Berlin  - As Valkyrie opens Thursday to the general public in Germany, the film about the 1944 plot to kill Hitler brings Hollywood glamour to one of the less known episodes of Germany's Nazi history.

The US-German co-production is based on events leading up to July 20, 1944, when German officer Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, played by Tom Cruise, tried to kill Hitler by placing explosives under his table.

Audiences Wednesday at a preview screening spoke positively about Valkyrie.

Berlin - The United States is responsible for the fate of detainees released from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Wednesday.

"If they come from countries whose human rights record makes it impossible for them to be sent back there, then they will have to remain in the United States," he said in a newspaper interview.

Berlin - The majority of Germans are sceptical that Chancellor Angela Merkel's 50-billion-euro (66-billion-dollar) stimulus package will help to shield Europe's biggest economy from the global recession, a survey released Wednesday showed.

Conducted for the weekly Stern magazine, the Forsa Institute pollsters found that 69 per cent of Germans believe that the programme agreed to last week by Merkel's ruling coalition would not help Germany to limp through the economic slowdown rapidly gaining momentum around the world.

Berlin - Germany's president, Horst Koehler, congratulated new US President Barack Obama by telegram Tuesday on his inauguration and invited him to visit Germany soon.

Obama has in effect two counterparts in Germany: Koehler as head of state and Chancellor Angela Merkel as head of government. Merkel had earlier Tuesday welcomed Obama in remarks on German television.

Berlin - The Berlin Film Festival announced Tuesday the names of the members of the jury which will decide who takes home the prestigious prizes from next month's Berlinale.

Headed up by academy award winning British actress Tilda Swinton, the jury for the 59th Berlinale comprises Spanish director Isabel Coixet, Burkinabe director Gaston Kabore and Swedish best-selling author Henning Mankell.

Berlin - Further signs of the impact on German industry of the world economic slowdown emerged Tuesday when two of the nation's leading companies announced tough measures aimed at facing up to the rapid deterioration in global growth.



While the world's leading luxury carmaker BMW AG announced plans to introduce shorter working hours for 26,000 employees at four plants, giant German retailer Metro AG said it wanted to cut 15,000 jobs from its worldwide workforce over the next three years.