Wolfsburg, Germany  - Volkswagen is to launch its eagerly awaited new Golf 6 model in October, Europe's biggest carmaker said Tuesday.

Following its introduction in Europe, the company's top-selling car will be sold in Africa, Asia, Australia and North America.

VW chief executive Martin Winterkorn said the company hoped to sell 600,000 of the new model during its first full year of production in 2009.

Last year, VW sold 580,000 of the current Golf 5 model.

Eisleben, Germany  - A Protestant church in the east of Germany plans to baptize 525 people on November 11 to mark the 525th anniversary of the baptism of Martin Luther.

So far only 14 people have been registered for the ceremony at the church of St Peter and Paul in Eisleben, the town Luther hailed from, church officials said Tuesday.

More people are expected to come forward when news of the event spreads, said the local pastor, Reverend Hauke Meinhold.

Frankfurt - Shares in Adidas AG rallied Tuesday after the German sporting goods-to-fashion group reported a 12-per-cent rise in second-quarter net profit after the European football championships and the Beijing Olympics boosted sales.

The world's second biggest sports equipment maker said net earnings in the latest quarter rose to 116 million euros (180.2 million dollars) compared to 104 million euros a year earlier.

Seoul - A 71-year-old woman from Germany travelled to Pyongyang to meet her North Korean husband, 47 years after they were separated, South Korean news reports said Tuesday.

Renate Hong arrived with her two sons, aged 47 and 48, in the North Korean capital on July 25, the paper Joongang Ilbo said, quoting diplomats and sources close to Hong's family.

If, when and where she met her husband and father of her children, Hong Ok Geun, three years her senior, could not be confirmed, one of the story's authors said in Seoul.

North Korea's Communist rulers allowed a non-South Korean foreigner to enter the country for a family reunification for the first time, the paper said.

Emden, Germany - Some 23 people were injured when a catamaran ran into heavy seas off the north German coast, police said Tuesday.

Berlin - German airline Lufthansa faced further industrial action in the weeks ahead as flights slowly returned to normal Monday after a five-day strike by ground and cabin staff.

The airline, Germany's largest and Europe's second-largest, said around 130 flights would not take-off Monday, 100 of them on domestic routes, as a result of the knock-on effects from last week's strike.

"We aim to return to normal services as soon as possible," a spokeswoman said, adding, however, that this could take two weeks.

Aircraft have been grounded as they did not undergo the necessary maintenance checks during the strike from Monday to Friday last week called by the services union Verdi.