Washington - Richard Fuld, chief executive of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, was forced to defend his own lofty pay check before Congress on Monday and warned that the disaster which drove his company into the ground could have happened to any financial firm.

Fuld said he felt "horrible" about the demise of the 158-year-old institution and took responsibility for his actions, but he warned that the "financial tsunami" that engulfed his company was part of a much wider loss of confidence in the banking system.

Brasilia - Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said in no uncertain terms Monday that the current crisis in world markets is "perhaps the worst since 1929," as he announced new measures adopted by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government to increase access to loans for exporters.

"Brazil is not immune to the crisis, but this affects the countries with problems in their banks more, and countries like Brazil less," Mantega said.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel renewed her opposition Monday to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's proposal for a European fund to help banks in trouble.

Closer cooperation between members of the European Union was needed to bring security to financial markets, the chancellor told a joint press conference ahead of talks in Berlin.

"Every country has to live up to its own responsibilities," she said, calling for a more coherent approach to the financial crisis which has spilled over to Europe from the United States.

Havana - Cuba is not at risk of "famine" after hurricanes Gustav and Ike devastated its agriculture and infrastructure, Cuban Finance Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Garcia stressed Monday.

"There is no reason to speculate or raise expectations about a famine situation. None of those issues have any justification in our case," he told Cuban media.

"The population's food is guaranteed," Rodriguez Garcia noted.

Washington - World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Monday called on the world's largest nations to band together to prevent the kind of massive economic downturn now striking the globe from ever happening again.

Zoellick said the Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations should be expanded to include the top 14 global economies to tackle development issues as well as the financial turmoil plaguing richer nations.

"The G7 is not working," Zoellick said in Washington. "We need a better group for a different time."

Beirut - Lebanese Finance Minister Mohammad Chatah said on Monday the global financial crisis had created worries among the Lebanese but assured them that their money is "safe."

Chatah, who met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman at the presidential palace in Baabda, said "the Lebanese currency and the banking sector are safe."

Chatah also assured the president that the deposits of the Lebanese and non-Lebanese in Lebanon were secure.