Koblenz, Germany - A 63-year-old German businessman who allegedly sold 16 tons of graphite to Iran denied at this trial Wednesday that the substance was to make rocket nozzles.

He told a state superior court in Koblenz, Germany that he rejected all 12 counts of the indictment.

He is accused of breaking laws preventing illicit arms exports by declaring the graphite exported from 2005 to 2007 to be low grade.

This would have avoided the need to apply for a government clearance which would almost certainly have been refused.

Berlin  - A German warship carrying seven pirates detained off the coast of Somalia arrived in the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Wednesday, German naval officials said.

The Somalis were picked up by the frigate Rheinland-Pfalz after they carried out an abortive attack on a German naval tanker in the Gulf of Aden last month.

When the frigate docked it was unclear whether the pirates would be handed over to Kenyan authorities or flown back to Germany for prosecution.

Berlin  - Facing a public clamour for more, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government on Wednesday more than tripled its budget for a subsidy scheme which encourages people to trade in worn-out cars for new ones.

The increase of the subsidy budget from 1.5 billion euros to 5 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars) is also expected to satisfy pressure from Washington and other governments for Germany to spend more to fight the worldwide recession.

Berlin- Setting out details of cost-cutting to shareholders in Berlin on Wednesday, German automotive group Daimler said it was eliminating one of its highly-paid board members and his office.

As world sales of the company's premium cars and big trucks slump, Daimler AG has devised plans to cut spending while saving 141,000 jobs. It has asked 73,000 white-collar staff to reduce their working

week by up to five hours and take pay cuts of up to 14 per cent.

Osnabrueck, Germany - German convertible specialist Karmann filed for insolvency on Wednesday as the effects of the global downturn continued to hit the nation's carmakers.

The company, which makes roof systems, body structures and convertible top systems, said it was forced to take the move because it might not be able to meet pending financial obligations.

The union IG Metall said 3,470 workers at Wilhelm Karmann GmbH were affected by the insolvency, which comes just over a month after the company ceased assembly of full vehicles at its Rheine plant.

Berlin, April 8 : The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the image of an oddball galaxy that is highlighted with striking swirling dust lanes and glittering globular clusters.

Dubbed NGC 7049, the galaxy is found in the constellation of Indus, and is the brightest of a cluster of galaxies, a so-called Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG).

Typical BCGs are some of the oldest and most massive galaxies. They provide excellent opportunities for astronomers to study the elusive globular clusters lurking within.

The globular clusters in NGC 7049 are seen as the sprinkling of small faint points of light in the galaxy's halo.