Berlin - The US banking crisis is an "earthquake" that will cost the United States its role as "superpower of the world financial system," German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said Wednesday.

Making a statement on government policy to legislators in Berlin, Steinbrueck said the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers would meet in Washington next month to discuss how to tighten regulation of capital markets.

Nuremberg, Germany - Consumer confidence in Germany was pegged lower Thursday by the GfK surveys company, which said it was abandoning its previous forecast of a full-year rise in spending of 0.5

Tokyo - Japan in August saw its first trade deficit since January as surging oil prices boosted imports and export growth slowed, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

The nation's trade deficit ran 324 billion yen (3.06 billion dollars), the ministry said.

Excluding January, when exports tend to slow because of business holidays during New Year's celebrations, Japan last logged a trade deficit in November 1982.

Washington - US President George W Bush plans to meet Thursday in Washington with presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain as well as congressional leaders to discuss the ongoing US financial crisis and a proposed 700-billion-dollar rescue.

Congress turned increasingly skeptical in hearings Wednesday toward the Bush administration's bailout plan. The president was scheduled to give a television address to the nation late Wednesday.

Amsterdam - Once high and mighty, Dutch banks chastened by the credit crisis are now entangled in fierce competition for the savings of ordinary thrifty Dutch citizens.

According to statistics from the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), the Dutch had a combined 259 billion euros on private savings accounts in July 2008, a number that had been growing consistently despite the meltdown in other parts of the financial industry.

The trend marks a complete shift from the 1990s, when the Dutch stock exchange increased substantially at the expense of traditional saving, suddenly considered old-fashioned.

Washington - Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain issued a joint statement late Wednesday on the ongoing financial crisis and proposed 
700-billion-dollar rescue plan to revive credit markets.

The American people are facing a moment of economic crisis. No matter how this began, we all have a responsibility to work through it and restore confidence in our economy. The jobs, savings, and prosperity of the American people are at stake," the two senators said.