The kidnappers of the Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz region have demanded the help of Germany in the mediation efforts, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

It added that the case of the nine pilgrims is now in the hands of German intelligence.

An Austrian artist on Thursday drew three pictures simultaneously in three European capitals thanks to two robots copying his every movement in real time in Britain and Germany.

Alex Kiessling worked in Vienna while a pair of orange industrial robots in London's Trafalgar Square and Berlin's Breitscheidplatz drew exactly the same picture of three human faces with the help of satellite transmissions.

Germany's first two lawmakers of African origin cheered their victory as trailblazers Monday after winning in weekend elections.

Senegalese-born Karamba Diaby, 51, will represent Halle, an eastern city of 230,000 people, for the Social Democrats in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

The day after her stunning election triumph, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was Monday set to start the process of haggling with potential partners over how to rule Europe's biggest economy.

After a campaign that banked on Merkel's image as a calm, sensible and reassuring eurozone crisis manager, she led her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) close to its first absolute majority in half a century.

European Union president Herman Van Rompuy on Sunday congratulated German Chancellor Angela Merkel on her election win and expressed confidence that Germany would remain committed to a "prosperous Europe."

"I am confident that Germany and its new government will continue its commitment and contribution to the construction of a peaceful and prosperous Europe at the service of all its citizens," he said in a statement, adding: "I look forward to continuing the close cooperation with Angela Merkel."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel won a third term in elections Sunday but her conservatives may be forced to govern in a "grand coalition" with the center-left Social Democrats, exit polls showed.

Merkel's previous junior partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, narrowly failed to re-enter the parliament, ARD and ZDF public television said immediately after polling booths closed.

Two days ahead of general elections, Chancellor Angela Merkel rallied supporters Friday in Germany's conservative heartland Bavaria on the eve of its world-famous Oktoberfest beer festival.

On Odeonsplatz, an elegant central square in wealthy Munich's city center, Merkel delivered her upbeat stump speech to a crowd of about 7,000 ahead of Sunday's vote.

In the end game of a tight election race, German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised voters Friday they will be in safe hands if she stays leader of Europe's economic giant.

"Germany has had four good years," she wrote in a letter mailed to five million households ahead of Sunday's election, in which she seeks a third term for her Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Germany's upstart anti-euro party AfD could capture seats in parliament in Sunday's general election and scupper Chancellor Angela Merkel's chance of holding on to her center-right coalition, a new poll indicated.

The new Alternative for Germany (AfD), founded by a professor who believes the single European currency is a disastrous money pit for Germany, scored five percent in the poll by independent institute Insa Thursday.

Several hundred employees of the online retail giant Amazon went on strike in Germany on Thursday in a planned three-day walkout over pay, unions said.

Between 300 and 400 employees on the morning shift halted work at two logistics centers in Bad Hersfeld in the west of Germany, said Mechthild Middeke, a representative of the giant service-sector union Verdi at Amazon.