 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 09.10.2008, 16:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | News | | | | | Current Article | | | | European markets make sharp gains in early trading
Most European and Asian shares have shown increases as investors absorbed news of a co-ordinated interest rate cut. Banking shares helped push the UK's FTSE 3 percent higher in early trading, while France's CAC rose 2.9 percent and Germany's Dax added 2.4 percent. Russian stock markets climbed strongly after reopening following a suspension in trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei index however, closed lower after its prime minister called for more action to boost the country's economy. In Sydney, Australia's main share index fell 1.8 percent, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 3.3 percent higher. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank said it would offer an unlimited amount of euros in one-week loans at a fixed rate of 3.75 percent. The decision was taken in line with changes to bank lending policies announced late on Wednesday. |  | | Governments give Dexia a yearlong bank guarantee
The governments of France, Belgium and Luxembourg say they are giving struggling lender Dexia a yearlong bank guarantee. The guarantee follows three days when Dexia's shares fell even after it received a 6.4 billion euro cash injection from the three governments last week. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said the guarantee would cover all new agreements with international lenders, new interbank deposits and new institutional loans of up to three years. | | | Iceland govt. takes over largest bank group
Iceland's largest bank group Kaupthing has been taken over by the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority. Kaupthing was the third of the North Atlantic nation's major banks to be taken over by the agency under provisions of special legislation adopted late Monday. Earlier this week the agency took over Landsbanki and Glitnir. Prime Minister Geir Haarde noted that "their liabilities are now equivalent to many times Iceland's GNP." The commercial banks in the island nation of 300,000 people have rapidly expanded their operations in recent years. | | | Germany does not need to nationalise: minister
Germany does not need to nationalise any of its banks, according to Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck. Speaking to the German daily "Handelsblatt" on Thursday Steinbrueck added that this could change if the global financial crisis gets any worse. Over the weekend Berlin announced a 50-billion-euro rescue package for mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate but the government has yet to follow other European countries such as Britain in nationalising any of its lenders. | | | Financial crisis must not affect NATO military spending
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said that the global financial crisis should not stand in the way of necessary increases in military spending by the alliance's member states. De Hoop Scheffer told a Hungarian daily that although the financial crisis was bound to add pressure on national budgets, states must defend the alliance's joint values and prepare to face challenges. The comments come as NATO defence ministers hold two days of talks in the Hungarian capital Budapest. The meeting was to focus on NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. ISAF now has a force of 50,700 soldiers, up from about 45,000 six months ago but the increase has done little to dent the Taliban insurgency. | | | Several injured in blast at police headquarters
At least ten people have been killed after a roadside bomb exploded near a prison van and a school bus in northwestern Pakistan. Police officials said the blast occurred near the troubled Swat Valley, where troops are battling Islamist militants. Elsewhere, on the outskirts of Islamabad, a truck bomb exploded at a police headquarters injuring at least seven people, some seriously. Security in the city has been stepped in the wake of a suicide truck bomb that killed 55 people and destroyed the Marriott hotel on Sept. 20. There are fears of more bomb attacks in reaction to an army offensive against Islamist militant strongholds in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. | | | German accident investigator bound for Nepal
A German accident investigator is bound for Nepal after an air crash at a Himalayan airstrip killed 18 people this week. Twelve German tourists were among the dead in the crash. The German aviation accident inquiry agency BFU said Thursday that Nepal cleared its staffer to attend the investigation as an observer. A Yeti Airlines twin-engine aircraft crashed Wednesday during its landing approach at the Lukla airstrip, which is at an altitude of nearly 3,000 metres. Poor visibility has been named as the cause of the crash, which also claimed the lives of two Australians and four Nepalese. The pilot, who was the lone survivor, is in serious condition in a Nepalese hospital.
| | | Raids on neo-Nazi youth group in Germany
Germany's interior ministry says authorities are carrying out nationwide raids as part of an investigation into a youth group accused of promoting neo-Nazi ideals. No arrests have been made so far. The ministry says early morning search-and-seizure raids against the Homeland-Faithful German Youth, who go by the abbreviation HDJ, were conducted in 14 of the country's 16 states. The interior ministry said the group is accused of attempting to indoctrinate young people in Nazi ideology ''in order to later transform them into extremists''. It runs camps and other activities for youth.
| | | Treason charges dropped by Thai court
Thailand's appeals court has thrown out treason charges against nine leaders of anti-government protests. The court's ruling said the nine may have committed other "illegal acts" related to the protests, but the treason charges were groundless. Protesters have been occupying the grounds of government buildings for weeks, saying the government is a proxy for ousted Premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The protests turned violent on Tuesday, when two people were killed in clashes. The demonstrators were attempting to disrupt the inauguration of the new government. The new prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat is Thaksin's brother-in-law. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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German Finance Minister Rules Out Hasty Bank Nationalizations
