Berlin - Next year's Berlin Film Festival is to honour the renowned French film composer Maurice Jarre, the organizers announced Tuesday.

This includes awarding Jarre an honorary festival Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement with the festival also dedicating its Homage section to the films he worked on.

"Film composers often are in the shadows of great directors and acting stars. It's different with Maurice Jarre; the music of Doctor Zhivago, like much of his work, is world-famous and remains unforgotten in the history of cinema," said Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick.

Berlin - Criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's so-far modest attempts to shield Europe's biggest economy from the global economic downturn has triggered a slump in her popularity, a poll released Tuesday showed.

A poll drawn up by the Forsa institute for Germany's Stern magazine and RTL television showed support for Merkel and her conservative political bloc edging down over the last week amid signs that Berlin was considering piecing together a new fiscal stimulus package.

Berlin - Germany is to increase its aid to Afghanistan's embattled and underpaid police by 3 million euros (4 million dollars), the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said Tuesday.

The money is to be given to the UN-backed Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA) to pay pensions to police killed on duty and to provide better shelters at
1,000 police checkpoints around the country.

The ministry said raising remuneration and better facilities were important to improving police motivation.

Berlin - European car sales plunged 25.8 per cent in November, data released Tuesday showed as global economic downturn continues to deepen.

Berlin (dpa) - Germany's second biggest airline, Air B

Berlin - Major German trade unions welcomed Monday an assurance from major industrial groups that they would seek to avoid lay offs next year as the recession worsens.

Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted a seven-hour top-level meeting in her office Sunday of key ministers, business executives, economists and labour leaders to hear calls for the government to step up action against the crisis.

Frank Bsirske, chairman of the main public services union, Verdi, said on the radio station Deutschlandradio Kultur it had been a "constructive" session which achieved a lot.