Berlin - Pirates who seized a German gas tanker in the Gulf of Aden are demanding 6 million dollars for the vessel's release, sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Monday.

A spokesman for the German operators of the MV Longchamp declined to confirm the demand.

The captain of the 3,500-ton ship had reportedly expressed fears for the safety of the 13-member crew - 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian - if the hijacking is not resolved peacefully.

Berlin  - A proposed law, aimed at streamlining environmental legislation in Germany, has failed, Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday.

"Germany will still have no straightforward, transparent and unbureaucratic environmental law in one piece," Gabriel said.

The environment minister, of the centre-left SPD party, was critical of the internal political wranglings inherent to the process by which individual state approval is sought for proposals to pass.

Berlin  - German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is calling for greater efforts in integrating Germany's immigrant communities, in particular those of Turkish origin, in a newspaper article to be published Monday.

"The linguistic integration, especially of citizens of Turkish origin, must be improved", Schaeuble wrote for Monday's edition of the Hamburger Abendblatt.

"We need more intensive pre-school preparation for children of migrants, so they can use education as an opportunity," the interior minister wrote.

Figures released last week showed that Germany's population of Turkish descent is poorly integrated, compared to other immigrant groups.

Berlin  - "We're gradually being choked," says Anetta Kahane as she reflects on her life as a Jew in Germany and an unprecedented row this week between German authorities and national Jewish leaders.

After the Holocaust, Germany's relationship with Jews was never going to be easy, but angry remarks this week suggest that resentment is breaking through the surface of the relationship.

Kahane, who lives in politically charged Berlin, uses strong words to describe strong feelings.

Berlin

Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Saturday to support Colombian efforts to strengthen the country's democracy, during a visit to Berlin by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Uribe told Merkel at the meeting of significant Colombian achievements in recent years, especially with regards to security.

He said the murder rate had reached its lowest rate in 30 years, and kidnappings were at a 25-year low. The country is welcoming the highest number of tourists in 20 years, and seeing rising rates of investment, Uribe said.