 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 24.10.2008, 16:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Merkel outlines plans for new financial order
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has outlined plans for a new financial order at the Asia-Europe summit in Beijing. The central principles of the four-point plan include tougher controls and transpareny of international money markets, especially risk management. In future top managers in banks and investment houses should receive no incentives for investing in high-risk business activities. Merkel also called for a greater role for the International Monetary Fund to help ensure stability of the global financial system. The two-day summit, which is being attended by over 40 countries, got underway on Friday and is focusing on finding ways to combat the current global economic crisis. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao responded to European calls for increased co-operation between the two continents, agreeing that joint action was necessary.
|  | | Merkel meets Chinese president
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the second day of her three-day state visit to China. Hu thanked Merkel for German aid after the severe earthquake in Sichuan province in May, saying it was an expression of the special friendship between the two countries. Merkel said her country was interested in even closer cooperation with China, particularly in view of the current global financial crisis. Ties between Germany and China had been strained after Merkel's meeting last year with Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. | | | Global markets plunge
Stock markets around the world are plunging dramatically. The Dow Jones dropped nearly four percent at the opening of trade. Europe's main indices – London's FTSE 100, Frankfurt's DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris – were all down between eight and nine percent in afternoon trading. Russia has suspended trading on its stock markets until next Tuesday, after its main indices fell over 13 percent. Asian markets were also heavily down. Panic selling has gripped investors around the world, as a wave of company profit warnings fans fears that the financial crisis is continuing to expand. | | | OPEC members cut output to shore up price
Member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in Vienna have decided to cut production in reaction to falling prices and slowing demand. OPEC said in a statement that production would be cut by 1.5 million barrels per day as of November. Currently, the cartel produces almost 29 million barrels per day. Oil prices have been plunging in the past months as fears of a global recession grow. The oil price has now fallen below 65 dollars a barrel, the lowest level in 16 months. | | | Germany lays Afghan casualties to rest
Germany's Defence Minister Franz Joseph Jung has paid his respects to two German soldiers killed in Afghanistan this week. Speaking at their funeral service, at their base in south-western Germany, Jung gave his thanks to the men, saying they died in the cause of peace on behalf of the nation. Jung added that the Afghan mission remained vital to Germany's security interests. The two paratroopers were killed on Monday in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, when a suicide bomber attacked their patrol. Five Afghan children were also killed in the attack. | | | Shas party rejects coalition offer
A key Israeli ultra-Orthodox party has announced it will not join a coalition led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, seriously damaging her chances of forming an government by early next week. The Shas party said its demands for joining a coalition had not been met. Livni, the leader of the governing Kadima party, issued an ultimatum on Thursday warning that snap elections would be called if she were unable to form a coalition government by Sunday. | | | Turkish court says PM violated secular principles
Turkey's top court has ruled that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been involved in anti-secular activities, a move that is likely to renew political tensions in the country. In July, the Constitutional Court imposed fines on Erdogan's ruling AK Party for undermining secularism, but dismissed the prosecutor's calls to have the party closed down. The court cited the AKP's attempts to lift a ban on wearing headscarves in universities as one violation of secular principles. The party, which has Islamist roots, has been in conflict with Turkey's secularist establishment since it first came to power in 2002. The party, which was re-elected last year, denies that it has any Islamist agenda. | | | Bali bombers' execution set for November
The Indonesian attorney general's office says three Islamist militants convicted of the 2002 Bali bombings will be executed in early November. Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron, were sentenced to death in 2003 for their roles in the nightclub bombings on the island. The three have refused to seek clemency from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, saying they want to die as martyrs. The two blasts on Bali's Kuta strip on October 12, 2002, killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesian citizens. The attacks dealt a severe blow to the island's tourist industry. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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Concerns Arise Over Germany's Go-It-Alone Finance Plan
