 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 13.02.2009, 17:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | World News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Bundestag approves anti-recession package
The lower house of the German parliament the Bundestag has approved a 50-billion-euro economic stimulus package. The budgetary move, the biggest of its kind since World War Two, seeks to help Germany tackle the recession but its passage still hinges on a vote in the Bundesrat, the upper house representing 16 regional states, where Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition needs opposition votes. At Friday's Bundestag session, only her conservatives and coalition partners, the Social Democrats, voted for the package. Opposition parties rejected it, including the liberal Free Democrats. Their leader Guido Westerwelle said the package would be ineffective and saddle Germany with more hefty debt. Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck of the Social Democrats said there was no alternative but to face a "unique" situation by boosting borrowing. The package makes modest cuts to income tax to encourage consumer spending, increases family benefits and offers incentives for industry, including carmakers. |  | | Protests as Berlusconi hosts G7 talks
Hundreds of thousands of Italians have demonstrated against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government as finance ministers of the G7 industrial nations gather in Rome to assess the global recession. The protestors, led by Italy's main left-wing union CGIL, demanded that workers not bear the brunt of impending job losses blamed on mistakes made by bankers and traders. The Group of Seven meeting coincides with new data showing the economy of the eurozone as a whole -- and those of its biggest members, Germany, France and Italy -- all shrinking more sharply that expected in the last quarter of 2008. Eurozone finance ministers including Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker have warned against protectionism. In Washington the US Congress is due to vote this Friday on a stimulus bill comprising 507 billion dollars in government spending and 282 billion dollars in tax cuts. | | | 50 die in aircrash in New York State
Fifty people are dead after a commuter plane crashed into a home near the US city of Buffalo in upstate New York and erupted in flames. US authorities say Continental Airlines Flight 3407, operated by Virginia-based Colgan Air with 49 people on board, was en route from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo when it went down. The turbo-prop aircraft was flying late Thursday in light snow and fog. One person on the ground was also killed. The cause of the crash is under investigation. | | | Tsvangirai minister arrested ahead of govt. ceremony
In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe has swore in ministers to a new unity government, despite the arrest of a top official in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party one hour earlier. 36 ministers were formally sworn in on the lawn of the presidential mansion in the capital Harare, finalising a power-sharing deal nearly a year after the bitterly disputed elections. The arrest of Roy Bennett, a white farmer who became treasurer of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change and who was expected to be named as deputy minister of agriculture is certain to increase tensions between rival factions in the fledgling government. It is not known why Bennett, who has been living in exile in South Africa, was arrested.
| | | Air raid kills Hutu rebels
The army in the Democratic Republic of Congo says 40 Rwandan Hutu rebels have been killed in an air raid. The military gave few details on how the raid was staged but said it happened as rebel commanders were meeting at Kashebere in the eastern Congo region of Masisi. The claim coincides with a three-week joint offensive by Congolese and Rwanda troops. Last month, Congo's government allowed thousands of Rwandan troops into North Kivu province to pursue 6,500 ethnic Rwandan Hutu militiamen blamed for years of strife. They fled into Congo after a genocide in Rwanda in 1994. | | | Mideast truce expected within three days
A truce between Hamas and Israel is expected to be announced within the next three days. The Islamist Palestinian group gave its final reply on the Egyptian-mediated proposal on Thursday. No comment has yet been reported from Israel. Sources who took part in meetings between Hamas and Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were quoted by the official Egyptian news agency MENA as saying that both sides had reached an agreement on an 18-month truce between Hamas and Israel. The agreement would ensure the lifting of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, and the reconstruction of the enclave. | | | Australian authorities charge man with arson
Australian police have charged a 39-year-old man with one count of arson over the country's deadly bushfires, which have claimed the lives of at least 181 people. The unidentified man was also charged with intentionally lighting the fire near the town of Churchill in the southern state of Victoria last Saturday. Twenty-one people died in that fire. Police said the man, who was arrested on Friday, was in a fragile mental state. Meanwhile, thousands of firefighters continue to battle blazes in Victoria, with some 20 fires still burning, many out of control. Authorities are calling it the worst fire disaster in Australia's 110-year modern history.
| | | Bombing near Baghdad kills 30
Iraqi police say a female suicide bomber has attacked a procession of Shi'ite pilgrims just south of Baghdad, killing at least 30 people and wounding another 65. The bomber detonated her explosives among pilgrims walking to the holy city of Kerbala for Shi'ite religious ceremonies. The attacks against pilgrims appear to be part of a Sunni extremist campaign to rekindle sectarian conflict. Thousands of pilgrims are heading to the city to mark Arbain, one of the most significant dates in the Shi'ite religious calendar. | | | Democrat Panetta confirmed CIA director
The US Senate has confirmed veteran Democratic politician Leon Panetta as director of the Central Intelligence Agency despite criticism that he lacks experience on intelligence matters. Panetta, a White House chief of staff for former President Bill Clinton and former California congressman, will succeed Michael Hayden. President Barack Obama named the 70 year old to head the spy agency two weeks before the new administration took office. Panetta takes up the reigns of the CIA at a time when the agency's credibility is still under question for failures linked to the US-led war in Iraq and controversial interrogation tactics in the so-called war on terror. | | | Third Obama nominee withdraws name
US President Barack Obama has seen another appointee to his cabinet step down. Republican Senator Judd Gregg has withdrawn as Commerce Secretary, citing conflicts with the president's economic agenda. Gregg is the third cabinet nominee to withdraw his nomination and the second for the Commerce Department. The first Commerce nominee was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who is facing a legal inquiry. Obama said he regretted Gregg's decision, but insisted it would not lessen his resolve to include Republicans in his administration. | | | German recession deepened in fourth quarter of 2008
The German economy shrank by 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, the fastest contraction since 1990. Data released by the Federal Statistics Office confirmed that the economy had slumped deeper into recession at the end of last year. Officials said the bigger-than-expected drop compared with the third quarter was mainly the result of a collapse in exports, the chief source of growth in Europe's biggest economy.
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Germany Passes Stimulus Plan Despite Wary Public
