Berlin - Two engineers employed by a German construction firm have been abducted and are being held in Nigeria, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin Saturday.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday she was hoping for new movement in the Middle East peace process from the pending launch of a Mediterranean Union between members of the European Union and other littoral states.

A resolution of the Middle East conflict would bring stability to the region, Merkel said in her weekly broadcast.

"Naturally we will talk in Paris about reaching a two-state solution creating a Jewish state for Israel and a Palestinian state, and about who can make a contribution to his aim," she said.

Berlin - Doctors saved a baby by carrying out an emergency Caesarean section after the mother died in a freak motor accident, police in the city of Braunschweig said Saturday.

Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel is to visit Algeria next week at the head of a German business delegation, her spokesman announced Friday.