Hamburg - Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen AG plans to strengthen ties with its parent, the luxury sports car group Porsche, VW chief Martin Winterkorn said Thursday amid speculation that his company was weighing up mounting an audacious bid for Porsche.

VW is considering a push to take out a majority stake in Porsche as part of an effort to help bring relief to the indebted Stuttgart- based Porsche, London's Financial Times reported Thursday.

Berlin - The German government opened an office in Berlin Thursday to educate the country's ethnic Turkish minority on issues such as saving energy , sorting refuse for recycling, and nature conservation. The Turkish German Environmental Centre is to offer brochures and also provide a venue for environmentalists and the minority to meet.

Hanover - Around three thousand employees of German car parts group Continental AG protested outside its annual shareholders' meeting Thursday against the company's plans to close factories as it faces up to the global auto crisis. The demonstrators included about 1,200 French Continental workers, who had travelled to the meeting to protest about the group's moves to shut down operations in Clairoix in northern France.

Munich, April 23 : A new study has revealed that asteroid surfaces age and redden much faster than previously thought - in less than a million years, all thanks to solar winds.

"Asteroids seem to get a `sun tan' very quickly," said lead author Pierre Vernazza. "But not, as for people, from an overdose of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation, but from the effects of its powerful wind," he added.

It has long been known that asteroid surfaces alter in appearance with time.

Marburg, Germany (dpa) - Dangerous moles and birthmarks can be recognized using five criteria, according to a German health and consumer organization based in Marburg.

People can determine whether they need to consult a doctor about a possible case of skin cancer by using five criteria to evaluate their own moles and birthmarks. They are summed up as the ABCDE rules - A for asymmetry, B for border, C for colour, D for diameter and E for embossment.

Hamburg - "This is the workplace," says Carsten Dietrich pointing to a long, narrow row boat.

Two thin metal rails affixed with a sliding plastic seat are where Dietrich is pointing. In front of it are two slanted boards with straps for the feet. At first glance, the contraption seems more like a rowing machine in a dreary fitness centre than something that could be used for a summer outing along river.