Hamburg  - Former Germany winger Pierre Littbarski was on on Tuesday appointed coach and sports director at Liechtenstein football club Vaduz.

Hamburg - Thousands of German factory workers walked off their jobs Tuesday and attended demonstrations, demanding wage rises of 8 per cent on the fourth day of nationwide labour disruption.

In the port city of Hamburg, 5,000 repair workers left a riverside shipyard and trooped through a pair of 100-year-old tunnels originally built for horse-and-buggy traffic to reach the other side of the river for one of the biggest rallies.

Hamburg - Wladimir Klitschko will defend his IBF and WBO heavyweight titles against former champion Hasim Rahman in Mannheim, Germany, on December 13.

Confirming the fight on his website, Klitschko said: "Hasim Rahman is a very strong and experienced opponent who I definitely won't be underestimating."

Rahman, who will be 36 when the fight takes place, knocked out Britain's Lennox Lewis to win the world title in 2001, but was in turn knocked out by Lewis in a rematch later that year.

Wladimir Klitschko, 32, had been looking for a replacement after Russian mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin pulled out with an injury he suffered during a training session in his home town Kursk.

Hamburg - Workers in Germany's engineering sector were on a rolling strike for a fourth day Tuesday, underlining their union's calls for an 8-per-cent pay rise.

According to the IG Metall union, hundreds of workers participated in the strikes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state. With the beginning of the morning shift at 5 am (0400 GMT) about 400 workers laid down work at Wadan Yards in Rostock-Warnemunde.

The union wants to expands its strikes to all of Germany, idling a number of plants for several hours, increasing pressure on employers to improve income offers.

Hamburg - Germany coach Joachim Loew appears set to meet Torsten Frings on Tuesday in order to resolve another national team conflict after making peace with captain Michael Ballack.

Kicker sports magazine said that Loew wanted to meet Frings around Werder Bremen's Champions League match with Greek club Panathinaikos. The German football federation (DFB) only confirmed that the meeting was due this week.

Hamburg - Former racing greats have been lining up to praise Lewis Hamilton following the McLaren-Mercedes driver's achievement in becoming the youngest Formula One world champion.

Hamilton, at the age of 23 years and 300 days, pipped Ferrari's Felipe Massa to the title by a single point after passing Timo Glock of Toyota on the last lap to finish fifth in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.

"That was the most exciting Formula One race I have ever seen in my life and it was for the world title," said Damon Hill, the last Briton to be crowned world champion in 1996.