Hamburg - It was called the Embarkation City, and it certainly lived up to its reputation.

Between 1850 and 1939, some 5.2 million European emigrants left their homelands via Hamburg in search of a better life across the Atlantic.

Today, the northern German port's achievement in becoming a Gateway to the New World is remembered by a museum called "BallinStadt - Emigrant World Hamburg."

Hamburg - Intense social networking with family and friends helps improve your intelligence and memory more than any other method, according to German researcher Siegfried Lehrl of the University of Erlangen.

Quoted in the latest edition of the magazine Vital, Lehrl said that while mind games and puzzles such as Sudoku improve memory, social interaction activates the brain on several levels with the positive effects becoming especially visible during the course of a lifetime.

Several studies found that people who meet regularly with other people had much better cognitive abilities or brain-based skills needed for the simplest to the most complex task compared to a group with less social interaction, the report said.

Hamburg - The legendary Ford Capri is to return in a new guise with a concept study set to be unveiled at next year's Frankfurt Motor Show, Germany's auto-motor-sport magazine reports.

While the last original Capri in 1986 featured rear-wheel drive with a six cylinder engine, the new version would be built on an existing platform with front-wheel drive, the magazine reports.

Drawings published by the magazine show a fresh style with some typical Capri features, but a larger front grille with air intakes. The headlights are embedded in the fenders. Narrow side windows contrast with a large sloping windscreen.

Hamburg  - A match at the 2006 World Cup involving five-time world champions Brazil may have been rigged by an Asian betting syndicate, an investigate journalist claims in an interview with the German magazine Spiegel.

In the report to appear Monday, the Canadian journalist Declan Hill said his research had shown that an Asian syndicate wanted Ghana to lose the quarter-final match by at least two goals. Brazil went on to win 3-0 in Dortmund.

Hamburg - European observers have faulted Georgia in this month's Caucasus conflict, saying it made elaborate plans to seize South Ossetia, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday.

In a report to appear in its Monday edition, it said officials of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had said acts by the Georgian government had contributed to the outbreak of the crisis with Russia.

Spiegel said OSCE military observers in the Caucasus had described preparations by Georgia to move into South Ossetia.

Hamburg - Germany inaugurated Friday what it said was the world's first fuel cell-powered passenger boat in commercial use.

The FCS Alsterwasser is powered by twin fuel-cell motors similar to those already in use in the Germany Navy's most modern submarines and will take up to 100 passengers on lake cruises in the city of Hamburg. The cells burn hydrogen and emit no carbon dioxide.