Leverkusen, Germany - Bayer Leverkusen announced the

Berlin - Hertha Berlin announced Friday that it has extended coach Lucien Favre's contract by a year until 2011 while Arminia Bielefeld have agreed an extension until
2010 with their coach Michael Frontzeck.

"It is a sign of how we value him and of our confidence," Hertha general manager Dieter Hoeness told a press conference.

Hertha, who currently lie third in the Bundesliga two points behind leaders Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich, also presented new signing Leandro Cufre.

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed Friday Russia's decision to suspend the deployment of short-range missiles along the Baltic Sea.

Speaking in the German parliament, Steinmeier called the Russian move a "good sign."

He said US President Barack Obama's arrival in office gave an "opportunity, which we must now use," to push forward disarmament.

"I believe that the course will be set this year for disarmament policies over the next 10 years."

Berlin - The captain of a German Navy warship on an anti-piracy mission off Somalia said Friday the mission was succeeding, even though a German-owned gas tanker was snatched by pirates the previous day elsewhere on the coast.

The 3,415-gross-ton Longchamp reached Somali waters Thursday evening under pirate command, said Cyrus Mody, a spokesman for the International Maritime Bureau
(IMB) in London.

The pirates are expected to demand a ransom for the vessel, its crew and its Asia-bound cargo of liquefied gas. German defence officials say the Longchamp was not part of a convoy under military supervision when it was hijacked.

London, Jan 30 : After a number of reported alien sightings in the UK, a case in Germany has emerged, in which fighter pilots were scrambled in a UFO drama over German airpsace.

The mystery object was tracked moving across the entire country at high speed after being spotted by Germany''s air traffic controllers on January 19.

Investigators have already checked and excluded conventional aircraft, weather balloons and freak atmospheric conditions.

"We have ruled out all the conventional possibilities - it is a mystery," the Sun quoted Axel Raab of Germany's air traffic safety office, the DFS, as saying.

Stuttgart, Germany - Luxury sports carmaker Porsche SE launched a 100-million-euro (129-million-dollar) cost-cutting program Friday after the global economic slowdown triggered a dramatic slump in its sales.

The manufacturer of 911, Boxster, Caymen and Cayenne sports cars, Porsche said sales will drop by 27.3 per cent to 34,000 vehicles during the first half of the company's
2008-2009 fiscal year.

Speaking at the at the group's annual shareholders meeting in Stuttgart, Porsche Wendelin Wiedeking announcing further production cuts.