Munich - Office workers know that in high summer it can be difficult to dress professionally and at the same time feel comfortable in warm temperatures.

Although women have it easier than men, it's often impossible to achieve both when dressing for work.

"As harsh as it sounds, men of the world wear long sleeves under a suit or sports coat even when it's 32 degrees Celsius," said Georg Stiels, a style consultant in Munich. "Anything else is in fact unfashionable."

Dusseldorf - Posh designer sofas are not the only alternative when it comes to freshening up your home.

Instead of heading to the nearest furniture store, consider a trip to a flea market, a place where treasures are waiting to be discovered.

"The appeal of furniture and accessories from a flea market is that the items have a story to tell," said interior decorator Annika Egner of Karlsruhe. Whenever Egner is assigned to furnish private homes for Room Doctor, a network of German interior decorators, she reverts to old furnishings first.

Berlin - German business confidence slumped in July, a key survey to be released Thursday is forecast to show, as a surging euro, spiralling inflation and worries about higher interest rates hit sentiment in Europe's biggest economy.

After falling to 101.3 points in June, Germany's closely watched Ifo business confidence index slipped to 100 this month, analysts' predict.

Based on a survey of 7,000 German executives, the July Ifo report could set the stage for the release this week of a batch of major economic sentiment surveys, which are likely to point to a bleaker outlook taking shape across Europe.

A report released Tuesday showed consumer confidence in Italy dropping to about a 15-year low.

Frankfurt  - The board of giant German tyre maker Continental AG rejected Wednesday an 11.3-billion-euro (18-billion-dollar) takeover bid launched by bearings manufacturer Schaeffler but called for talks with the family-owned company.

Following a crisis meeting of the company's board, Hanover-based Continental said Schaeffler's offer price of 70.12 euros a share was not appropriate.

But Continental said it would now seek out talks with the Bavarian-based Schaeffler group which is owned by billionaire Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler and her son.

Waren, Germany  - Completion of the controversial Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea is likely to be delayed by one year from 2011 to 2012, a German executive working on the Russian-led project said Wednesday.

His comment clashed with a printed news release from Nord Stream, a consortium with Russian, German and Dutch involvement, which stated that 2011 was the target for the first flow.

"We don't expect the first natural gas to arrive till 2012," said Andreas Hieckmann, the project chief at the Gazprom Germania company.

Saarburg, Germany - The last purely French military unit in Germany will be pulled out by 2010, a senior Paris official said Wednesday in Saarburg, on the German side of the border.

The 200-hectare French base was set up at Saarburg near Trier during the Allied occupation after the Second World War. It is currently home to a French infantry unit of
1,000 soldiers.

Jean-Marie Bockel, a junior defence minister, said the unit would probably move to Strasbourg, France.