Berlin  - Connecting digital devices from different manufacturers to one another will be the next step in the "Digital Revolution," Jongwoo Park, the chief executive of conglomerate Samsung, said in a speech Friday in Berlin.

Consumers had the most modern devices available but many of the products could not be networked with one another yet, he said in a speech hailed by organizers of the IFA consumer-electronics trade fair as a keynote address.

Kiel, Germany - Two men suffered serious stab wounds Friday in a brawl in Germany involving the motorcycle gang Hell's Angels.

Riot police separated the rival gangs after the battle outside a court building in the northern port city of Kiel.

Police said the court had been just about to start the trial of an accused for nearly stabbing a Hell's Angels member to death last year.

The accused, who had recovered, and the victim, both with a crowd of supporters, met on a street outside the court Friday.

Last year's Hell's Angel victim was stabbed again and rushed into intensive care, along with a second man. There were 20 arrests.

Berlin - German customs agents swarmed through the IFA consumer-electronics fair, hunting for non-payers of royalties, shortly after the expo opened Friday in the German capital Berlin.

Asian manufacturers of electronic gadgets appeared to be major targets of the raids, which were led by Berlin prosecutors and prompted by complaints from international corporations about alleged illegal copying.

There were similar raids at the CeBIT electronics fair in the German city of Hanover in March. Many of the allegations involve patented software in the digital devices. The patent owners expect royalties or fees every time the software is used.

Berlin - The German government has not discerned any signs that Russia might cut oil deliveries to Europe as part of its response to the crisis over Georgia, a spokesman said Friday.

"We firmly assume that contracts will be adhered to," government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.

He was responding to a report in the London-based Daily Telegraph that the Kremlin would order a cut-off in supplies to Poland and Germany through the Druzhba pipeline.

"There are no signs thus far that contracts and approved deliveries will not be adhered to," Wilhelm said.

Frankfurt  - Germany's Commerzbank AG and Allianz SE have reached a deal worth up to 9 billion euros (13.3 billion dollars) to sell the giant insurer's banking offshoot, Dresdner, to Commerzbank, sources close to the negotiations told dpa-AFX Friday.

Allianz chief executive Michael Diekmann and his Commerzbank counterpart Martin Blessing met late Thursday and agreed in principle to the Dresdner sale, the sources said about a deal which would be the biggest restructuring in the German banking system in more than seven years.

The agreement between Diekmann and Blessing came ahead of meetings Sunday of the boards of Allianz and Commerzbank, which are widely expected to sign off on a merger between the two banks.

Berlin - Three Afghan civilians have been killed and a number of others injured in a shooting incident at a checkpoint manned by German troops and Afghan security forces near the northern city of Kunduz, the German Defence Ministry said in Berlin Friday.

The incident, which occurred to the south-east of the city in a region where German troops lead the operations of the international Security Assistance Force (ISAF), had taken place on Thursday evening, Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said.

Two civilian vehicles approaching the checkpoint had failed to heed clear signals from the troops manning the checkpoint, and the security forces had then opened fire, Raabe said.

It was not clear whether German or Afghan forces had fired.