 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 17.10.2008, 16:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | News | | | | | Current Article | | | | German president signs bank bailout plan
German President Horst Köhler has signed into law a €480-billion rescue package for the country's banking industry. This came just hours after both houses of parliament approved the move. The second chamber, the Bundesrat, which represents the country's 16 states, voted unanimously in favour of the package after Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition government reached a deal with them on sharing the costs of the bailout plan. Earlier in the day, the lower house, the Bundestag, passed the measure by a vote of 476 for and 99 against. This is the biggest national rescue plan in the eurozone aimed at dealing with the global credit crunch. |  | | Bush urges patience as economic woes deepen
US President George W. Bush has defended his government's policy to tackle the financial crisis. Speaking to the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Bush emphasised that the multi-billion dollar financial rescue package would stabilise the economy, while cautioning that the government's measures would take time to work. Bush promised that under the financial bailout the government would have only a limited stake over a limited time in individual banks and said federal officers would not be dictating daily policy. Bush added that his successor and Congress would have to make reforms of financial regulations "a top priority" while guarding against steps that could hurt the US economy. Bush's address came as housing starts for single family homes fell by a monthly 6.3 percent to a 26-year low in September. | | | European stock markets make slight gains
The stock markets have opened in the United States. The Dow Industrial Average is down by almost two percent. European stock markets though, remain in positive territory. Frankfurt's DAX index, the CAC 40 in Paris and London's FTSE 100 are all up by around one percent. | | | US, Iraq close to closing security deal
The United States and Iraq are said to be close to an agreement that would set a three-year timeline for American forces to withdraw from Iraq. A Pentagon spokesman said US and Iraqi negotiators had agreed on a draft text of the agreement. Officials say it would see US troops withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities by the middle of next year, and completely pull out of the country by the end of 2011. However a Pentagon spokesman said this would only happen if conditions on the ground allowed it. It's also not clear how the thorny issue of immunity for US military personnel and contractors in Iraq has been resolved. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is said to be pressing Iraqi leaders to accept the deal. | | | NATO airstrike blamed for civilian deaths
Authorities in Afghanistan say they are investigating the deaths of at least 17 civilians who were killed in a recent battle in the country's southern Helmand province. Officials said it was not clear if the civilians died due to a NATO air-strike or fire from Taliban militants. The victims, which included women and children, died when the building they were in collapsed on top of them during fighting on Thursday. The chief of a local tribal council said an airstike caused the fatalities. | | | New climate report on Arctic paints grim picture
A new climate change report says Arctic temperatures are at a record five degrees Celsius warmer than they should be for autumn. The annual so-called Arctic Report Card is compiled by 46 scientists from 10 countries and looks at a variety of conditions in a region that's been one of the first to show impacts from global warming. The report blamed recent major losses of sea ice for increased solar heating of the ocean. The report's researchers say shrinking Arctic sea ice is harming local species and will contribute to rising sea levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change blames global warming mostly on human activities which release carbon dioxide. | | | Czechs head to polls in Senate elections
Elections for a new Senate have kicked off in the Czech Republic. One third of the 81 seats in the upper chamber of the Czech parliament are up for grabs. The 41-seat majority of the ruling conservative Civic Democratic Party of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek is at stake as 200 candidates are running for 27 seats. Each candidate for a Senate seat needs a 50 percent majority of the votes to avoid a runoff with the second place finisher. The main opposition Social Democratic Party of former Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek is expected to make gains in the regional ballot. Results of the two-day vote are expected late on Saturday. | | | Police shut down international fraudsters' website
British police say they have shut down a website that allowed fraudsters around the world to trade in stolen credit card details and find out about the latest online scams. A spokesman for the Serious Organised Crime Agency told reporters in London that almost 60 people had been arrested worldwide as part of a long-running international undercover operation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. The invitation-only Internet forum was inaccessible to most web users and allowed criminals to buy and sell stolen financial information, such as people's online banking details and credit card data. It also gave the latest information on how to commit online fraud and what equipment to use in financial crimes. The site was launched three years ago and police say that it had as many as 2,500 registered users. | | | HRW locks horns with Colombian government
The New York-based Human Rights Watch organisation has released a report which charges Colombia's government with obstructing the investigation of far-right paramilitaries. The rights group says President Alvaro Uribe's administration has repeatedly taken steps that could undermine the work of judges and prosecutors. Colombia's Supreme Court is currently investigating around 60 members of Congress, mostly members of Uribe's party, for links with right-wing death squads. Uribe has proposed stripping the court of its power to conduct the investigations. His government has dismissed the Human Rights Watch report and denies interfering in the judicial process. The paramilitaries were formed in the 1980s to help combat left-wing FARC rebels. | | | EU offers aid to Cuba
The European Union has offered Cuba hurricane aid and other support in the first official talks since the bloc imposed diplomatic sanctions on the Caribbean island five years ago. This came in a meeting in Paris between the visiting Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of France, which holds the EU's rotating presidency. The EU also signalled its willingness to resume co-operation on economic, technological and environmental matters. The 27-nation bloc cut off dialogue with Havana when the communist state arrested hundreds of dissidents in 2003. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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German Lawmakers Pass Bank Rescue Package
