German motorists are offering curious excuses when stopped by police for using a cell phone behind the wheel, according to the Auto Club Europe (ACE).

"I didn't use it to make a call. The warm battery is against earache," said one motorist while another said: "It is a support for my seesawing jaw."

Frankfurt - German stocks rebounded strongly at the start of trading Friday, with investors encouraged by Washington's promise to fix the financial system.

After just a few minutes of trading, the bellwether DAX index in Frankfurt was running at 6125, up 4.5 per cent from the previous day's close before the announcement.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for an international probe into the conflict over Georgia's breakaway provinces in an interview published Friday by the daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung.

Authorities have given the green light to begin construction of a magnetic-levitation train route in Zhejiang province on east China's seaboard in 2010, three years later than planned, the official Xinhua news agency reported Monday.

Several security holes have been discovered in Firefox and other software from Mozilla. The Thunderbird e-mail program and the Seamonkey program suite have also been affected.

Users should update their software as soon as possible once patches become available, recommends the German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI) in Bonn.

A new Google service lets users track internet trends. The "Insights for Search" feature lets users see what searches were popular in a particular country during a specific time span, according to Google's offices in Hamburg.

Bertram Meyer leans over his desk and tugs at his computer's monitor cable. He disconnects the keyboard and packs up his computer mouse. A case of energy drinks are waiting in the hallway of his Berlin apartment. He packs a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and inflatable neck rest.

The Russian ambassador in Germany, Vladimir Kotenev, called for more international understanding for Moscow on Friday, saying that problems such as terrorism should only be solved "with Russia, not against Russia."