Berlin - The global car industry crisis has tightened its grip on Germany's key automakers with sales tumbling by 14 per cent in January, figures released Tuesday showed.

Published by Germany's Assocation of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK) and the country's carmakers' association (VDA) said car orders in Germany alone dropped by 13 per cent in January compared to the same month in 2008.

German car exports plunged 39 per cent to 222,700 vehicles, the VDA.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Tuesday to help Kazakhstan diversify its economy and ensure it does not suffer too much from the fallout of the global economic crisis.

"Close economic relations need to be expanded," the chancellor told a news conference after talks in Berlin with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Nazarbayev said his energy-rich country was interested in deepening its relations with Germany and was in need of new technology and know-how from Europe.

Berlin - Catholic bishops in Germany attacked the Vatican Tuesday over the re-admission to the church of an ultra- traditionalist who denies evidence of the Holocaust, with one German cardinal demanding "a high-level apology."

Last week, German-born Pope Benedict XVI ended the 21-year excommunication of Argentina-based Richard Williamson and three other bishops to heal a schism with the 600,000-strong Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).

Berlin  - When toy manufacturers unveil the new playthings of 2010 this week at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in Germany, many will be silently praying that the industry will be recession-proof.

"People reduce all sorts of other expenses before they cut spending on their children," observes Otto Umbach, chief buyer for a cooperative of German toyshops, Idee und Spiel, before the event.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to host a special meeting of key European nations later this month to prepare for the London summit of the G20 in April, a government spokesman said Monday.

Spokesman Thomas Steg said the leaders of all European members of the G20 group had been invited to attend the talks in Berlin on February 22.

A forum for cooperation and consultation on matters related to to the international financial system, the G20 held its first summit in November 2008 in Washington.

The London summit is due to take place on April 2.

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Wa