Washington  - A summit Saturday of leaders of the world's 20 largest economies, which will begin the process of rebuilding the global financial system, comes at the invitation of a humbled global superpower.

Chastened by a global meltdown that began in the US mortgage market, the Washington summit of the Group of 20 nations represents an acknowledgement by the United States that it cannot resolve the financial crisis on its own.

Riga - State bail-outs of financial institutions have become almost commonplace in recent months, but still cause a mixture of surprise, fear and sometimes even panic when they are suddenly revealed.

The effects of the economic slow down due to the global financial crisis, has resulted in a five per cent fall in excise and customs collection during October. The decline in indirect tax collection comes at a time when the government is finding it hard to mobilize resources, while expenditure on subsidies and other welfare measures is going up.

The excise collection, decreased by 8.7 per cent to Rs 18,664 crore as against Rs 19,646 crore during the same period a year ago, while customs duty collections declined by 0.9 per cent to Rs 9,265 crore from Rs 9,353 crore in October 2007.

India’s largest private carr

Melbourne, Nov 13: All-rounder Andrew Symonds has been included in the Australian squad ahead of next week’s first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba.

Symonds was included in a 13-man squad along with Victorian fast bowler Peter Siddle as selectors dumped leg-spinning all-rounder Cameron White.

Symonds returns after missing the four-Test tour of India when dropped after going fishing instead of attending a team meeting during the one-day series against Bangladesh in Darwin in September, The Age reported.