LOST IN THE DARK RIDE

Posted  | Comment  | Recommend | | | BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders agreed Thursday to stick to their ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gases despite concern about the impact on industries already struggling with the global market meltdown. “The objectives remain unchanged, the calendar remains the same,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a news conference at the end of the two-day summit. “The deadline on climate change is so important that we cannot use the financial and economic crisis as a pretext for dropping it,” he said. Poland and six other Eastern European nations had infuriated other EU member states with a surprise demand that the bloc drop a…

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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — Hurricane Omar strengthened early Thursday as it blasted the northern Leeward and Virgin Islands with powerful winds and inundating rains. Omar’s maximum sustained winds increased to 125 mph — up from 115 mph overnight, the National Hurricane Center said. “Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the hurricane center said….

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By CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) — This time they really do need to march in step. The first time a clutch of EU leaders got together as the world slipped into economic meltdown there was no unity. Soon the world was asking if an EU with 15 members inside the Eurozone and the other dozen using their own currencies was even capable of making a useful contribution. Typical was the reaction of Germany’s Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck to the idea of a common European bailout fund: “The Chancellor [Angela Merkel] and I reject a European shield because we as Germans do not want to pay into a big pot where we do not have control and do not know where German…

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JEREMIAH MARQUEZ The Associated Press HONG KONG - World stocks tumbled Thursday, with Tokyo’s market plunging more than 11 percent, after another dive on Wall Street as worse-than-expected data about the U.S. economy heightened fears of a global recession. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso blamed the renewed drop in markets, which had rebounded earlier this week, on investor concerns that the U.S. government’s $700 billion bank bailout was insufficient. “Since it was insufficient, the market is again falling sharply,” Aso told lawmakers. He did not elaborate. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock average slid 1,089.02 points, or 11.41 percent, to 8,458.45, its biggest drop since the 1987 stock market…

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: Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize laureate, publicly and forcefully denounced the Turkish government for its treatment of writers in a speech he gave at the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair on Tuesday evening as the president of Turkey sat listening. Every year, a nation is chosen to be guest of honor at the fair, an annual rite of the international publishing industry, and this year it is Turkey. Hundreds of thousands…

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European leaders called Wednesday for a new world financial order to prevent future financial crises, as growing signs of global recession dampened optimism over government efforts to bail out banks. The United States reported its biggest monthly decline in retail sales in more than three years, and Europe offered negative economic data and outlooks of its own. Markets around the world fell. At a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, Britain and Germany joined France in calling for an international summit this year to draw up a new world financial system.French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker share a light moment during a European Union…

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Alexander Burns 44 minutes ago Voters are closely divided over which presidential candidate won the third and final general election presidential debate, according to an exclusive Politico/InsiderAdvantage nationwide survey of undecided debate-watchers. Forty-nine percent of respondents said that Obama won the debate, compared to 46 who believed his opponent, Sen. John McCain, came out on top. The three-point gap separating the two candidates was equal to the poll’s margin of error….

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By STEVE BULLOCK, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago CHRISTIANSTED, U.S. Virgin Islands - Omar strengthened into a fierce Category 3 hurricane late Wednesday as it pummeled St. Croix with heavy rains and winds, sinking boats in the harbor, knocking down trees and forcing workers to shut down a major oil refinery. The fast-growing hurricane was roaring toward the U.S. and British Virgin Islands with top winds of 115 mph (185 kph). Omar’s center appeared set to edge passed the tiny tourist islands, but forecasters warned they could still get hit. “It could thread the needle, but any kind of track deviation and any of those islands will be clobbered,” said Jack Beven of the U.S. National…

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16 Oct 2008, 0910 hrs IST,REUTERS             MUMBAI: The Indian rupee…

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16 Oct 2008, 0804 hrs IST,REUTERS               Text: CARACAS: Socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mocked George W. Bush as a comrade on Wednesday, saying the US president was a hard-line leftist for his government’s intervention of major private banks in the US financial…

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