Berlin  - Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier defended Thursday the role of German intelligence agents in Baghdad during the start of the Iraq war in March
2003.

The two spies were there to assess the situation, he told a parliamentary committee looking into whether the BND intelligence agency helped the US military topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.

"Everyone involved at the time was aware there was a clear political decision not to give active support to the combat activities in Iraq," Steinmeier said.

Hamburg  - Williams will unveil its car for the 2009 Formula One season on January 19 in Portugal, the British team said on Thursday.

The rollout of the FW31 car with drivers Nico Rosberg of Germany and Kazuki Nakajima of Japan will take place on the Algarve Motor Park Circuit near the town of Portimao.

But the 2009 colours won't be unveiled until February 27, Williams said. The January rollout will see a car with a winter test painting.

The 2009 season starts on March 29 with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Moscow  - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega met with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev Thursday on his first visit to Moscow in over two decades as Russia angles to restore a Soviet-era alliance in Latin America, traditionally a region of US influence.

"Russia wants to build robust, full-fledged and long-term relations with all of Latin America and such important partners as Nicaragua, in particular," Medvedev said.

London - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson hit out at Real Madrid again on Thursday after the Spanish club claimed they had done a deal to sign winger Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.

The United manager was deeply unhappy at Real's conduct over the summer, when they applied consistent pressure to try to sign the freshly crowned European Footballer of the Year.

And he was clearly furious about comments from Real director Pedro Trapote suggesting the deal was done.

Los Angeles  - The Catholic sex scandal drama Doubt led the nominations announced Thursday for the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The movie earned five nods, including a best actress nomination for Meryl Streep and supporting actor nods for Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. The film was also nominated for outstanding performance by a cast, along with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire.

Vienna  - Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG announced Thursday it would defer indefinitely a decision to build a steel factory on the Black Sea, citing the uncertain business outlook.

The company was planning to double its production capacity by building a plant in Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey or the Ukraine, which would be capable of turning out some
5 million tons of steel per year.