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German pump-priming talks to continue, Merkel says

German pump-priming talks to continue, Merkel says Nuremberg, Germany - German talks on boosting government spending to offset recession are to continue through the weekend, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday.

Pump-priming is planned by a broad range of western countries as world gloom spreads.

Merkel said, "It's important that such an ambitious plan fits in with the measures by other nations."

Speaking in Nuremberg, she noted that a G20 summit she is to attend in Washington on November 15 would also review how to boost the economies of the emerging markets.

Obama’s ad a big hit with TV audience

Obama’s ad a big hit with TV audience

US air strike kills 20 in Pakistan tribal region

US air strike kills 20 in Pakistan tribal regionIslamabad - At least 20 people, including an al-Qaeda operative, were killed Friday by a missile launched from a suspected US drone in a Pakistan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.

"A US pilotless aircraft fired two guided missiles on the house of a person named Amanullah in the village of Asori in the Mir Ali sub- district of North Waziristan," said an intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

UN committee adopts draft arms trade treaty; US, Zimbabwe oppose

UN committee adopts draft arms trade treaty; US, Zimbabwe oppose New York - A UN General Assembly committee adopted Friday a draft arms trade treaty, the first step in efforts to control the sale of weapons around the world worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, a British diplomat said.

The assembly's political committee, known as the First Committee, adopted 145-2 the draft treaty, which would go through more rounds of talks before a final vote by the 
192-nation assembly that would make it a binding treaty. The draft had been under negotiations for three years.

Congo refugees return home as rebel ceasefire holds

Congo refugees return home as rebel ceasefire holdsNairobi/Goma - Desperate civilians who fled a relentless rebel offensive in east Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this week were beginning to return home Friday as a fragile ceasefire continued to hold, an aid agency said.

Rebel Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda on Wednesday evening called a ceasefire as his troops were on the verge of taking the major city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

Tens of thousands of people, many of them from the town of Kibumba, north of Goma, fled the advance as the Congolese army went into full retreat.

Google and Yahoo said to be dropping deal

Google and Yahoo said to be dropping deal San Francisco - Google and Yahoo are set to drop their proposed ad alliance possibly as early as next week because of antitrust objections by the Justice Department, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The report came a day after officials from the two companies met with regulators and appeared to be unwilling to make the compromises needed to satisfy Justice Department concerns that their combined power would overwhelm the online advertising market.

The deal was announced in June and proposed that Google start selling its search ads throughout Yahoo's US properties.

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