Berlin  - A freighter, described in one news report as a German-owned container vessel, has been hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast, the German Defence Ministry in Berlin said Sunday.

A ministry spokesman did not specify the ship's origin, the time it was captured, or who had attacked it.

The Spiegel Online website in Germany quoted Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, as saying it was a 20,000-gross-ton vessel. He did not give its name, but said it had a crew of 24.

Munich  - Bayern Munich coach Juergen Klinsmann ran out of patience in the wake of a 5-1 humiliation at VfL Wolfsburg, telling his players on Sunday that their personal future and that of the club is at stake over the next days and weeks.

"It is important to me that everyone understands what is at stake here: the year 2009 for Bayern, the future for Bayern," Klinsmann told reporters after adressing the team.

"The players must know that they face consequences at some stage. After the season we will review who has worked well and who hasn't."

Hamburg  - VfL Wolfsburg are trying hard to keep their feet on the ground after a 5-1 demolition of holders Bayern Munich made them new Bundesliga leaders and top title favourites.

"They played like champions," said German football federation sports director Matthias Sammer on Premiere pay-TV after the final whistle on Saturday.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung paper agreed on Sunday, saying: "The title would no longer be a miracle."

Berlin  - Responding to US President Barack Obama's ambitious plans for a non-nuclear world, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called Sunday for the first disarmament moves this year.

In remarks reported by the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag, he said, "Nuclear weapons and their unchecked proliferation are a major threat to us all.

Munich - A German defence lawyer called Sunday for a German court doctor to check up on an 89-year-old Ukrainian-born man, John Demjanjuk, who is suspected of taking part in horrifying Nazi death camp murders in 1943.

Guenther Maull, who has been appointed as legal-aid defence to Demjanjuk after a warrant was issued last month in Munich for his arrest, said US efforts to expel Demjanjuk were on hold after a US immigration judge had intervened on Friday.

Frankfurt  - Dell's latest laptop is designed to take a beating and can reportedly survive a drop off a table, even when the display is operating.

The Latitude E6400 XFR is billed as a fully ruggedized notebook, designed to withstand drops of up to 120 centimetres when shut down and falls of up to 90 centimetres while running.

Other features include a Core-2-Duo processor, a scratch-resistant cover and the ability to withstand extreme temperatures. The laptop sells for 3,290 euros (4,265 dollars). ---

New software provides missing sync between Mac and BlackBerry