Bremen, Germany  - Croatian footballer Ivan Klasnic on Friday rejected a settlement in a dispute with his former club Werder Bremen over his kidney problems which eventually led to a transplant.

Klasnic said he reject an offer of 350,000 euros (462,000 dollars) made by a Bremen judge not because the sum was too small but rather because he wants Bremen team doctors to acknowledge that they did not treat him properly.

"I could have died on the pitch ... I want justice to win and the truth to be revealed," Klasnic said.

Eislingen, Germany - A 19-year-old youth has admitted to taking part in the killings of four members of a family in south-west Germany, prosecutors said on Friday.

The teen told police that he and his friend, 18, gunned down the friend's parents and two sisters at the family's apartment in Eislingen a week ago, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in nearby Ulm said.

Wiesbaden, Germany  - German trade with South Korea declined markedly last year, statisticians said Friday, just three days before South Korea opens a major trade promotion at the annual Hanover Fair.

The data showed German exports to South Korea off by 16 per cent in annual terms in the fourth quarter of 2008, while South Korea's exports in the other direction declined 6 per cent.

Berlin - The German government's state banking fund launched its bid on Friday to take full control of troubled mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate (HRE).

The Financial Market Stabilization Fund (SoFFin) said its cash offer of 1.39 euros (1.82 dollars) per share would run until May 4. The price includes a premium of 10 per cent on the statutory minimum offer of 1.26 euros, SoFFin said.

The takeover was made possible by a special law which came into effect on April 9.

Berlin  - At least 24 p