 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 01.12.2008, 17:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Indian intelligence ignored signs of imminent attack: newspaper
Public outrage in India over the Mumbai terrorist attacks has been fueled by fresh reports that clear warnings of a coming assault were ignored. The Hindustan Times newspaper has reported that Indian intelligence agencies had precise information at least 10 months ago that Pakistani militants were planning an attack. Meanwhile, political fallout has lead to the resignations of the local state governor and his deputy on Monday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already accepted Interior Minister Shivrav Patel's offer to step down after Patel said he felt a “moral responsibility” for the attacks. Tensions between India and Pakistan are high after the Indian government blamed "elements in Pakistan," for the attacks. Security sources say they believe the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the coordinated attacks, which killed 173 people and injured hundreds in India's financial centre. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has appealed to India not to punish his country, saying militants could precipitate a war. |  | | First protesters leave PM's offices in Bangkok.
Thai anti-government protesters have started to abandon the prime minister's offices in central Bangkok, which they have been occupying since August. Earlier on Monday several nations began sending emergency flights to help evacuate up to 100,000 tourists stranded in the capital after demonstrators took over the main passenger airport last week. Dozens of empty planes were also allowed to leave the terminal. The demonstrators from the People's Alliance for Democracy, who have been demanding the resignation of Somchai and his government, were joined on Sunday by the first showing of pro-government supporters. Despite government authorisation Thai police have so far been reluctant to use force to disperse the protesters.
| | | Major German state bank announces job cuts
Germany's second largest state bank has announced plans to slash a quarter of its workforce. Bayern LB intends to cut 5,600 jobs, from a labour pool of around 19,000 people, in the next five years. The move is part of a radical restructuring program brought on by the financial crisis. The bank also intends to scale back its foreign operations, focusing its future activities mainly on Germany and some select European markets. A controversial investment banking arm, which has been the source of large losses, is to be abandoned. | | | Oil prices not likely to rise before mid-2009
Oil prices have fallen to below 52 dollars a barrel in European trading, after OPEC failed to agree on production cuts at a meeting in Cairo on Saturday. The oil cartel's Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said high oil stocks in developed countries showed that the market was oversupplied, and added that OPEC could decide to cut production at a meeting in December in Algeria. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has said that the price of oil is not likely to rise until midway through next year. It said it was looking in the medium term at oil prices of around 75 dollars a barrel. | | | 9,000 delegates in Poznan to find new climate change pact.
Over 9,000 delegates from 186 countries have arrived in the Polish city of Poznan for the start of a two week conference aimed at agreeing on a new global climate change pact. Climate officials are hopeful that US President-Elect Barack Obama will bring the US into the fold after George W Bush abandoned the Kyoto Treaty in 2001. However both the US and the European Union are facing increased economic strains which may push climate change down the agenda. The forum which is part of a UN framework hopes to find a replacement to the Kyoto protocol which is due to expire in 2012.
| | | Suicide bomber hits market in Afghanistan
A suicide bomber has attacked a police convoy in southern Afghanistan, killing 10 people and injuring 27 others. The police chief for Helmand province said the attack took place in a crowded market in Musa Qala district. Two police were among those killed. Musa Qala district has been a focal point of Taliban insurgency attacks. It has fallen into the hands of militants several times since the US-led invasion of 2001. | | | Romanian opposition parties draw even in the polls.
Partial results for Romania's parliamentary elections show the opposition parties the Social Democrats (PSD) and the Liberal Democrats (PD-L) in a tie. Earlier exit polls had put the ex-communist PSD in the lead with 36 percent and the PD-L, linked to reformist President Traian Basescu, in close second with 30 percent. The November polls are being seen as vital in the face of the global financial crisis and moving on crucial judicial reforms which have stalled since Romania joined the EU last year. The country's leaders have expressed concern at the alarmingly low voter turnout with many Romanians put off by rampant corruption among the country's officials.
| | | Chancellor Merkel's CDU party backs refusal to cut German taxes
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to reject sweeping tax cuts has won the unanimous backing from the executive of her Christian Democrat party (CDU), ahead of a two-day party conference. The CDU party chairman said there had been a lively discussion on whether Germany should join other countries in cutting taxes to boost economic growth amid the global financial crisis. She added that the CDU board agreed there was no need to cut taxes until after the September 2009 election.
| | | Brazil rescue workers resume search for flood victims
Rescue workers have resumed the search for flood victims in southern Brazil after heavy rains prompted the suspension of the rescue operations a day earlier. The authorities in Santa Catarina state have confirmed that 114 have died in the floods. 19 people are still missing. Officials on Sunday set up an army field hospital near the hard-hit cities of Itajai and Ilhota, where 39 people have died, mostly in mudslides.
| | | World AIDS Day marked around the world
World AIDS Day is being marked around the world this Monday with organisers calling on governments to follow through on promises of universal treatment, prevention, care and support. Thirty-three million people are infected with HIV, which causes AIDS. The United Nations has urged countries to focus on the roots of the epidemic and draw on a panoply of tried-and-tested tools to help stop HIV from spreading among people most at risk. Meanwhile AIDS research was given a boost in October when the 2008 Nobel Medicine Prize was bestowed to a pair of scientists who discovered HIV. | | | North Korea restricts movement accross border with the South.
North Korea has begun restricting traffic through two checkpoints in its tightly sealed border with South Korea. Hundreds of South Koreans were also expelled from a joint industrial zone in the north. Tourism trips and a cargo train were suspended last week. Relations between the Koreas have become increasingly strained since February when conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul and ended unconditional aid to the communist state over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme. The restrictions come just a week before the North is expected to discuss a disarmament pact with five regional powers who have promised the country economic and energy aid for agreeing to dismantle its nuclear programme.
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Merkel Promotes Measured Response to Economic Crisis
