Bad Homburg, Germany - Volume carmakers from Italy and France expanded market share in Germany in March as government bonuses revived the recession-hit market for small cars.

Germany is offering a handout of 2,500 euros (3,330 dollars) to anyone who scraps an old car and buys a new one to replace it. Most takers have opted to spend their money on cheaper, compact cars made by companies such as Volkswagen, Fiat and Renault.

Hamburg - Ukraine heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko is to fight Britain's David Haye on June 20, his management confirmed Thursday.

The bout will take place in Europe but a venue has yet to be established.

"The contracts are being signed today," Klitschko manager Bernd Boente of the Hamburg-based Klitschko Management Group said.

Several venues in Germany would like to stage the bout in which Klitschko will be defending his WBO and IBF titles against former cruiserweight champion Haye.

Hamburg - Germany striker Lukas Podolski will face no sanctions after he appeared to slap captain Michael Ballack in an altercation during the 2-0 defeat of Wales in Cardiff on Wednesday, team manager Oliver Bierhoff said.

Bierhoff said in Cardiff early Thursday that the two players had cleared up their differences after the game and the matter was now closed.

"The important thing is that nothing has been left unresolved," he said.

Berlin - The German parliament on Thursday slapped a 2.2 million euro (2.8 million dollars) fine on the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) for accounting irregularities.

The party failed to list correctly its assets and funding it received from the state in its 2007 statement of accounts, an official announcement said.

According to the rules governing Germany's political parties, the fine is double the amount of the erroneous declaration.

Berlin  - Germany's transport ministry on Thursday endorsed Ruediger Grube, 57, a top executive at carmaker Daimler, as the new head of the state-owned railways company Deutsche Bahn.

The ministry said Chancellor Angela Merkel and key ministers had agreed on Grube for the hot-seat job, replacing Hartmut Mehdorn, 66, who tendered his resignation this week after Bahn had admitted to illicit surveillance of its employees.

Hamburg  - Large colourful and flashy. Sunglass fashion this summer is definitely conspicuous.

"Colourful frames are hot and as well as frames with way-out patterns, such as spider webs, peace signs or skulls," said Gabriele Gerling of Germany's central association of opticians in Dusseldorf. Retro is the number one catchword. However, the styles are not reverting to fashion trends just from the 1950s and 1960s. This year everything from the 1930s to the 1970s is represented.