Berlin  - Germany slumped into a recession during the third quarter, data to be released Thursday is forecast to show, amid signs that a global economic downturn was taking hold.

Europe's biggest economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, analysts predict Thursday's figures from Germany's statistics office will show after it contracted by 0.5 per cent in the quarter to end June.

As a result, Germany will fulfil the technical definition of recession after clocking up two consecutive quarters of negative rates.

Bangkok - A bomb hurled Thursday morning at protestors at Klong Toey Market in Bangkok injured 13 people, two of whom were in critical condition, police said.

"Eyewitnesses said the bomb was thrown by a man on a motorcycle from the bridge that overlooks the market," said Police Colonel Suthip Palitkusontat, of the Klong Toey Port Police Station.

Vendors at the famed open air market - the largest in the capital - have been protesting efforts to evict them by a private company that won a new lease on the area on October 29.

Taipei - The

New York  - As the US Treasury Department said it will prop up consumer lending as part of the emergency financial bail-out, US stock indices plunged more than 4 per cent Wednesday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropping to a near five-year low.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index also reached a five- year low.

London  - Tottenham's dramatic improvement under Harry Redknapp continued Wednesday, as they beat Liverpool 4-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup.

Chelsea, though, were dumped out of the competition on penalties by Championship side Burnley.

Tottenham have won five and drawn one in their six games since Redknapp replaced Juande Ramos as manager two and a half weeks ago.

They had already become the first team to beat Liverpool this season with a 2-1 league victory, but Wednesday night was even more dramatic.