Berlin  - The German government denied rumours Sunday that it had deliberately leaked a draft document, prepared by the British hosts of next week's G20 summit, outlining multi-trillion-dollar spending targets to be agreed by the world's 20 leading economies.

The document, obtained by German Spiegel news magazine, said the G20 leaders planned to agree to economic stimulus measures amounting to 2 trillion dollars (1.5 trillion euros) in London on April 2.

These measures were estimated to increase economic growth by 2 per cent and create 19 million jobs, according to the leaked statement.

Berlin  - Religion and school are two subjects that don't sit comfortably side by side in Berlin.

In contrast to most of Germany, pupils in the capital do not attend compulsory religion classes. Instead, Berlin's children can opt for extra-curricular lessons in their faith.

Ethics, on the other hand, was introduced as a core school subject in 2006, in the wake of a so-called honour killing within Berlin's Turkish community which raised questions about faith and moral values being instilled in the young.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated Saturday her call for improved regulation of the financial markets, just days ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) summit of leading economies in London.

Speaking at a political gathering of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) the chancellor blamed "market excesses" for the current crisis.

"The world is standing at a crossroad," Merkel said, adding, "we can't afford such crises every ten years."

Berlin/Frankfurt - Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets of Berlin and Frankfurt on Saturday to protest the measures being taken to tackle the global financial crisis in Germany and other countries.

"We will not pay for your crisis," was the motto of the campaign spearheaded by the anti-globalization network Attac and including unions, environment groups and Germany's Left Party.

Berlin - Qatar has plans to invest in Germany, and has not ruled out a possible stake in ailing carmaker Opel, the emir of the Gulf state said in an interview published Saturday.

"We will definitely invest in Germany," Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told weekly Spiegel news magazine.

Following the example of Abu Dhabi's decision to buy a 9.1-per-cent stake in German carmaker Daimler last week, al-Thani said the global economic crisis was a good opportunity to invest in Europe's largest economy.