrimony exists 60 years after the end of the war about demands for retribution for Nazi-era atrocities.

Steinmeier is set to visit Trieste for a summit meeting on Tuesday. He will take time during his Italian visit to go to the former Risiera di San Sabba concentration camp on Trieste's outskirts. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini will join him.

London, Nov. 15 : Being a soldier in Afghanistan is clearly thirsty work. According to military sources, around a million litres of beer was shipped to German troops stationed in Afghanistan last year.

The troops, according to a German Defence Ministry report, also received about 70,000 litres of wine and sekt, a German sparkling wine.

The admission has shocked a country that has never had much time for the Afghan mission, reports The Guardian.

Washington  - Germany is examining the carmaker Opel's request for government credit guarantees, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said.

"We are looking into it to see whether it's appropriate," Steinbrueck said Friday night in Washington on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit of developed and emerging economies.

Hannover, Germany  - Hannover 96 and VfL Bochum will

Berlin - Automobile manufacturer Opel said Friday it was seeking credit guarantees from the German government, following a sharp downturn in orders.

Sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the company was looking for some 200 million euros (252 million dollars) in support from Berlin and the four German states where it has factories.

An Opel spokesman said the company would only make use of the guarantees if the situation of its parent General Motors (GM) deteriorated to the effect that production and project development at the German subsidiary was affected.

Hainichen, Germany - An 18-year-old girl who claimed that neo-Nazis scratched a swastika on her thigh after she defended a child from a racist attack was convicted Friday of faking a crime.

A court in the east German town of Hainichen sentenced her to 40 hours of community service at the end of a closed-door trial that heard evidence from 22 witnesses and two experts.

The alleged attack in November last year shocked Germany, with commentators calling for a crackdown on neo-Nazi thugs.