Gunmen on Thursday abducted a German engineer working with a construction company on the outskirts of the violence-hit Nigerian city of Kano, police said.

A driver along with two other assailants "came and abducted the engineer Raupach Edgar, attached to Dantata and Sawoe construction company," said police spokesman Magaji Majia.

European and Arab nations want a U.N. Security Council vote next week on a resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on protests and hinting at sanctions, diplomats said Tuesday.

Britain, France, Germany and Arab nations are working on the resolution which could face Russian opposition because of a call on all states to follow Arab League sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad.

Germany on Monday led European demands for strong U.N. Security Council support for Arab League calls for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power.

Germany's U.N. ambassador Peter Wittig said the Arab League plan for Syria agreed at the weekend could be a "game changer" for the Security Council which has been deadlocked with Russia and China vetoing one resolution condemning the Syrian government's deadly crackdown.

Masked gunmen kidnapped a German aid worker and his Italian colleague overnight in Pakistan's central shrine city of Multan, local police said Friday.

The kidnappings bring to six the number of Westerners abducted since July in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where U.S. forces last year killed Osama bin Laden and which stands on the frontline of a Taliban insurgency.

Fans of Knut, the cuddly polar bear that captured hearts worldwide, will soon be able to visit a memorial at Berlin Zoo after the winning design for the shrine was unveiled Friday.

The winner, chosen from 40 entries, was "Knut The Dreamer" by sculptor Josef Tabachnyk, showing the snowy-white bear reclining lazily on rocks in his pen at Berlin Zoo, said the head of the Friends of the Capital Zoos, Thomas Ziolko.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will on Sunday begin a week-long European tour to Britain, Germany and Russia, his spokesman said on Thursday.

"Abbas will go on Sunday to London, and meet with Prime Minister David Cameron and other British officials on Monday and will brief them on the latest political developments in the region," Nabil Abu Rudeina to Agence France Presse.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday assured Italy its tough austerity measures would be "rewarded", amid signs her own economy was grinding to a halt as tensions in Eurozone markets simmered.

Capping a flurry of diplomatic activity as leaders strive to stem the crisis that threatens to tip the 17-member Eurozone into recession, Merkel expressed "great respect" for Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's reform efforts.

Germany's economy is expected to have slipped into reverse in the last quarter of 2011 in spite of showing an overall growth for the year of 3 percent, the country's Federal Statistics Office revealed Wednesday.

The country's annual growth rate was achieved in spite of the financial crisis in Europe which has other economies such as Greece, Spain and Italy struggling with huge debts.

Germany on Tuesday led European calls for "serious negotiations" on a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria as a top U.N. official gave a briefing on efforts to end the deadly crackdown on protests.

Germany's U.N. envoy Peter Wittig said Russia's reluctance to discuss a resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad over the crackdown was "unsatisfactory".

Andy Murray had Ivan Lendl in his corner and another ATP final in his sights when he beat Australian teenager Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday in the Brisbane International semifinals.