Berlin - German troops in Afghanistan opened fire on a vehicle which failed to stop at a checkpoint, wounding five of the occupants, the defence ministry said Monday.

A spokesman said the incident occurred on Friday evening on a main road near the northern city of Kunduz.

The troops, serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), first fired warning shots at the minibus, the spokesman said.

When the driver continued to approach the checkpoint at high speed, the soldiers opened fire with sub-machine guns, hitting the vehicle's engine, the spokesman said.

Brussels - Belgian insurance and banking giant KBC joined the country's bail-out club Monday by securing a capital injection of billions of euros from the state.

"KBC and the Belgian government have reached an agreement to further strengthen KBC's financial position. This will create an additional core capital buffer for KBC and enable it to cope with any future challenges," the company said in a statement.

The deal involves KBC selling 3.5 billion euros (4.3 billion dollars) worth of non-voting shares to the Belgian state.

Cairo - Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa on Monday condemned the US raid in Syria on Sunday, describing it as "a violation of Syrian sovereignty."

Mussa told reporters at the League's headquarters that the US action did not help stability in the already volatile region.

He underlined the Arab League's support for Syria's "right to defend its land and people" and called for an investigation in the incident to "hold those responsible into account."

Jerusalem - Israeli President Shimon Peres completed consultations with parliamentary factions Monday, preparing the ground for early elections in the politically turbulent country before March.

A day after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni informed him that she was unable to form a government, Peres was expected to announce to Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik Monday afternoon that his consultations had left him with no option but to call for new elections.

Nairobi/Djibouti - A ceasefire agreement between the Somali government and parts of the Islamist opposition is set to take effect on November 5, after the warring parties reached an agreement Sunday evening in Djibouti.

Moscow - Texan space tourist Richard Gariott said Monday the Russian space agency and NASA should give business entrepreneurs wider access to the International Space Station (ISS).

Silicon Valley millionaire Garriott, who made his fortune designing fantasy computer games, said he fit the profile as he spoke with journalists three days after landing back to earth from his tour of the space station.

"I think NASA and Roscosmos and other partners in the ISS should take broad steps to encourage businessmen, such as myself, to take advantage of the profits to be had in the space sphere - it would be a huge loss not to," Garriott was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying from the cosmonauts training base in Star City outside Moscow.