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.
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.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plans to shift some of the focus of the final half of the 700-billion-dollar rescue fund to credit card and loan companies reflected growing concern over drops in consumer spending, auto buying and student borrowing.
"This market, which is vital for lending and growth, has for all practical purposes ground to a halt," Paulson said.
Paris - Segolene Royal, the defeated Socialist Party candidate in last year's French presidential election, said Wednesday that she wanted to replace her former partner as party chief.
Asked if she would be a candidate for party leader, she told TF 1 television, "I will tell you frankly: it's true that I want to (head the party)."
The Socialist Party will elect a successor to the current party secretary Francois Hollande on November 20, following the party congress, which is due to begin Friday in the city of Reims.
New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday welcomed Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's announcement of an immediate ceasefire in the troubled western region of Darfur.
Al-Bashir said the fighting should stop between the government's armed forces and warring factions and called for an effective monitoring mechanism to monitor the ceasefire. He also called for the disarming of militia forces.
Frankfurt - The European Central Bank called Poland's plan to enter the eurozone by 2012, "ambitious, but realistic," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after talks with the bank's leadership in Frankfurt, Germany on Wednesday.
Tusk said the recent world economic crisis has made the currency swap more difficult for Poland, but not impossible.
Washington - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Wednesday said he plans to shift some of the focus of the second half of the government's massive financial rescue action to credit card and loan companies and shelve original plans to buy up bad mortgage assets from finance firms.
He also dismissed a proposal that the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan should be used to bail out the ailing auto industry.
Paulson said that the first half of the rescue programme, or 350 billion dollars, had prevented "broad systemic" damage to a financial system that had been on the "tipping point," but warned the financial system "remains fragile" and needs broader help.
Paris - Segolene Royal, the defeated Socialist Party candidate in last year's French presidential election, said Wednesday that she wanted to replace her former partner as party chief.
New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday welcomed Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's announcement of an immediate ceasefire in the troubled western region of Darfur.
Frankfurt - The European Central Bank called Poland's plan to enter the eurozone by 2012, "ambitious, but realistic," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after talks with the bank's leadership in Frankfurt, Germany on Wednesday.
