Frankfurt - Europe's biggest software group SAP AG said Tuesday despite strong business in emerging markets second-quarter net profit fell 9.1 per cent.

Based in the German town of Walldorf, SAP said that net profit in the latest quarter slipped to 408 million euros (642 million dollars) from 449 million euros during the same period last year.

This was despite a strong showing by its business in the Middle East, Africa and the Asian Pacific region.

Berlin - A pay strike by ground and cabin staff at Lufthansa entered its second day Tuesday with the German airline cancelling several flights, as services union Verdi extended its industrial action to additional airports.

Germany's largest airline said nine aircraft of its fleet of 520 were inoperable as they had not undergone the required maintenance. Lufthansa cancelled a total of 16 domestic flights from three different airports.

Lufthansa spokeswoman Claudia Lange said long-haul flights were not affected.

Bayreuth, Germany  - The first live, free screening of a Wagner opera on a giant outdoor display in Bayreuth, Germany proved popular, with a gate of 38,000, festival organizers said Monday.

The number includes multiple comings and goings during the event Sunday afternoon on a Bayreuth square, so the number of unique persons who attended was far lower, festival spokesman Peter Emmerich said. Only 15,000 were allowed on the site at one time.

"The broadcast was technically perfect too," he said.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said Monday it had surpassed the rival Social Democratic Party (SPD) on the basis of membership figures for the first time since being founded in 1945.

CDU General Secretary Ronald Pofalla said the party now numbered 530,755 members.

According to figures from the end of last month, the SPD, Germany's oldest political formation, had 529,994 members.

London - The wreck of a World War I German submarine buried in the English Channel between Britain and France since 1918 has been moved to deeper waters to prevent it posing a risk to large vessels passing overhead, it was revealed Monday.

The UB38 U-boat which had lain undisturbed off the coast of Dover, southern Britain, was moved earlier this month because of growing concern over the increasingly deep draught of modern vessels navigating the English Channel, one of the world's busiest waterways.

Hamburg - European aircraft manufacturer Airbus delivered the first A380 from its Hamburg plant Monday, handing over the superjumbo jet to Dubai's Emirates airline at a colourful ceremony attended by the chief executives of the two companies and hundreds of staff.

The aircraft is the first of 58 ordered by Emirates, which is to date the largest customer for the flagship of the Airbus fleet.

Emirates chief Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said the American continent was one of the company's key markets and that the airline was pleased to be the first to enter the US market with the new A380.