Munich - Shares in the world's leading luxury carmaker BMW AG dropped nearly 10 per cent Friday after the German-based group said it was cutting its earnings forecast for the year in the face of a slowing world economy, increasing raw material costs and a weak outlook for US sales.

"We now expect that the pretax return on sales for the year to be at least 4 per cent," BMW chief Norbert Reithofer said releasing the carmaker's latest figures. BMW had previously expected its 2008 pretax profit to top its 2007 level.

Berlin - German retail sales fell sharply in June, data released Friday showed, adding to signs that consumers in Europe's biggest economy are curtailing spending in the face of rising inflation and growing economic uncertainties.

The nation's statistics office said seasonally adjusted retail sales fell by 1.4 per cent month on month in June and by 3.9 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Analysts had expected June German retail sales to drop by a more modest 0.5 per cent month on month and by 0.8 per cent on the year.

Berlin - A strike by ground and cabin staff at Lufthansa went into its fifth day Friday, with the German airline cutting 128 flights from its regular schedule, despite informal talks between the company and the services union Verdi.

Verdi officials were meeting to evaluate the results of informal talks with Lufthansa representatives on Thursday and to decide whether formal negotiations should be taken up again.

Sintex Industries, a market leader in the plastic and textiles business segments, has acquired 90% stake in Geiger Technik Gmbh (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany) for Euro 35.6 million.

Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan she was relieved that his ruling party had escaped a constitutional ban, her spokesman said Thursday in Berlin.

The proposed ban on his AKP group failed by a slender margin to win confirmation Wednesday in an Ankara court.

Merkel spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said stability and democratic order in Turkey were central concerns for the chancellor and she had conveyed her relief about the outcome to Erdogan.

Turkey was a major partner for Germany and the European Union and a NATO ally, he said.

Hanover - Giant German auto supplier, Continental AG, which is attempting to fend off a hostile takeover bid, reported Thursday a 36-per-cent fall in second-quarter earnings.

The Hanover-based tyremaker and brake systems manufacturer said net profit fell to 194 million euros (303 million dollars) from 303 million euros in the same period last year.

This follows the company's 11.4 billion-euros purchase last year of Siemens VDO auto parts business.

Continental is facing an 11.3 billion-euros takeover bid from the much-smaller family-owned auto supplier group Schaeffler, which said it already controls about 36 per cent of its bigger takeover target.