Munich : Siemens, the German engineering group, confirmed Wednesday plans to dispose of a transportation-division plant that employs 950 people in the Czech Republic, but said it hopes to find a buyer rather than close the site.

The components plant in Prague was earmarked for disposal as part of a scheme to save German jobs during the current job-cutting drive at the Munich-based group, which seeks to shrink its workforce while keeping the same volume of business.

Siemens said the site makes components for the group's high-speed Velaro trains, known in Germany as inter-city expresses (ICE), and for slower passenger trains.

Essen, Germany - Italian confectionery group Ferrero has awarded a 91-million-euro (1

Ludwigshafen, Germany  - German prosecutors closed the file Wednesday on a building fire that killed nine Turkish Alawite people in Germany, saying they were convinced it had been an accident.

Many Turkish people have expressed a feeling that the February 3 fire may have been a cleverly disguised racist attack.

But prosecutors said they had "almost certainly" ruled out arson. The fire had begun under the staircase of the multistoreyed apartment block in the factory town of Ludwigshafen, south of Frankfurt.

No technical defect was found in the building, so the fire must have been caused by some sort of "negligent behaviour."

Stockholm - A German woman who was extradited to Sweden on suspicion of beating two young children to death with a hammer was Wednesday formally charged with murder and attempted murder.

Prosecutor Frieda Gummesson filed the charges at the district court in Vasteras, and said the woman - a 32-year-old student - had used a hammer or similar tool to repeatedly hit the children, aged one and three, and their mother, who survived with injuries.

The attack took place March 17 in the small town of Arboga.

The motive appeared to be that the German woman refused to accept that her former partner had begun a new relationship with the mother of the children, the prosecutor said.

Berlin  - Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen AG reported Wednesday a 35-per-cent jump in second-quarter earnings as demand for new models helped to offset surging fuel costs and growing economic uncertainty.

Net profit for the German-based auto group rose to 1.643 billion euros (2.58 billion dollars) compared to 1.22 billion euros posted in the same period last year, with key emerging economies expected to power the company's business growth during the rest of the year.

"This shows that we are on the right track," said VW chief Martin Winterkorn, releasing the results. "Our innovative products are meeting with an enthusiastic response from our customers."

Karlsruhe, Germany - A man who has sought legal recognition as a woman will be allowed to stay married to his wife, Germany's constitutional court ruled Wednesday.

The top court ruled as unconstitutional legislation that would have effectively forced persons having sex changes to dissolve their marriages. The law only allows a sex change by single people.

The man, who was born in 1929, married 56 years ago and fathered three adult children, has felt for many years that he was really a woman, but he has an intact marriage which he does not want to abandon, the court heard.