Berlin  - The German military are mulling plans to build a 67- kilometre railway in Afghanistan to haul in supplies from nearby Uzbekistan, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday.

It said the line would connect the main German logistics base in Afghanistan, at Mazar-i-Sharif, with the town of Hairatan on the Uzbek border, where a bridge was erected by the Soviets in 1982 crossing the Amudarya border river.

Hamburg - European observers have faulted Georgia in this month's Caucasus conflict, saying it made elaborate plans to seize South Ossetia, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday.

In a report to appear in its Monday edition, it said officials of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had said acts by the Georgian government had contributed to the outbreak of the crisis with Russia.

Spiegel said OSCE military observers in the Caucasus had described preparations by Georgia to move into South Ossetia.

Bobenheim-Roxheim, Germany - A 46-year-old German woman was killed in a fall during an emergency landing of a hot-air balloon, police said Saturday.

After the balloon, which was carrying six women and a pilot, made its landing Friday night in a field near Bobenheim-Roxheim in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the passengers began to exit its gondola one after the other, which caused the balloon once again to ascend, police said.

Hamburg - Germany inaugurated Friday what it said was the world's first fuel cell-powered passenger boat in commercial use.

The FCS Alsterwasser is powered by twin fuel-cell motors similar to those already in use in the Germany Navy's most modern submarines and will take up to 100 passengers on lake cruises in the city of Hamburg. The cells burn hydrogen and emit no carbon dioxide.

Berlin - In an outspoken attack on the IFA consumer-electronics show in Berlin, Panasonic executive Joachim Reinhart said in an interview Friday it was provincial and disappointing.

Reinhart, who heads the Japanese manufacturer's European operations, poured scorn on IFA's ambition to rival the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held every January in Las Vegas, Nevada. IFA opened Friday and runs till Wednesday next week.

Essen, Germany - A mass-transit train caught fire in Germany on Friday and its driver was injured by toxic smoke, fire crews said.

Four train staff in the western city of Essen ushered all the passengers to safety in the open air.

The driver applied the emergency brake just as the train was leaving Kaiser Wilhelm Park underground station in the city.