Germany

More details are expected later of the measures aimed at helping the country during what some fear could be its worst recession since World War II.

The initiatives include investments in railways, roads and schools, as well as a number of tax relief measures.

A 23bn euros plan, passed last month, was derided for being too cautious.

In its second attempt to kickstart Europe's largest economy, Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet has gone further, and she is expected to unveil the details of the plan on Tuesday.

"All in all, it is a package that will help get us through the financial crisis and secure jobs," said Christian Democrat parliamentary president Volker Kauder.
The agreement follows squabbles between the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats over how to shore up the German economy and prevent job losses.

The new two-year stimulus package will include investment measures worth around 18bn euros for infrastructure projects, correspondents say.

But, says the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Berlin, this package alone will not solve Germany's biggest problem at the moment: its falling exports.

Due to the global economic downturn, there is less demand abroad for German goods, such as cars and machine tools.

Germany is heavily reliant on exports, which saw their largest fall in November since reunification in 1990.

Last year it unveiled a bail-out for businesses worth up to 500bn euros but its use has been limited due to strict conditions attached to taking the money.

Meanwhile, figures released on Tuesday morning showed that German wholesale prices fell 3% in December from the previous month, and were down 3.3% on a year-on-year basis.

Hayden steps down

An emotional Hayden revealed his decision at his home ground, the Gabba, in Brisbane.

The 37-year-old was set to take a lap of honour in front of his home crowd before Tuesday evening's Twenty20 match between Australia and South Africa.

He averaged less than 20 in Australia's 2-1 test series loss to South Africa, its first home series loss in 16 years.
Having scored 8,625 runs at an average of 50.73 during his Test career, the powerful left-hander was dropped for the current Twenty20 games and one-dayers against the Proteas.

He has played in 103 Test matches during a 17-year career.
He averaged 43.8 in the format with a top score of 181 not out.

"I have loved so much playing cricket, and I count it as so much of an honour to have represented my country," Hayden said.

One of his former team-mates, the retired fast bowler Glenn McGrath, praised a "legend of the game" who, he said, had "nothing left to prove".

"It's been an absolute honour and a privilege to play with him and even more so to call him a mate," said McGrath.

"His career stands alone. He's an amazing person and an amazing player, I was just very lucky to be a part of it."

Hayden, a veteran of 103 Tests, struggled in the five-day version of the sport this summer against New Zealand and South Africa, scoring just 149 runs at 16.55 from five matches.

Barack Obama

Monday's meeting in Washington DC was Mr Obama's first with a foreign leader since his election in November.

His transition office said the talks highlighted the importance of the relationship between the US and Mexico.

Mr Obama, who will be sworn in on 20 January, will make his first foreign trip to Canada, officials have said.

No date has been set but officials indicated it would be "soon" after Mr Obama takes office, restoring a long-standing tradition that Canada is the first destination for a new US president.

"It will be the first foreign trip of his presidency, underscoring the importance of the relationship between the United States and Canada," said Brooke Anderson, a transition spokeswoman.

Canada is the US's biggest trading partner, followed by China, and then Mexico.

After joining Mr Calderon for a lunch of tortilla soup, Mr Obama said his administration was "going to be ready on day one" to work to build stronger relations with Mexico.

Their meeting at the Mexican Cultural Institute included discussion on efforts by the Mexican government to tackle the drugs gangs that have seen more than 30,000 troops deployed since 2006.

There were more than 5,000 drug-related murders there last year, with many of the deaths in cities just across the border from the US.

In December, the US justice department said Mexican drug traffickers posed the biggest organised crime threat to the US.

Mr Obama has previously praised Mr Calderon's stance and supports a multi-million dollar aid package known as the Merida Initiative to help Mexico in the fight against illegal drugs.

He has also spoken about the need to address not only the flow of drugs north but the smuggling of guns from the US to Mexico.

"The friendship between the US and Mexico has been strong," he said. "I believe it can be even stronger."

Conflict halt

Ahead of a trip to the region to push for a truce, Ban Ki-moon said too many people had died and there had been too much civilian suffering.

Nearly 30 rockets or mortars were fired on Israel from Gaza on Monday.

Early on Tuesday, the 18th day of the conflict, Israeli troops advanced in the southern and eastern suburbs of Gaza City, backed by artillery and helicopters.

The western areas of the city came under shellfire from Israeli gunboats.

The Israeli military has denied a Hamas claim that it had destroyed two Israeli tanks.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Palestinian militants will keep on feeling Israel's "iron fist" as long as Hamas fires rockets at Israel.

But a senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, said the group was "approaching victory".

