Prora, Germany  - The windows are either broken or boarded up, the roof is leaking and the plaster is crumbling from the walls. But the monumental steel and concrete structure planned as a Nazi-era holiday complex has survived otherwise unscathed.

The gigantic building in the Baltic Sea resort of Prora on the island of Ruegen was part of Hitler's so-called Strength Through Joy programme to keep Germans fit and healthy.

Stuttgart - Germany's council of five economic advisers pegged back Thursday to its growth prediction for next year from nil growth to a shrinkage of 0.2 per cent.

New Delhi, Nov 20 : German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal KrishnaAdvani in New Delhi on Thursday.

Steinmeier is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee during the course of his visit.

Steinmeier, who is also vice-chancellor of Germany, is on a three-day maiden visit to India, to discuss various bilateral issues including enhancing trade ties between the two countries.

Issues like current global economic crisis and environment protection are likely to be the focus during his visit.

Berlin - Zimbabwean prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday he was confident of an end to the political impasse holding up the formation of a government of national unity.

Speaking after talks with German officials, he said this would come after issues relating to the definition of the prime minister's powers and the allocation of government ministries had been resolved.

"We will find a solution. It may take some time, but we will find a solution. The position of President Robert Mugabe is untenable," he said in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Berlin - A silver medal minted for collectors by Germany's post office caused outrage in Germany Thursday with the discovery that it honours a 1946 act of communist dictatorship.

German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee demanded that the Deutsche Post company melt the "scandalous" medals down.

The Hague - German judge Christof Fluegge, 61, was sworn in as a permanent judge Thursday afternoon at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) located in The Hague.

He replaces Wolfgang Schomburg who resigned from the ICTY on November 18.

Berlin-born Fluegge is an expert in criminal law for the Council of Europe and the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation.