Female boxer shot by stepdad before bout in Berlin

Boxer Rola El-Halabi was shot by her stepfather and former manager before a title fight, inflicting injuries that are not life-threatening but could imperil her career.

The undefeated 25-year-old German was preparing to fight Irma Balijagic Adler of Bosnia for the vacant IBF lightweight title Friday night when her 44-year-old stepfather entered her dressing room and shot her in the hand, knee and feet.

He also shot two security guards before being arrested, Berlin police said.

Sunday's edition of the Bild newspaper identified the gunman as Roy El-Halabi and reported that 800 spectators were evacuated from the arena.

Rola El-Halabi told the German daily: "Papa rushed into the room. He threatened us with a gun in his hand and shouted 'Everyone out!' And then he shot me in the hand from three meters. I cried and screamed."

Bild reported that El-Halabi split from her stepfather as a manager in January.

"When I had problems I could talk with him about anything, except when it was about boys. That was taboo," El-Halabi said.

The three victims were taken to the hospital for surgery.

El-Halabi won the WIBF and WIBA world titles in 2009 and has an 11-0 career record with six knockouts.

German foreign minister to quit party post

Germany's foreign minister said Sunday he will not seek another term as leader of the junior party in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition amid calls for his replacement after embarrassing losses in recent state elections. Guido Westerwelle told reporters that he would not run again to lead the pro-business Free Democratic Party at the party's congress next month, after the party's poor results in last weekend's elections in two southwestern states. Westerwelle said he would concentrate his energy on his post as foreign minister. "It was a difficult decision, but also an easy one," Westerwelle told reporters, hours after he returned from a visit to China and Japan. Pressure had been mounting on the foreign minister, who also serves as Merkel's deputy, since the Free Democrats saw their share of the votes halved in two state ballots last week. They were forced from the government in Baden-Wuerttemberg state and failed to make the regional legislature in Rhineland-Palatinate.

State elections crucial test for Germany's Merkel

Eight million Germans are voting in a closely watched state election that could see Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party lose power in southern Baden-Wuerttemberg for the first time in almost six decades.

Recent polls suggest Merkel's Christian Democrats are poised to lose Sunday's ballot by a narrow margin, with the opposition Social Democrats and Greens scoring about 24 percent each and forming a coalition government in the state.

The Christian Democrats are forecast to secure about 38 percent of the vote, with their current coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democrats, just 5 percent.

Merkel's party has held power in the region around Stuttgart - one of Germany's industrial powerhouses that is home to companies such as Daimler AG - since 1953.

German news group runs photos of Afghan killings

Graphic photos showing U.S. troops and dead Afghans that the Army was keeping under wraps for a war crimes probe were carried by a German news organization Monday, with one showing a soldier smiling as he posed with a bloodied and partially clothed corpse.

The photos published by Der Spiegel were among several seized by Army investigators looking into the deaths of three unarmed Afghans last year. Five soldiers based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle, have been charged with murder and conspiracy in the case.

Der Spiegel did not return calls seeking comment Monday, and it wasn't known how the organization obtained copies.

Editions with the photos were on newsstands Monday, a day after Der Spiegel published them digitally.

Officials involved in the courts-martial had issued a strict protective order, seeking to severely limit access to the photographs due to their sensitive nature. Some defense teams had been granted copies but were not allowed to disseminate them.

"Today Der Spiegel published photographs depicting actions repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States Army," the Army said in a statement released by Col. Thomas Collins. "We apologize for the distress these photos cause."

One of the published photographs shows a key figure in the investigation, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock of Wasilla, Alaska, grinning as he lifts the head of a corpse by the hair. Der Spiegel identified the body as that of Gul Mudin, whom Morlock was charged with killing on Jan. 15, 2010, in Kandahar Province.

Another photo shows Pvt. 1st Class Andrew Holmes, of Boise, Idaho, holding the head of the same corpse. His lawyer, Daniel Conway, said Sunday that Holmes was ordered "to be in the photo, so he got in the photo. That doesn't make him a murderer."

The photo was taken while the platoon leader, Lt. Roman Ligsay, was present, Conway said. Ligsay has asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to testify in the legal proceedings against his troops.

Germany to shut down pre-1980 nuclear plants

Germany will shut down all seven of its nuclear power plants that began operation before 1980 and it is unclear whether they will start up again, the government said on Tuesday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the closures under a nuclear policy moratorium imposed following Japan's crisis, and said they would be carried out by government decree as no agreement with the plants' operators had been reached.

"Power plants that went into operation before the end of 1980 will ... be shut down for the period of the moratorium," Merkel told a news conference. The nuclear issue should be addressed at an EU summit on March 24-25, she added.

Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said it was not clear if all nuclear power plants shut down during the three-month moratorium would remain closed or be reconnected to the grid afterwards.

Merkel astonished German politicians on Monday by suspending an unpopular coalition decision taken only last autumn, under which the life of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants would be extended by years.

She drew accusations on Tuesday of transparent trickery for the move, with the opposition and media saying she was trying to avoid a regional election disaster later this month.