Hamburg - A new Google service lets users track internet trends.

The "Insights for Search" feature lets users see what searches were popular in a particular country during a specific time span, according to Google's offices in Hamburg. Searches can also show the rate at which certain searches became more popular among users. For those who want even more detail, data for individual or several countries is available.

Berlin - Bertram Meyer leans over his desk and tugs at his computer's monitor cable. He disconnects the keyboard and packs up his computer mouse. A case of energy drinks are waiting in the hallway of his Berlin apartment. He packs a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and inflatable neck rest.

"I'm taking that along in case I get tired," he says. The question of whether he'll sleep at all remains open, since Bertram is on his way to a network party. If everything has been properly organised, he'll probably have little down time - but all the more gaming fun instead.

Berlin - Berlin's memorial to gays and lesbians persecuted during the Nazi era has been vandalized less than three months after it was inaugurated, police in the German capital said Saturday.

The vandals broke a viewing window and pushed over a fence, in the first time the memorial has been damaged. The damage was seen by a passer-by on Saturday.

The simple grey rectangular stone across the street from Germany's national memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust was inaugurated on May 27 after years of controversy.

Berlin- More than 90 people were harmed Saturday when carbon dioxide gas was released following a fire at a paint factory in the western Germany city of Moenchengladbach.

The accident happened as a result of a defect in the fire extinguishing system, which uses the gas to douse fires.

Thirteen people were treated in hospital. Those affected included factory workers, fire officers and local residents, who reported symptoms of dizziness and nausea.

Berlin - Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has accused Georgia of provoking the recent hostilities with Russia by sending troops into South Ossetia and described President Mikheil Saakashvili as a "gambler," in an interview published Saturday.

"The moment that initiated the current hostilities was the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia," Schroeder told the German weekly Der Spiegel.

He declined to be drawn on whether Russia's response was disproportionate, saying that military conflicts developed their own dynamic.

Berlin - The Russian ambassador in Germany, Vladimir Kotenev, called for more international understanding for Moscow on Friday, saying that problems such as terrorism should only be solved "with Russia, not against Russia."

Speaking in an interview with German Deutschlandradio and other German media, he said: "What we appreciate in the relations with our German partners is the confidence and the commitment to listen to each other," he said.

"Of course this does not mean that we are always of the same opinion," he added.