Berlin - Germany's lower house of parliament on Wednesday passed a controversial law granting sweeping powers to federal police in the fight against terrorism.
The legislation, which has to be approved by the upper house, allows investigators to conduct video surveillance of terrorist suspects and monitor their private computers.
"We are responding to new technical developments while at the same time adhering to our basic tenets of freedom," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told deputies.
German civil liberties groups have criticized the new law, saying it will lead to a Big Brother state where the privacy of Germans' homes is no longer sacrosanct.
New York - US utility owner Exelon Corp's bid to acquire power producer NRG Energy Inc turned bitter Wednesday, with Exelon taking its 5.71-billion-dollar offer directly to shareholders after being rejected by the NRG management.
The acquisition would make Exelon the largest power producer in the United States. NRG is said to have rejected the bid partly because it believes that Exelon couldn't guarantee financing.
NRG chief executive David Crane said Tuesday that Exelon was undervaluing his company, according to Bloomberg financial news agency.
Bucharest - Romania's current account deficit grew by nearly 15 per cent in the first nine months of the year, authorities said Wednesday, the latest sign of a possible economic crunch for the European Union newcomer.
Goods imports running far ahead of exports were the main reason for the 12.7-billion-euro (16.1-billion-dollar) shortfall in the nation's broadest measure of international trade, central bank data showed.
Medium- and long-term foreign debt grew by 25.2 per cent since the start of the year, the report said.
Romania, which joined the EU in 2007, is among the ex-communist nations that has raised concern in the global financial crisis, especially after international lenders saved neighbouring Hungary from possible default.
New York - Israeli President Shimon Peres said Wednesday his government agrees with a Saudi peace proposal to settle the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.
Peres told the UN General Assembly that Israel agrees with the Arab call that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be solved through military means and that a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East is "the strategic option of the Arab countries."
"This is Israel's strategy as well," Peres said in a UN debate on religion and peace.
"These expression in the Arab peace initiative are inspirational and promising - a serious opening for real progress," he said.
Berlin - German school pupils demonstrating in Berlin Wednesday damaged a Holocaust-related exhibition, officials at Humboldt University in the capital said.
About 1,000 young people - school attenders in Germany are sometimes 20 or even older - swarmed inside the main building of the university to "occupy" it, climbing onto ledges above its grand portico.
The university said, "parts of the main building were damaged in the rioting." It said the parts included panels of a display about Jewish businesses and how they struggled on under the Nazis.
New York - US software giant Microsoft could become the default internet search provider on Verizon Wireless mobile phones as both companies move closer to an agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The deal involves a revenue-sharing model between Microsoft and Verizon from advertisements shown in response to internet searches made on cellphones. This would guarantee Verizon payments of approximately 550 million dollars to 650 million dollars over five years, the report said.
New York - US software giant Microsoft could become the default internet search provider on Verizon Wireless mobile phones as both companies move closer to an agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
