Berlin  - If a young child shows no interest in other people, this may be an early indication of autism, according to a German medical association.

Hamburg/Berlin  - Winter is almost over in the Northern Hemisphere and hay fever sufferers are already beginning to sneeze and sniffle.

About 10 million people in Germany are allergic to pollen, said the Association of German Allergists in Hamburg, northern Germany,.

Although most sufferers try to deal with the symptoms themselves, that can have potentially dangerous consequences.

Berlin - Pressure is growing on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to show stronger leadership amid eroding popular support for her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Three opinion polls released this week showed the CDU losing ground to its centre-left coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), as the economic downturn takes its toll.

With national elections due in the autumn, the unlikely alliance has been hamstrung by what voters perceive as a lack of political will to push through major policy changes.

Berlin - Germany is providing financial support for a United Nations project to promote reconciliation among Iraq's rival ethnic and religious groups, the foreign ministry said Saturday.

Some 3 million euros (3.75 million dollars) will flow into the programme under an agreement signed in Baghdad Saturday by the German embassy and representatives of the UN mission in Iraq UNAMI.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that conditions were not ripe for state to aid troubled carmaker Opel, but stressed her government was looking for a solution.

"We will provide assistance if the benefits for the people outweigh the losses. Unfortunately, we have not yet reached this point," the chancellor said in her weekly podcast.

At talks with German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg on Friday, Opel's US parent General Motors (GM) promised to revamp a rescue plan dismissed by the government as inadequate.

Berlin  - Artists from all over the world have settled in Berlin, a city renowned for its liberal, free-wheeling life-style and its modestly priced apartments and studios.

More than 20,000 are hooked into the creative arts scene. But while Berlin scores high marks as a place where life can be lived to the full, it remains a city short of cash and jobs.

"Poor but sexy," Berlin's Social Democrat mayor Klaus Wowerweit characterised it three years ago.