Heidenheim, Germany - Five men were found dead Thursday in a soot-filled apartment in the southern German town of Heidenheim and police were investigating the likelihood that they were killed by smoke from a gas heater.

"They probably died several days ago from inhaling the toxic fumes," said police spokesman Horst Baur.

The building's landlord called police about a week after another tenant had noticed soot on the windows and said the apartment had been quiet for days.

Tallinn - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer restated the military alliance's desire to see Ukraine join its ranks at a high-level conference being held in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on Thursday.

In his opening speech, de Hoop Scheffer said the talks were taking place at a special moment in NATO-Ukraine relations.

Moscow - The Russian army will fire more than 160,000 officers from 2009 to 2012 as part of sweeping military reforms, chief of the military's General Staff told news agency Interfax on Thursday.

The army propose to resettle the discharged officers in Russia's Far East and Siberia, General Nikolai Makarov said.

"For officers, fired from the army, the government is working on a programme for their employment and housing in regions that are sharply interested in attracting labour hands," Makarov was quoted as saying.

Frankfurt - The European Central Bank (ECB) pushed Thursday for tougher regulation of financial markets and closer links among central banks as remedies for the global financial crisis.

Lucas Papademos, the ECB deputy president, told a conference, "The worst financial crisis in decades has made clear that coordination between central banks and regulators is necessary."

He was speaking at a meeting in Frankfurt of European central bankers on the lessons and challenges posed by the euro.

Vienna - The takeover of Austrian Airlines AG by Deutsche Lufthansa AG is expected to be concluded by the end of the year, the Austrian state holding OeIAG announced Thursday.

Since Air France-KLM and Russian carrier S7 did not submits offers conforming to the specifications of the bidding process, OeIAG said, it would now enter into exclusive "closing talks" with Lufthansa about selling its 42.75-per-cent stake.

Vilnius - The Lithuanian foreign ministry said Thursday it backed a suggestion by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to abandon the Nord Stream gas pipeline project due to be built under the Baltic Sea.

On Wednesday Putin said Europe must decide whether it wants the 10-billion-dollar pipeline to link Russia and Germany or not.