Munich - Bayern Munich striker Miroslav Klose came through training unscathed Friday and is fit to face Borussia Dortmund in Sunday's Bundesliga clash.

However, there is still no place in the squad for Germany forward Lukas Podolski, who has already agreed a move back to Cologne at the end of the season.

Defending champions Bayern lie fourth in the table, three points behind surprise leaders Hoffenheim, after losing 1-0 to SV Hamburg last week in their first match after the winter break.

Vienna - A major Austrian-Italian tunnel project was thrown into doubt Friday, after an Austrian finance minister was quoted in local media saying his country would not commit funds until Italy and Germany pledged their financing.

The rail tunnel beneath the Brenner mountain pass on the Austrian-Italian border is planned to improve the connection on the important route between Italy and Germany through the Austrian Alps.

Berlin - A 40-year-old German who was convinced he had cancer persuaded a close friend to stab him to death, but doctors say the victim was cancer-free, according to prosecutors Friday.

The friend, 32, phoned an ambulance Thursday in the German city of Recklinghausen to pick up the body with multiple stab wounds.

Prosecutors in nearby Bochum said the suspect, who was detained at the scene, was likely to be charged with killing by request, a crime with a penalty of six months to five years in prison.

Berlin - Germany has pledged to drastically cut new public borrowing by the year 2020, the joint heads of a two-year federal commission announced Friday.

In the deal struck between Germany's 16 states and the federal government, net public borrowing on the federal level is to be capped at 0.35 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from the year 2016, while the states will aim to eliminate any debt increases by the year 2020.

London - Global attitudes towards Russia and China have changed for the worse over the past year as positive ratings for the US are on the rise for the first time since 2005, a poll published by the BBC World Service showed Friday.

As in previous years, Germany fared best in the poll, with every country viewing it positively, and 61 per cent of people rating it favourably, up from 55 per cent a year ago.

Karlsruhe, Germany - A 63-year-old German has been indicted for breaking export laws by selling 16 tons of rocket-building material to Iran, German federal prosecutors said Friday.

The high-grade graphite may have been used to make rocket nozzles.

To circumvent export checks, it was described as low-grade when it was sent to a Turkish intermediary between 2005 and 2007, the prosecutors in Karlsruhe said. Alert Turkish customs officers stopped another 10 tons being trucked into Iran.