"After 17 days of this foolish war, Gaza has not been broken and Gaza will not collapse," he said in a televised address from a secret location in Gaza.
Both Hamas and Israel rejected last week's UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Palestinian medical sources say 910 people have been killed in Gaza so far, of whom 292 were children and 75 were women. Israeli officials say 13 Israelis, including three civilians, have been killed.

On Monday, casualty reports from Palestinian medics ranged from nine to 26 dead, while Israel said five of its soldiers had been injured, one of them seriously.

Israel is preventing international journalists from entering Gaza, making it impossible to independently confirm casualty figures.

Bail-out

There is strong opposition in Congress to releasing the money with the House of Representatives and the Senate considering blocking the move.

But funds would be likely to remain available because any disapproval could be vetoed by President Bush.

But observers say if the payout was rejected, it could aggravate markets.

There have been hopes that if the final tranche of the bail-out was approved, it would give a strong start to Mr Obama's efforts to fighting the financial crisis when he takes office next week.

The president-elect's team have been trying to douse opposition to the payment of the rest of the funds agreed last year under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp).

"I called President Bush to trigger the second half of what's known as the Tarp, that's related to financial rescue," said Mr Obama.

"I did so because in consultation with the business community and my top economic advisers, it is clear that the financial system, although improved from where it was in September, is still fragile."

The White House said that President Bush had formally requested on Monday evening that Congress release the remaining pledged capital.
The US House of Representatives passed the $700bn government plan to rescue the US financial sector in October last year - having rejected an earlier version of it which hammered global stock markets.

The package was aimed at buying up the bad debts of failing financial institutions on Wall Street.

The Treasury Department, which is managing the Tarp, has already committed the first half of it - mainly to capital injections into troubled banks, but many Congress members are unhappy with how it has been handled.

US Democratic congressman Barney Frank said that he and Mr Obama agreed that new rules were needed to govern how the next $350bn was disbursed - but said he wanted these written into law.

Ramalinga Raju

Founder of Satyam Computer, B Ramalinga Raju, who lived like a 'king' before admitting fudging of company accounts to the tune of Rs 7,800 crore, slept on the floor of the Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad like other ordinary prisoners.

Raju and his brother Rama Raju, the Managing Director of the company, would be treated as 'C' class prisoners just like any other remand prisoners and there would no special treatment given to them, Additional Director General (Prisons) P Narasimha Reddy said.

The two Raju brothers were sent to Chanchalguda prison on Saturday (January 10) on a 14-day judicial remand by a local court in Hyderabad.

They were produced at the residence of the 6th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate by the state CID, investigating into financial irregularities of the firm after an 18-hour grilling session.

Both were arrested on Friday night.

The CID has registered a case against the duo under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 478 (use of forged documents) and filed a 15-page remand report which includes confession of both brothers.

The duo slept with 28 other inmates accused of crime like theft, dowry harassment and cheating among others.

fight on in Gaza

Israel and Hamas vowed to fight on on Sunday (January 11), ignoring international calls to stop the Gaza conflict which entered a 16th day with heavy clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.

Hamas's leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, said his Islamist group would not consider a truce until Israel ended its military offensive and lifted a blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israel sent tanks deeper into the coastal enclave and threatened to intensify its air and ground assaults against militants who fired more rockets into the Jewish state. Palestinian witnesses reported heavy fighting east of the city of Gaza where Hamas militants fired anti-tank missiles and mortar bombs at advancing Israeli forces who responded with tank shells and air strikes.

An Israeli air strike targeting a car on a coastal road killed two militants, medical workers said.

Israeli artillery shelling of two villages in the southern Gaza Strip killed a woman and set 15 houses on fire, medical workers and witnesses said. Some 50 people suffered from burns and gas inhalation, they said.

Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using white-phosphorus munitions and warned of undue suffering to Palestinian civilians through severe burns. The Israeli military said it uses only weapons permitted under international law. It has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

A total of 846 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis --- three civilians killed by rocket fire and 10 soldiers --- have been killed since the offensive began on December 27.
While Israeli commanders said whole Hamas battalions were being wiped out, Meshaal said Israeli forces had achieved nothing and pointed to the continued rocket fire.

Israeli actions have drawn denunciations from the Red Cross, UN agencies and Arab and European governments, spurred by the Palestinian civilian death toll in the hundreds.

Israel has pressed on with its offensive despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire and Egyptian-European efforts at mediation, saying it is intent on stopping Hamas rocket fire.

The group fired about a dozen rockets at Israel on Saturday, while a phalanx of Israeli tanks advanced from the north towards the city of Gaza. Israel is demanding a complete halt to Hamas rocket fire, plus regional and international guarantees to stop the group rearming via smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt.

Hamas wants any ceasefire deal to include the ending of Israel's crippling economic blockade of the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the territory, from which the Jewish state withdrew in 2005 after a 38-year occupation.