Berlin - The German government said Thursday it would pledge 100 million euros (157 million dollars) in development aid for Kosovo this year and next when it attends a donors' conference in Brussels on Friday.

In Berlin, the Foreign Ministry said Germany was the second biggest source of foreign aid for Kosovo after the United States, with a focus on energy generation, water supplies and sewage, reforms to public administration and improving vocational training.

It said German officials would tell Prime Minister Hashim Thaci at the meeting, which is being organized by the European Union, that it was vital to concentrate on good government, to make development the priority, and to protect minorities.

Hamburg - A German airport blamed wave after wave of vacationing Danes on Thursday for jamming its 10,000-space parking buildings, prompting ugly scenes as more travellers arrived.

Hamburg Airport in the north of Germany has suddenly become a magnet for people from southern Denmark, thanks to enticingly cheap airfares to holiday destinations in the summer sun and low-cost parking for cars while vacationers are away.

But as the car-parks declared themselves "full up," the travellers kept arriving, forming tailbacks outside car parks. Many voiced fury and panicked, with just minutes to go before their flights departed.

By Thursday, many cars with Danish registration plates were parked illegally on nearby grass verges.

Berlin - German carrier Lufthansa faced a possible all-out strike at the height of the holiday season after wage talks with the large Verdi services sector union broke down Thursday.

Berlin - A worldwide survey by Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation has found religion is as strong as ever among most of the globe's young people, with Europe the main enclave where religion is on the

Berlin - The German government expressed confidence Thursday that the European defence company EADS would secure the contract to supply refuelling tankers to the US Air Force following the reopeni

Ankara - News that three German mountain climbers kidnapped on Mount Ararat by separatists from the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) was relegated to the inside pages of Turkish newspapers on Thursday,