Berlin - German producer prices surged to a 27-year high in July, the country's statistics office said Tuesday, further reducing the prospects of the European Central Bank (ECB) delivering a cut in interest rates.

Annual producer prices in Europe's biggest economy climbed by 8.9 per cent last month to record the fastest rise since October 1981 with the increase coming amid signs of slumping European economic growth.

In June, producer prices, which are considered to be an indicator of inflationary trends, rose by an annual 6.7 per cent.

London, Aug 19 : Germany might be a fairly rainy and wet place, but water in the country is more expensive than anywhere else on the planet, according to a new survey.

At 1.50 pounds per 1000 litres, prices are four times as much as in America, and twice as much as in parched Australia.

Britons on average pay 1.18 pounds for the same amount, a little less than the Belgians.

"We have masses of water. It''s just that the water companies let everything leak into the rivers. Germans are being ripped off because our politicians are useless. Everything has been run wrong for 20 years," the Telegraph quoted one reader, as stating in Die Welt newspaper.

Berlin - German investor confidence remained weak in August, a key indicator to be released Tuesday is forecast to show, as concerns have set in about the outlook for Europe's biggest economy.

Drawn up by the Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research, analysts predict the ZEW index for this month will come in at minus 62 points.

The world financial market and credit crisis combined with resurgent inflation have helped to fuel worries about outlook for the world economy.

Berlin - Argentinean-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim has lashed out at Israel for failing to try to understand Palestinian life.

Speaking ahead of a performance in Berlin Saturday of the Israeli-Arab youth orchestra he co-founded in 1999, Barenboim told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Israel was "ignorant" of Palestinian life and that "it lacked curiosity" about the Palestinian people.

"A large number of Israelis have no idea what Palestinian society is," said Barenboim, who is the musical director of Berlin's showcase opera house, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

Stockholm - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday said he was "not surprised" over Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf's resignation.

The German foreign minister said he hoped Musharraf's resignation - made just as impeachment proceedings were to begin - would contribute to a calmer situation in Pakistan, citing the need for Pakistan as a stable partner in the region.

Frankfurt  - Germany's central bank ruled out a dramatic slump in Europe's biggest economy in its monthly report released Monday but warned inflationary expectations were becoming entrenched.

Despite fears that Germany could be edging towards a sharp downturn, the Bundesbank's August bulletin did not see the nation's economy spiralling down in the coming months.

But it said the nation was facing "an economic lean period during the second half of the year."