Wiesbaden, Germany  - German exports continued their drastic decline in February, with a year-on-year drop of 23.1 per cent, as the global recession continued to take its toll on the German economy, data released Wednesday showed.

Exports reached a total of 64.8 billion euros (85.4 billion dollars), the National Office for Statistics said. Imports also fell by 16.4 per cent, to a total of 56.2 billion euros.

Seasonally adjusted exports fell by 0.7 per cent compared to the previous month, while imports dropped by 4.2 per cent.

Wiesbaden, Germany - Steel production in Germany dropped by half in the year up to March, the steepest decline since unification nearly 20 years ago, according to figures released Tuesday.

The Federal Statistics Office said German steelworks produced 2.1 million tons of raw steel and 1.28 million tons of pig iron last month, 49.8 per cent and 50.3 per cent below the levels of March 2008.

Compared to February, raw steel production was 17.5 per cent lower and pig iron production down by 14.2 per cent, the figures showed.

Wiesbaden, Germany - Germany experienced an unexpected drop in birth rates in 2008, while more people died than the previous year, according to figures released Tuesday.

The Office of National Statistics estimates that 675,000 babies were born last year, a drop of 1.1 per cent compared to the previous year's figure of 683,000.

Earlier estimates had anticipated a possible increase in birth rates over 2007.

In contrast, 844,000 people died in Germany in 2008, which is 2.4 per cent more than the previous year.

Wiesbaden  - Impaired sexual potency can be an early sign of cardiovascular disease, according to the Wiesbaden-based German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM). Possible causes are damaged or clogged arteries throughout the body.

Men with potency problems should therefore consult a cardiologist, who can usually cure erectile dysfunction without prescribing potency pills, experts say. Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, which inhibit the build-up of plaque in the blood vessels, have proven helpful.

Wiesbaden, Germ

Wiesbaden, Germany - Germany's trade surplus declined to 176.2 billion euros (227 billion dollars) in 2008 despite a new export record, the federal statistics office said Monday.

Exports last year increased 3.1 per cent to 994.9 billion euros thanks to a strong first-half performance before the US financial crisis developed into a more generalized world trade downturn.

Imports were up 6.3 per cent to 818.6 billion euros, causing the 2008 surplus to slip back from the 195.3 billion euros recorded in 2007 - the first year-on-year decline since 2003.