Germany

German woman meets North Korean husband again after 47 years

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.

North Sea catamaran accident leaves 23 injured

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

More strikes loom at Lufthansa as flights slowly return to normal

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.

We all started out as diamonds in the rough, German scientists say

Hamburg - We all started out as diamonds in the rough - literally - according to German scientists who say crystalline interfacial water layers played a fundamental role in biology and evolution on planet Earth.

These primordial pools of microscopic hydrogenated diamonds in the rough were the original soup from which all life sprang billions of years ago, say the scientists from the Institute of Micro and Nanomaterials at Ulm University in Germany.

That thing is a 'person' - improving your relationship with objects

Hamburg - Next time you kiss your car when it starts on a cold day, or you curse your computer when it crashes - you may be relieved to know that it is only human nature to regard inanimate objects as sentient beings like yourself.

Scientists in Germany say our minds are hard-wired to interact with other human beings to such a degree that our minds just work better when we subconsciously think of objects in our environment as having human minds of their own.

Apple's iPhone 3G is speedy, but lacks the "oomph" factor

Hamburg - Apple's iPhone 3G is speedy, but lacks the "oomph" factorApple's new iPhone 3G has been on the market for just a few days, but some reviewers have had access to it for weeks and have already aired their views on the phone. Most have praised its ease of use although it is by no means perfect.

The iPhone 3G supports the third generation of mobile phone standards (UMTS/HSDPA) and GPS navigation. Matthias Kremp, of the news website Spiegel Online, says users will see the biggest benefit in the iPhone's internet access speed.

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