Moscow- Russian investigators said Germany had handed them documents related to the 2006 murder by polonium poisoning of Russian spy defector Alexander Litvinenko in central London, news agency RIA- Novosti reported on Thursday.

German police were involved in the investigation when Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, now living in Germany, was found to have met with Litvinenko on the day his poisoning with radioactive polonium-210.

Seligenstadt, Germany - Beer-flavoured ice-cream and similar novelties have failed to catch on in conservative Germany, where established flavours like vanilla and chocolate reign supreme, gelato makers said Thursday.

"Beer flavour attracted more attention from the news media than from customers," said Anna Lisa Carnio, spokeswoman for the Italian Ice-Cream Manufacturers' Association of Germany in Seligenstadt, south of Frankfurt.

Stuttgart, Germany  - German carmaker Daimler AG cut its 2008 earnings forecast Thursday in the face of a slowing world economy, a surging euro and increasing raw material costs.

The announcement by the manufacturer of luxury Mercedes Benz cars that it had revised down its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to more than 7 billion euros (11 billion dollars) sent the group's shares sharply down.

The Stuttgart-based carmaker had previously said that it expected EBIT from the group's ongoing operations to top the 7.7 billion euros it posted in 2007.

Daimler's shares dropped by about 8.0 per cent to 39.30 euros following the announcement.

Stockholm - German energy giant E. ON AG Thursday said it is has completed an agreement with Norwegian power group Statkraft to take full ownership of Swedish subsidiary E. ON Sverige.

The agreement signed Thursday in Stockholm sees E. ON take over Statkraft's 44.6 per cent stake in E. ON Sverige worth 4.4 billion euros (6.9 billion dollars) as well as a hydropower plant.

Statkraft was in return to acquire E. ON AG shares worth some 2.18 billion euros as well as assets in Sweden, Germany and Britain including hydropower plants, district heating plants and gas-fired power plants.

Berlin - Women who wear glasses don't have it easy when it comes to putting on make-up. Depending on whether a woman is farsighted or nearsighted, here eyes look either larger or smaller than they actually are through her spectacles.

Apart from that, both tinted and non-reflecting lenses soak up colour suddenly rendering the eyes paler than intended. The problem for some women is that they see only a blurred image when they look in the mirror without glasses, and contact lenses are not a viable solution for everyone.

These problems can easily be resolved, said Kerstin Kruschinski of a vision centre in Berlin.

Munich - Germans love to invite friends over for a party in the back yard.

A survey published in the July edition of a German home magazine shows that 71 per cent of the people surveyed enjoy throwing a garden party. The same percentage like being invited to garden parties given by friends or acquaintances, the survey showed.

The survey also showed that all neighbours are invited to 41 per cent of the garden parties. About one-third of the people surveyed invite friends over weekly during the warm summer months.