Hamburg - A German container ship rescued 75 passengers from a sinking passenger ship off the coast of Tanzania on Thursday, a spokesman for the German ship's operators said.

He said the MS Dorian responded to an SOS from the stricken vessel after other ships in the vicinity declined to provide assistance, fearing the call was a trap set by pirates.

The incident happened in an area where pirates have often attacked commercial shipping and held their crews for ransom.

Hamburg  - Dynamo Kiev became the first team to book their place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup Thursday thanks to a 3-0 defeat of French side Paris St Germain.

The tie was finely balanced at 0-0 after the quarter-final first leg in France but the Ukrainians took control from the start at the Valeri Lobanovskiy stadium in Kiev, scoring twice in the opening 16 minutes.

Ismael Bangoura opened the scoring after just four minutes with a low shot and PSG goalkeeper Mickael Landreau punched the ball into his own net 12 minutes later to hand the home side a two-goal lead.

Hamburg  - The most intense X-ray beam of its type in the world was switched on Thursday in a 2,300-metre circular tunnel under the German city of Hamburg, the Desy research institute said.

The new machine, known as a synchrotron, has been remodelled from an earlier particle accelerator at the site and is named Petra III.

Hamburg  - Hair straightening irons that use heat and pressure to make hair look smooth should be avoided, according to Hamburg's star hair stylist Manfred Martz.

"Hair dryers are the secret," Martz said. Hair tends to hang limp after using a straightening iron, while blow drying smooth gives it a certain natural volume, he said.

Hamburg  - A Cristiano Ronaldo wonder goal from all of 40 metres helped Manchester United beat Porto 1-0 Wednesday to book their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

United will now meet fellow English Premier League side Arsenal after goals from Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Adebayor and a Robin van Persie penalty ensured a 3-0 win over Spanish side Villarreal for the Gunners, who progress to the last four 4-1 on aggregate.

Hamburg - A senior European Central Bank (ECB) warned Wednesday that cutting interest rates below 1 per cent could severely hit money markets and result in lending between banks freezing up.

In a speech delivered in Hamburg, Axel Weber, the president of Germany's influential central bank the Bundesbank, said that trimming rates in the 15-member eurozone to below 1 per cent could mean banks lending with each other would become "completely paralyzed." Weber is also a member of the ECB's governing council.