Frankfurt, Germany - Enthusiasm for the internet is cooling, said German futurologist and trend analyst Matthias Horx.

"It's becoming increasingly apparent that virtual worlds can replace actual ones only up to a point," he said in Frankfurt during an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"A small but growing group of people who had a strong affinity to the internet and digitalization are dropping out now," remarked Horx, noting that many companies had declared e-mail-free days. He cited studies showing that some 2.6 million people regard themselves as "ex-onliners," having cut down on their digital communication to enhance the quality of their lives.

Munich  - Bayern Munich will be seeking an agreement to keep Franck Ribery at the club although the France international's contract still has more than two years to run.

General manager Uli Hoeness said Sunday Bayern wanted a long-term deal with the midfielder who helped Bayern win the league and cup double last season and whose form has revived their current season.

Ribery joined Bayern for a club-record fee of a reported 25 million euros from Olympique Marseille in June 2007 on a four-year contract.

"In six or 12 months we will be speaking about extending the contract," Hoeness said on DSF television.

Frankfurt  - Werder Bremen's Brazilian midfielder Diego is to be investigated by German football authorities for an incident in Saturday's 1-0 Bundesliga defeat to Karlsruhe.

Berlin  - NATO's quick reaction force (QRF) in northern Afghanistan, currently about 200 men, is to be tripled in size, according to two German news magazines on Saturday.

One task of the combat unit, which is currently all-German, is to protect thousands of peacekeepers deployed to the country. Back in Germany, the peacekeeping mission is politically unpopular.

One of the Saturday reports suggested non-German soldiers would have to be transferred to the QRF to expand it.

Hamburg  - Calls mounted in Germany Saturday for the government to come to the aid of industry as the nation battens down for what may be its worst downturn for 15 years.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected calls for the federal government to increase borrowing and give Germans more to spend. One proposal this week had called for Germans to be given 500-euro (630-dollar) vouchers to spend on slow-selling products.

Berlin  - Police used water cannon and made 70 arrests Saturday as they struggled to keep 700 neo-Nazis and even more leftists apart on the streets of Berlin.

The rightists had earlier announced a march through the capital's Lichtenberg district.

Mainly leftist opponents, determined not to let them pass, sat down on the road. Volleys of stones were thrown towards the neo- Nazis, who replied by hurling beer bottles in the other direction, witnesses said.