Berlin - An African-born man claiming to have a German family background was on a hunger strike Monday after a bitter 17-year struggle to gain citizenship in Germany.

Gerson Liebl, 46, was detained by police on Thursday - pending possible deportation to Togo, the West African state where he was born.

At the weekend, his Togolese wife, Ginette, 43, and eight-year-old son Gergi were also picked up by the police after visiting him in the detention centre in Gruenau on Berlin's eastern outskirts. The family is now being held together at the detention centre.

Berlin  - The rapid deterioration in the global economy in recent months means the worst is yet to come for Europe.

Indeed, after a buoyant start to 2008, the 15-member eurozone and its biggest economy Germany could now be facing a very painful year as concerns mount that a protracted recession has been taking hold amid sharply rising layoffs, falling exports, contracting order books and slumping private consumption.

"The present downturn is historic in many of its dimensions," said Elga Bartsch, economist with the US investment house Morgan Stanley. "While the euro-zone has seen phases of stagnation, it has yet to endure a full-blown recession."

Berlin  - World of Warcraft (WOW) is not the only online game available and game developers have finally realized that they have to offer special treats and niches to lure players away from it.

Ever since WOWarcraft hit the markets in 2004, it has been the unrivalled champion of online fantasy worlds. Fantasy fans used to have to content themselves with reading about Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings saga. WOW allowed them to experience those battles themselves - or at least virtually - in the realm of Azeroth.

Although WOW is becoming increasingly popular and now has 11 million subscribers, the developer, Blizzard, said in a statement, its recent expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, has also caused a stir.

Berlin  - More than a quarter of a century after being ousted as West German chancellor, Helmut Schmidt is remarkably active for a man about to turn 90.

He has just written a new book, released a CD on which he performs piano works by Bach and appeared in television ads to promote the renowned weekly newspaper Die Zeit he helps publish.

Berlin - German police launched an investigation Saturday into the theft of confidential data on more than 10,000 credit card holders from a Berlin bank.

The information was apparently stolen from the Landesbank Berlin (LBB) and anonymously sent to the newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.

A spokesman for Frankfurt in Frankfurt said initial investigations had shown that no serious abuse could be caused with the data. It was not possible to use the information to withdraw money or to copy the credit cards, a police spokesman said.

The names of customers from all over Germany, their addresses, credit card and bank account numbers as well as details of transactions were included in the microfiche copies sent to the newspaper in a parcel.

Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel is working on a new stimulus package for