16 German tourists still missing in Algeria

There's still no trace of the 16 Germans who have gone missing in Algeria in the last several weeks, a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday. Six Germans, four Swiss and one Dutch national went missing during a motorbike tour in the Sahara on Feb. 21. Another ten European tourists disappeared later. The southern Algerian desert, along the border to Niger and Libya, is a breeding ground for smugglers and drug and weapons traffickers. Algerian newspapers have reported that many of them have links to Islamic extremists led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, alleged to have joined the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which they say has ties to Al Qaida. "It leaves us baffled and we are forced to consider all eventualities, even that they have been kidnapped, even though for the time being we don't know why," an Algerian diplomat told AFP news agency.

1,000 kids killed in accidents and at play

Experts at a congress on emergency medical care for children in Jena revealed that around 1,000 children in Germany die in street accidents or at play each year, and another 3,500 are left with permanent disabilities. Up to 2 million children receive treatment in hospitals after accidents yearly. Thorsten Doede from the Friedrich Schiller University Hospital for Child Surgery in Jena said that even though accidents are the main cause of children's deaths, the number of fatal accidents has declined by more than 60 percent in the last 20 years thanks to improved safety measures and medical advances.

Lions, tigers and the circus director's son

A lion tamer ran away from a circus taking eight lions, two tigers and the circus director's son with her, a police spokesman in the northern German town of Melle said Friday. Apparently the 49-year-old woman had become romantically involved with the young man she was training to become a lion tamer. The couple are believed to have eloped in a truck which held a number of the circus's other star performers. The young man's father informed the police and maintains the couple's flight has cost him some €100,000 ($107,200). Police spokesman Georg Dongowski told journalists, "If she can handle lions and tigers, she shouldn't have trouble with a 20-year-old man."

Anti-globalization activists go to jail

Two German anti-globalization activists have received 15-day suspended sentences and ordered to pay €500 fines to a Strasbourg court for property damage and civil disobedience. As members of the international group "No Border," the two men in their early forties took part in a protest camp on the banks of the Rhine river in the French city last July. After police arrived to break up the gathering and accompany German demonstrators across the border, the two men escaped from a police bus and fled onto a protected military zone.

Lufthansa cuts flights to France, Greece

German air carrier Lufthansa has cancelled most of its flights to France and Greece as large-scale demonstrations in France against state pension reforms coincide with Greek air traffic controllers striking in protest against the war in Iraq. A Lufthansa spokesperson in Frankfurt announced that 120 scheduled flights were cancelled, while only 22 flights to French destinations took off as planned. Up to 5,000 passengers are expected to be hit by delays. Lufthansa dropped three flights to Greece. A number of airlines, including Lufthansa, Alitalia and KLM have already cancelled flights in recent weeks due to the war in Iraq and the flu-like disease SARS.

Compiled with information from wires agencies.