Germany in Brief

Former secret police officers cleared in death

A former officer in East Germany's secret police was acquitted by a Berlin court on Thursday in connection with the killing of a man on the border between East Germany and West Germany in 1976. The court also dropped charges against a second former officer in the case. The case focused on the killing of an East German critic, the 32-year-old Michael Gartenschläger, who was shot to death by East German border guards after he dismantled one of the communist country's most secret border weapons -- self-firing guns whose existence East German leaders had repeatedly denied. The defendants -- 71-year-old Helmut Heckel and 60-year-old Wolfgang Singer -- were charged with creating the plan to kill Gartenschläger.

Study Says Plant Not to Blame for Cancer Cases

A nuclear power plant in northern Germany is not responsible for the cluster of cases of leukemia and lymph node cancer among children in the area, according to a long-term study. The study was requested by the northern German states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The study focused on the plant Krümmel, which is located on the Elbe River southeast of Hamburg. The results were criticized by the group International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War because it didn't examine a nuclear accident in 1986.

Plan to expand Saturday shopping gets green light

German shoppers can start looking forward the summer. Saturday shoppers got the word they were looking for on Thursday, when state political leaders announced they would support the national government's plan to allow stores to stay open on Saturdays until 8 p.m. The law is to take effect on June 1. The government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder hopes the change will entice consumers to increase their spending and help the country's stagnating retail industry.

McDonald's bus set on fire in Hamburg

A McDonald's party bus was torched in Hamburg early Thursday, police said. Nearby, police also found fliers that said "War, Exploitation and Racism," leading them to suspect that left-wing radicals were behind the attack on the bus. The attack is more bad news for the fast-food chain, which is losing ground in Germany to Burger King. McDonalds' sales grew only 0.8 percent in Germany last year, as opposed to 15 percent for Burger King.

Compiled with material from wire services