Berlin - The German Government is to slash its 2009 growth forecast, official sources told the German Press Agency Tuesday as Europe's biggest economy faces up to its biggest downturn in 60 years. Berlin is to announce Wednesday that it now expects the nation's economy to shrink by a dramatic 6 per cent this year after the global recession tightened its grip on the nation's economy in the opening months of 2009.

Berlin - German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg met Tuesday morning with Canadian-Austrian car parts supplier Magna to discuss a possible Opel bailout. The Austrian-Canadian car parts supplier Magna has expressed interest in a majority stake of the stricken General Motors (GM) subsidiary, alongside Italian car manufacturer Fiat.

Berlin - German consumer confidence is holding steady, a survey released Monday said, helped by hopes of an improving outlook for Europe's biggest economy and rising income expectations. The Nuremberg-based GfK marketing group said its forward-looking consumer confidence index for May came in at 2.5 points - compared to an upwardly revised April reading which was also 2.5 points.

Berlin- German consumer confidence has held steady, helped

Berlin  - The curtain goes up May 15 on the Berlin adaptation of Mel Brooks' Broadway smash musical hit "The Producers" at a pre- war theatre which once sported box seats for the fuehrer - and critics will be listening to hear whether Germans can finally laugh at "you know who," at least for a limited two-month run.

Berlin  - A lost Russian bomb from the Second World War was discovered Friday just outside the Berlin apartment of Chancellor Angela Merkel, triggering a city-centre lockdown as bomb-disposal experts set about defusing it.

The 100-kilogram bomb was discovered just 10 centimetres below the sandy surface of a museum forecourt.

Merkel lives on the Island of Museums, between two arms of the Spree River. The bomb was found in front of the Neues Museum, one of five museums of art and antiquities which have given the central-city island its name.