Stuttgart, Germany  - German carmaker Daimler AG cut its 2008 earnings forecast Thursday in the face of a slowing world economy, a surging euro and increasing raw material costs.

The announcement by the manufacturer of luxury Mercedes Benz cars that it had revised down its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to more than 7 billion euros (11 billion dollars) sent the group's shares sharply down.

The Stuttgart-based carmaker had previously said that it expected EBIT from the group's ongoing operations to top the 7.7 billion euros it posted in 2007.

Daimler's shares dropped by about 8.0 per cent to 39.30 euros following the announcement.

London - Britain's leading aid charity Oxfam has warned that 13 million people in East Africa are at risk of hunger and destitution as food prices spiral out of control.

A situation already marked by droughts, war and poverty was made worse by rising food prices which had increased by 350 per cent in some regions between 2007 and 2008, Oxfam said in a report issued in London Thursday.

Oxfam joined calls on donors from other international aid groups to increase aid levels to Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Its call followed a warning from the UN World Food Programme which said that more than 14 million people in the Horn of Africa needed food aid because of drought and rising food and fuel prices.

Tokyo - Japan's trade surplus shrank 42.1 per cent in the first six months of fiscal 2008 to 3 trillion yen (27.51 billion dollars) from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

The surplus marked the largest fall since the first half of 2001.

Due to rising oil prices, imports grew faster than exports, the ministry said.

Exports grew 3.9 per cent to 41.93 trillion yen on expansion in automobile shipments to Russia and the Middle East, and imports soared 10.5 per cent to a record 38.97 trillion yen, buoyed by double-digit gains in crude oil, liquefied natural gas and coal imports.

Japan's trade surplus with the United States shrank 17.2 per cent to 3.4 trillion yen.

Washington - US President George W Bush summed up the problems in the US economy by telling a private gathering that "Wall Street got drunk" and is now suffering a "hangover."

"Wall Street got drunk - that's one reason I told you turn the cameras off - it got drunk and now it's got a hangover," Bush said at the fundraiser in Houston. "The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments."

Berlin - German business confidence slumped in July, a key survey to be released Thursday is forecast to show, as a surging euro, spiralling inflation and worries about higher interest rates hit sentiment in Europe's biggest economy.

After falling to 101.3 points in June, Germany's closely watched Ifo business confidence index slipped to 100 this month, analysts' predict.

Based on a survey of 7,000 German executives, the July Ifo report could set the stage for the release this week of a batch of major economic sentiment surveys, which are likely to point to a bleaker outlook taking shape across Europe.

A report released Tuesday showed consumer confidence in Italy dropping to about a 15-year low.

Washington - The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed major legislation aimed at limiting the economic fallout from the US housing crisis and providing relief to struggling homeowners.

The long-awaited bill expands a programme that helps struggling homeowners refinance into government-insured mortgages - effectively guaranteeing up to 300-billion-dollars worth of loans - and approved a government contingency plan in the event of the collapse of lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.