Berlin  - Berlin firefighters have put out a fire in the city's iconic Philharmonie, the concert hall that is home to the Berlin Philharmonic, a fire services spokesman said Wednesday.

Berlin - Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) lost on Tuesday a legal appeal against a stinging fine for abuse of the government subsidies which are granted to all German political parties in proportion to their votes and fund-raising.

The fine, of 870,000 euros, was deducted last year by federal parliamentary officials from the annual grant to the anti-foreigner NPD, which has seats in two of the 16 German states but no representation at federal level.

Berlin - German political leaders decided Tuesday that a scheduled

Berlin  - German investor confidence fell marginally in May, according to a key indicator released Tuesday by the Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW).

Hamburg/Berlin  - Sports fans with valid tickets will be counting the days until this year's Summer Olympics in China, but the athletics extravaganza is a turn-off as far as many other tourists are