TOPWRAP 5-Germany unveils rescue package to fight recession

* Germany approves 50 billion euro stimulus package

* Obama seeks $350 billion in financial bailout funds

* China imports and exports fall in December

* Bernanke says banks may need further support

* Global shares fall; Citigroup, Sony earnings eyed (Adds details, euro zone bond yields) (For more on the global economic crisis, click [nCRISIS])

By Andreas Moeser and Langi Chiang

BERLIN/BEIJING, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Germany presented a stimulus package on Tuesday aimed at saving Europe's largest economy from its worst recession since World War Two as Europe and Asia showed further evidence of the global slowdown.

Germany's 50 billion euro ($67 billion) plan is its second such package in as many months and comes as President-elect Barack Obama seeks approval to unlock the second half of a $700 billion U.S. package approved in October. [ID:nN12357834]

"This is the biggest package the Federal Republic of Germany has ever seen," Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told German broadcaster WDR. The plan was agreed late on Monday. [ID:nLD221687]

Steinbrueck said the aid package involved a mixture of investment spending and tax cuts including incentives for new car purchases.

Obama said he had asked President George W. Bush to formally request the bailout funds so they could be ready when he takes office on Jan. 20.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday that fiscal stimulus alone would not be enough to promote a lasting U.S. economic recovery and that further steps to backstop banks may be needed. [ID:nN13383972]

"Fiscal actions are unlikely to promote a lasting recovery unless they are accompanied by strong measures to further stabilise and strengthen the financial system," Bernanke said at the London School of Economics.

France may boost its plans while Britain, which unveiled a 20 billion pound ($29.23 billion) package in November, faced a trio of surveys on Tuesday suggesting it had entered its deepest recession since at least the 1980s. [ID:nLC480750]

Governments are taking action as economies slow and companies hit by falling earnings are forced to shed jobs and operations.

Standard & Poor's has warned that credit ratings on Spain, Greece and Ireland are under threat as the global crisis strains public finances. [ID:nLC477283]