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New deal to save German bank agreed |
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Germany became the latest country to act over the financial meltdown, with a new rescue plan for its second biggest commercial property lender and a 100% guarantee on private bank accounts.
As European governments scrambled to save failing banks, German chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that no citizen should fear for the safety of their investments.
Hours later, her government announced a new £38.4 billion bail-out package for Hypo Real Estate. |
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Move to rescue troubled Fortis bank |
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French banking giant BNP Paribas will take a majority 75% share of troubled Belgian bank Fortis, Belgium's prime minister has said.
Yves Leterme says the Belgian and Luxembourg governments will in turn take a blocking minority share in BNP Paribas.
The deal came after two days of closed-door talks between the Paris-based bank, Fortis and government authorities in an effort to restore confidence in the company before markets opened on Monday. |
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Palin defends Obama terror remarks |
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Sarah Palin defended her attack on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama after accusing him of "palling around with terrorists".
The Republican vice presidential nominee said it was legitimate to raise Obama's association with 1960s radical Bill Ayers.
She said: "The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn't been talked about. It's important to talk about how Barack Obama kicked off his political career in the guy's living room." |
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Earthquake kills 58 in Kyrgyzstan |
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An earthquake has killed 58 people in Kyrgyzstan, the government said.
Emergency situations ministry spokesman Abdusamat Payazov said the quake also injured 50 people and destroyed 120 buildings in a town in the Central Asian nation's southern Osh region.
The quake occurred on Sunday night and its epicentre was in neighbouring Tajikistan. |
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Ten dead in casino bus crash |
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Ten people died and dozens were injured when a bus overturned in northern California.
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officials said the crash happened near the town of Williams as the bus headed for a casino at the Colusa Casino Resort from Sacramento.
Patrol Commander Fran Clader said 10 people were killed and estimated that 20 to 30 others were injured. |
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Energy firms threaten poor - Oxfam |
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Energy giants Shell and E.ON are threatening the lives of millions of poor around the world, a charity said.
Their "high-polluting policies" have been attacked in an Oxfam report 'Forecast for Tomorrow' that says they are contributing "to the UK pushing global emissions to dangerous levels for the world and catastrophic levels for the poor."The controversial Kingsnorth coal-fired power station, proposed by E.ON, attracted particular criticism, with Oxfam warning it will have the combined carbon output of 30 developing countries. |
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Iran defiant on uranium enrichment |
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Iran's official news agency said Tehran will not give up uranium enrichment even if the West guarantees a supply of nuclear fuel to the country.
The IRNA report quoted Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying Iran could not trust Western countries, especially the US, to provide nuclear support because they had backtracked on co-operation in the past.
Mottaki said Iran would continue to enrich uranium and would provide it to other countries under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. |
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Roadside bomb attack on Iraq convoy |
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A roadside bomb attack on a British convoy in Basra has injured an Iraqi civilian, authorities said.
A spokesman for the British military in Iraq, Major Bill Young, said the attack occurred around 8.30am local time on Sunday on a convoy carrying Western contractors.
The contractors were going to a children's hospital to inspect work on the building. |
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Taliban 'angry' at missile strike |
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The Taliban are unusually angry about the latest suspected US missile strike in Pakistan, indicating that a top militant may have died, officials and residents said as the death toll from the attack rose to 24.
The US has ramped up cross-border strikes on alleged al-Qaida and Taliban targets along Pakistan's side of the border with Afghanistan, straining the nations' anti-terrorism alliance.
The US says pockets of Pakistan's border region, especially in its semiautonomous tribal areas, are bases for militants attacking American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. |
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Rice: 'US not undermining Russia' |
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected any suggestion that US efforts to build closer ties with Kazakhstan are meant to undermine Russian influence in Central Asia.
"This is not a zero-sum game," Rice told reporters flying with her to the Kazakh capital Astana, adding US gains need not mean Russian losses.
"First of all, Kazakhstan is an independent country. It can have friendships with whomever it wishes," she said. "That's perfectly acceptable in the 21st century, so we don't see and don't accept any notion of a special sphere of influence" for Russia in this region. |
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