Ratingen, G

Bonn, Germany - The German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI) in Bonn is warning about a new and especially tricky security hole affecting internet users. The hole is related to the Domain Name System (DNS) and hence potentially affects all web users.

The DNS translates the names typed by the user into a numeric-based IP address. It's has been no secret for some time that hackers can manipulate DNS servers to redirect users to different sites without the users' knowledge.

"But now there are malicious programs that actually exploit this hole in the DNS," says BSI's Matthias Gaertner. "And unfortunately, not all providers have patched the hole on their DNS servers."

Berlin - Germany Saturday urged Russia to withdraw its troops completely from Georgia, saying that while the withdrawal had begun the information available indicated it was not complete.

Government spokesman Thomas Steg said the German government's assessment concurred with that of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. He added that Chancellor Angela Merkel had spoken by telephone to Saakashvili on Saturday.

"The German government expects that Russia complete the withdrawal without delay in line with the Six Point Plan signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and pulls back its troops to the lines before the outbreak of hostilities," Steg said.

Berlin  - One of the three ships seized by pirates off the Somali coast was a German freighter, officials in Berlin indicated Friday.

London, August 22 : Over 1,000 Germans joined forces to make the world’s longest beach towel during a event in the country’s St Peter-Ording resort recently.

Berlin - European factory orders dropped sharply in June, the European Statistics Office Eurostat said Friday, adding to signs of slowing economic growth.

Year-on-year, new industrial orders fell by 7.4 per cent in the 15-member eurozone in June. Analysts had forecast a 6.1-per-cent fall.

While industrial orders in 15-member eurozone dropped month on month by 0.3 per cent in June, factory orders in the broader 27- member European Union eased by 0.1 per cent compared to May. Year on year orders fell by 6.6 per cent in the EU.

However, the June monthly fall in eurozone factory orders was far less than the 1.1-per-cent decline which economists had been expecting.