Langenfeld - German police said Thursday they had arrested an unassuming Italian suspected of working as a hired killer for an organized-crime syndicate in the Italian province of Apulia.

The unarmed man had no time to resist when he was suddenly handcuffed Wednesday evening as he returned home from his regular job as a tradesman in an eastern suburb of Dusseldorf.

The suspect, 46, is accused by a magistrate in Bari, Italy of attempting to murder two persons with a pump-action shotgun in 2000 on a street in Manfredonia, Italy at the orders of the syndicate. Both were wounded, but survived the attack

Berlin - Germany's 12-billion-euro (15-billion-dollar) economic-stimulus package, which has wobbled in the past few days, won approval from almost all pro-government legislators Thursday.

The two main parliamentary leaders, Volker Kauder of the Christian Democratic caucus and Peter Struck of the Social Democrats, said they would see to it that the legislation was adopted by parliament by the end of the month.

Joining other governments round the world, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided November 5 on a package that includes soft loans for medium-sized industry and for home insulation.

Hamburg - After moving almost unnoticed to the top of the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen have a chance of putting one of their chief rivals behind them in the German league's top game on Saturday.

Leverkusen take on visiting Schalke 04 who will be seeking to bounce back from a 2-1 home defeat to Bayern Munich last weekend which has left them five points adrift of the leaders.

Leverkusen, who are equal on 25 points with promoted Hoffenheim, have emerged as a title contender under new coach Bruno Labbadia who has a young side playing an attractive attacking game.

Munich - Massive restructuring costs and efforts to root out corruption combined to drive German engineering giant Siemens into the red during the final quarter of the 2007-08 business year.

The company posted a net loss of 2.4 billion euros (3 billion dollars), a sharp fall from a year ago when the loss was 74 million euros, Siemens said Thursday.

Munich - Siemens posted a 2.4-billion-euro (3 billion dollars) final quarter loss, mainly as a result of restructuring costs and efforts to root out corruption, the German engineering giant said Thursday.

In the corresponding quarter of the previous business year, the company reported a loss of 74 million euros.

Turnover in the three months up to the end of September in the 2007-2008 business year increased 7 per cent to 21.7 billion euros, while orders were up 4 per cent at 22.2 billion euros, Siemens said.