Brussels - The European Commission on Wednesday imposed an unprecedented 1.38-billion-euro (1.76-billion-dollar) combined fine on four car glass manufacturers found guilty of forging a cartel designed to keep prices artificially high.

An investigation concluded that managers of Asahi of Japan, Britain's Pilkington, Saint-Gobain of France and Belgium's Soliver had taken part in a series of illegal talks in a number of European airports and hotels between 1998 and 2003 to fix prices and market share and allocate customers to each other.

Madrid - The Spanish government is preparing to toughen the country's anti-terrorism laws as the hunt for fugitive ETA member Ignacio de Juana Chaos in Ireland continued Wednesday.

The daily El Pais reported on Wednesday that new government measures will mainly target members of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, and are intended to bring the penalties for terrorism offences as close as possible to life imprisonment, which is deemed incompatible with the Spanish constitution.

New York- Credit card company American Express is to apply for 3.5 billion dollars' in US federal emergency assistance in trying to cope with the effects of the financial market crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The paper cited unidentified sources for its report, coming at a time when more and more consumers are falling behind on their credit card accounts.

American Express Co. qualifies for support under the 700-billion- dollar Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) after having converted itself into a bank-holding company two days earlier, a move which other financial institutes in the US are considering.

Singapore - In the wake of the world-wide financial crisis consumer confidence has turned pessimistic across the Asia Pacific region, according to a survey released Wednesday by MasterCard.

From India to China, and Japan to New Zealand the urban middle class were more pessimistic for the first half of 2009 than six months ago, according to the latest bi-annual Consumer Confidence survey by MasterCard Worldwide released in Singapore.

MasterCard found that only Vietnam, China, India and Singapore of the 14 markets surveyed are optimistic about the first half of next year.

Islamabad - Unknown gunmen shot dead a US aid worker and his driver in Pakistan's north-west on Wednesday, officials and media reports said.

The attack occurred in an upmarket neighbourhood of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, located close to the restive tribal region.

"Assailants lying in ambush opened fire on the US national's car as it drove down an alley in the University Town (area of Peshawar), killing the foreigner and his local driver on the spot," an area police officer said on condition of anonymity.

London, Nov 12 : Sir Paul McCartney may have unknowingly revealed that the women who inspired The Beatles'' 1966 hit ''Eleanor Rigby'' actually existed.

For about 42 years, music fans have been confused whether E. Rigby ever live, or was she non-existent.

Now, documents carrying the signatures of the woman have surfaced suggesting her to be a scullery maid, reports the Independent.