 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 14.10.2008, 16:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Bush unveils US$250 billion bank bailout
US President George W. Bush has announced a $250 billion plan for the government to buy shares in banks. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush said the government would also temporarily insure most new debt issued by American banks. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told reporters in Washington that nine banks have agreed to the conditions set out by the government for the purchase of preferred shares. This latest rescue package is reported to be similar to plans unveiled by a number of European governments over the past few days. The bailout schemes have helped the markets back into positive territory over the past couple of days. Frankfurt's DAX index is up by almost six percent. In London, the FTSE 100, and the CAC 40 in Paris have posted similar gains. Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei index, which had been closed on Monday, had its biggest ever one-day gain, closing trading up by 14 percent. In New York, Wall St. is up by around four percent in early trading. |  | | Think tanks say Germany on verge of recession
A group of leading German economic think tanks say Europe's largest economy is on the brink of a recession. In their latest report, the four institutes have scaled back their prediction for economic growth next year to 0.2 percent. However they maintained an earlier prediction of 1.8 percent growth for 2008. A spokesman for the four institutes told reporters in Berlin that the biggest variable over the next year would be how the global financial markets react to a series of government rescue packages for many of the world's ailing banks. He also praised the pledge from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government of much as €500 billion to shore up the nation's financial institutions. | | | German states remain sceptical about bank bailout scheme
Bavaria and a number of other German states remain sceptical about a federal government plan to bail out the country's banks. Under the plan agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition earlier this week, the states would have to pay for around 35 percent of the costs. A meeting between federal Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück and his counterparts from the country's 16 states has failed to overcome some objections. Bavarian Finance Minister Erwin Huber told reporters in Berlin that negotiations would continue on Friday in the Bundesrat, the second chamber of parliament which represents the states at the federal level. The German bailout could cost taxpayers as much as €500 billion. | | | Talks resume to break Zimbabwe deadlock
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has begun talks in Harare aimed at saving an agreement to create a power-sharing government. Mbeki mediated the negotiations that led to the deal between President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change. But MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has threatened to pull out of the agreement after Mugabe announced that his party would control all of the key ministries. Following this year's elections, the MDC has a majority in parliament, but Mugabe won the presidential run-off vote after Tsvangirai pulled out due to a campaign of violence against his supporters. Under the power-sharing deal, Tsvangirai was to be given the newly created post of prime minister. | | | Polls open in Canadian parliamentary election
Voters in Canada are going to the polls to elect a new parliament. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has headed a minority government since early 2006, called the election a year ahead of schedule in a bid to win a majority. The latest opinion polls indicate that the Conservatives will be returned to power but likely in another minority | | | Israel's Kadima, Labour sign draft deal
Israel's Kadima and Labour parties have signed a draft coalition deal that would pave the way for the formation of a new government headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Israeli media are reporting that the agreement was signed by MPs from both sides following marathon negotiations. It would bring Defence Minister Ehud Barak's 19-member Labour bloc into a coalition with Kadima's 29 MPs. However, it would still leave Livni short of a workable majority. Kadima officials said she planned to try to persuade the Jewish ultra-Orthodox Shas party to join the coalition. If Livni fails to present a new cabinet by the end of the month, an early parliamentary election will have to be held. Livni was elected by Kadima members last month to take over as party leader from Ehud Olmert, who has announced his resignation amid a corruption scandal. | | | Syria's Assad decrees diplomatic ties with Lebanon
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon for the first time since the two Arab neighbours won independence from France in the 1940s. The move formalises decisions taken jointly with Lebanon and encouraged by France over the last few months. Lebanon's Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said he would visit Damascus on Wednesday to discuss the mechanism for establishing diplomatic ties. Damascus has been under Western pressure to take steps to formally recognise Lebanon's sovereignty. Syria dominated Lebanese politics for three decades before withdrawing troops in 2005 following the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. | | | Amnesty criticises surge in Saudi executions
The human rights group Amnesty International has said that Saudi Arabia is executing more and more people in defiance of a worldwide trend towards abolishing capital punishment. In a new report, Amnesty said that, on average, more than two people a week were being executed in the kingdom. The report said almost half of the victims were foreign nationals, even though foreigners make up only around a quarter of the country's population. It said trials were often held secretly and that foreigners were frequently unable to follow the court proceedings in Arabic. Executions in Saudi Arabia are mostly by beheading, generally in public. | | | Police clash with protesters in Montenegro
In Montenegro pro-Serb protesters have clashed with police in front of parliament buildings in the capital Podgorica. Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd angry at their government's recognition of Kosovo's independence last week. Hospital officials reported that more than thirty people were treated for injuries after the clashes. Earlier, some 10,000 pro-Serb opposition supporters rallied to demand that the government revoke its recognition of an independent Kosovo, a province of Serbia. | | | Germany's Left Party nominates prominent actor
Germany's new Left Party has nominated prominent television actor Peter Sodann as its candidate in next year's presidential election. The party said its parliamentary group on Tuesday chose Sodann to run against conservative incumbent Horst Koehler and Social Democratic challenger Gesine Schwan on May 23. Experts believe Sodann has no realistic chance of winning but a decent showing could boost the party's profile ahead of September parliamentary elections. | | | World Chess Championship begin in Bonn
The World Chess Championships have begun here in Bonn. Experts are predicting a close match between Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, who is defending the title, and grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. The two players are evenly matched and for many years have jostled each other for second and third place on the ratings list behind chess great Garry Kasparov, who retired in 2005. The 12-game match is scheduled through October 31. If necessary, November 2 is set aside for a series of blitz games to decide the winner. | | | Space capsule carrying US tourist docks with ISS
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying US millionaire video game developer Richard Garriott has docked with the International Space Station. A spokeswoman for the space control centre near Moscow said the capsule had docked automatically at 08:26 GMT. Apart from Garriott, who is paying $30 million for his 10-day journey in space, the capsule is also carrying Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and US astronaut Michael Fincke. Garriott, the son of a US astronaut, was to be welcomed onto the ISS by Sergei Volkov, whose father is a former Soviet cosmonaut. US space agency NASA said Volkov and Garriott were set to become the first children of previous space adventurers to meet in orbit. | | | Tellkamp wins German book prize
The Frankfurt Book Fair has awarded its annual prize to Uwe Tellkamp. The 25,000-euro prize for German-language novels, was awarded to Tellkamp for his book "The Tower", which describes the collapse of communist East Germany two decades ago. Tellkamp, a 39-year-old medical practitioner, was born in the eastern city of Dresden and jailed in 1989 for what the authorities termed "political unreliability" just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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Germany Facing Recession, Economists Warn
