Berlin - One of Germany's most prominent authors, Guenter Grass, has said Germany is not yet at peace with the country's reunification, according to an interview to be published Thursday.

"I thought it was great that the division is over," he told the German weekly Zeit. "After all, I didn't just see it as a division of Germany, but a division of Europe."

However, the Nobel literature laureate added that, almost 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, "unification has not yet occurred - unity has been achieved, but only on paper."

Berlin - Germany has banned the cannabis-like drug Spice because of its potential danger to health, an announcement by the ministry of health said Wednesday.

Manufacturing, possession and dealing in the drug will be a criminal offence from Thursday, the statement said. Spice has enjoyed growing popularity among young people in Germany where it has been sold as a natural herbal mixture, thus circumventing anti-drug laws.

But tests showed it contained the potentially harmful chemical called CP-47, 497, which has the same effects as the natural psychoactive substance in cannabis, but is up to four times stronger.

Berlin - The United States is responsible for the fate of detainees released from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Wednesday.

"If they come from countries whose human rights record makes it impossible for them to be sent back there, then they will have to remain in the United States," he said in a newspaper interview.

Berlin - The majority of Germans are sceptical that Chancellor Angela Merkel's 50-billion-euro (66-billion-dollar) stimulus package will help to shield Europe's biggest economy from the global recession, a survey released Wednesday showed.

Conducted for the weekly Stern magazine, the Forsa Institute pollsters found that 69 per cent of Germans believe that the programme agreed to last week by Merkel's ruling coalition would not help Germany to limp through the economic slowdown rapidly gaining momentum around the world.

Bremen, Germany  - The Bundesliga has had some eccentric players from Brazil in the past, but at least Werder Bremen have a model professional in Diego Ribas da Cunha - commonly known as Diego. Until now that is.

This season the modest 23-year-old playmaker has been finding himself increasingly in the headlines for reasons which have often had little to do with his undoubted prowess on the field.

Berlin - Only a few years ago the owners of expensive new cars in Germany had every reason to be anxious about thieves stealing their property whereas motorists with older vehicles could relax.

These days the reverse is the case. Electronic security systems have made modern cars so impregnable that car thieves are concentrating on outdated, less well-protected models.