Barbra Streisand
plays first German show

Barbra Streisand has played her first concert in Germany, winning an enthusiastic welcome from some 18,000 fans in Berlin and praising the capital's ''beauty and desserts.''

Saturday night's appearance at Berlin's open-air Waldbuehne was part of a European tour that also has taken her to Zurich, Switzerland and France, also for the first time. ''I can't believe it took me so long to come here,'' she told her Berlin audience.

''I definitely got a taste of Berlin,'' she said. ''This city is filled with culture, beauty--and desserts.''

Streisand's German concert attracted local luminaries including Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit and Guido Westerwelle, the leader of Germany's biggest opposition party, who said the singer's presence was a ''giant compliment for Berlin.'' (AP)