Bratislava - The Slovak parliament Friday voted to provide unlimited guarantees for bank deposits of individuals and select small businesses.

The government proposal passed 130-1, while nine lawmakers abstained.

The amendment requires presidential approval and will come to force upon publication in the country's legal code.

Germany and Austria vowed earlier they also planned to provide unlimited savings protection.

Slovakia currently protects 90 per cent of deposits up to 600,000 Slovak koruny (24,560 dollars).

London - The British economy has shrunk for the first time in 16 years, dropping 0.5 per cent in the July-September quarter, the Office for National Statistics reported Friday.

Frankfurt - The euro hit a three-year low Friday of below 1.

Copenhagen - Denmark's central bank increased the lending rate by 0.50 percentage points to 5.5 per cent Friday in a move to "support the Danish krone," the bank said.

Singapore - Singapore's ma

Brussels - The trouble with telling a nervous customer that you have solved their problem is that you first have to admit that there is one. That is the dilemma facing the world's banks, governments and financial institutions as they desperately try to restore faith in an economic system which millions of customers now believe has failed.

"We have shown the world that the United States of America will stabilize our financial markets and maintain a leading role in the global economy," US President George W Bush proclaimed on October 3 after the US Congress passed a 700-billion-dollar bank rescue plan.

His words spectacularly failed to restore global confidence, with stock markets nosediving in the days following the vote.