 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 30.01.2009, 17:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Merkel calls for preventative economic management
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on delegates at the annual World Economic Forum to look beyond the current global crisis and seek ways of ensuring that it doesn't happen again. Merkel told the conference in the Swiss town of Davos that new international structures needed to be developed and that US President Barack Obama's administration would have a key role to play. The chancellor said she hoped the new American government in particular would join Germany in pushing for clearer rules that would enhance transparency and financial risk management. Merkel said a new global economic charter could even take the form of a United Nations body, possibly designed along the lines of the UN Security Council. |  | | US economy posts worst growth figures since 1982
The US economy shrank by 3.8 per cent in the final quarter of last year. That's its worst performance in more than a quarter of a century. The data released by the Commerce Department shows that the decline in economic output in the United States accelerated in the last three months of 2008. Growth in the third quarter had dipped by 0.5 per cent. Overall last year, the US economy posted growth of 1.3 percent. | | | Bundestag debates second multi-billion stimulus package
The German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, has been debating the government's plans for a second stimulus package worth 50 billion euros. The stimulus plan comes on the heels of a 35 billion euro package that was approved in November but which was considered insufficient to pull Germany out of recession. The second package, the largest in German post-war history, envisages investments in education and infrastructure as well as tax reductions. The plan forces Germany to take on a significant amount of new debt. Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück said this was the right response to the current crisis, rebuking opposition criticism that the government had acted too late and drawn up inefficient stimulus measures. Germany's lower and upper houses of parliament are set to vote on the package in mid-February. | | | EU and China agree to hold new summit soon
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says that the EU and China have agreed to hold a new summit "soon" with the aim of improving bilateral ties. The announcement comes two months after the last EU-China summit was postponed by Bejing in protest against EU president Nicolas Sarkozy meeting with Tibet's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. Barroso told journalists in Brussels after talks with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao that the exact date for the new summit still had to be finalised. Barroso also said that Friday's talks touched on human rights issues and Tibet in a constructive spirit. Jiabao said his talks with EU officials had increased mutual trust, adding that as long as China and the EU worked hand in hand, both sides would be able to overcome the current financial crisis. China and the European Union also signed almost 60 million euros worth of deals, covering issues such as student exchanges, civil aviation, drugs and intellectual piracy. | | | Fears mount for trapped Sri Lankan civilians
International calls for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka are mounting amid growing fears for an estimated quarter of a million civilians caught in the crossfire between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels. The International Committee of the Red Cross has said hundreds have been killed or wounded in the fighting since last week. The government has said these figures are too high, without however providing an exact number. On Thursday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised safe passage for the civilians, urging the rebels to allow them free movement over the next two days. The Sri Lankan army has confined the rebels to a 300-square-kilometre jungle area in the country's northeast, putting on increased pressure in a bid to end a 26-year-old civil war. | | | Zimbabwe's MDC votes to join unity government
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says his party has agreed to join a unity government with the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe next month. This comes after a Southern African Development Community summit in Pretoria urged Zimbabwe's feuding parties to form a unity government by mid-February, with Tsvangirai as prime minister. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change has, however, cited three conditions for joining the government; the release of all political prisoners by February 11, a review of the distribution of posts of provincial governors and the drafting of legislation to revamp national security. | | | UN warns of food shortages in Gaza
The United Nations says the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip has badly damaged the territory's agriculture sector. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said that many farms were completely destroyed and that food supplies were already running low due to Gaza's closed borders. US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has been meeting leaders in the region in a bid to negotiate an opening of border crossings and to consolidate a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas. Israel's 22-day military campaign to stop Hamas rocket attacks caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip and killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, including many civilians. | | | Zimbabwean cholera cases top 60,000
The World Health Organization has called for urgent national and international action to combat Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak, saying that more than 60,000 Zimbabweans are now afflicted with the disease. Experts had earlier predicted the crisis to peak at 60,000 cases. So far, 3,161 deaths have been recorded, though officials believe more have died without being counted. Zimbabwe's health and sanitation infrastructure has collapsed under the weight of hyperinflation, making it more difficult to contain the disease. Humanitarian workers are also fighting a hunger crisis in the country. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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German Foreign Minister Presses Iran to Accept US Offer on Talks
