Paderborn, Germany - The remains of a schoolgirl who was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered in Germany were being flown to her ancestral home in Turkey Friday as police admitted they had no idea yet who killed Kardelen, 8.

The child's naked body was found Thursday in woods 60 kilometres from her home in the northern German city of Paderborn.

Police pathologists identified the body and confirmed she had been sexually attacked.

Dresden, Germany - A human rights group criticized plans by a German cultural organization to present an award to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the eastern city of Dresden on Friday.

"He doesn't deserve to be honoured," the German-based Society for Threatened Peoples said, blaming Putin for human rights violations by Russian troops in Chechnya.

During his time as president, the Russian leader was responsible for the deaths of around 80,000 men, women and children in the breakaway republic, the society said in a statement.

Berlin - One of the world's biggest shows of farm produce opened its doors in Berlin Friday, with agriculture ministers from many nations on hand to promote major export deals.

About 1,600 exhibitors from more than 50 countries are displaying farm produce through January 25 at the International Green Week.

Rural costumes and customs are an integral part of the excitement at Berlin's exhibition centre.

Cologne, Germany - Sales of Toyota cars in Europe declined 10 per cent last year to 1.1 million vehicles, data from Toyota Motor Europe (TME) showed Friday.

The Japanese automotive giant said its market share in Europe sank by 0.3 of a percentage point compared to 2007 to 5.3 per cent.

Foreshadowing new models, the Cologne head office of TME forecast that Toyota would raise its market share to 6 per cent this year.

Russia is Toyota's biggest single European market, taking 204,849 cars in 2008, a rise of 30 per cent. Britain and Italy took second and third place.

Berlin - The cut off in supplies of Russian gas has reduced stocks in western Europe, according to data from Gas Storage Europe (GSE), a Brussels-based organization of the industry, on Friday.

Germany's stocks, which are mainly kept in beds of deep, porous rock, stood at 59 per cent full, as of Monday.

Italian stocks were higher, at 66.5 per cent, and the so-called Baumgarten stock supplying Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary stood at 69 per cent, according to GSE.

The dispute, which began nearly three weeks ago, has cut lines via Ukraine, though lines via Belarus are still open. Bulgaria has been hardest hit, as it cannot receive gas via northern routes or from the west.

Berlin - A former Serb general convicted by the UN war crimes tribunal has arrived in Germany to serve a life sentence, the Justice Ministry announced Friday.

Stanislav Galic, 65, was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in December 2003 for crimes related to the shelling of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Galic appealed the judgement, but the appeals chamber rejected his arguments and, in November 2006, extended his sentence from 20 years to life imprisonment.