Berlin  - Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bankers are meeting near London Friday amid signs of renewed tensions over the action to combat the global recession and the long-term drive to tighten global market regulation.

Gathering in the neo-Jacobean splendour of the South Lodge Hotel in the rolling green hills on the outskirts of the British capital, the finance ministers from the world's leading industrial and emerging nations will also set the stage for next month's summit in London of the G20 government chiefs.

Berlin  - African exhibitors at the world's largest travel fair are on the lookout for new income streams, as the consequences of the global financial crisis loom large for the continent.

Flags are flying at Berlin's ITB travel fair for South Africa, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Algeria and Uganda.

Experts predict that many of Africa's developing countries could be amongst the worst-hit, as funding and investment channeled to the continent dries up due to the global economic downturn.

Berlin  - Friends described the German teenager who killed 15 people in a school shooting spree Wednesday as a quite boy with a liking for guns.

"We often practised with air pistols and airsoft (compressed air) guns in his father's cellar," a youth who identified himself as Dustin told n-tv television. "He always hit the bulls-eye."

Tim K, who killed himself after being cornered by police 40 kilometres from the shooting in the south-west town of Winnenden, grew up in a wealthy family.

Berlin  - Italy's first ever state secretary for tourism emphasised the role of the travel industry to combat the deepening global recession during a visit Wednesday to the world's biggest travel fair (ITB) in Berlin.

Tourism Secretary Michela Vittoria Brambini said that, at times of economic hardship, "it is all the more important to encourage those branches of the economy that generate wealth and create possibilities in the short term," adding that Italy was well positioned to do so.

Berlin  - Germany was in a state of shock Wednesday after a teenager killed 15 people in a school shooting spree that echoed a similar tragedy seven years ago.

"It is a sad day for the whole of Germany," Chancellor Angela Merkel" said after the rampage in the south-west region of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

"It is incredible that within the space of a few seconds, students and teachers have lost their lives as a result of a terrible crime," she said, offering her condolences to the victims' families.

Berlin - Giant German auto-parts maker Continental AG announced Wednesday a far-reaching shakeout in its business as the group struggles with the deepening crisis in the global car industry.

Faced with a dramatic slump in car sales and production, Hanover- based Continental said it was planning a massive cutback in production, the closure of factories and the elimination of about 1,900 jobs over the next 12 months.