Stuttgart, Germany - More German youths have a computer of their own than a television. While 71 per cent of 12 to 19-year-olds own a computer, the share of youths with their own TV came to 61 per cent, according to a 2008 "JIM Study" by the Stuttgart-based Media Pedagogy Research Association Southwest.

Stuttgart - A German court sentenced a 65-year-old engineer to five-and-a-half years in prison Thursday for advancing Libya's former plans to make its own atomic bombs.

Defence lawyers said they expected this would mean he could be set free immediately, after deduction of automatic parole and credit for 21 months he spent in pre-trial custody and for the months spent in court.

Earlier this month he admitted he gave advice on how to build a piping system for a uranium-enrichment plant.

Stuttgart - The main thing to consider when buying hiking footwear is the kind of hiking for which it is intended, notes the Stuttgart-based magazine Outdoor in its October issue.

Multifunctional shoes are fine for day tours and long walks in uplands, the magazine's experts say. Similar to athletic shoes in form and wearing comfort, they provide nearly as much support as proper hiking shoes do.

Someone planning weekend hikes with a heavy pack should choose hiking boots, however. These boots are also suitable for simple hikes in the mountains and provide reliable support in difficult terrain. Waterproof inner lining keeps the hiker's feet dry.

Stuttgart - The Porsche tuning firm Ruf has announced that it is building an electric-drive Porsche Cayman supercar equipped with a 150 kW/204 hp electric engine with a range between 250 and 300 kilometres.

The firm, which normally gives Porsche cars a horsepower boost, will provide power to the motor with a lithium-ion battery pack. The top speed will be at least 200 km/h.

Ruf will reveal a version of the car in October but it has yet to reveal how many cars it plans to produce and their prices.

Stuttgart, Germany - A powerful Porsche sports car, minus the marque's unmistakeable bad-boy engine roar, may go on the market next year, with a German company to install nearly silent electric motors in the cars, a magazine reported Saturday.

The adapted Porsche 911 cars will be a product of the Alois Ruf customizing company in Stuttgart, the weekly Wirtschaftswoche said.

Stuttgart, Germany  - From 2009, Mercedes will offer a new headlamp system that automatically adapts its range to the distance of vehicles ahead or to oncoming vehicles.

According to the car maker, the system will enable the driver to more easily recognise other road users, pedestrians or danger spots.

The dipped-beam range can be increased from around 65 metres to as much as 300 metres without dazzling other road users. Should the system recognise oncoming traffic or vehicles ahead, it continuously adjusts headlamp range so that the headlamp cone falls in front of other road users.