Berlin  - French plans to take stakes in strategic industries and shut out big foreign investors were criticized Friday in Berlin, in a new sign of Franco-German discord.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had unveiled his plans the previous day and urged other nations to copy France's protective measures against sovereign wealth funds.

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is to fly to Pakistan on Monday at the start of a four-day diplomatic tour also taking in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, aides said Friday in Berlin.

The onslaught of terrorist attacks and the growing financial crisis in Pakistan will be topics when he meets with Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, and senior ministers in Islamabad.

Berlin  - Germany is to oppose European Union plans to deploy full-body scanners at airports as protection against hijackers, a Berlin government spokesman said Friday.

The devices have been described as "strip scanners" because they construct an image of each traveller's body without clothing.

"I can tell you with complete clarity that we are not going to cooperate in this mischief," a Federal Interior Ministry spokeswoman said Friday at a government news conference.

Berlin  - Giant German carmaker Daimler AG became the first of the country's key auto groups Thursday to report its third-quarter results, reducing its earnings forecast again in face of deepening

Berlin  - Giant German carmaker Daimler AG became the first of the country's key auto gr

Berlin - Germany's biggest newspaper group, Axel Springer, said Thursday it was launching a Chinese online edition of its car magazine Auto Bild.